Chapter 60

Even after Gabina went back, I couldn’t move from the spot for a long time. Gabina readily agreed to the next meeting, saying, “Please contact me whenever you have more questions.” Unfortunately, Gabina said she didn’t know how to confirm the blood relationship. He said there was a secret way to check, but she didn’t know about it.

Doubts have already sprouted, and my concerns have deepened. Obviously, I was adopted, but I actually saw my mother for the first time in the orphanage.

“You haven’t left yet.”

Shale opened the door and came in. It was Shale who set up my meeting with Gabina. Perhaps he thought I had gone back when Gabina left.

“I was just thinking for a moment.”

“You don’t look so happy tho? Didn’t you gain something?”

“Not at all. It’s the other way around.”

“But your expression looks like you’re going to catch a person.”

I took a look at Shale and lowered my head again.

“I know. Maybe it’s just because I think I already know too much.”

“What is it? I will help if I can.”

“You’ve helped me so far. What else can you help me with?”

“I have to pay you back for the five buildings. So, about a hundred things from now on?”

I smiled at his bluff as he sat cross-legged.

“You’ll get caught in the middle of it.”

“I think I’m already caught up in the truth.”

He murmured, leaned over, and rested his elbow on the armrest.  It was the opposite of his bragging look just now as if he was going to say ‘Damn it’ at any moment.  In the end, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I will think about it a little more and ask for your help. I don’t know if I can move quickly. I have to go now. Thank you for today.”

“I think Shubart Rivaho will arrive soon. Did you prepare well?”

“There’s nothing to be prepared for. I’ve already done it. Still, Sir Shubart is generous, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“That devilish bastard is infinitely docile to you,” he muttered like passing words.

I held the teleportation stone and paused for a moment.

“That’s right, I’m also curious about it sometimes. I will go now.”

“Uh, let me know if you need anything.”

* * *

Sir Shubart didn’t appear in the capital until two days after the fox hunting. I mean, a day after I left the imperial palace. I thought it would take at least three days, but it was much faster than I expected. I would have been a little bewildered if Shale hadn’t told me in advance.

It was the next day that he came to visit me.

“You’re back. I heard from my mother. Something went wrong in the middle…”

“Yes. Thanks to that, I was very troubled. I’m sorry that you had to spend that day alone.”

Sir Shubart looked tired just by a glance. It was rare to see him like this, and it seemed he had struggled quite a lot as things went wrong.

“No, it was me who messed up the whole thing.”

I greeted Sir Shubart in a relaxed manner. He won’t slap me or get angry like my mother, but I still have to lay low. Sure enough, Sir Shubart seemed to worry about me more than for himself.

“It’s okay. It was we who made the unreasonable plan. I was going to change that plan several times, but it turned out to be like that.”

“How is my mother doing?”

“Lu?”

“Yes… Is she still angry with me?”

When I asked while looking into his eyes, Sir Shubart shook his hand.

“No, she won’t blame you for that anymore.”

“Still, I feel my mother has been greatly disappointed in me this time. It was the first time she got angry.”

He assured me not to be concerned about any conversation that had occurred during that day. Just when I thought this would be easier than I expected, my eyes met with Sir Shubart.

“Bella”

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

What are you going to ask? I readily nodded.

“Sure. What is it?”

When I replied with a smile, Sir Shubart hesitated a little more. What was the question that was hard for him to bring up?

“I’d like to ask if you’re seriously considering the second prince.”

“The second prince?”

I widened my eyes, pretending to be surprised, then put on an expression as if I was holding back my laughter.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“I’m just asking out of curiosity.”

“Eii, do I look like a child who can’t tell between what I have to do and what I can’t do?”

“Are you sure about it?”

“Of course.”

“I asked you a useless question.”

I responded with a smile at his words.

Sir Shubart gave details of what had happened that day. Although it was strange to hear it through my ears again after mitting it by myself.

Sir Shubart seemed to have suffered quite a bit in Savoy. The bridge collapsed, and he had no choice but to go back, but he brought quite many wagons. He had to repackage his luggage, even though it was already the third time, without being noticed. He used the wagon alone.

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

“But you can take a rest for a while, so take it easy.”

“Take a rest?”

“Yes. I need to check something for a moment. There’s a rumor that the crowning ceremony for the crown prince will be held soon. There’s a saying that it would be held after the fox hunting is over. Anyway, you have to be prepared.”

“Ah…”

“And, as well as checking the surroundings, I changed many things.”

It was as expected. Sir Shubart was originally a person with many doubts, but it must have been strange for him that the plans kept going wrong. Perhaps he was planning to find the spy while changing his subordinates, but I was a little worried that I might have left a trace.

“That means Sir Shubart can’t even rest.”

“I’m old, so I can rest all at once.”

Sir Shubart showed his teeth and smiled brightly. I felt like he was really a good person if he didn’t do anything related to my mother. Even so, when he planned his work, he even became cruel enough to sacrifice someone, just like the carriage accident.

“Still, get some rest. What’s the use of this if you’re sick? We’re on the way to being happy together.”

“Are you worrying about me?”

“Maybe it’s the other way around. I’m just worried.”

Then Sir Shubart’s face softened like a snowman melting in the spring sun.

“Because Bella worries about me, I will make sure to take the day off tomorrow.”

“It means you’re going to work today.”

“Lu made me run some errands today, so I should go again now.”

“I see. Do I really only need to take a rest?”

“Yes, you can rest well.”

After Sir Shubart left, I returned and lay down on the sofa. With my dangled legs half-crossed, I was lost in thought.

“I have to decide. Make a decision.”

I was afraid my intuition would be right because it was better than I thought. What if my mother wasn’t my stepmother? If she was really my real mother, what should I do then? It didn’t matter what kind of clan my mother belonged to. It was the question of whether I could withstand the shock.

I really loved my mother, but I endured more because she wasn’t my biological mother. Even when she made me do recklessly or forced me to do things I didn’t want to do, I endured because she wasn’t my real mother. And I was a child that was brought just for my mother’s goal. It was both a shield and a means to make me accept my condition.

But if that disappeared, what should I think of my mother? What happened to my goal of buying time to stop her and change her mind so that the three of us could live happily? Thousands of thoughts ran through my head from time to time.

About an hour after I lay down on the sofa and thought about it, I got back up and headed to my room. I was going to call Nina to work, but I remembered Sir Shubart’s words about many things would change. When he was busy weeding out spies here and there, it would be better not to leave anything to be suspicious of, even if it was cumbersome.

* * *

It was the first time I arrived in Iskar during the day because I would always e late at night or dawn. Now, perhaps because I wandered around so much, I entered through their secret passage, and Shale’s subordinates didn’t show any signs of surprise. Rather, they greeted me and passed by like an employee who worked together.

“Hey, Mook, is Shale here?”

I caught the subordinate who was greeting me and asked. He was particularly engraved on my mind among the subordinates I met because his face and arms were full of scars. According to Shale, he was a fairly trustworthy person among his subordinates.

“Sir Iskar is outside right now. Is there something urgent?”

“No, that’s not it. I was wondering if he was here. If not, I just want to leave a message for Shale. Is that possible?”

Then he smiled and nodded gladly.