“Hubert? You mean that guy who only has a lot of money?”
“Apart from the touching of the opera, Laslo is a very badass.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“He tested love. Even though she knew what Odelette’s situation was, he did not reveal his identity because he was testing her love. Son of a bitch.”
Killian seemed shocked by her swear words. But she had no intention of canceling the swear words. Killian managed to calm his shock and asked her again.
“But if you really love, can’t you be swayed by the lure of money?”
“Killian. Have you ever been without money?”
“…Well, no.”
“To say it’s just money… There are so many things that can be solved with money.”
She knew that all too well. So she could understand Odelette, but she couldn’t forgive Laslo.
“Furthermore, the existence of the family was at stake in Odelette’s marriage. There were circumstances in which she could not give up everything, clinging only to her own love.”
“But…”
“You know the pain all too well, Killian.”
Killian froze at her answer. She quickly turned away, wondering if she had dug up his wounds for no reason.
“In the play, Hubert was treated as a very mean person, but in fact, Hubert is the man who loved Odelette.”
“Didn’t he extort money from Odelette, who was already passionately in love with another man?”
“Is it so? He knew that Odelette loved another man. Even so, he worked hard to get Odelette. If he was that rich, he could have married a woman as beautiful as Odelette while loving himself.”
“That…”
“Perhaps, if Laslo hadn’t reappeared as if to take revenge on Odelette, Hubert and Odelette could have lived a normal, happy couple.”
For the first time, Killian nodded his head.
“So, it was very stupid for Odelette to commit suicide at the end. To be honest, it’s not very likely. I would bet my life the author of this play would be a man.”
“You have a tendency to risk your own life too much, but that’s right. The author of the play is a man.”
“So he must have thought that the woman would regret it and kill herself. But she’s a woman, and she’s much stronger than you think.”
She grinned, but Killian just stared at her and didn’t smile.
‘Was I too mean?’
She just felt sick to my stomach. Maybe it was a mistake to touch Killian’s wound earlier. At a time like this, she had to ventilate the atmosphere quickly.
“Shall we go out now?”
“…yes.”
They walked out of the opera house side by side with a feeling of excitement. She felt like a couple who went out on a normal date, and it tickled her stomach. Killian stepped out into the street where the sun had not yet set and turned to her and asked.
“Should we go back to the mansion or take a look around the streets?”
Uh? Looks like he was taking her with him!
“I want to see the streets!”
“I bet you haven’t seen the streets before, have you?”
“It’s not… It’s my first time with you.”
He then reached out his arm to her with a slightly relaxed face. She swallowed and carefully placed her hand on his arm. Her heart skipped a beat as she felt her hard forearm beneath the fabric. Everything on the street where the evening sun had fallen seemed relaxed. She was walking the street of Piroche that was close to the street of Darsus, where Anna and she went last time, but unlike the street of Darsus, it was a place where commoners and nobles were mixed.
“Look over there! What the hell is that?”
An old man was on a food stall, wrapping something sticky around a stick and handing it to the child.
“It’s candy.”
“Candy?”
“They say it’s a candy manufacturing method brought in from abroad, but they say it’s popular these days.”
She suddenly remembered seeing it on TV in her previous life. It was very similar to the chewy candy made on the streets of Türkiye.
‘The writer must have used Turkish candy.’
When she stared blankly at it, Killian smiled and led her in front of him.
“Make me one.”
“Do you want to eat, my lady?”
“Yes.”
“Then I will make you a very beautiful one!”
The candy seller rolled multicolored molten taffy-like sticks around a thin wooden stick, quickly made a lollipop, stuck it in the powdered sugar powder, took it out, and handed it to her.
“It’s 50 sena!”
“Here.”
“Oh, hey, sorry. Because I don’t have enough change… If you wait a moment, I will change it right away.”
The merchant was taken aback when Killian handed over the 1,000 sena bill. Well, she didn’t think many people even take out bills to buy street candy.
“Change is done.”
“Yes?”
Killian put his arms around her shoulders and started walking, leaving the surprised candy seller behind. She laughed to herself because it was funny to try Turkish candy that she had never tasted in her previous life in this strange world.
“Is it that delicious?”
“Yes, it is delicious. It’s very sweet, but it also tastes sour.”
The 50 sena candy tasted like melted sugar. However, the fact that it was Killian who bought it might have made it taste even more delicious.
While she was sucking on a long lollipop, Killian stared at her and swallowed for some reason.
“Seeing me eat makes you want to eat, right?”
She asked with a half-teasing smile, and he nodded slowly and whispered.
“I want to eat. But it’s not like I want to eat candy.”
“Yes? Then what…”
She didn’t quite understand what he was saying, so she looked back, and Killian looked at her straight in the eyes, swallowed again, and shook his head.
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s bland.”
He seemed embarrassed to say he wanted candy. At that time, the voice of a young child was heard.
“Buy flowers! Buy flowers!”
A little girl was selling a few flowers in a small basket. It was already half withered, so no one paid attention to her. But the child would definitely hang around here until nightfall if she didn’t sell all those flowers.
“Please lend me some money.”
When she came out, she forgot to bring her money, so she tried to borrow some money from Killian, but instead of lending her the money, Killian approached the child and bought all the remaining flowers.
“Thank you, sir!”
The child, who must have been seven years old, bowed to Killian several times before running away lightly with an empty basket. And Killian gathered the wilted flowers he bought from the girl, tied them together with his own handkerchief, and handed them to her.
“There is no lady who buys flowers herself when a man is by her side.”
“It sounds like old advice, but I’ll take it now.”
She picked up the small bouquet he was holding out and put her nose to it. The wild flowers, which must have been picked in the mountains or fields, gave off a scent closer to that of grass, but the simple scent permeated her heart more. Come to think of it, it was the first time she had ever received flowers from someone in her past and present life. Her parents in her previous life believed that it would be better to use that money to buy flowers than to spend money on a bouquet of flowers that she couldn’t even eat.
However, when she received the bouquet herself, she was excited as if her heart was floating.
“Receiving flowers like this… It’s my first time.”
“You must have received such withered flowers for the first time. If it had been in the morning, the flowers would have been a bit fresher, but it’s a pity.”
“No. It’s the first time I receive a bouquet itself.”
“…yes?”
She was smiling single-singly, looking at the flowers, but she felt something strange next to her, so she turned her head and saw Killian looking at her with a very strange face.
“What’s wrong, Killian?”
“Flowers… is this your first time receiving them?”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t the men who courted you take the trouble to send you flowers?”
“Ha… that… I didn’t get them. There may be someone who sent them but…”
“What else…”
It was a little shocking to her that there was no scene in Edith’s memory of receiving flowers directly. She had many men who sent her bouquets of flowers in return for her courtship. The problem was that all the bouquets were used to decorate Countess Rigelhoff’s room or Shane’s room or the mansion itself.
‘Why the hell did he scold Edith so much? Wasn’t she not his real daughter?’
However, she couldn’t openly say that because she hadn’t yet met the third-level exception condition.
‘I shouldn’t have told him that this was the first time I received flowers.’
She turned Killian’s attention to the juggling clown.
“Oh! Look over there, Killian!”
It was something that she pointed out to keep Killian from digging deep into her problems, but it was amazing how he juggled in all sorts of poses and didn’t drop a ball thrown into the air. She grabbed Killian by the sleeve and moved closer to the clown. There were many other spectators besides them, but few threw coins into the hat in front of the clown. Commoner children would have no money, and nobles passing by would find it rude to sit among commoners and watch clowns.
“Killian. No coins, coins?”
“I don’t have.”
“I’m sorry to see this and just pass by…”
“Of course that’s not polite.”
Then he took out another bill and handed it to her. Again, it was a 1,000 sena bill.
How do you feel?