A Shadow Cast in Paradise - Chapter 32

She grew up in a small southern town of Marlhein, and thanks to her mother working as a nanny for a noble family, she is well-versed in etiquette and highly educated.

She is quiet and dislikes talking about herself.

That was all the information about Riana.

Moreover, all that information either came from Riana Serpens herself or was rumors made up by someone.

No one who grew up with her or people from the village she lived in could be found.

Eclas’s eyes narrowed as he listened to Baron’s report.

“The period when it’s difficult to trace her exact whereabouts is roughly……”

“From 7-8 years ago.”

Baron’s ongoing report was interrupted by Eclas’s words.

“……That’s correct.”

The corners of the Viscount’s red lips curved upwards.

Baron fell silent before Eclas, who had quickly predicted the content.

It seemed the Viscount had some inkling about something.

Eclas pondered for a moment, then spoke again.

“……By the way, have I ever told you about my first love?”

At this uncharacteristically sentimental question from Eclas, his attendant Baron blinked.

“I believe you said she was beautiful…… and pitiful.”

Baron recalled words Eclas had once casually dropped, as if joking.

Just once, while drinking, he had offhandedly mentioned his first love story.

It was said so lightly that it was hard to tell if it was real or if he was indirectly expressing some other intention.

But in any case, it was rare for Eclas Bitel to reveal personal feelings, so he remembered that story precisely.

Eclas confirmed Baron’s memory and chuckled.

“Yes. That’s right. A beautiful and pitiful woman.”

It seems that woman is still the same.

Still beautiful, and still pitiful.

“Good work. You may go.”

Eclas dismissed Baron as if there was nothing more to hear.

Even after Baron left, he spent a long time reading through the documents about Riana.

‘Yes…… My eyes couldn’t have been wrong.’

A smirk played on his red lips.

Eclas Bitel could proudly say he had the best memory for people in the empire.

He could even recognize an imperial guard he had briefly passed years ago when seeing him at the border.

He remembered details others forgot, and clearly memorized people’s habits and characteristics.

That was Eclas Bitel’s weapon.

He had once recognized a marquis who entered a gambling den in disguise and made a deal to keep his secret in exchange for a favor, and he had also caught and used a servant from another merchant group who had infiltrated his group as the youngest worker.

‘This time I thought maybe, but to think it was real……’

He gazed intently at the document marked “Riana Serpens” and fell into thought.

He had thought there was no way a dead person could be alive.

He had tried to convince himself it must be someone who looked similar, that he was just projecting and recalling her unnecessarily.

But his eyes had been right.

How Louise Ideana had changed her name to Riana Serpens and was living, even the birds couldn’t find out.

But, he was certain.

That his eyes had not been wrong.

Lost in thought, he slowly rolled a gold coin on the table and muttered.

“How should I roll this to make a profit……?”

Very regrettably, he was a merchant.

He makes maximum profit with minimum cost.

To him, even first love was no different from a coin to be obtained and rolled.

Eclas leisurely threw his gaze out the window.

In the distance, he could see Sched Lester with his knights.

It seemed this business would be quite a big game.

“……A bet?”

Sched, who was reading documents, slightly raised his eyes to look at Eclas sitting across from him.

Eclas nodded while leisurely sipping his black tea.

“Yes. It seems Paradel has been quite lively lately?”

Eclas sat with his legs crossed and raised the corners of his mouth gently.

He was a person with keen ears, and could quickly notice events happening in this mansion.

“Have you been paying attention even to the maids’ bets?”

“It depends on the content of the bet.”

At that, Sched’s eyes narrowed.

For Eclas to come all the way here and bring up the maids’ talk meant there was something to it.

“……What was the bet about?”

Sched turned his gaze back to the documents, pretending it wasn’t a big deal.

“They bet three months’ salary on whether Miss Riana Serpens would get into the Duke’s bed first, or leave the Lester family first.”

At Eclas’s words, Sched Lester’s fingertips, which were turning the documents, stopped.

“Riana Serpens?”

At that name alone, his indifferent head lifted.

Eclas observed the Duke’s reaction and nodded.

“Two maids started it, but it seems others joined in one by one and the stakes grew larger.”

At Eclas’s words, Sched fiddled with the corner of the document and fell into thought for a moment.

Sched, who came from a slave background, knew how important such seemingly meaningless gossip and bets were to the daily lives of those below.

Without such peripheral entertainment, they wouldn’t be able to endure the routine days that rolled on like a hamster wheel and the exhausting daily life.

Although it was irritating that they were making such vulgar bets about the Duke, if he caught everyone who whispered about their superiors, there would be no servants left.

Therefore, Sched did not intend to react to every little trivial matter.

However.

“Why Riana Serpens of all people?”

The content of the bet bothered him a little.

“You’re not asking because you don’t know, are you?”

Eclas asked leisurely in return.

Sched’s lips pressed tightly together.

He knew too. That Riana was out of place among the Lester household staff.

He wasn’t so foolish as to not even notice such an atmosphere.

And the cause was probably…..

“Eclas. Do I appear to be favoring Riana Serpens?”

Sched, who had been pondering the bet, asked.

At that, Eclas’s eyes crinkled in a strange way.

“Are you asking because you truly don’t know?”

“……I don’t think I’ve favored her.”

Sched answered seriously while resting his chin on his hand.

At those words, Eclas momentarily wore a dumbfounded expression and couldn’t continue speaking.

“You say you haven’t favored her……?”

“That’s right.”

Although Eclas seemed not to believe it, Sched was firm.

Clearly, the relationship between Riana and Sched was by no means good.

Sched recalled the woman who always had a dark face in front of him.

She shrank as if being punished just by being near him.

Sometimes, she struggled to suppress her emotions with eyes that looked like tears would burst forth at any moment.

It was irritating how she stubbornly bit those red lips while enduring.

Sched had never seen a smile spread across her lips.

In front of him, Riana Serpens does not smile.

The two were not close enough to smile while facing each other, nor were they close enough to reveal the tears hidden deep in their hearts.

He wanted to grasp Riana, who was desperately trying to escape from his grip, in his hand until she suffocated to death.

But love?

Could such a lofty word be attached to this kind of relationship?

People carelessly skimmed over the surface appearance of the two’s relationship and attached whatever name they pleased to it.

But Eclas’s thoughts seemed to be different.

“I remember Your Grace personally brought Miss Riana here.”

Eclas pointed out Sched’s exceptional move of bringing a maid himself, which he had never done before.

“I’ve said this, but she’s not a woman, just a maid.”

Sched turned his eyes back to the document he was reading, ignoring the annoying nitpicking.

Bringing Riana was absolutely not for the reason others thought.

It had been 8 years. The time hatred towards Ideana had accumulated and fermented.

So how could he just leave her be?

“I heard you personally treated Miss Riana’s wound when she was bitten by a dog.”

“There’s a misunderstanding.”

The corner of Sched’s mouth twisted as if it was ridiculous.

He asserted that at that time, Sched was rude if anything, and certainly did not treat Riana gently.

Those who think that was love must clearly have something wrong with their minds.

“It seems even the dismissal of head maid Caroline was all because of that woman, wasn’t it?”

“That was just punishment for Caroline’s wrongdoing.”

He had never given the head maid permission to hit her subordinates.

If it had been someone other than Riana that Caroline was slapping that day, he would have intervened.

As someone who came from a slave background, he despised those who mistreated their subordinates.

At Sched’s words, Eclas spun the gold coin he was holding on the table, as if finding it interesting.

“What about going all the way to Brillon and setting fire to the port to bring her back?”

The gold coin flashed sharply and spun steadily at the tip of his finger.

Sched frowned as if Eclas’s game was irritating and raised his head.

“It was to catch a fugitive.”

It was the same as tracking down a criminal to catch them.

It was only natural to pursue a criminal who had committed a serious crime and fled by any means necessary.

To Sched, Riana was such an existence.

If he let her go, it would mean setting her free for life, so he had no choice but to chase her desperately.

“That makes sense.”

Eclas nodded at Sched’s words and deftly caught the spinning gold coin on the table.

Sched was asserting that he absolutely did not love Riana.

Eclas picked up the teacup filled with crimson tea once again.

It was a grateful thing for him.

‘I’ve clearly shown as much courtesy as I should, Sched Lester.’

If you insist on claiming that even after all this.

Eclas swallowed the warm and bitter tea.

Opportunities to deal with the foolish Sched Lester were rare, so as a merchant, he couldn’t just let such a golden chance slip by.

Having finished his thoughts, Eclas quietly set down his teacup and gently curved his eyes.

“Then what do you think the result of the maids’ bet will be, Your Grace?”

He subtly extended his hand holding the gold coin.

Heads or tails of the coin.

Which side would come up depended on his hand.