Love Me Just Once - Chapter 61

Therefore, Ophelia had no plans to embrace Siana.

If Siana couldn’t endure, she would be abandoned without mercy.

There was no hesitation or guilt. She hadn’t brought Siana into the castle out of charity in the first place.

She may have been different in the past, but now she was the type to calculate even in her impulses. She instinctively measured and weighed everything. This fact didn’t change even when faced with a pitiful and weak person.

In that sense, Siana Neville was accepted because she had value to be used. That was all there was to it.

Having finished her thoughts, Ophelia spoke to Idren who was looking down at her.

“Tomorrow, I’m going to send Siana back.”

The next day, Ophelia sent Siana back to the Neville family as she had said. It happened before noon.

Idren heard the news through Salode. The man, who had come to deliver the inaugural gifts for the governor that had arrived for Ophelia, added one more thing after that.

“Among the inaugural gifts for Her Majesty the Queen, there was one from the Captain.”

The Captain was a shorthand term referring to the leader of the pirate group.

Salode’s expression was subtle as he said this. Ever since learning that Brinwell’s ships had been plundered by pirate ships, Salode often wore such an expression. It seemed to complicate his feelings that they had ended up joining hands with pirates by chance.

“Is that what Her Majesty thought?”

To the man who questioned in disbelief, Idren couldn’t say that Ophelia had taken him to the pirate’s den.

It was a known fact that Ophelia had never left Reden except for the conference. How could he explain why she knew about the pirates’ land base?

In the end, Idren let the aide look at him with curious eyes. It seemed better than having Ophelia receive such looks.

“I’m not sure why she did that when she used to stay up late trying to drive out pirates from Galisa, but Her Majesty is wise, so she must have made the right choice.”

Salode left such a long-winded remark to him who didn’t give a proper explanation. From Idren’s standpoint, it was an unfair comment.

As Salode said, his only crime was diligently clearing the land. But what could he do when the woman who became the owner of that land decided to associate with pirates?

Of course, regardless of how it happened, the result was that their most concerning problem had been resolved, so Salode also expressed joy about that.

“Still, it seems like a good thing that we eliminated Brinwell’s port docking rights that way. Since pirates have no affiliated country, there’s no one else to blame, right?”

When the man, who was stingy with most positive emotional expressions including praise, said that, Idren almost bragged about Ophelia. He wanted to let him know that it was his wife who had accomplished that idea.

Idren, who briefly recalled how hard he had to restrain that impulse, stood up from his seat.

“I’ll go see Ophelia.”

If a pirate had sent her a gift, it must surely be Starlet.

Idren still didn’t know how Ophelia and Starlet knew each other. He had momentarily forgotten to ask in detail due to their busy schedule afterwards.

While checking what Starlet had sent, he would also ask how they had come to know each other in their past life. With that thought, as Idren was adjusting his clothes, Salode said,

“I also need to go now as it’s time for Dahel’s lesson.”

Dahel was the name of the boy who was said to have been Ophelia’s financial advisor in his past life.

The boy, who had clearly looked youthful when first seen, had grown quite a bit during his time with the knighthood. Even Ophelia, who remembered him most clearly as a young man, was somewhat surprised.

“Do boys usually grow that fast?”

Idren smiled slightly, recalling the image of his wife whispering to him in bewilderment. As he was adjusting the collar near his neck, he caught sight of Salode gathering books to give to his student.

“Is the lesson going well?”

“Yes. Dahel is a smart child.”

Idren nodded at the expected answer. That’s good to hear.

To be honest, when he entrusted Dahel to Salode, he had been a bit worried. Ophelia had said Dahel was smart, but objectively speaking, Dahel seemed a bit young to take on an important position like financial advisor.

Therefore, he had even thought about telling Ophelia to find someone else if teaching him didn’t work out.

However, contrary to such concerns, Dahel was following Salode’s lessons very well. Even Salode, who was stingy with praise, said he was intelligent.

Idren asked the financial advisor who was waiting for him to leave first.

“Do you happen to know anyone around who has a lot, is moderately extravagant, and gets along well with anyone?”

“…I’m not sure what you mean by that, if I may say so.”

“Well, I just need to find a few people like that.”

Since returning from patrolling Galisa, Idren had been looking for people who fit what Ophelia had said, but there were no such people around him.

Those who had enough and were without problems enough to introduce to Ophelia were not extravagant to begin with.

Among them, if he picked out those with somewhat relaxed personalities and then narrowed it down to those who got along well with anyone, the number became even smaller. People with good social skills were inherently rare anywhere.

How did Ophelia manage to befriend people who had all three qualities in her past life?

As he passed through the door that Salode had opened in advance, Idren felt the need to learn about her socializing methods.

It was strange that she had made friends with people he couldn’t find even if he looked hard, while not even going outside of Aglante.

Salode, who had followed him out of the office, said as he closed the door,

“Hazel has a lot and gets along well with people, but I’m not sure about someone who’s extravagant on top of that.”

Idren arrived just as she was checking the gift from Starlet. Ophelia, who was sitting on the sofa opening Starlet’s gift box, called out to the man who had appeared at such an opportune moment.

“Come here and take a look at this.”

Unlike in her previous life, Starlet had sent her two boxes this time, and the large first box contained the head of a statue. The statue of a woman with pinkish blonde hair and closed eyes was a bit eerie and smelled fishy.

Idren looked at it and immediately said,

“It’s the head of a Brinwell ship’s figurehead.”

“How can you tell that at first glance?”

To which Idren replied, as if it wasn’t difficult at all, stroking the hair that was carved as if clinging to the statue’s cheek,

“This shade of blonde is called Brinwell blonde. Brinwell royalty are often born with this hair color. Do you remember Gilord Neville’s hair color?”

“Come to think of it, that man also had this kind of blonde hair.”

“That’s right. It’s proof of mixed Brinwell royal blood. All Brinwell national ships have figureheads of women with such blonde hair.”

So, this is like evidence that the job was well done, Idren added as he scanned the room. Ophelia noticed that he was checking if there was anyone else in the room besides them.

“I sent all the servants out before opening the gift from Starlet.”

“Well done. It’s true that I’ve assigned vetted people to you, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful.”

Then Idren asked her as if he had just remembered. By the way, how did you come to know the pirates in your previous life?

As she put the figurehead back in the box, Ophelia briefly pondered whether she should tell him the truth.

She felt that Idren wouldn’t like it if he knew that Starlet had sent her an inaugural gift – although there was no severed statue head at that time – in her previous life as well.

And soon, she realized that he wouldn’t like anything she said as long as it was related to Starlet.

In that case, it was better to just tell the truth. As she opened the slightly smaller box that had come with the box containing the figurehead, Ophelia said,

“In my previous life, when I became the governor of Galisa, Starlet also sent an inaugural gift.”

“An inaugural gift, you say?”

At his raised voice, Ophelia found herself making excuses without realizing it.

“He said he often sent gifts to others as well, not just me.”

It was something she had heard in passing in her previous life. Ophelia looked into the box. Idren nagged at her side. What are you thinking, accepting such things recklessly? You never know what ulterior motives a pirate might have in giving gifts, so don’t do this in the future.

Ophelia responded halfheartedly to his words. I understand.

Inside the box was a blue gemstone that she was familiar with.

Lifting the rather heavy diamond rough, Ophelia picked up the letter that had been lying underneath it. The letter, slightly pressed down by the weight of the stone, was inside an envelope decorated with pretty gold leaf, unlike in her previous life.

She scanned the writing on the outside of the envelope with her eyes.

−To Her Majesty the Queen, whose hands must be beautiful inside her gloves, hoping to kiss them directly someday, from a friend on the sea.

Although this phrase was certainly not present in her previous life, the oily words were extremely characteristic of Starlet.

Frowning at the nauseating sweetness, Ophelia opened the envelope.

Idren, who had been wearing a displeased expression ever since she mentioned Starlet, also came closer from behind and read the letter with her.

When both their eyes reached the last paragraph of the not-so-long letter, Idren suddenly furrowed his brow. He asked in a sharp voice,

“Is this insolent fellow inviting you to where he is?”