At the sound of being asked if she couldn’t quit, Yuriel smiled as if soothing a child.

“Why? You said that young master is a good person.”

“That’s just what people are saying.”

“Did that young master do anything strange to you?”

Seeing Yuriel venting her anger as if it were her own problem, Hael felt a small relief inside.

“I’m saying this because you’re having a hard time.”

Hael omitted the following words, ‘You cry every time you come back from there.’

Lest he might scratch Yuriel’s firm pride.

Because he knew well that if he did, Yuriel would not meet him.

Still, unable to hold back, he asked again.

“Is there a reason you must go there?”

Yuriel said with a slightly hurt pride expression.

“I need to get medicine for mother.”

Only then did Hael recall Aunt Jane, who was frail and thin as a branch, looking just like Yuriel.

That princess-like aura that was hard to believe was from someone in this village.

She still maintained that appearance.

But medicine? Was she that ill inside?

“What kind of medicine?”

Yuriel did not reveal the name of that medicine in the end.

Several days passed after that.

Meanwhile, Hael was able to find out Aunt Jane’s illness and the doctor who diagnosed it.

What Yuriel was looking for was a shiny, egg-like copper-colored medicine.

It was quite expensive because it could only be obtained through a distant foreign merchant group.

At least from Yuriel’s perspective.

Of course, it wasn’t such a difficult task for Hael.

Originally.

But for some reason, after experiencing some troubles, the attempts to obtain the medicine fell through several times.

Even the merchant group that charged double the price couldn’t hand over the medicine to Hael.

As if God was carrying out some interference operation.

It was a strange thing.

Even those who boasted they could get it often changed their words in just a day.

As Hael headed to the clinic as usual, he spotted the butler in formal attire he had seen coming and going from the lord’s mansion.

It was unexpected to see him, who would be disgusted at places commoners frequented, coming out of a clinic mainly used by commoners.

Was it an illusion that his eyes seemed to tremble when he encountered him?

It must be an illusion. How could that person have any bad entanglement with him?

Dismissing the incident as insignificant, Hael was fortunate enough to obtain the medicine that day.

The butler’s back flashed through Hael’s mind once again, but he shook his head to shake off the uneasiness.

Where else could there be a day as good as today? He didn’t want to let such negative thoughts intrude on his good fortune.

Over the past several days, how difficult it had been every time he saw Yuriel’s gloomy face.

Now, thinking that he wouldn’t have to see that face anymore, Hael’s steps were excited.

Normally she wouldn’t accept such a gift, but since it was for her aunt’s sake, Yuriel would probably accept it this time.

So Hael held out the medicine in front of Yuriel.

“Here.”

“What’s this?”

Yuriel’s hand opened the case.

As it was the medicine she had been longing for so long, she recognized its identity as soon as she saw it.

The hand holding the sandalwood box trembled aimlessly.

‘I didn’t even tell him what kind of medicine it was…’

Hael was always one step ahead of her like this.

Several expressions crossed Yuriel’s face as she looked at the box containing the medicine.

It was ridiculous to think that she still had some pride left to keep, when she thought of herself as a materialistic person who would do anything for money.

If this medicine had been for herself, Yuriel wouldn’t have accepted it.

But the owner of this medicine was none other than her mother.

As Hael had expected, it was for Jane, Yuriel’s most precious person, and therefore her greatest weakness.

Her lips, which had been pressed together to hide her complicated feelings, finally opened after trembling for a while.

“Thank you.”

A smile spread across Hael’s face as if painted.

However, the next words were something Hael never wanted to hear.

“I’ll definitely pay you back for the medicine.”

Just as he was about to say not to say such things between us, Yuriel seemed to read Hael’s thoughts and moved away.

While maintaining a strong fence between herself and him.

Despite her heavy steps, her disappearing figure, as if running away, looked like a fluttering butterfly.

Watching that sight, Hael grumbled inwardly.

We’ve known each other for such a long time.

There’s no need to run away like that.

The inevitably rising disappointment lingered on the tip of Hael’s tongue.

El always tried to repay what she received from him.

As if it were a relationship that could be cut off at any moment if she made up her mind.

The letter that never received a reply.

Yuriel, who rarely spoke of the reason while suppressing the moisture in her eyes despite being full of tears…

All of that raised a faint uneasiness in Hael’s heart.

Well, such feelings were always unnecessary things.

El was like that with everyone, so it must be the same with him.

Someday, wouldn’t El understand his feelings? No, in fact, he didn’t even hope for her to understand.

Just being by her side would be enough, he wouldn’t want anything more.

Still, if there was one person in El’s heart someday, it would probably be him.

The one who had been watching by her side for so long.

With that, Hael purified his bitter tongue.

Hael thus let the departing butterfly flutter away.

Knowing that she would run away even if he tried to intervene.

Hael’s deep sigh filled the space.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Last night, two people met at the intersection of the shop street and the stall area, talked for about 10 minutes before parting, and Yuriel, that girl…”

“Lady Yuriel.”

Cassian’s posture showed no disturbance as he slowly turned the pages, correcting Yuriel’s title.

The butler inwardly sighed at the unwelcome title of ‘lady’.

But what could he do?

Ever since the day it was discovered that that girl wasn’t a lady of the Velvet family, he had been practically leashed by this young master.

Ever since Yuriel, that girl, and Hael’s meeting was discovered by that young master’s eyes, he had been in charge of this unsettling investigation.

The butler, intending to quickly finish this task and leave, swiftly read through the report.

“…In the afternoon, Hael delivered medicine to the lady.”

Cassian’s eyebrow, which had been listening quietly, twitched.

The nameless butler stared quizzically at Cassian, who was emitting a terrifying aura at strange points even today.

Well, if we’re talking about strange things, it was strange from the beginning to order following Hael.

To be precise, at first he was ordered to follow that girl, and after learning about her meeting with Hael, the order changed to follow that boy.

After receiving the report that Hael was obtaining medicine for Yuriel’s mother, that intense interest shifted to that medicine.

The young master even gave orders to prevent the medicine from getting into Hael’s hands.

Although the intention was unknown, it was certainly a bizarre order.

‘Is he planning to make a companion for the journey to the underworld?’

The butler felt a faint sense of guilt while carrying out this task, but couldn’t stop.

He was not a person who would ruin his future with clumsy good intentions.

At the end of several days that passed like that.

The young master separately called the attending physician and confirmed that the medicine would not be effective for Yuriel’s birth mother.

Only then did the young master give the order.

With a smile never seen before on his lips.

[That medicine, let it go.] [Pardon? Then Hael will take it.] [That’s why. Let it be so.]

Tap, tap, the snow-white fingertip tapping the book page at the same speed as the second hand of a clock was sharp.

Cassian’s thoughts deepened as much as that explosive sound.

Yuriel.

That clear-faced girl, whose name alone was enough to make one itch, was probably stupidly believing that quack’s words without doubt.

It’s vividly imagined in his mind how she must have been running around with that slightly tanned face.

In the reports of the same context he had heard so many times it was almost tiresome, she worked every day without rest.

Truly, without resting for a single day. Trying to obtain that false medicine.

The faces that trembled before him pass by in turn.

Even the gazes that glared at him, tinged with humiliation, when he raised the response to touch them as they were unresponsive like dry old trees.

Still, they couldn’t say they would quit. All because of that false medicine.

Thanks to that, he was able to hold onto quite an interesting toy for a long time.

Should he be grateful to that damned fraud?

A semblance of a smile briefly flashed across Cassian’s dry face.

The butler felt a chill seeing that expression.

Yuriel, who holds that medicine, will soon fall from a world of high hopes. Painfully and bitingly.

Yet the one who ordered such a cruel thing is smiling as if nothing’s wrong.

Of course, having lived long as a butler, he had often seen the whims and madness of the high-born.

But it was the first time he had seen such pure malice right before his eyes.

The uniquely glinting red eyes were shadowed, looking like blood, making that feeling even more vivid.

The ash-stained gaze looked as if watching a toy being overturned.

‘Did that girl make a big mistake in front of the young master?’

If that were the case…

No. With that young master’s temperament, if such a thing had happened, he would have driven that girl away rather than keeping her close.

He’s probably just punishing that girl who deceived him by pretending to be a lady of a noble family.

Even so, to have such an expression while clearly knowing the condition of that girl’s mother.

The butler shook his head.

Well, it wasn’t unusual for the high-born to step on their subordinates like insects if they were displeased.

Moreover, there was no reason for the young master to show mercy to someone who had deceived him.

It was obvious that he would feel no sympathy or pity for a terminally ill patient in the same situation.

Well, whatever thoughts this young master had were not the butler’s concern.

Although that girl, whose fate is uncertain, is quite pitiful.

At first, her appearance was unbearable, but she turned out to be quite diligent and useful.

After she came, the young master stopped his mischief, and the intervals between his occasional bouts of pain grew longer.

So I thought he had forgiven her completely for lying about being nobility.

Hael’s workload increased harshly just because he met Yuriel.

The young master received reports on Yuriel’s whereabouts without missing a single one.

Recalling those scenes, it was clear that the young master had a deep interest in Yuriel, that girl.

When he even ordered me to follow that girl, I was certain it had already developed into affection.

But was this old man’s judgment wrong?

Can one pursue a person so relentlessly just to torment them?

No, that can’t be. It must be some kind of twisted desire.

High nobles usually have a twisted sense of possession.

They were a race that lived in a world where they could have anything they wanted, and had to have it.

So if one got caught in that capture net, there was no escape.

Thinking about it, that girl was excessively pretty. She even had quite the feel of a foreign princess, resembling her birth mother.

A beauty of lowly birth.

Is she destined for a fate as tragic as her birth mother’s?

The butler inwardly clicked his tongue, but outwardly showed no reaction. As always.

Meanwhile, Cassian’s sharp tapping gradually came to a stop.

Soon, his clear face returned with a slightly more twisted smile blooming on it.

“The real medicine. Did you find out about it?”