Edward came out driving a new car instead of the broken one.

This time, too, he chose black. Black for himself, navy for his wife. It was sort of a rule for him.

Jeffrey grimaced as if appalled when the car, which had been a mess just yesterday, returned clean and pristine.

“Wow, a new car. As expected, it’s different when you’re the boss.”

Bang. Edward, who had closed the door and gotten out, dismissed his nonsense.

“You could do it too.”

“I’d have to leave work to drive around. Please let me leave work.”

“If you’re upset, get married too.”

“Ah, I need to leave work to meet women!”

Jeffrey, frustrated from the morning, shouted. Edward roughly covered one ear with his hand and waved the other hand as he entered the laboratory first.

Panting as he followed, Jeffrey spoke with the intention of upsetting him.

“So, did you have a good time at that king’s something-or-other party?”

It was predictable. With all the karma Edward had accumulated, there was no way it could have been purely enjoyable to try something now.

Sure enough, Edward scrunched up his face as much as Jeffrey and said.

“Shut up.”

Satisfied with that answer, Jeffrey sat down with a grin. But then.

“Hey, Jeffrey.”

“Yes.”

“You’ve… worked hard all this time.”

“…Pardon?”

His boss had uttered unbelievable words. Jeffrey, thinking his ears had finally gone bad from excessive work, asked.

“I think I just heard something strange, boss.”

“…”

“You just said I worked hard. To me, that I worked hard. I heard such words, but it’s a misunderstanding, right?”

Edward maintained a stubborn silence, turning his head away from him.

“Haha, right. I guess my ears have finally lost their function. Whose fault would that be? The boss who gives excessive work—”

“Shut up! Even when I try to thank you, you talk too much!”

Edward, who had shouted outright, soon added a small curse, unable to overcome his embarrassment.

“Damn it.”

Jeffrey muttered with a dumbfounded face as he looked at him.

“Crazy.”

He hurriedly approached Edward’s side and whispered.

“Boss. Did something happen? Don’t tell me you went to the hospital instead of the party yesterday? Is it terminal?”

“Please, Jeffrey. Shut up.”

“Those kinds of stories are trending these days. Someone diagnosed with a terminal illness. Those stories are so interesting. How heart-wrenching…”

Edward endured Jeffrey’s chatter beside him, thinking only of his wife’s request.

[Please express your gratitude properly to Mr. Curtis for all this time, and talk a bit about future matters.]

As he had answered then, he had certainly expressed his gratitude in his own way.

With that glorious bonus.

But he knew that wasn’t what his wife meant. After countless internal struggles due to embarrassment, he finally put those words in his mouth today.

After all, it was true that thanks to Jeffrey, he had a chance, albeit late, to recover his relationship with Louisa.

“Damn it.”

Edward muttered curses repeatedly out of embarrassment. Then Jeffrey, with mischief all over his face, approached him and said.

“That’s right. I really worked like a dog. So, boss, how about a vacation?”

But that’s that and this is this. Edward cut his proposal off sharply.

“What are you talking about? We have to research next.”

“No, boss…”

Jeffrey, who had been clinging to his side, became deadpan. But Edward was firm.

“Magic stones are a resource with uncertain future mining quantities. Even if there’s enough domestically right now, and we’re willing to risk conflict to absorb large deposits discovered nearby.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Jeffrey reluctantly answered.

“So we need to prepare. We need to think about developing it further and maximizing efficiency. It would be good if we could increase its applications too. That’s how we need to control energy resources.”

“You have big dreams.”

“That’s the level of ambition I started this with.”

He took out a notebook from his desk, scribbled something, and tossed it to Jeffrey. Catching it with a rather nimble hand, Jeffrey asked.

“What’s this?”

“What we need to do from now on.”

He pulled the string and opened the marked page.

“Amplifier? Ah, that kind of approach.”

Jeffrey muttered as he read what was written in the notebook.

“Still, don’t you think it would be better to go a bit slower? It might be good to approach after seeing the reaction to this high-power controller at the exhibition.”

“That would be too late. Our company needs to run so far ahead that others can’t catch up.”

“Boss. I understand, but—”

The Allen couple was just starting to move towards recovery. If this boss got obsessed with work again like before, the future of this couple was predictable.

But the boss’s next words were beyond his expectation.

“That’s why you need to run faster.”

“Excuse me?”

“I might go slowly at times. But you need to go fast.”

“No, are you crazy, boss.”

Jeffrey said with a voice that even let out hiccups from disbelief.

“Am I a carrot that you’re saying such crazy things to? Run faster? What?”

“Words don’t get paid. But you’re getting paid. And did I mention that if you accept this talk, that amount will double?”

“Of course I can run faster. Should I bring you reins, boss?”

Jeffrey sat down obediently.

Edward felt it even more keenly after this party.

He absolutely had to maintain the title of a successful engineer.

The only ones who even cared about him there were businessmen. To exist by Louisa’s side with nothing to his name, he needed to hold onto at least that.

“More importantly, boss. So things got a bit better with the madam?”

“Don’t know.”

Edward blurted out nonchalantly.

“But fortunately, she did smile. I have to hope it gets better gradually.”

Despite his light tone, he shifted in his seat several times, seemingly anxious.

Jeffrey looked at his boss with pity.

It won’t be easy with that temperament. If I don’t help this fool, who will?

He decided to become a well-running horse.

[This is the timeline separator]

It was a day when the autumn sun was particularly bright.

Louisa looked up at the sky, shielding her eyes with the back of her hand.

Even though she was wearing a bonnet and comfortable clothes, the sunlight was warming her entire body.

She cradled a basket with a hoe in one arm and lowered her gaze to the vegetable garden at her feet.

It was time to clear out the crops that had passed their season. Looking at the stems with only the tops remaining, she muttered.

“Maybe I should plant flowers and make a flower bed instead…”

Would her husband understand a little if she did that?

Mrs. Johnson chimed in to her soliloquy, saying, ‘That would be nice too.’

They brought small chairs for the garden and sat down. They had to dig and pull out each plant from the front.

Mrs. Johnson, who sat beside her, said.

“If you have any flowers you like, please tell me. We can bring in some seeds or seedlings.”

“Flowers I like…”

Louisa had a flower that came to mind first at her question.

A flower with pure white blossoms as lush as roses but still giving a delicate impression. Lisianthus, which her husband said reminded him of her.

Louisa suddenly recalled a memory.

“By the way, Agatha, I wonder if you remember there was a large canvas when we first came to this house.”

“Ah… You mean the canvas you wanted to hang in the reception room?”

“Yes. That one. I wanted to ask if you know where it might be.”

“Well… The master said he would put it away himself and told us to leave it, so I’m not sure of its exact location.”

“I see.”

As Louisa showed a slightly disappointed look, Mrs. Johnson observed her expression and said.

“With that size, it probably couldn’t be anywhere except the basement or the outside storage. If you’d like, I could go check?”

“It’s alright. It would be a chore to search for it everywhere. I just asked because it suddenly came to mind, so don’t worry about it.”

Louisa shook her head and focused on her mechanical hand movements.

But Mrs. Johnson seemed unable to shake off the talk about the canvas right away. She glanced up and asked.

“Madam. Perhaps you want to have the painting out in the reception room…”

“No. I really just asked because it suddenly came to mind. I spoke unnecessarily.”

At Louisa’s words, Mrs. Johnson bowed her head instead.

“I’m sorry, madam. The master was so adamant…”

“I know. I’m not blaming you.”

Louisa waved her hands, even putting down the hoe she was holding.

“I’m really not trying to blame you.”

But despite her words, Mrs. Johnson’s head didn’t raise easily.

Louisa smiled bitterly.

She didn’t mean to make her feel guilty.

She just wanted to confirm.

“Agatha. Still, if perhaps… if my husband tells you to throw away that canvas later.”

Louisa moved her reluctant lips.

“Please don’t throw it directly in the trash, but burn it here in the yard like this. I’m asking you.”

“Madam.”

Mrs. Johnson called her with a choked voice, as if overcome with emotion. She cleared her throat with an “ahem” and said.

“Please don’t think such bad thoughts, madam. Even the master wouldn’t go that far. Recently, he’s been considerate in many ways, hasn’t he?”

Louisa felt that too. That’s why she was more afraid.

“I heard that even yesterday, he left in such a hurry but ended up coming to the party venue. Isn’t that a first?”

“It was.”

“More good things will happen in the future. So please don’t think only negatively.”

She said, holding Louisa’s hand tightly. As Louisa nodded, she picked up the hoe again and muttered to herself as if suddenly remembering.

“Come to think of it, I wonder if the matter he went for was resolved well…”

That’s right. Was it resolved well?

Louisa recalled her husband, who only gave irrelevant answers to her questions.

He must have done so because there was no need to tell her. Allen is his name, not hers.

She just gave a bitter smile at the story she couldn’t answer.