Thus Began Your Regret - Chapter 44

The Allen Company office located in Central Square.

Edward anxiously placed his arms on the table and clasped his hands together.

After being lost in thought with his hands clasped for a while, he rubbed his face a few times and then changed his posture to stare blankly into space.

Seeing this, Guilford let out a sigh.

“The eldest son of the Winston family will be here soon. Please focus, sir.”

“…I know.”

Edward replied weakly. He ended up relaxing his entire body and leaning back against the sofa.

Almost lying down on the sofa, he searched his pocket and took out a cigar case.

Click click, Edward lit a match and lit the cigar, exhaling smoke like a deep sigh.

Edward asked while watching the dissipating smoke.

“…If Winston’s terms are good, I suppose we’ll have to make a deal with this guy?”

“That goes without saying.”

“Hah… I don’t like it.”

Edward put the cigar back to his mouth.

“What’s bothering you so much?”

What’s bothering me, he muttered to himself.

My wife said the response to this engine couldn’t be better. But if this takes off, she said she’d leave. She said it would be impossible to go back to the way we were.

But he didn’t want to bring up such talk. He just blurted out something else that was on his mind.

“…It feels like we’re being played by Winston’s media games.”

Unaware of the promise between the Allens, Guilford naturally continued the conversation.

“Ah. There’s certainly that aspect. The shipping companies seem to have given up prematurely because of Winston.”

“Is it not possible to wait a bit longer and try for contact from elsewhere?”

So that my wife can stay by my side for even a few more days.

But contrary to his hopes, Guilford shook his head.

“Still, they are the biggest player. We had them in mind from the beginning. Expecting more than this would mean looking abroad, which isn’t good in a situation where so much attention is focused.”

“Why.”

“Winston is manufacturing warships for our country. If we send something they say they need abroad before our own country, doesn’t that paint a bad picture?”

“Money over country? Everyone lives thinking of their own circumstances before the country’s anyway.”

Edward said incredulously. But Guilford just shrugged as if it couldn’t be helped.

“You’re not wrong, but the article has already come out. If we don’t find some justification, public opinion won’t be good.”

We’re inevitably weak against the media.

At Guilford’s additional comment, Edward let his head fall back.

Indeed, Allen Company had no journalists they could call allies.

They had tried paying for articles before, but even just getting in line with the truly famous newspaper journalists was not easy due to the cartel with powerful nobles.

That’s why Jeffrey kept seeking out Louisa. Despite being a noble in the upper house, she had consistently advocated for lower house-friendly policies, and had quite a following among journalists due to her principled stance.

Edward irritably stubbed out the cigar he was holding. Then, as if feeling stifled, he closed his eyes and put both hands over his eyelids.

He had pursued success for Louisa’s sake, but now that success was becoming the period that would send Louisa away.

‘Should I just disappear right now, saying I won’t give this engine to anyone?’

“Ha.”

Edward let out a short sigh, dumbfounded at himself for having such an absurd thought.

If he disappeared, the company would be severely shaken, and then the foundation supporting his family would crumble, so he wouldn’t be able to protect Louisa either.

But if he went ahead and sold the product, his wife said she would leave him, saying it was done now.

This irony was an unsolvable problem for him.

She was his most precious wife, but for her sake he couldn’t let this go, yet if things went well like this, his wife said she would leave.

It was then, as Edward was lost in endless worries. There was a knock on the conference room door.

“Sir. Lord Evan Winston has arrived.”

Now he had to make a decision.

He lowered the hands covering his eyes.

“We finally meet.”

Evan said as he sat down.

Edward also sat down in front of Evan with his usual expressionless face, as if nothing had happened.

Edward hid his complicated circumstances in a small box in his mind. Then, as if all this was tedious to him, he spoke in a languid tone.

“The way you say that makes it sound like we’ve been apart for years. Haven’t we met quite often recently?”

“Haha. That’s certainly true. But this past week has felt as long as several years.”

Evan said with a big laugh. Edward’s mouth twisted at the clearly sarcastic expression.

If you don’t like it, just say so, he thought. There was nothing more fake than giving a backhanded compliment with a smiling face like that.

Evan said with a smile still on his face.

“But I suppose it’s a case of giving the disease and the cure. Thanks to that, I fortunately wasn’t bored as I had things to do in the meantime.”

Edward didn’t care what he had been doing. He just nodded perfunctorily.

But the next words made him raise his head sharply, when he had been listening halfheartedly.

“Don’t worry about Louisa’s accommodations. We have quite a few buildings owned by our family near Thanasbanian. I personally selected one to give to her.”

“Louisa?”

Edward reacted first to his wife’s name. Evan gave an awkward smile at his sharp reaction.

“Ah… I thought Daniel was looking for a suitable place. He was looking for a place close to where my sister Julia is staying, so I thought he was going to give Louisa a small house, like a villa, near Thanasbanian.”

Thanasbanian was the name of the college where Louisa’s brother Daniel Averitt was.

Edward’s heart sank at the sudden mention of the familiar place name.

No matter how much it was for Louisa’s sake, there was no way Lord Averitt would suddenly do something he hadn’t done for years, especially at a time like this.

‘Louisa contacted Lord Averitt to leave this place… to leave my side.’

Having deduced that much, Edward felt a cold sensation spread through his heart as if he had been plunged into ice water.

“Did you perhaps not know?”

Evan asked, opening his eyes wide.

Edward forced a smile and clenched his fist tightly. He could feel his hands and feet turning cold.

‘He’s asking if I, the husband, didn’t know something he knew. So that’s what this is about.’

He had been pushing my buttons and crossing the line since earlier, pretending to be nice.

“Ah… that’s what you meant. It’s fine. I’ll take care of it myself. It seems Lord Averitt was overly worried as a brother.”

He managed to answer, but his head felt like it was about to explode with all the tangled emotions.

Fear that Louisa might leave, bewilderment at the sudden information.

Anger rising at the man in front of him trying to taste a sense of superiority by telling him this, jealousy at the thought that the place where his wife would stay after leaving him would be under that man’s protection.

Edward had no intention of tolerating any more of the mind games Evan was playing.

“By the way, Lord Winston, have you no thoughts of marriage?”

The marriage of the young and wealthy Lord Winston.

It was quite a hot topic among the nobles.

When Edward brought up this issue, Evan showed obvious discomfort and said:

“Haha. For a moment, I thought I had come to see my father.”

It was a roundabout way of saying he was prying too much into personal matters.

“If it’s because you don’t have a woman, I could introduce you to a good friend. A noble lady with both culture and beauty.”

“That’s alright. Wouldn’t I know more of such people than you, Mr. Allen? I think that even without an introduction, the right person for me will appear someday.”

It was clearly a disparaging remark towards Edward.

But Edward didn’t care how Evan treated him now that they had both started being rude. What mattered was confirming this man’s true intentions now.

“What if all the good people are taken and you end up alone?”

Edward said. But it seemed he wasn’t the only one who had come prepared. Winston also maintained a smiling poker face as he opened his mouth.

“Haha. You’re right. As it happens, if you don’t get the timing right, good people leave first.”

It was a meaningful statement.

One that seemed to imply that he had already lost someone good.

“But from what I can see, waiting seems to have quite good odds. So I plan to wait for now.”

“Ah… I suppose you’re waiting for your first love.”

Edward’s expression hardened.

“That’s right. My first and last love. One that should have been mine, but I lost due to youthful mistakes.”

Evan said with a wistful smile.

But his expression didn’t matter.

The problem was that anyone could tell he was referring to Louisa.

‘Ha, openly saying he’ll wait for a divorce?’

And of all things, Louisa was planning to stay under that bastard’s protection when she left…

Edward felt like his insides were turning over.

Of course, it may have started with Lord Averitt’s request, but the reason this bastard was acting like this was clear.

He still had lingering feelings for Louisa.

Once that thought occurred to him, he couldn’t focus on anything else that was said afterwards.

He responded mechanically to something, but his mind was filled with only one thought.

The one thing on his mind:

That his wife had really decided to leave him and go to that man’s side.

‘When Louisa leaves me—’

Then he wouldn’t be able to do anything even if a guy like that stayed by her side.

He’d just have to watch, clutching his heart and swallowing words he couldn’t spit out, passing each day.

It felt like his world was crumbling.

He didn’t want to crumble in front of that bastard. But the stories unfolding in Edward’s mind shook him uncontrollably.

‘How, how can I endure that. How can I…’

How can I let you go?

He clutched his chest that felt like it would shatter into pieces at any moment.