“Today I had various tests done, and the doctor told me that my hearing has improved a little.”

At Louisa’s words, Daniel’s face, which had been downcast until now, brightened. He muttered in a dazed voice, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“My goodness. Oh Lord.”

Daniel smiled with a radiant face as if there could be no happier news in the world. Louisa also smiled gently at her elder brother, who was overjoyed to the point where she felt foolish for having hesitated to tell him.

“It might be hard to notice yet, but they said that as it gradually recovers more, there’s a high chance I’ll be able to hear loud sounds in daily life. If I’m lucky, it might even recover to the point where it doesn’t interfere with daily living.”

“That’s such a relief. I’m so glad there’s improvement. Oh, my goodness. Father.”

Daniel suddenly embraced her in the middle of the street. He let go of Louisa from his arms and broke into a broad smile.

“Fortunately, I have some face to show when we visit Father. I was so lost about how to face our parents on the upcoming anniversary.”

Daniel said in a somewhat excited voice.

“Is there anywhere around here you’d like to visit? If so, we can go there instead of our parents’ grave.”

He seemed ready to do anything, so happy was he at the news of her condition improving. Daniel continued with a somewhat flushed expression.

“Our parents would prefer that too. It might be nice for us to go to a warmer neighborhood.”

Louisa also burst into clear laughter at his reaction, which might be considered a bit sentimental.

“But I still want to go. I want to offer flowers to our parents and pay my respects.”

“Then let’s do that. I’ll get the tickets.”

Daniel said proudly, like a child boasting to just trust him.

Edward was sitting absent-mindedly at his desk in the laboratory again today.

Jeffrey glanced at him from the side.

Although he had come out neatly dressed, his eyes were so sunken that it was doubtful whether he had slept the night before.

Judging by the lingering smell of alcohol, he had clearly been drinking without sleeping at all. Moreover, with his desk full of chopped cigars and his complexion deathly pale, it was certain that he had been like this at home all along.

‘There’s no way Lord Theodore would leave him be if he acts like this at a time like this.’

For someone in the position of a president, both visible health and composure are important. In this regard, Jeffrey felt uneasy about the actions of this mentally unstable president no matter how he thought about it.

“Sir. Is it alright for you to be idling here like this?”

Edward looked at Jeffrey slowly with lifeless eyes. He spoke in a voice devoid of any energy.

“…He told me to stay here for three more days.”

“What? Lord Theodore said that? Is that really okay?”

Jeffrey asked with round eyes.

Edward closed his eyes in response instead of answering verbally.

Despite the initial request for the earliest possible meeting, Evan Winston had set the schedule quite late when contacted.

When asked if something had happened, the reason was that he had no plans to visit the capital for the time being.

Regardless of how angry they were, it was they who had first broken off the talks. As a result, Guilford relayed the message in an irritated tone that they had no choice but to wait.

In fact, Edward didn’t really care whether the talks were fast or slow. He just felt annoyed that that brat-like fellow seemed to be measuring him up.

‘Annoying bastard.’

He cursed inwardly.

An employee approached him as he was lighting a cigar with a face like storm clouds.

“Sir.”

It was the employee who used the desk in the far corner.

When Edward’s blank gaze turned towards him, the employee lowered his head, avoiding his eyes, and spoke.

“I have something to tell you.”

“…What is it.”

“Well, this.”

What he held out was a proposal of several pages.

“You told us to come up with ideas. So I wrote this up.”

Edward took the proposal the employee handed him.

He flipped through the pages with a bored expression. It was doubtful whether he was even reading it.

After about a minute, he closed the paper with a slap and said.

“Alright. Do it. How many people do you need?”

“What? No, wait a moment. Sir!”

Jeffrey, who had been listening nervously from the side, shouted as he stood up.

This crazy president was now trying to start any kind of work because he was tired of working himself.

He had practically devoted his entire career to this company. For Jeffrey, this was absolutely unacceptable.

Jeffrey snatched the proposal from the president’s hand and said to the employee standing behind.

“I’m sorry, Thomas. Could you let me talk to the president and get back to you with an answer?”

“Yes, sir.”

Thomas nodded without much reaction. It wasn’t particularly new for these two to bicker like this.

Jeffrey, breathing a sigh of relief, grabbed Edward’s arm and lifted him up.

He took him straight to the break room and whispered softly, worried that the employees might hear.

“Sir! How can you just approve anything like that!”

“Why?”

“If you don’t intend to make money, you shouldn’t think about spending it either! You can’t waste resources by taking on just any project!”

Jeffrey waved his hands frantically as he spoke, truly alarmed. Edward rubbed his eyes and sighed tiredly.

“I said to do it because it seemed manageable enough.”

“Manageable? Did you properly read what it’s about?”

“It was about making and selling small stoves. You should read it first before talking.”

Edward pointed at the proposal he was holding.

Jeffrey opened the proposal he was holding with a suspicious look.

“The key to our product is that it can generate energy without producing smoke. So the idea is to start producing small stoves utilizing this advantage, which isn’t bad.”

Edward really seemed to intend to do it.

Flipping through the pages back and forth, carefully reading the proposal line by line, Jeffrey nodded.

“Well… Actually, I had thought about this issue myself at the point where we could supply our products as train engines. The coal stoves are too inconvenient. But I didn’t have time to get into that, and above all, I’m not the president, so I just thought about it and left it at that…”

“I would have dismissed the idea if it had come up before. Stoves are products that need to be sold in high volume with low profit margins compared to things like cars, and since the magic stone itself is an item with a unit cost, it wasn’t easy.”

Edward shook his head.

“But this time, Lord Portland has secured the Nexenborough region where magic stone mines are abundant.”

“Yes. Magic stones will start to be supplied on a large scale. This changes the story.”

The president finally seemed to have gone mad, but fortunately, his minimal ability to plan was still intact. Jeffrey stroked his chest as if he had aged ten years.

“So you haven’t completely lost your mind, sir.”

Edward made an incredulous expression at Jeffrey, who was now speaking without any respect, but decided to ignore it, lacking the strength to retort. He sighed and said.

“Tell them to design it well and set up one factory, that should be enough.”

“Who will do the design?”

“Tell Tom to figure it out somehow.”

“No, sir!”

Jeffrey frowned. Just when he thought he wasn’t crazy, he turned out to be half-mad.

“Do you want to ruin the work by being so careless after spending money to prepare?”

“It’s fine even if this much fails.”

“What if you become penniless like that?”

“What else? I’ll just live like that.”

Edward spoke helplessly, as if he had given up on everything. Then Jeffrey asked.

“Then what about Mrs. Allen?”

Edward’s relentless responses stopped abruptly at the mention of his wife.

“What about Mrs. Allen, who would have to see the collapsed president?”

Louisa…

Edward thought.

‘She would surely be heartbroken.’

She would suffer, and so she would try to find ways to help him even as she herself deteriorated.

“She would… worry about me.”

Hearing the answer he wanted, Jeffrey said.

“Yes. That’s what I wanted to say. If you think about your wife’s condition, you shouldn’t act like this, sir.”

He understood Jeffrey’s words.

But whenever he did something for his wife’s sake, she became more distressed.

What on earth should he do?

After a long silence, Edward opened his mouth.

“…I don’t know what I should do.”

Jeffrey spoke gently, as if comforting him.

“What do you mean? Just do as you’ve done until now, but remove the unnecessary strain.”

“There was nothing unnecessary in my life.”

“Ah, yes. I’m sure that high pride of yours had some use too.”

At those scathing words, Edward reflected on his life.

A capable engineer and successful businessman. These were the words describing him, and what had made Edward Allen such a person was his love for his wife and his pride.

But what about Edward Allen as a husband?

‘Pride, really… was utterly useless.’

It was truly a thing of no use at all, at least in front of his wife.

Because of that petty pride, he had been so anxious that he couldn’t even see how his wife was crumbling beside him. If he could turn back time, pride would be the first thing he should get rid of.

Then what would remain if pride was removed from him?

Edward counted what he had.

‘Unrequited love with no one to give it to, and money.’

He murmured inwardly. That was all that was left to him.

As he remained silent without any response, Jeffrey, growing worried, brought up the subject again.

“Sir. Think about it simply. Between ‘Louisa Averitt, whose ex-husband went completely bankrupt’ and ‘Louisa Averitt, whose billionaire ex-husband is still madly in love with her’, which one do you think people would pay more attention to?”

There was no room for consideration. Of course, it was the latter.

“Or let’s say that treating your wife’s illness might cost an astronomical amount in the future. Could you forgive yourself then if you don’t have the ability to handle it?”

There was no room for consideration on that either. He had already tasted more than enough of the agony caused by his own incompetence.

With Louisa, who had been his entire life, gone, all that was left to him was money.

As Jeffrey said, if he lost even that, he would truly be nothing. A mere nuisance of a man who could be of no help to his wife. That would become his descriptor.

That, that alone, really couldn’t happen.

“…Right. I have to do it. I must succeed.”

Edward met Jeffrey’s eyes. He moved his body that seemed about to collapse at any moment. He sat up straight and said.

“Find designers, have them submit portfolios to me, and when I approve, tell them to proceed immediately.”

Tension and expectation flickered in Jeffrey’s eyes as he listened to his instructions. Edward spoke in a firm voice.

“I will… make it succeed without fail.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jeffrey’s voice trembled slightly.