The driver stopped the car and looked back to see if they had arrived at their destination.

Edward blocked his wife’s hand, which was about to pay the fare, and opened his wallet to pay.

Louisa spoke in a low voice, feeling apologetic.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“That’s what I should be saying to you.”

When the payment was finished, Edward opened the car door and got out first.

He stood up as usual, placing his feet on the ground. But suddenly the ground surged up to his eyes.

“Ed!”

Edward staggered due to a sudden bout of dizziness. Louisa, who cried out in surprise, quickly got out of the cab and approached him.

“Are you alright? Could it be that you hit your head in the accident earlier…?”

Hearing those words, Edward hastily lowered the hand that had been holding his head.

“No, it’s not that. I didn’t even hit my head in the first place.”

‘Has my body worn out?’

He remembered what Jeffrey had said.

His head was still spinning. However, Edward tried to act fine, standing straight and holding his head up.

“I’m fine. It’s really nothing.”

But Louisa’s face, looking at him, showed no signs of relaxing. Edward spread his arms, saying he was perfectly fine.

“It would be stranger to get hurt from just falling. I just didn’t get enough sleep, that’s all.”

“But still…”

“Once the lecture is over and we go back, I plan to sleep like the dead, so really, don’t worry.”

After looking up at him for a while, Louisa lowered her head and let out a small sigh.

Edward bent down to meet her eye level and said,

“Let’s go in then.”

He offered his arm to Louisa, naturally escorting her.

The two walked side by side affectionately, as most couples do.

As they entered the shop, Madame Lang, the owner, came to greet them. Edward exchanged brief greetings haphazardly and glanced at Louisa’s expression.

Fortunately, his wife was only on edge about the people around them. He pretended to look around the store so that Louisa couldn’t see him speaking, and said,

“Please prepare one set of outdoor clothes each for my wife and me so we can change and leave right away. Also, bring out all the evening dresses that you wouldn’t be ashamed to put your name on.”

Madame Lang let out a small exclamation upon hearing his words. Edward added afterwards,

“Moreover, we need to leave within 20 minutes, so I’d appreciate it if you could prepare everything as quickly as possible.”

20 minutes. It was an incredibly short time, but if one put their mind to it, it was enough time to make a substantial sale.

Madame Lang’s expression became solemn.

Not a single minute could be wasted with a customer who promised high sales.

Madame Lang guided the two to the inner VIP private room. She asked for their understanding about a 5-minute wait time and disappeared into the back of the shop with quick steps.

Louisa sat down on the sofa in the center and said,

“You seemed to be talking with Madame Lang earlier, what was that about?”

“Oh, it was nothing. She recognized me and was pleased, so I just showed off a bit.”

“I see.”

Louisa nodded, quickly accepting Edward’s lie. She stretched out her interlocked hands and said,

“But it’s really an amazing coincidence.”

“What is?”

“How Tanasbanian invited you so timely.”

His wife looked a bit dazed but pleased. She probably thought that he had been recognized by someone again.

Edward, looking at her bitterly, corrected his wife’s misunderstanding.

“That’s not it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it’s not that Tanasbanian invited me timely.”

“It’s not? But earlier you clearly―”

Edward answered preemptively to Louisa’s question.

“To be precise, I gave them a scholarship and operating funds. Then they suggested that it would be nice if I could give a lecture.”

“By ‘them’, you mean Tanasbanian? You did?”

“Yes.”

Edward nodded.

Louisa’s expression became very strange. It was a face that seemed to be asking him what he was thinking.

She blinked several times and said,

“Operating funds, how much did you give to…”

“How much was it again. 5 million eta, I think.”

“My goodness.”

Surprised by the higher-than-expected amount, Louisa asked again.

“That’s enough to generously support several research labs. Did you give such an amount without any conditions?”

“Well, it wasn’t money given to make a deal.”

Louisa’s complexion darkened. She seemed a bit upset. It was understandable as it wasn’t as honorable a position as she had thought.

However, honor was of no importance to him. Edward slowly opened his lips.

“Because I wanted to see you.”

Louisa’s eyes trembled as she read his lips.

“I thought I might run into you if I came and went here using this as an excuse… That’s why I did it. You said you would be receiving treatment here.”

Edward honestly revealed his true feelings.

Just plain inner thoughts, neither wrapped up nor glossed over.

‘Because he… wanted to see me.’

Louisa felt her heart pounding irregularly in her chest.

For the reason of wanting to see her, her husband had come here, spending a large sum of 5 million eta and his time.

If there hadn’t been an accident today, she wouldn’t have even known that Edward had done these things.

Yet he came here knowing that. For no other reason than wanting to see her.

Louisa muttered in a somewhat surreal voice.

“I never thought… that could be the reason.”

“I know. It seems suspicious.”

“No, that’s not what I―”

It’s as if you love me.

Louisa, who was about to deny his words, suddenly closed her mouth.

An action not to please her, but for his own desire. The result of that was her husband here now.

It was a slim possibility that anyone would say was a waste of the large amount of support funds. Nevertheless, Edward came here.

From that, Louisa thought of love.

She thought that without such an emotion, one could hardly take such actions.

‘But… I still don’t know what the truth is.’

Louisa forcibly held back her pounding heart.

It seemed that Edward could do such things even without love.

Even when everyone was pointing fingers at Benjamin Allen’s failure and saying that the energization of magic stones was impossible, he shouldered all those words and persistently challenged it, eventually achieving it.

Louisa looked at him and said,

“In a way, it’s very like you.”

“…What’s that. I don’t know what you mean.”

“It means exactly what I said.”

She laughed lightly as if it was nothing and changed the subject.

“By the way, I get to see you giving scholarships now.”

“Why. It’s just adding one more sponsorship.”

“It’s a completely different scale from when you were only sponsoring the Muren sisters. I didn’t know you were this interested in children.”

Edward’s response seemed a bit resentful. However, for Louisa, it wasn’t entirely insincere.

Even with Alisa and Yeriel, he had reluctantly agreed to sponsor them only after she showed interest, and Edward hardly ever brought up the topic of Honest’s facilities or children first.

But Edward, not fully understanding Louisa’s words, tilted his head and asked,

“Only two people? When are you talking about?”

Rather, Louisa was taken aback by such a response. She said in a slightly smaller voice,

“There’s not really a specific time I can point to… If I had to say, maybe before starting the sponsorship here?”

Edward furrowed his brows this time, as if truly wronged.

“Not two. It’s about twenty.”

“What?”

“When we brought the Muren sisters here, I started sponsoring a few more children from that facility and some from other regions. Didn’t you hear from Honest?”

Louisa was truly surprised. To think he had increased the sponsorship of children that much without her knowing…

Her voice, startled, gradually became smaller.

“I don’t usually discuss money matters with Karen. I suppose we’ve both been careful since the facility is always short on funds…”

“Huh, really.”

Edward let out a laugh of disbelief.

“There’s even a child the same age as Alisa. Now he’s become an officer and is at the Nexenburrow front. Except for him and Alisa, they’re all still students.”

“I see.”

Her husband was even aware of the children’s current situations. Louisa was genuinely surprised by this aspect of her husband that she hadn’t known about.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door.

Shortly after, the door opened and racks of clothes were brought in one after another.

Louisa muttered in confusion,

“There are too many clothes to look at within the time…”

“All the men’s clothes here have been brought considering Mr. Allen’s build, so you needn’t worry about the fit no matter which one you choose.”

Madame Lang, through years of experience, instinctively knew that today’s customer was Edward, not Louisa.

However, Edward had no intention of carefully examining his own clothes in the first place. He barely listened to Madame Lang’s words and pointed to the one at the very front, saying indifferently,

“I’ll take the one hanging at the very front for my clothes.”

Madame Lang responded with a slightly flustered look at the sudden decision.

“Ah, yes. The one hanging at the front. Understood.”

At that moment, Louisa gently pulled his arm and said,

“Hey, I think the third one from the left would suit you well. Would you like to change into that one?”

Looking down, he saw his wife looking up at him. She seemed to have missed what he had said earlier while examining the clothes.

Edward promptly changed his words.

“I’ll wear the third one to go, so just package the one I mentioned first and send it.”

One more suit was added to the initial decision. Madame Lang happily wrote down the order details on a memo pad.

She walked to the front of the rack with dresses hanging and said,

“Now, I’ll explain the dresses. Starting with this one here―”

“That’s enough, package all the evening dresses on the right and send them to the townhouse in Averitt. I’d appreciate it if you could quickly explain just the outdoor clothes on the left.”

At his words, the staff standing around let out a collective gasp.

Madame Lang clapped her hands happily. Then, the waiting staff approached and took away the clothes Edward had said to package.

Sensing something unusual in the reaction, Louisa looked around. However, all she discovered were staff members whispering and smiling, and racks quickly being taken away.

Edward pointed to a dress hanging among the remaining clothes and said,

“That one looks the most elegant yet comfortable.”

“Excellent choice.”

Madame Lang brought forward the dress he had pointed to.

“As you can see, it’s a light gray color, so despite the thick material, it doesn’t look dark, and yet details like the pleats and these cuffs add a neat feeling, combining both practicality and elegance.”

“Good. Then we’ll take that one. We plan to change into both of the outfits we’ve chosen here, so please prepare them.”

Of course, Louisa, unable to follow the conversation between the two, just smiled awkwardly.