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19. To the forest, once again
“Marquis.”
“

”
“Marquis!”
Radis clasped her hands together and looked up at Yves Russell with a desperate, pleading face.
“

”
However, Yves Russell did not waver.
As he was sitting at his desk in his office, he continued to read the document in his hand with a steady gaze.
Tilting her head to the side and going closer to that document, Radis said,
“You’re going to burn a hole into the paper, sir.”
Under his thick fringe, his amber eyes could be seen moving a little.
Perhaps they made eye contact.
Persistently following his eyes, Radis called him again.
“Marquis
!”
In the end, it was a defeat for Yves Russell.
“Ugh, why!”
“Give me permission to go out.”
“No way!”
“Why not?”
Slamming the document down on the desk, Yves answered.
“You’re going to meet that illegitimate punk, aren’t you? Of course I won’t say yes!”
Radis frowned at the word ‘illegitimate’.
“Don’t call him that.”
“I don’t want to talk about him either, thank you very much. So don’t bring him up in front of me.”
“Robert is my friend.”
Twitch.
Yves Russell felt a vein throbbing on his forehead.
He almost yelled and flipped the desk upside down.
‘Friend, my butt!’
That man was looking at Radis with such a deep gaze!
His eyes carried so much sadness to the point of death. It even seemed like he was looking at a lover who he thought had died.
‘With that kind of gaze, just a friend? Frieeend?’
But Yves wasn’t such a benevolent human being that he’d tell Radis about it.
Having no idea of what he must be thinking about, Radis continued to speak seriously.
“It’s just a few days, Marquis.”
Then, Yves Russell looked at her in surprise.
“Oh, did you hear that?”
“

?”
“I heard something just now.”
“What are you talking about?”
“What am I talking about? I can’t believe you’re even asking
 Ah, I dunno. I’m busy, busy, busy. Good grief, there’s so much work for me to do today!”
Angry, Radis folded her arms over her chest.
“Marquis!”
“I think someone’s calling me
 Ah, I dunno, I’m busy!”
Yves spread out the papers and covered himself so he wouldn’t see Radis.
Radis was absolutely speechless.
Yves was now pretending to look through the documents diligently, but all Radis could do was shake her head.
“If you’re busy, then I’ll take care of it.”
Then, lowering the document over his face a little, Yves answered.
“You really can’t.”
“Ah, come on!”
“You keep saying friend! Radis, if you want to hang out with your friends, there are many other places where you can do that! A tea party, an embroidery gathering, or a book club! If you say you’re going to those places, try to see if I’ll stop you!”
“But my friend is Ro—”
Yves leapt to his feet and, with heavy footsteps, went right in front of Radis.
He grabbed Radis by the shoulders, kindly guided her towards the door, then whispered sweetly.
“Don’t ever bring up even the ‘Ro’ in the Roderick household before me.”
“Not Roderick, it’s Robert
”
Twitch.
As if she heard something snap somewhere, Radis looked up at Yves.
Yves was forcing himself to smile, but his jaw was evidently twitching.
He then opened the door and sent Radis out. Then, with the final word, he said.
“Never.”
At that, the door closed right in front of her.
Leaning forward at the hinges of the door where there were openings, Radis yelled.
“You’re so petty!”
Then, through the same door, Yves’s unfeeling voice could be heard.
“Oh, that’s nice. I should use that as my middle name. From now on, call me Yves Petty Russell.”
Hearing this, Radis stomped her feet and left.
* * *
Ever since the honorary middle name came into being, Yves seemed to be really determined to live up to that name to his heart’s content.
“Good night, Radis!”
Camping out in the drawing room connected to Radis’s bedroom, Yves P. Russell waved cheerfully.
Looking at him with a plaintive gaze, Radis asked.
Marquis, are you seriously going to do this?”
Yves jumped up.
“Do what? This is my house! And you! You’re my, my, uh—! My vassal who’s under my care! What’s wrong with me working in my vassal’s chambers?!”
“Ah, fine. Do whatever you want.”
Radis closed the door and returned to her bedroom.
She was feeling sleepy until just now, but seeing Yves like that made her feel like she was losing sleep instead.
Instead of going to the bed, she sat down in a chair by the window.
On the window frame was the mermaid pearl that the merchant Largot had gifted her.
Picking up the pearl, she compared it to the moon.
It was going to be a full moon soon.
As she rolled the smooth pearl in her hand, Radis became lost in thought.
“If there’s a reason behind why the Captain and I went back in time, what is it?”
Robert seemed to have an inkling what the reason was, but Radis had no idea at all. She couldn’t figure it out no matter how much she thought about it.
Radis decided to retrace her step and go back to the very beginning.
‘Why me and the Captain?’
Looking for something that might be a common denominator between their deaths, there was one thing that came to mind.
‘Magic stone
’