I was kind of preoccupied with what I liked. Like a lighthouse.
âThe rest was just coincidence. Iâm glad that it was perfect for the ladyâs taste, and I feel like I was responsible for a good meal.â
He put a hand on his chest and laughed. With a heartfelt expression of joy
Well, it couldnât have been a more perfect explanation. It was understandable enough.
Besides, he was very calm.
Usually, he blushed and panicked easily, so since he kept that calmness, he should be really innocent, yes?
If it was acting, then heâs not a human, but a fiery fox, right?
âHe helped me, but Iâm suspecting him.â
âHow ungrateful of me.
I smiled and apologized quickly.
âSorry. I was oversensitive, right? Haha, please understand. This happens sometimes.â
Frankly, if you live as a person on the run for over 10 years, you would be suspicious of even the people living in the house next door.
At first, I was even suspicious of Noah, who told me everything.
But no matter who I doubted for over ten yearsâ
âThey were all good people. The people of Bayonaireâs.â
To the point I seemed ridiculous when I got suspicious.
âHonestly, Iâve never seen anyone chasing after me. Maybe heâs given up now?â
It was one of the two. Either the chaser was not using as much power as expected, or the phantom thief boy of Circe was able to erase the trail well.
Considering Gerardâs personality, the latter was more likely.
Anyway.
If he was planning to kidnap me, it would be weird to go, âKekeke, Iâll give you your favorite appleâ or âBefore kidnapping, Iâll feed you a lot of lemon ice cream and delicious steakâŠ!â
Letâs not needlessly doubt a good person.
Then he said,
âI totally understand, lady.â
ââŠâŠ.â
âI might have looked suspicious. Ever since I was little, it was like that.â
With his head bowed, he continued his speech with a slightly sorrowful expression on his face.
âI wasnât particularly likable. Wherever I went, I was on the outside⊠I wasnât popular.â
His handsome face was like that of an innocent stag immersed in the depths of the water.
His ears were red as if he was making a shameful and embarrassing confession.
It was a sad face.
âIs that so?â
âYes.â
Rustle, rustleâ
He quietly arranged the groceries in a state of low spirits.
I raised my eyebrows.
âHe looked like that, but he wasnât popular?â
âIs that scientifically possible? Most people have eyes, Mister.â
Still, to say that he was an unlikeable personâŠ
I felt sorry and pity for him.
âI doubted him for no reason and made it even worse.â
The figure of him, who quietly cleaned up, seemed to overlap with a sad golden retriever who had been deprived of snacks, and I was always weak to people with that kind of atmosphere.
Itâs been like that since I was very young.
In the end, I put down the eggs I was packing away and said,
âMr. Kine seems like a really nice person!â
ââŠâŠ.â
âYou make people feel comfortable. You are so gentle.â
ââŠIs that so.â
âYes. And when you speak, your accent is really charming and nice.â
Rustle, rustleâ
He continued to organize things without much reaction, but upon closer inspection, the back of his neck was absolutely red.
He was feeling very shy.
âFufu, itâs cute.â
I thought I should get closer to him. If we get close, he might come to buy bread more often.
âHey, how long are you going to call me âladyâ?â
âLadyâ was an honorable title, and you would not be called that unless you were a regular noble.
Strictly speaking, I was not even a noble, so itâs an undeserved title for me. Itâs burdensome to listen to.
âIâm not a lady.â
âThen⊠what should I call you?â
âYou can call me Annette.â
âHow dare I.â
âOr, people usually call me âbakery ownerâ or âbossâ or something like that
ââŠâŠ.â
âCall me comfortably.â
He hesitated a little, then lowered his fine eyelashes over his square-rimmed glasses and parted his lips carefully to call me.
ââŠâŠOwner, Miss.â
ââŠâŠ?!â
Badump.
âIf you donât use the prefix of âbakeryâ before the title âownerâ, Iâll be very misunderstood, Mr. Kine!â
Why omit the most important word?
I think he thought it was disrespectful to call me âownerâ, so he added the title of âmissâ.
âYou couldâve just used âbossâ.â
With his innocent handsome face blushing to the fullest, he jutted his lips again.
âOwner.â
It sounds weird.
But I couldnât bring myself to point it out.
This was because he looked serious as if he would give his âbody and soulâ generously, and he was already extremely shy, so I thought he would be very disappointed if I pointed it out.
ââŠThe nickname, do you mind?â
I replied with an expression that was as if I had reached nirvana.
(TL/N: or in simpler terms, she gave up.)
âYes, itâs nice.â
âââââ±ââ°ââââ
Two days later.
It was when the sign of <Little Bakery> was changed to âClosedâ after business as usual.
âAnnette, are you closed for the day?â
âOh, Mr. Beaverando! What brings you here?â
A man who resembled a beaver, and somehow even his name was Beaverando, came to me.
He was carrying a thick document.
It was probably an official document dispatched by the lord to Beaverando, who was taking care of the entire Bayonaire island.
It was a small island and a small village.
âAh, nothing much, just this âpersonal information bookletâ.â
ââŠPersonal information?â
âWe have to write it down, this remote little island?â
The Personal Information Department, uhm, was kind of like resident registration.
âThe Fris Empire is really trying to scrap taxes.â
It must have been ordered by the imperial family, not the lord. I saw it in the newspaper a while ago.
In order to more clearly check the safety of the people of the Empire, itâs said that they would create a personal information book.
âYouâre just trying to get money.â
The El Dorado Empire does not collect taxes on small territories ruled by these minor nobles.
As itâs harder to make ends meet in the rural area.
However, it seemed that it had been firmly established.
âCruel bastards. Damn it.â
âCan you sign here, Annette?â
âYes, Mr. Beaverando.â
It was not Mr. Beaverandoâs fault.
I smiled and signed the personal information booklet with the name âAnnetteâ, the size of the bakery, and the details of the house.
Mr. Beverlando looked up at <Little Bakery> and asked,
âThe first floor is a bakery, and the second floor is where Annette lives⊠Who lives on the third floor?â
âItâs just an empty room. Iâm using it as a warehouse, Mr. Beaverando.â
âOh, thatâs right. Then that red-haired man lives somewhere else?â
âYes, he is a commuter employee.â
âYou canât increase taxes.â
In fact, Mr. Um lives nowhere.
If I have to say where he lives⊠In my mind?
âWe donât live together anyway.â
I, the bakery owner, thought about tax-reduction for self-employed people, and as I walked into the bakery, I called out,
âWait!â
Then, when I came out, both my hands were full of warm bread.
âEat this, Mr. Beaverando.â
ââŠOh, can I get this free bread? I am an honest official.â
Even as he said that, Mr. Beaverando, already possessed by the sweet smell, was swallowing his saliva.
I smiled, eyes curving.
âItâs just bread, yes?â
âThank you Annette, Iâll eat it!â
âYes~â
I thought as I waved to Mr. Beaverando.
âYou received something, so write a small estimate of sales.â
Huhu, the more delicious the bread, the greater the sense of fanaticism. And the bread in <Little Bakery> was very delicious.
I shrugged, rubbed my nose and laughed insidiously.
It was a great bribe from the bread lover.
By the way.
ââŠI signed something for the Personal Information Department, will I be safe?â
After all, I am being chased.
It was good to leave as few traces as possible.
However, if I thought about it, the assumption that Gerard would use the Personal Information Department of the Fris Empire to find me was absurd.
First of all, the Personal Information Department, which recorded the total number of the people of the Empire, was a first-class secret of the Fris imperial family.
It meant that it would never be released until the Fris Empire was destroyed.
It was equal to the probability that an Argentine official on the other side of the world would suddenly get all of Koreaâs resident registration information.
âBesides, thereâs no reason to ask for it in the first place.â
âGerard, you donât even know Iâm here, do you?â
Since this place was in a novel, it had its own probability.
âUnless youâre an obsessive maniac, you wonât succeed in doing such crazy things. Such as obtaining a foreign countryâs personal information book.â
âUhh, Iâm a little sensitive these daysââ
I was being sensitive, right?
I tilted my head and entered the bakery.
Ame: AHAHAHAHA Annette, youâre really smart, and your thinking is really logical. But youâre in a novel and thereâs this thing called âplotâ sooooo youâre #Perfectly_Wrong
I just know some of you, including my dear pr Tassie, will go re-read the first chapter and keep an eye out for the words âFris Empireâ HAHAHAHA am I right??!!
Tassie: This girlâŠ. Sometimes, Iâm like Wow, youâre really smart and other times Iâm like, STOP RAISING THE FLAGS YOURSELF WOMAN!!!!! On another note, ITâS BEEN 6393638393 DAYS SINCE IVE SEEN MY BB SISLIN!!!!!! WHERE ARE YOU MY LOVE!!!