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(3rd PERSON POV)
“I mean Renee….”
“You don’t mean to tell me that you’ve lost your focus thinking about that woman, do you?”
“Well, yesterday, something strange happened.”
Despite the sudden change in his tone, Anastasia said what she wanted to say without hesitation.
Of course, it was none other than himself who forced her to speak. But had he known that she would be talking about that person, he wouldn’t have asked or even cared about what was bothering her
Hay, Aiden sighed.
Although his thoughts were always clear, he considers himself weak when it comes to Anastasia. Aiden pondered on her words and recalled yesterday’s incident involving ‘that woman’.
Her unusual coral hair shone brightly underneath the sun.
Yesterday was just like any other day.
Standing proudly in the garden behind the palace, she, whose hair was shining brightly,
and my friend Anastasia, who was lying down in front of her.
‘As much as I hate to admit it, this has been her normal routine to this day.’
Especially how she treats Anastasia, she just slapped her cheek on the cheek out of nowhere.
However…..
He hurriedly erased all of his thoughts, then Aiden said sternly.
“What’s different about her? Was it because she suddenly hugged you yesterday? She’s just insane. Nothing has changed at all.”
“There was another thing.”
Unlike Aiden, Anastasia’s face was serious.
“She called you Burwars.”
Aiden’s expression hardened.
“Aiden Burwars?”
The memories of yesterday, which he had struggled to shake off, suddenly overflowed.
The woman suddenly called his name erroneously while wearing a silly face.
‘Yeah, I hate to agree, but something was definitely different about her. ‘
‘But that doesn’t mean that she’s changed…’
Aiden briefly shook his head and threw his pen on the table. He looked at Anastasia with subdued eyes.
Dark red eyes collided with golden eyes. But the fierce war of nerves ended when Aiden smiled.
“So? What do you mean to say? That things have changed, and you will try to go back to how it was before?”
“Adri….”
“Asha. Whatever she does now doesn’t change the fact that she has tormented you for ten years. “
He clenched his right forearm tightly with his usual hand, then released it.
“You’ve held hope for the past few years, but things haven’t changed. Why do you suddenly have your hopes up again?”
“……”
“As I’ve always said, she’s no longer the old Renee Blair. She was the one who gave up on your friendship, and even on her own kin. But you, on the other hand, still have faith…”
Aiden’s voice suddenly raised without him realizing it.
And then someone suddenly appeared in the midst of Aiden’s statement.
“You guys were talking about me, right?”
Aiden and Anastasia flinched and turned their heads at the same time.
A man with a familiar-looking face, with soft coral hair and eyes, stood in front of the office door.
As soon as she saw the man, Anastasia got up from her seat and prepared herself to greet the man.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, Reden-sama.”
“Why didn’t you bother knocking before coming in?”
The reactions of the two were quite opposite.
The man called Reden, turned his gaze from Anastasia to Aiden.
His eyes didn’t leave Aiden’s face, who had no intention of smiling out of courtesy.
Aiden was very displeased with the guest’s action. It was because those eyes were reminiscent of someone.
(TN: It seems that Aiden has feelings for Renee, mmm…)
“I knocked, but no one responded. And it seemed like you guys were talking about me, so I stopped.”
‘Did he get inside using magic?’
Aiden’s dark red eyes quickly glanced at the door that was locked from the inside. He was then able to confirm the fact that Reden entered the office using teleportation magic.
Not only that, it also confirmed that Reden didn’t knock on the door before he appeared inside the office.
“So, what’s the matter?”
Aiden sighed deeply. His face reverted to being expressionless as he asked as if he didn’t know how to smile.  He always drew a line on everyone except for Anastasia.
“I don’t have any business with Prince Burwars, I just have some papers that I need to get from your assistant.”
“I see.”
Aiden, who quickly lost interest, turned his attention to the documents that were still piled up.
His assistant, Anastasia, showed a puzzled look on her face.
Reden then walked towards her with quiet steps. He pointed to the papers that were piled up on her desk.
“Is this today’s paperwork?”
“Ah, ah yes. I haven’t finished them all yet, but…”
“That’s quite a lot.”
“…..Oh, this. I’m sorry, but I can definitely finish it right away.”
Anastasia blushed from embarrassment. Then Reden immediately shook his head.
“Hey, I’m not blaming you for anything. Rather, if you can’t finish it right away, would it be okay if you look for a document for me first? “
“Yes, of course, it would be easy for me to find it. Which documents are you looking for?”
“I should have dealt with this last week, but there should be a report from the Knights of Huge after subjugating the dragon. Can you find it for me?”
As soon as Reden finished speaking, Anastasia quickly opened the bottom drawer.
She quickly flipped through the papers with her fingers, and immediately pulled out a sheet of paper.
“Are you talking about this document?”
“Yes, that’s right, thanks.”
Reden glanced at the contents of the document and briefly thanked her.
Aiden, who overheard their conversation, simply laughed inside.
‘He couldn’t have possibly come here on a trip himself just for those documents.’
Just as he expected, after receiving the documents Reden didn’t leave the office right away. Anastasia’s eyes blinked as she was puzzled as to why he’s not leaving yet. Then Reden suddenly pointed to her left cheek.
“How’s your face?”
“My face?”
She then unconsciously touched her cheek as if she couldn’t understand the words that he was saying, and then immediately realized what he meant.
“It’s fine. Healing magic was already casted on it…”
“I’ll ask her to apologize.”
“Renee has nothing to apologize for, Reden-sama.”
Perhaps it was a coincidence, because as soon as she finished talking, Aiden clicked his tongue hard. Right then, Anastasia wanted to stomp on his feet, but she just smiled to cover it up.
It’s because she doesn’t reveal her true nature to anyone, except for Aiden.
It was then. A slightly rough and urgent knock rang out from the door.
Three sets of eyes glanced at the door at the same time, regardless of whoever was outside the door.
Aiden then wiggled his eyebrows and pointed his fingers towards the doorknob. A light metallic sound rang out from the room. It was the sound of a tightly closed lock that was being released.
That sound indirectly proved that Reden had entered the office using his magic.
“Come on in.”
As soon as Aiden spoke in an exasperated tone of voice, the door immediately opened.
The person who came in was someone that the three of them were familiar with. Especially for Reden and Anastasia.
A woman with purple hair and eyes.
It was Horaysha,one of the Royal Wizards in the palace. She waved a white envelope with her usual smile.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, sir. But I received a letter addressed to Lord Reden. For some reason, there was red wax on it, so I had no choice but to deliver it right away.”
Only the Blair family used red wax on their letters to indicate the importance of its contents.
He immediately recognized the letter that came from their mansion with a puzzled look on his face.
He had no idea as to why the hell they used the valuable red wax..
‘Did Renee cause another absurd and serious problem again?’
The absurd image of a woman who looked just like him, completely obliterating their mansion, flashed through his mind like a lightning bolt.
Reden immediately opened the letter.
Soon his expression changed.
“What happened?”
Anastasia immediately asked. While Aiden, who pretended to be disinterested, quivered his ears as he was curious about the letter as well.
“I have to go back to the mansion now.”
He murmured and put the letter back into the envelope.
“My sister suddenly collapsed.”
At Reden’s words, which sounded monotonous as if nothing had happened, heavy papers were heard poured onto the floor.
It was the documents that Anastasia was holding in her hands.
-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-
(Reden’s 3rd PERSON POV)
To be honest the moment Reden Blair received the letter stating ‘The young lady suddenly passed out’ he wasn’t all that worried.
It was because he thought that his younger sister, his only family, was just acting up.
Nevertheless, the reason he came to the mansion as soon as he received the letter was because she had never acted sick before.
It was just that.
‘But still, was it really just acting?’
Even when he finally entered the mansion and quickly climbed the wide, high stairs only the employees greeted him.
He expected her to show up suddenly, with a sneer on her face. But there wasn’t even a trace of her shadow, let alone her silhouette.
Maybe she’s waiting in her bedroom with her usual smug face.
Reden quickly reached the front door of Renee’s bedroom. But for some reason he was hesitant to open it.
As he stood still, while holding on to the doorknob, the housekeeper, Catherine who followed behind him upon his arrival, politely explained the situation.
“The person who found out about our lady’s condition was the maid assigned to her this morning. She said that there was no sign of sickness when she assisted her after she woke up.”
“Are you sure she’s not acting?”
“I called in a doctor to confirm. It is said to be a fever. However, divine power or healing magic did not work.”
Concentrating on the fact that she had already called the doctor to check, Reden couldn’t comprehend the rest of Catherine’s words.
‘Does this mean that she’s really sick.’
While Reden was still immersed in his thoughts, the restless maid from the back finally spoke up. She was the attendant from this morning and the first to witness his sister’s condition.
“My lady definitely had no sign of discomfort, but something was very different about her.”
“It’s not your place to intervene in this conversation.”
Catherine immediately cut off the maid’s words, but Reden gestured as if he didn’t mind at all and urged her to continue what she’s trying to say.
“What I mean to say is…. This morning, Lady Renee, suddenly hugged me and comforted me while I was crying.”
“…..”
“More than that…”
The maid swallowed saliva with a dry mouth.
“More than anything else, she didn’t scold me today!”
The maid, unable to overcome her excitement, immediately stopped yelling. However, Catherine did not point out the maid’s action.
Instead, she opened her eyes wide, as if he could not believe what she just heard. As if she just heard the most amazing fact of the decade.
Reden, who was also in disbelief from her words, opened his eyes wide and unintentionally turned the doorknob. His steps were somewhat hasty.