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Chapter : 15
Raiden stopped and looked back. Anna saw something flicker in his gray eyes, but it disappeared quickly.
“Of course. After all we did to meet again.”
A dazzling smile appeared on his face. Anna finally felt relieved and smiled too, and Raiden left the sitting room. Henry hurried after him to see him out.
When Henry opened the front door and bowed politely, Raiden said,
“No need to come out to the carriage.”
“Still…”
But when Raiden shot him a cold look, Henry obeyed at once.
“Understood. Then, I wish you a safe trip home.”
“Thanks.”
Raiden quickly went down the stone steps and walked to the carriage. The driver opened the door, and he jumped in lightly. His assistant was already inside.
“You’re back, sir.”
“Yeah.”
The carriage soon departed. Raiden set his cane and hat on the seat and leaned back with his eyes closed. The assistant looked at him and said,
“You look very tired.”
“Not really.”
Raiden only moved his lips to answer. The assistant could tell Raiden was upset but pretended not to notice.
Raiden rubbed his forehead roughly.
‘Why did her mother have to come up right then?’
He let out a bitter laugh.
‘No, I always knew she was like that.’
He had stormed out, angry enough to see red, but he quickly calmed himself. His father, the former Marquis, always said revenge was for people with cold heads.
‘Yes, I know why I couldn’t forget for five years.’
Raiden leaned back and took a deep breath. Now, he felt almost thankful Anna hadn’t changed.
‘You’ll never forget me either.’
He was sure she would think about him for the rest of her life, and he intended to make sure of it.
As the carriage left the Evercline estate and turned onto the street, Louis (his assistant) spoke again.
“Someone is looking for the estate manager.”
Raiden opened his eyes and frowned.
“Did you find out who?”
“Not exactly, but it’s definitely a noble from the capital.”
“Hmm.”
Raiden tapped his thigh thoughtfully, then smirked.
“Now they’re looking…?”
When he heard ‘capital noble,’ he thought of a brown-haired young man.
‘Edward Haimel, was it?’
While Anna was suffering, Edward did nothing. Now that Raiden was back, Edward started looking? Raiden found it almost funny.
“What should we do? Should we erase all the traces?”
“No. Leave some fake clues so he keeps looking.”
“Understood.”
The assistant nodded. Raiden closed his eyes again, signaling the conversation was over. The assistant frowned and muttered to himself.
“Now the Evercline lady will get noticed by the side branch too.”
Raiden opened his eyes, remembering Anna’s bright smile. He loosened his collar with an annoyed look.
“I’ll handle the side branch myself. No matter how much they want her, I won’t involve her.”
“Sure. I agree. Grudges should be clear.”
Louis shrugged and grinned.
“Besides, you have plenty of other things to do.”
Raiden ignored him and asked,
“How is the Haimel family?”
“All going well. The countess is even more of a narcissist than we thought. Just a little push and she gave in, which surprised us.”
Louis smiled, pushing up his glasses.
“We thought it would be hard to find a weakness, but it turned out to be easy.”
“Keep going. If you finish early, promise them a bonus.”
Louis raised an eyebrow.
“It’s not urgent, is it?”
“It annoys me.”
Raiden crossed his legs and remembered the night before. Edward Haimel’s challenging look when he clung to Anna annoyed him. He had a handsome face women would like, but something was twisted in his eyes.
“Dig deeper on him.”
Louis looked up from his papers, frowning, but nodded.
“Will do.”
Raiden turned his head and looked out the window.
The Evercline mansion shrank into the darkness as they drove away.
‘Bang!’ The countess’s bedroom door slammed open. The maids helping her get ready for a party screamed in surprise. Julie, her assistant, was also startled when Edward strode in, his face angry. He stood by his mother at the dressing table.
“Mother.”
Edward’s low, heavy voice was serious. The countess looked at him in the mirror and answered calmly,
“Leave us.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The scared maids left quickly. Only the countess and Julie remained, but neither cared about the nervous assistant.
“Why did you do it?”
Edward glared at his mother, struggling to keep calm. The countess put ruby earrings to her ear.
“Why ask so suddenly? How should I know?”
“Don’t you know? It’s about Anna!”
He finally raised his voice. The countess put down the earrings and glared back.
“Be thankful. You were hesitating, so I took care of it.”
“Who asked you to do that? I had a plan, and you ruined it!”
Edward had finally taken a day off, slept in, and lazed around. But by evening, he found out Anna had waited all day, then left sad. He was angry that the servants hadn’t told him, but even angrier that his mother gave the order. She knew better than anyone how much he wanted Anna.
“A plan that wasn’t working?”
She sneered, pinning up her brown hair with a diamond pin.
“Want to bet? She never knew you were serious. She always thought it was a fake engagement.”
“!”
“You thought you could change it to real on your own?”
Edward’s face went blank. Seeing him in the mirror, the countess clicked her tongue.
“Fool. What’s so great about that girl…”
Countess Lorel Haimel had always been a star of society, and was still famous. She’d had two sons, but her beauty was so perfect people said she still looked like a maiden.
Edward, her eldest, looked just like her and was her favorite child—unlike her foolish husband. Now she was disappointed.
“You used to like her,”
Edward protested, his spirit broken.
“That was when their family was doing well. Why stay close to a family that’s falling apart?”
She picked up a diamond and ruby necklace and spoke coldly.
“End it. I’ll make up all the money you gave their family, so don’t worry about it.”
Julie, who had been silent, gasped. Edward, who had never cared about money, glared furiously.
“Who says it’s over?”
“She’s not good enough.”
The countess slammed the jewelry down, ending the conversation. Edward stared at her, his green eyes dark and stormy.
He clenched his jaw so tightly it made his chin stick out.
‘Should I just… kill her…?’
As if reading his mind, the countess said without turning around,
“I’ll allow Lucas, but not you. Don’t go against me again.”
“!”
Hearing his brother’s name made Edward’s hand go limp.
The countess checked her makeup in the mirror, then looked at Edward with a mocking smile.
“You think I wouldn’t know? Who do you think you take after?”
Edward stayed silent, so she softened her tone.
“I’ll find you a better girl, so forget about her.”
Confident he would obey, she waved her hand like shooing away a fly.
“Now go. Call the maids back in.”
Edward stared at her with dark eyes for a moment, then turned and left without a word. The maids hurried back in, and the countess thought only about which jewelry matched her dress, forgetting about her son.
Julie stood by the door, looking anxiously after Edward.
