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Chapter 66
Eleven Breads. Just Admit It, You Won’t Die (2)
Maurice looked flustered, as if he’d been asked a ridiculous question.
As if it were something he never could have imagined.
Edmund didn’t take his eyes off Maurice’s face for even a fleeting emotion, waiting patiently for a moment.
Seeing a usually sly and composed man like Maurice show a flustered expression was rare enough—but Edmund wasn’t waiting for that. He was looking for something else: the traces of emotions Maurice deliberately tried to hide.
However, all that appeared on Maurice’s face after his initial surprise was a bemused, awkward chuckle.
“So… you were curious about that?”
“……”
“I don’t know why you’d think about it, but it’s not a hard question to answer. Of course I like her. She’s cute.”
“You know that’s not why I asked, Maurice.”
Maurice looked at Edmund with strangely cold eyes, letting out a light, sarcastic laugh.
“Do you need me to say anything more? Why are you asking?”
“You’re not exactly the type to risk your life to save someone else.”
“Ah, so that’s the problem, huh.”
“……”
“I was the fastest, and there was no other way. Did I seem that heartless to you?”
Edmund remained silent. His silence carried the question: Were you heartless?
Maurice was at a loss for words.
Ellie was like a cherished little sister to him, an important “product” and a business partner. There were plenty of things he had to do with her in the future.
Protecting a valuable investment without flaw was a basic duty of a merchant. If the value drops, so does the profit.
“This is unfair. I’m human too, Edmund. I can sacrifice an arm or two.”
“……If it were just an arm, I wouldn’t have asked.”
“Then what is it?”
A faint trace of irritation crept into Maurice’s voice. His condition was already poor, and now he was being interrogated over something trivial—no wonder he was annoyed.
His face seemed calm, but below his neck, sweat soaked his clothes.
Unlike Ellina Irein, who was treated by the Yahn Empire’s court physician, Maurice refused Demian’s kindness. The reason was trivial: the burned slave mark on his injured right forearm. He simply didn’t want anyone to see it.
Exposing your weaknesses to others is something only a fool would do.
Since Edmund couldn’t use healing magic, he had no choice but to endure with medicine.
Edmund only glared at Maurice with a sulky expression.
If Maurice had only given up an arm, Edmund wouldn’t have asked these questions.
But the expression on Maurice’s face when he held Ellie clearly wasn’t the same as usual.
Maurice sighed softly.
“What’s your problem?”
“I don’t like that you like Ellie.”
“Well… I do like her. She’s lovable to everyone, cute, fun, and…”
Maurice started listing her charms with his fingers, then stopped awkwardly.
“You like her too, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“……”
“So I hope she’ll be happy. She saved me, after all.”
Maurice inwardly thought that was an exaggeration.
“Is clinging to her like a dog or cat protecting its master really that impressive? Being on guard against anyone who approaches? Really?”
He knew well that Edmund had suffered long after the experiments, unable to eat or sleep, teetering on the edge—but Ellie had only baked him some bread.
Yes—bread. That skill.
Kneading soft dough, baking it, creating a fragrant loaf…
Her weakness was that if someone enjoyed what she made, she couldn’t push them away.
To Maurice, Edmund and Ban were the ones who had pierced Ellie’s loneliness.
Ellie felt burdened by them. She stayed close out of necessity, but that wasn’t her true will.
“Afraid I’d seduce Ellie and do something bad?”
“……”
“If I’d known you’d be such a terrifying guardian, I wouldn’t have introduced her to you.”
Maurice laughed, deflating like a balloon.
At first, he’d treated her like cattle and chickens.
But somehow, they had grown close without realizing it, sticking together like one. And now, even the one who first noticed—himself—was being watched. Maurice found that a little irritating.
“Ellie…”
Edmund patiently waited for Maurice’s answer. Patience he didn’t even have for taking medicine. But for Ellie, he could endure.
Maurice answered defiantly.
Giving Edmund the answer he wanted would have been easy.
“She’s a good investment. A valuable source of profit.”
“……”
“Honestly, I didn’t expect her to be this good. How well she performs now affects my success. So I have to protect her. She’s a product worth sacrificing not just one arm, but two or three if needed.”
Edmund frowned. Maurice burst into laughter.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“……No. But it’s fine.”
Edmund realized no other answer would come from Maurice. Beneath his sarcastic facade, there was a faint trace of irritation—but no lie in his words.
It was an honest statement. Maurice’s honest truth at this moment.
“Of course, it’s also true that I find her cute.”
Maurice shrugged and looked at Edmund. Edmund said:
“If you use Ellie and discard her, I won’t forgive you.”
“That’s terrifying.”
“You’d better take it seriously.”
“I know. Not just you, there’s also a serious, scary guard. I’m terrified I’ll get bitten.”
“……”
“I like anything that’s profitable. Demian does too, and you… well, you’re similar. Ellie’s like a gold mine I stumbled upon. How could I not like her?”
Maurice added, perhaps realizing how inhuman that sounded:
“She’s like a little sister too.”
“……”
“Seriously.”
Edmund snorted quietly.
‘He’d say that because he’s never seen my face.’
If Maurice had ever seen him holding unconscious Ellie and refusing to let go, he could never have said that.
Edmund was more than a little annoyed—Maurice calling her “just a product” was absurd.
A product worth sacrificing an arm for, he said—but at that moment, it wasn’t just his arm at risk. Yet Maurice had thrown himself in.
He could have died.
There was no way he had calculated that his life wasn’t valuable.
Thus, that impulsive decision was proof of Maurice’s true feelings.
“You would never like Ellie as a woman?”
“Never.”
Hearing the firm answer, Edmund finally relaxed.
The matter was settled.
Even Maurice didn’t fully understand his own feelings.
Edmund had no intention of helping Maurice further.
‘Nothing good ever comes from getting involved with a playboy.’
Ellie seemed to be slowly noticing her own feelings.
Given Maurice’s behavior, she would inevitably reject him—but Edmund thought he was better off stepping back. He was not a good man.
Ellie should live as she wished.
If she ever asked for help, Edmund would cooperate to ensure she could have Maurice, even by restraining him—but she would never make that request.
So all that foolish fool had to do was unknowingly reject Ellie.
‘If that’s how he looks at his little sister, then every married couple in the world is incestuous, you idiot.’
Edmund left a mocking smile behind and disappeared.
After Edmund left, Maurice irritably set down his pen.
Fatigue overwhelmed him.
Demian had taken more of a liking to Ellie than Maurice expected.
Maurice had only hoped she could counter Duke MacClure a little, but Demian’s eyes glinted with determination to acquire Ellie for himself.
‘He’ll probably find a way to summon her to Yahn.’
Not bad.
Ellie was planning to expand her franchise across the continent anyway.
She would be both a lure for customers and investors, and a signboard for the brand.
Maurice trusted his own judgment. Sacrificing an arm—or a little more—was a reasonable calculation.
It would be convenient if Ellie grew to like him because of it.
However, given the scary guards and Ellie’s rational personality, playing with her feelings was a bad idea.
If that happened, he’d have to refuse properly and somehow appease her. Losing her because of a failed attempt was not acceptable.
Maurice chuckled to himself, imagining it. Ellie probably saw him as nothing more than a loan shark.
And just as ridiculous as that assumption was the idea that he could like Ellie.
‘How on earth did I come up with such a ridiculous guess?’
At that moment, there was a sound behind the door. He thought it was a servant, but whoever it was didn’t move. Maurice leapt up and strode over.
His wound throbbed, his fever and sweat made him uncomfortable, and being interrogated had put him in the worst mood. Whoever came for a trivial matter would not be forgiven.
“Ah.”
Maurice flung the door open and froze.
Ellie was there, her face completely wet.
