Love Doesn’t Matter - Chapter 9

“Hey, Emilia…”

A man with a swallow-tailed mustache spoke to Emilia. It turned out to be the butler, Haspel.

He looked strangely anxious. Looking around carefully, he approached her and whispered something. There was a hint of hesitation on Emilia’s face.

Even more suspicious is the servant who manages the study. He was trying hard to pretend he could not see them whispering.

The old butler and the young woman, secretly whispering; and the servant, pretending not to see.

Suddenly, the black swan started looking completely different.
He never imagined this development. As the nasty sight filled his eyes, he felt displeased and disappointed.

Haspel led Emilia to a door in the most secluded part of the study. She followed him as if she couldn’t help it.

Thump.

The suffocating silence after they disappeared.

Nathan strode towards the door. The servant, who belatedly discovered him, was startled. He could clearly imagine what was going on beyond the door.

The old man must be stripping the young woman’s clothes…

Is it because she’s distressed?

The sense of incompatibility felt by a commoner woman, coming in and out of a noble mansion, must have been immense. Maybe she wanted to relieve her frustration, even if it was with a butler as deceptive as Haspel.

Nathan had never been interested in other people’s private affairs, but some kind of uncontrollable force took over him.

He grabbed the doorknob without hesitation and pulled it. The door pops open.

“!”

The first thing he saw was Emilia. As expected, she was right next to the butler. However, she didn’t have an obscene look in her eyes, nor she was taking off her clothes. She was just about to tie her hair up.

She flinched in surprise at the sudden intruder, while grabbing her abundant hair with one hand and holding a thin string in the other.

“Y-Young Master Malvin…?!”

The only thing that matched his expectations was the butler’s wide-open eyes, which looked like he was caught stealing.

Nathan’s eyes, which had been drifting between the two, turned to the documents, books, and ledgers scattered on the desk.

“What were you doing?”

Nathan asked the butler, looking at his blinking eyes.

“Ah… That… Actually…”

Not knowing what to do, he closed his eyes and revealed the situation.

“The foolish me couldn’t get the calculations right while organizing the Master’s ledgers… So, I was asking this child to take a look at it.”
“You showed the ledger? To that kid?”
“Ah… T-That…”

Nathan put emphasis on ‘that kid’, but the butler seemed to think that he was questioning how he dared to show his Master’s ledgers to others.

He touched his mustache, not knowing what to do.

“How come? Do you know what to do?”

Emilia opened her mouth slowly, realizing she was the ‘you’ Nathan was referring to.

“I was helping Mr. Haspel because he was having trouble with the double-entry system.”

The clear and calm voice tickled Nathan’s back.

“Are you saying you know double-entry bookkeeping? You?”
“… A little bit.”

However, the items on the desk are not something that you can understand by knowing ‘a little bit’.

“Are your parents bookkeepers? Or accountants?”
“No, it is nothing like that.”

Emilia tied her hair with the string she was holding.

He could hardly take his eyes off her graceful movement of turning the string around and tying her hair together.

A slim, milky-white face that became clearer when she tied her hair…

He blinked his eyes to brush off the afterimage and opened his mouth again.

“Then, where did you learn it?”
“… I didn’t learn…”

Emilia hesitated, as if she were a little embarrassed, and then continued.

“I read some books while attending here…”

Emilia pointed to a pile of books. They are all related to accounting and mathematics.

She is a self-taught woman, who learned double-entry bookkeeping and even manages ledgers.

This is a unique case that he has never seen before in the extensive personal connections of the Malvin family.

“Excuse me… If you don’t mind, can I continue working?”

Asking carefully, her eyes did not contain any feelings for Nathan.
An indifference that completely tramples on a man’s pride.

“All right. Whatever you want.”

Just before closing the door.

“But Haspel.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“It looks like a fairly extensive ledger, are you giving Miss Bern some kind of compensation or payment?”
“… Pardon?”
“The butler in charge of the ledgers usually receives three times the normal wage.”

Haspel was greatly flustered when he realized what he meant.

“T-That… I too… Want to reward Emilia in some way, but… I don’t know if the Young Master knows… Miss Bern is the fiancée of the Meyer family… So how dare I… Give such a person a payment like a wage… For giving me such kind advice…”
“I’m not sure.”

Nathan cut off Haspel’s incoherent rambling.

“It seems to me she is only getting poor treatment. I think she is ‘Miss Bern’ only when you need it. She is easy to handle, so you wanted to make it for free.”

Haspel’s pupils shook like an earthquake.

“Also, can I give you a piece of advice?”

Emilia continued to look surprised.

“With your eyes wide open like that, they will think you’re easy. Make up your mind to bite at them properly sometime. One on one. They won’t even be able to look at you directly when you’re alone with them.”

Just that.
Nathan closed the door without hesitation.

***

On her way to the warehouse to meet Beppy, Emilia’s hand holding her bag was shaking slightly. There was money inside. She just got it from Mr. Haspel. He wiped off his cold sweat, handing her the equivalent of a month’s wage for factory workers.

“This is a secret. It’s an absolute secret, Emilia.”

He forced a bunch of money into Emilia’s hand, who adamantly refused.

“… But Mister, that person already knows about it.”
“If Nathan Malvin had intended to make this known, I would not be here right now. I would have been dragged to Sir Cavendish right away.”
“…”
“Young Master Malvin won’t come here again anyway, so don’t worry too much. So, please continue to help me in the future. I was praised for being a good bookkeeper…”

Emilia nodded, reluctantly. She was both excited and nervous.
As Mr. Haspel said earlier, Emilia couldn’t find a job. The Meyer family’s fiancée couldn’t do laundry or work in a factory.

But can she do this?

Suddenly, Nathan Malvin came to her mind.

‘With your eyes wide open like that, they will think you’re easy.’

Those words were still lingering in her ears.

She only thought of him as the same as Shayla or Harriet’s group, so it was surprising. Her chest throbbed strangely.

No, don’t trust him too much. It might be a trick.

He might find out later that I received this money and use it to do something weird…

The bag felt heavier and heavier.

“Emilia! Here!”

Today too, she could see Beppy waving from far away.
He, who was so angry in the morning, was smiling as if something had made him feel good.

The carriage got out of Dill in no time. It was so fast; it was incomparable to when she was riding a stagecoach.

Outside the window, the endless rye fields were spectacular. But Emilia felt so uneasy she couldn’t even look outside.

Can she really accept this money?

The money in her bag felt like the forbidden fruit. She thought she should return it right away; but on the other hand, there are many things she can do with money, and it was messing with her head.

Before she knew it, they entered the forest road. Emilia made Beppy stop the horse.

“Mister, I’ll walk a little from here.”

Emilia got off the carriage and turned to the side road.
After walking for a while, the open sea unfolded. It’s Katia Beach, a treasure hidden in the zelkova forest.

In the cool sea breeze, Emilia walked to a small mound. It was the perfect place to calm her mind and organize her thoughts.

Sitting on a hammock, she dangled her feet and sunk into the sound of the waves.

After seeing the white breaking waves dozens of times, she finally decided.

Let’s return the money.

There should be no misunderstandings left in a place filled with only enemies.

If you break off the engagement with Hadius, you should get a job right away. Nathan Malvin seemed surprised, too.

As the weight on her mind disappeared, she felt a lot more relaxed.

Emilia lay down on the hammock.

The sun shone through the dense foliage, tickling her eyes.

Relieving the tension in her body, she became tired. She blinked, and the eyelids that were facing the sky slowly closed.

How much time has passed? A strange feeling ran down her spine.

Emilia’s eyes opened in an instant. As if attracted by a magnet, her head turned somewhere.

There was a man about ten steps away.

She was somehow familiar with the back of the man looking towards the sea, with one hand inside his pocket.

What… Is this a dream?

Why is Hadius here?

Emilia rubbed her eyes without realizing it. Instantly, the man turned his head.

Immobile like a stuffed doll, Emilia stared silently at the grey eyes approaching her.