Chapter 57
Clomp, clomp. Permetis approached me.
“Seeing me again, huh.”
I didn’t avoid Permetis’s fierce gaze and stared her straight in the eyes.
“Hello, Sasha.”
A sharp voice reached me.
When I didn’t answer, I heard Bashron click his tongue behind me.
“You really take after your father.”
Judging by the fact that they came out of Leccardo’s office, maybe they were on their way after meeting him.
Bashron’s face looked grim, so it seemed Leccardo didn’t agree to whatever they wanted.
“Couldn’t wait and just had to spill everything about yesterday, huh, Sasha. Feels good, doesn’t it?”
Spill everything about yesterday? I never did that.
“No answer. Did you become mute after tasting honey, or maybe…”
Permetis twisted her lips.
“Maybe you can’t hear very well.”
Then Permetis stepped even closer.
She moved her lips in a small, chilling voice just for me.
“Don’t get cocky, Sasha.”
Her words weren’t exactly provocative.
After all, countless villains on morning dramas say crueler things than this.
“Someday, when you’ve lost everything, this moment will embarrass you.”
“Really?”
I already knew how to deal with someone like Permetis.
Girls like her think they’re some kind of ultimate femme fatale.
“You?”
Permetis’s eyebrows twitched at my expression full of contempt.
She seemed to have gone mad with jealousy over me, but I had no energy to care about her.
“What?”
“Do you even have a way to take it?”
I had to prepare for my own fate—dying from illness around the time Persetos would resurrect—and prevent the world from ending.
Compared to these critical matters, Permetis was just a worthless stalk to be trampled.
“You have nothing on me at all.”
At my retort, Permetis’s eyebrows trembled.
“Oh, there’s something I forgot to say yesterday—Jin oppa doesn’t like you. Marrying someone as nasty as you…”
I crossed my arms and whispered to Permetis.
“I think he’d rather marry Robin.”
Sorry, Robin.
“You… you…”
Permetis’s fists trembled violently.
I twisted my lips into a wicked smile.
“Othello is also better than you…”
Before I could even finish, Permetis raised her hand upward.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze, but I didn’t feel shock.
“…!”
I turned to see Evan standing there.
Evan was much taller than me, even taller than Permetis, and he looked at her expressionlessly.
Permetis’s eyebrows flinched.
“Evan Tailors…?”
The male lead that Permetis liked in the original story, Evan.
I was intruding awkwardly in the historically significant first meeting between them.
I ruined the moment that had been drawn from Permetis’s perspective with all its excitement.
“…You are…”
Evan’s bored voice cut off Permetis.
“If this girl gets in trouble, it’ll be bad for me.”
Permetis’s gaze went toward Evan’s hand.
On Evan’s finger was the Lisonia ring—symbolizing resonance with me.
“So, get lost.”
Evan’s lips moved fiercely.
A sharp murderous aura emanated from him.
“You…!”
I could see Bashron widening his eyes at that.
But Evan Tailors, as the heir and an exchanged hostage, was beyond Bashron’s reach.
“Permetis, let’s go.”
Permetis, face hardened, looked at me.
“We’ll see.”
Her gaze lingered on Evan, clearly hostile.
Soon after, Permetis brushed past me.
The cold-faced Bashron also passed by.
A little later, I narrowed my eyes and looked back at Evan.
“Thanks, but you didn’t need to step in this time.”
Evan frowned and asked,
“What?”
“I was just going to chase her off if she hit me.”
Robin had told me why Permetis came today.
Leccardo would refuse to take her for tutoring, at least for now.
I was considering trampling her while she was angry.
If Permetis attacked me out of rage, I planned to fake a Hollywood-style death. Leccardo wouldn’t tolerate threats to direct heirs.
But Evan’s interference ruined my plan.
Evan looked at me like I was some strange creature.
It was a strategy of sacrificing flesh to take the bone.
“You…”
Unlike his disheveled state from the underground prison, Evan looked perfectly fine now. Being the male lead, it was needless to mention he was handsome.
Though his expression still annoyed me.
“…Is that something a seven-year-old would think of?”
Evan’s question stung a little.
“I’m busy, so I’ll go.”
I pushed him away and turned casually.
Feeling pricked, I quickly entered Leccardo’s office.
I thought I even saw Evan twitch the corner of his mouth slightly.
“…You’re here.”
Leccardo looked down at me with a dry gaze.
I struggled to place a stack of papers on his desk, and Rowen came to help.
“Father… did you, by any chance, tell Perry…”
I stopped myself from asking.
No matter how he knew, I had done nothing wrong.
Leccardo’s slightly twisted lips indicated he had understood my thoughts.
“What did you bring?”
“Hector grandfather sent a letter.”
Hector Winchester had returned to the Obin Mountains of Akada.
Soon, a letter arrived from there, containing information on Tailors’ situation.
These confidential details could have been sent directly to Leccardo, yet he gave them all to me.
“….”
Leccardo read the papers and placed them on the desk after a moment.
It was hard to read his mind. He rarely showed emotions.
“The matter is developing interestingly.”
His expression didn’t look amused at all.
Strange events had been appearing in the empire frequently.
So it hadn’t ended with the previous attack.
Kaisa was just the beginning.
After a moment, Leccardo asked me,
“Any news from Othello?”
He was asking me, right? I looked at him blankly and shook my head.
We didn’t exchange letters.
I couldn’t imagine Othello sitting at a desk writing letters anyway.
Even if he did, it would probably just tease me as usual, no need to send it.
Leccardo frowned.
“I heard Othello sent Rune.”
Rune? What’s that? I’d never heard of it.
Seeing my clueless expression, Leccardo twisted his lips slightly.
“Of course, he wouldn’t have explained kindly before leaving.”
He went back to reviewing documents after that.
“Now, leave.”
I bowed politely and left.
Rowen kindly held the door open for me.
— About Fury’s shop, the bandits blocked the way, so they couldn’t get the grains for the dough. I wanted to eat oatmeal cookies…
The day after I complained to the teddy bear Othello gave me, the bandits were cleared out.
Thanks to that, Maya could buy oatmeal cookies from Fury’s cookie shop.
— Ugh… I wanted to read a book, but Jin oppa’s personal tutor said ladies shouldn’t look at those! If only Grandpa Hector were here!
The next day, he couldn’t work because he had been sneezing all day from his chamomile allergy.
It became routine to say a few words to the teddy bear if something unusual happened during the day… That was Rune.
“Impossible!”
Rune was a pair of magical stones that allowed one-way communication.
Leccardo assumed Othello would have the sending side and I the receiving side, but it was actually the opposite.
Othello had heard all my complaints.
“You didn’t… know?”
Maya’s eyes went wide as she asked me.
“Hundreds of years ago, husbands going off to war used them to spy on wives… but due to backlash from wives, Rune production stopped. The term ‘Corune,’ meaning an incompetent man, derives from this….”
“….”
“Now, they’re sometimes exchanged as tokens of love between couples or family. Trends come full circle, as they say.”
Then why would he give that to me?
I covered my eyes, thinking about the embarrassing things I had muttered to the teddy bear.
“He must have heard everything, right?”
“Background noise doesn’t transmit. Only what you say directly to Rune is conveyed to the other side.”
At least that was a small relief.
“You should have told me properly! Bad Othello!”
I huffed, annoyed.
Who knew the note Othello sent with the teddy bear had that meaning?
I looked suspiciously at Rune on the bed.
Did it really hear everything I said?
If so… does that mean it also heard about Persetos’ destruction and Evan?
