IWPU 27

Chapter 27

I gestured to Marie, who stood frozen. Though she looked confused, she approached me without saying a word. It seemed the butler had trained her well.

“Take the child outside.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Marie helped the child to his feet. With a vacant look in his eyes, he let her lead him out without resistance.

As I heard the door close, I sat back down on the sofa. Evan remained standing, his expression stiff.

“Let’s hear what you have to say first. I’ll question your rudeness afterward.”

Evan looked down at his hand. He seemed to have finally realized his mistake. No matter how urgent the situation had been, grabbing my arm without permission was undeniably rude.

He stepped toward the sofa opposite mine.

“First, I sincerely apologize for my discourtesy, Lady Ellient.”

He bowed his head.

I looked at him indifferently. After straightening up, he carefully sat down. He seemed unsure of where to begin. I waited in silence for him to speak.

“To be honest, I don’t know where to start.”

“That’s not something a merchant should say.”

A merchant should know how to charm others with words. In that sense, Evan didn’t seem fit for the role.

“Yes, I’m more of a knight than a merchant. The Count used to say the same.”

He smiled bitterly. I couldn’t help but frown. It meant my grandfather had appointed him as the head of the merchant group despite knowing his personality.

What on earth had my grandfather seen in him?

‘His business skills?’

Certainly, the Louiasia brand was groundbreaking. Its strategy—understanding women’s psychology and targeting their vanity—was truly impressive. Perhaps my grandfather had seen that potential in him. I leaned back against the sofa and looked him over.

Still, his appearance looked more like a knight than a merchant. His long, single-lidded eyes and tightly closed lips made him appear rigid and upright.

“You resemble the Count very much.”

“……”

His sudden comment made me furrow my brows instead of replying. Seeing my reaction, he gave an awkward smile.

“I felt the same the first time I met you.”

‘The first time? When Grandfather passed away?’

His gaze made me uncomfortable. Our current meeting wasn’t pleasant by any means. I didn’t like how he unconditionally protected the child, and he probably didn’t think highly of me for my harsh words toward the boy.

‘Then what is that look in his eyes?’

His eyes held deep trust. I couldn’t understand the way he was looking at me.

“That was a rather out-of-place comment.”

“To you, I suppose it would seem so.”

He nodded as if agreeing. I felt uneasy in this situation. His unprovoked kindness made me uncomfortable.

“Did you treat Lai like that on purpose?”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“As you know, Lai is of mixed blood with Inayari. A single mistake from him could endanger the entire merchant group. Didn’t you mean to warn us—both the child and me—of that risk?”

“And knowing that, you let such a wild child run loose without any precautions?”

“I won’t make any excuses. That was entirely my fault.”

He bowed again. His posture was upright and flawless—truly that of a knight.

“Just as I thought. You really do resemble the Count.”

He raised his head and continued,

“He used to be quite harsh with us as well.”

‘Is he seeing my grandfather in me?’

Now I understood who the trust in his eyes was really for. He was seeing my grandfather through me. I should’ve felt offended by that—but I didn’t. Maybe it was because I, too, was reminded of my grandfather, or perhaps it was the wistful gleam in Evan’s bluish-gray eyes.

“I’m an orphan,” he said, lowering his gaze. His long lashes cast deep shadows over his eyes.

“I was like a worm, struggling just to survive each day. The one who saved me was your maternal grandfather, Count Peaceon.”

He looked directly at me. The wavering in his eyes was gone. His gaze was firm and unwavering now.

“If not for him, I wouldn’t be alive today.”

I listened quietly.

“And it wasn’t just me. He saved many children from hell. Including the boy from earlier.”

“Even after knowing who that child really was?”

“Yes. The Count knew everything.”

I tapped my fingers against my knee, thinking. Why had Grandfather accepted the child despite the risk? It wasn’t just about that boy. Evan, too, said he’d been rescued by my grandfather. I couldn’t begin to guess his true intentions.

“Why?”

“He said it was atonement.”

“Atonement for whom?”

Evan’s gaze rested solely on me. My reflection was clear in his bluish-gray eyes.

‘Ah!’

I understood the answer from his eyes. My grandfather had spent his life atoning—saving abandoned children in secret to make up for what he had done to me and the Marchioness. Then, and even now.

“…How many children were there?”

“Many.”

“And most of them work with the merchant group, I assume?”

“Most of them, yes.”

Now I understood why my grandfather had entrusted the merchant group to Evan. He needed someone who shared the secret and would protect it. Evan must have been that person.

‘Grandfather…’

Even though I understood the reason, more questions arose. Was Evan truly the owner of the merchant group? The more we spoke, the more that question grew. Though he seemed trustworthy and dependable, he didn’t seem like the one behind Louiasia. I just couldn’t believe he had created it.

‘Was someone else the real founder of Louiasia? Then who?’

My thoughts spiraled deeper. I fell silent, trying to pick the next question. Evan also said nothing, matching my silence.

Knock knock.

A knock broke the silence. Evan looked at me, and I nodded. He rose and went to the door. I watched from the sofa as he opened it.

Standing there was someone I hadn’t expected.

“Bionne.”

I was shocked to see her. She should’ve been at the Count’s estate. Why was she here?

“I didn’t expect to see you here, Anasha.”

It was Anasha Hess Peaceon, the Count’s wife and Elle’s mother, standing at the door.

She walked in gracefully and sat on the sofa across from me. Evan followed and stood behind her. Seeing them like that left a bitter taste in my mouth.

‘So that’s how it is.’

Only now, with her standing before me, did I understand who the real head of the merchant group was. The feminine interior of this parlor, the sales tactics aimed precisely at women’s vanity—it was too much to credit to Evan.

Anasha was a commoner who had risen to become the Count’s wife. Noble society, though glamorous on the surface, was brutal beneath. It wasn’t a place someone of her birth could enter without resistance.

Yet she had not only survived but secured her position. She must have understood the psyche of noblewomen better than anyone. More than that, the name Louiasia was so blatant that I now felt foolish for not seeing through it.

“Louie” was her nickname for Grandfather. “Asha” was his pet name for her. The realization made me laugh in disbelief.

“Well, what am I supposed to make of all this?”

I leaned back on the sofa, crossed my arms, and glared at her. Anasha smiled awkwardly.

“Please don’t misunderstand, Bionne.”

“What exactly am I misunderstanding?”

My sharp tone made her eyes take on a sorrowful look. She had always had that air about her—that aura that triggered a protective instinct. Most men probably fell under her spell.

‘Was I one of them, too?’

Her love for my grandfather had always seemed genuine. She never left his side during the four years he was bedridden. Her gaze toward him had been full of affection and love.

‘Was I deceived by her? Or is there more I still don’t know?’

I carefully weighed my thoughts.

She placed a box on the table and pushed it toward me. It was a fairly large wooden box, about two spans wide. I looked down at it.

“These are things he left behind. I thought it made more sense for you to have them than me…”

A deep sadness settled on her face—perhaps at the thought of Grandfather. Was that grief real or an act? My thoughts were tangled.

I opened the box without a word. Inside were hair ties, accessories, and other small items for women. I looked away from the box and back at Anasha.

My head throbbed from everything that had happened. I hated these tangled relationships. I stopped trying to guess her intentions.

‘Even if she deceived me and Grandfather… so what?’

He passed peacefully, surrounded by her love. Whatever her inner feelings were, she fulfilled her role. Even if she had deceived me, I had lost nothing.

Wealth? Status? I had never considered those things mine to begin with. I wasn’t greedy enough to covet what wasn’t mine.