#64

Her face stiffened. No matter how many times he wiped his face and looked in front of him again, Haley was still standing while crying her heart out in front of him. 

‘I wish I could turn back time, or just disappear immediately.’

“Noona, are you okay? I didn’t mean to push you. My friend, Jay, said something strange to me. He said I can have you if I do this kind of thing. Ah, please don’t misunderstand. Be aware of me as well.”

“Huh?”

“No, Jay keeps saying that I have to do it. I was so obsessed with women who resemble fox that I couldn’t come to my senses. Then, he decided to donate all his assets. Be careful.”

“You mean I’m a fox?”

“Oh, that’s not what I meant.”

‘Why is it so difficult? If I express my thoughts in a simple way and confirm the positive response from Haley. I want to have a happy ending by getting married.’

‘I like you a lot, Haley.’

Claude found it difficult to say those words.

‘What if I get rejected? I’m afraid she’ll never want to see me again.’

Haley was still a difficult for Claude to get. Although they shared their precious first kiss with each other, there had been no significant progress after that. 

‘I get annoyed when my inarticulate self talks like this. I’m on the shy side so I don’t realize what I’m saying and most of the time would spit out recklessly in front of her.’

Haley took over the handkerchief in Claude’s hand to wipe the dust from her hands. Then, she stuffed the dirty handkerchief into her pocket.

‘At this rate, I’ll have a hobby of collecting other people’s handkerchiefs. How many is this? I haven’t even been able to return the two I’ve received from the blonde-haired perverts. He’s a very free-spirited person who appear out of nowhere. Moreover, due to his job to escort the Crown Prince, there’s not even a chance to meet him easily.’

Seeing herself thinking of another man with Claude in front of her, Haley burst out laughing. That kiss was nothing. In some overseas countries in her previous life, the kiss on the cheek with someone they are seeing for the first time meant nothing.

Claude asked the woman who was about to turn away.

“Noona, listen… Where are you going?”

“…To the bar.”

“Can I come too?”

Haley shook her head thoughtfully. Now she was going to a bar that only ordinary people could go to. She didn’t know what fights would happen when people got drunk, so Haley thought she could bring an escort. Actually, her original plan was to be escorted by the handsome horseman she saw the day before.

“Hey, don’t you have any other clothes? That outfit looks too expensive.”

Claude was someone who naturally attract a lot of attention, so wherever he goes he would get attention. It would be difficult to camouflage properly if Claude easily attracted a lot of people by wearing his lavish attire…

Embarrassment appeared on Claude’s because he hadn’t prepared any extra clothes.

“Then, you should go home. I can go there with the horsemen over there.”

Claude turned his head to the horseman, who was standing in the distance, and his face turned gloomy. He was absolutely unwilling to let Haley go with another man. He walked to the stables and took out a gold coin.

“I’ll give you this money. Why don’t you sell what you’re wearing now?”

The brown-skinned horseman’s eyes grew huge as he became dumbfounded. The horseman hurriedly shouted in fear that Claude would change his mind.

“Well, please wait here for a moment. There are work clothes in the warehouse, so I’m going to change to it first.”

The horseman immediately disappeared with the gold coins in his hand to change his clothes into work clothes as fast as possible. He held out the shirt and pants he had originally worn to Claude. The clothes smelled sour and uncomfortable, but Claude had no other choice.

“Big brother, please wait a moment. I’ll change first.”

His appearance after changing with the clothes the coachman in the carriage previously wore was rather comical. The white shirt was so small at the shoulders that it was almost torn apart, and his pants were so short that half of his calves were visible. Even though he had such a ridiculous appearance, he looked serious about going with Haley. Haley heaved out a faint sigh after seeing Claude’s seriousness.

“Take off the two buttons of the top shirt, change the pants with the ones you usually wear. After that, I’ll take you there.”

Upon her words, Claude immediately re-entered the carriage with a smile on his face. He reappeared after a while with a rather better appearance.

“Let’s go for now. If it’s too late, they will disappear.”

Probably due to the side effects of the welcome, Haley who was rubbing her injured temple rushed towards the carriage. She jumped onto the carriage on her own after refusing Claude’s help.

“Please go to the bar street in 5th district.”

It was a bar with the first letter started with ‘Ro’.

Using Catherine’s hair, which she secretly obtained from the P&P clothing store, she found out who the child’s father was and the place he often visited lately. Thanks to that, judging from the embarrassing 19+ scene she would witness, her heart was slightly fluttering with excitement.

Although that excitement cooled down when she was pushed by Claude.

Claude’s firm chest muscles were visible between his short as he sat opposite the carriage. He had to suppress the instinct to keep her head down with her best strength.This was all because of the side effects of what she had just seen. 

That was the reason she was so excited. Even though she had experienced this, she still blamed the exposure of her face when she saw Claude’s face in its prime. Haley embraced her trembling shoulders with her arms. Claude took out a blanket from under the chair and wrapped Haley’s body in it. There seemed to be a faint citrus scent on her nape that had just been rubbed. Haley unknowingly wrinkled her nose and closed her eyes.

Feeling his scent drifting away, she curled up. The train windows rattled as the wind blew. Both of them thought the same thing and remained quiet until they arrived at their destination.

* * *

Bars with front seats that start with the letter ‘Ro’ are only here on this street. At Rosa’s tavern.

The table made of wood was worn out and split here and there. There were even some parts that were sticky because they were not cleaned properly. Whether it was a less popular bar or because the time was too early. There were no other customers at the bar besides me and Claude.

‘Have they come yet?’

I thought the quiet atmosphere of the bar was suitable for recording. As I sat in the corner of the bar and waited, the man I saw in the vision finally appeared. The biological father of the child Catherine was carrying.

Catherine, shamelessly insisted that the father of her child was the dead Baron Stephen.

‘He looks like a commoner.’

Black hair and brown eyes. The slightly loosely dressed shabby man bore no resemblance to Baron Stephen. What was he believing and trying to do this kind of deception to the child that will be born later.

‘In the novel, Gloria defeats Catherine and Henrick by showing that the child born bears no resemblance to the Baron.’

In the novel I wrote, the male protagonist secretly helps save the female protagonist from a crisis.

The man walked into the bar with his friend and settled near the counter without knowing that I was watching him.

‘I knew you’d come here.’

Actually, ever since she had the vision. She kept visiting this bar and waiting for that man. She turned on the tape recorder she’d borrowed from her mother and pointed it at the man’s table. Originally, the recording techniques in this era were have a very poor sound quality, but the things used by witches were different. Perhaps, because there was a magic in it, it was recorded quite neatly and was great to use as evidence. I hid the appearance of the machine with the handkerchief I had brought, signaled Claude, who was sitting opposite, and listened to the story of the next table.

The man, who seemed like Catherine’s lover, had the waiter bring the liquor, then heaved out a sigh and told his friend about his problem.

“Catherine is pregnant with my child. She will give birth in about three months.”

“What? What about Mrs. Zenit? You’re supposed to marry that rich woman next week.”

“So I’m worried. That woman is deliberately hiding that she has a child. To bother me like this. They want us to choose between children or money. Ha! I don’t know what to do.”

Meanwhile, lukewarm liquor was placed in front of the men. The men raised their glasses and drank it all at once. They moved their tongues and let out small exclamations.

“Wow, what delicious alcohol.”

“Here, one more glass!”

“So what? You married for money after all. Isn’t that really Catherine?”

“The woman I’m going to marry is too old. I asked her to wait, but she got angry. She will have a tremendous inheritance soon, so you shouldn’t regret it and think about whether it’s her or Mrs. Zenit and call me.”

The male friend whose ears were wide open at the word ‘inheritance’ and asked him.

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’m thinking about it. No matter how hard I think about it, I think it’s best to marry Mrs. Zenit and make some money, I’ll secretly give Catherine child support.”

The man who took a deep breath apparently felt claustrophobic, so he unbuttoned a few buttons of his shirt and rubbed off his face. His friend raised one of his eyebrows and asked as if he was curious.

“Why? I heard that Catherine will inherit a lot. You’re going to have children anyway, wouldn’t it be better to go to her?”

“How can I believe that? I’ve met her since she was young. She’s arrogant, and every time she opens her mouth, she lies to catch me again.”

The man stared blankly at the lights burning in the bar’s fireplace. He looked worried in many ways. At this moment, the male friend asked with shining eyes.

“Does Mrs. Zenit know about this?”

“It’s dangerous to know! Don’t say it out loud!”

Shocked by his friend’s remark, the man scrunched up and asked his friend to do so.

“For the sake of my child who will be born in the future, she must not know. Okay?”

“Well, don’t worry about it. You know I’m speaking carefully. By the way, you should marry a woman who is sixteen years older than you. Your situation is also miserable, huh?”

“I can’t help it. When my mother was sick, she called the MP, and I owe Mrs. Zenit a lot. The job I have now is also because of her help. She’s going to marry me who has nothing else. I should be grateful for that.”

“Yes, for people who are not like us, only a rich woman like Mrs. Zenit is the savior. I kind of envy you.”

“…Let’s have a drink.”

The man with a very calm expression drank one liquor after another and stood up staggeringly.

“I’m the first to stand up. See you on the wedding day.”

I pressed the recorder’s stop button and hurriedly stood up by putting the machine into the bag. Then, Claude held my wrist and whispered.

“Noona, are you going to follow that guy?”

“Yes, I have an important scene to record.”

I had to take a photo of Catherine and the man’s encounter. There was a possibility of a man later insisting that the woman who appeared in the conversation was not Catherine.

“Wait a minute. I think it’s better to recruit another man first.”

Claude pointed at the man who was still sitting at the next table and drinking liquor with a gesture of his chin.

I looked at the man Claude was pointing at, and I wondered for a moment if he would do as I said. However, wasn’t that man muttering these words while being drunk?

“Lucky boy. This is annoying.”