His eyes, deep and dark like the ocean, captured me completely. It was a gaze I was all too familiar with.

‘Does he know I’ve been enchanted?’

How could he possibly know? I hadn’t said a word.

Only one reason came to mind.

I felt my chest tighten, and an unfamiliar tension made me clench my fists.

“Are you… by any chance…”

“Hold on.”

Just as I was about to gather the courage to ask about his identity, he suddenly raised his hand to stop me.

While I blinked in confusion, he walked over and flung the shop door wide open. A man who had been leaning against the door with all his weight stumbled inside.

“Whoa!”

He looked suspicious, to say the least.

Yujin grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted him up. The man dangled like a piece of paper.

“Eavesdropping like a rat, huh? What are you after?”

“Gah! I-I came to talk about investment! You told me to come around this time yesterday. You did!”

“Me?”

Yujin frowned and looked back at me.

“Who is this guy?”

It was natural for him to react that way. I let out a long sigh.

“…Come inside, both of you. And close the door.”

The pitiful man, now teary-eyed from being lifted by Yujin, was none other than Asel.

***

As soon as Asel sat down, he poured out a storm of grievances toward Yujin.

“Isn’t this too much? You were so kind yesterday.”

Why were you eavesdropping at the door? It’s not like you could understand anything from the conversation anyway.

Yujin continued to glare at Asel as if he were a scammer or petty thief.

I sighed and decided to correct Asel’s misunderstanding first.

“He’s not the same person you met yesterday.”

“What? But he looks exactly the same!”

Yujin was dressed more casually today, with his hair naturally tousled, which seemed to confuse Asel. To me, they looked completely different.

I didn’t want to explain the whole twin thing, so I just said simply,

“They’re brothers, so they look alike. But they’re different people.”

“Oh, uh… I’m sorry.”

He was quick to admit his mistake. I looked at Asel with a mix of pity and frustration. Yujin, realizing he wasn’t an unwelcome guest, tilted his head.

“But what’s this about an investment?”

“This gentleman inherited a mine but doesn’t have the funds to extract anything. He’s looking for investors.”

As soon as he heard the story, Yujin glared at Asel again.

“Is he a scammer?”

“No, I’m not! Isn’t this too much?”

Asel protested, but Yujin responded in a cold tone, as if he felt nothing.

“I feel like I’ve met about fifty scammers like you. Do you have proof that you own a legitimate mine?”

“Of course! An inspector sent from the palace confirmed the value of my mine!”

“Anyone can say anything. Show me the certificate.”

“Well, that is…”

At the mention of a certificate, Asel squirmed with an embarrassed expression. Seeing him like that made me sigh again.

Of course, he couldn’t show it.

Oh well…

“You left it here, Asel.”

“It was here?”

When I handed over the mine certificate I had kept, Asel beamed with joy.

“I was so disheartened because I couldn’t find it anywhere, but thank goodness!”

“…”

Didn’t it occur to you that you might have left it here?

Have you been showing it off everywhere, or are you just not thinking?

‘This is why I don’t want to get involved.’

He might be a good person, but he lacked practicality. That’s why, in my past life, I always had to take care of him.

“See! I was right, wasn’t I? Apologize for calling me a scammer!”

Asel, holding the reclaimed certificate triumphantly, confronted Yujin. Yujin glanced at the certificate and frowned.

“Asel Adria?”

Unexpectedly, Yujin knew Asel’s name.

“Are you Baron Adria?”

“Yes, yes!”

“With a mine of this scale, you couldn’t find investors?”

“At first, a few people approached me out of curiosity. But then they suddenly stopped coming…”

“Are you sure you weren’t just lazy about finding them?”

“Why have you been speaking so rudely since earlier?”

Even the usually mild Asel raised his voice in response to Yujin’s persistent questioning.

“This is my only asset! I have nothing else to live on! Do you think I’d be careless about it?”

“But recently…”

Yujin was deep in thought, his expression serious. Then, in a calm tone, he made a surprising proposal.

“Let’s have our Esrenche Trading Company invest in this mine.”

“No matter how high-ranking you are… What? Es- what did you say?”

Asel, who had been protesting angrily, asked again in a daze, as if he had been struck. He seemed unable to believe it.

Instead of explaining in detail, Yujin wrote something on a blank piece of paper and handed it over. Despite writing quickly, his handwriting was neat.

“Take this to the Esrenche Trading Company and speak with the person in charge where they guide you.”

“Th-th-th…”

Asel’s hand trembled as if frozen when he received the paper. Then he asked cautiously, “Are you really Count Esrenche?”

Yujin raised an eyebrow and replied, “You must know how serious the crime of identity theft is.”

“No, it’s just that I never imagined meeting the owner of the Esrenche Trading Company in such a shabby shop.”

Asel kept glancing between the paper and Yujin’s face. Then, jumping with joy, he exclaimed, “Are you really going to invest in me? In our mine?”

“Yes. So head to the company before I change my mind.”

“Thank you! Really, thank you!”

At the mention of changing his mind, Asel dashed out of the shop as fast as he could. The door slammed shut behind him, caught by the wind.

It felt like watching a comedy sketch…

I stared blankly at the door, still rattling from inertia, then turned to Yujin.

“Hey, Yujin. Why did you suddenly decide to invest in a mine?”

For a brief moment, Yujin’s face turned very somber, as if he had taken on Asel’s worries himself.

“…I know that man.”

“Asel? How do you know him?”

“There was someone who coveted the mine that man possesses.”

“Someone wants a mine that everyone refuses to invest in?”

It didn’t make sense. If someone coveted it, they could have just invested themselves. Yet Asel had been unable to find investors, to the point of collapsing from hunger on the street.

What did that situation signify?

‘In the future, Asel even gets scammed out of the mine. He ends up in a contract giving away all the diamonds for a pittance.’

It was an unfair deal Asel would never have agreed to if he hadn’t been backed into a corner.

What initially seemed like a coincidence now appeared suspicious. So, in other words…

‘Did someone block Asel’s investors? To push him into a corner and take maximum advantage?’

The fact that Yujin knew about it meant he was involved in that situation.

And there was only one person who came to mind who could move Yujin.

“Could it be… Princess Sabina?”

“That’s…”

Yujin was about to answer me when he suddenly clutched his head and hunched over.

“Ugh.”

It seemed he was in pain again. I quickly knelt beside him and asked, “Are you okay? Do you want some water? Or would you like to lie down?”

“Just a moment…”

A heavy weight and lukewarm warmth pressed against my shoulder. His voice, always deep and low, resonated in my ears, but for some reason, it sounded pitiable to me.

“Just let me stay like this for a moment.”

I flinched at the breath brushing my neck, then slowly relaxed as I watched Yujin lean helplessly on my shoulder.

He seemed to be in a lot of pain, as cold sweat quickly formed on his forehead. Watching his large body tremble intermittently, I hesitantly raised my arms.

‘It’s okay to comfort him a bit, right?’

He’s a patient before he’s a guy my age.

After a moment’s hesitation, I cautiously began to pat Yujin’s back with both hands. I was ready to pull away if he showed any sign of dislike, but it seemed to comfort him as his tense body gradually relaxed.

‘Doing this feels like I’m soothing a big dog.’