The guide’s body stiffened as soon as he faced Lambert’s frozen expression.

It felt like facing something scarier than a ghost.

“Hii, hiiek! So-sorry, Sir Lambert! Pl-please forgive me just this once.”

Lambert grabbed the guide by the collar. The guide’s legs dangled in the air as he was lifted up.

“Remember this. I’ll let it slide this time, but if you ever talk about Diana or the new guide again, I won’t spare you or anyone associated with you.”

“I’ll remember! Th-thank you!”

After giving his stern warning, Lambert surveyed the room.

The people who had been chattering like noisy birds just moments ago had fallen silent as if they’d swallowed honey.

He had effectively warned not just the guide he was holding, but everyone in the room.

“Good that you understand.”

Lambert roughly released the guide and left the break room.

This should be enough to stop them from talking nonsense about Olivia.

Lambert didn’t want Olivia to be pointed at just because she resembled Diana.

Rather than falling for Olivia at first sight…

‘…It’s more like wanting to protect her because she resembles Diana.’

Baron and Benjamin probably felt the same way.

They too couldn’t take their eyes off Olivia even while coming to the center.

But strangely, after talking with Olivia at the center, the shock of her appearance had subsided.

There was a time when he had wished for someone who looked like Diana to appear.

Even if it was just the outer appearance, he wanted to see someone who resembled her.

He thought if such a thing actually happened, he might instantly fall for Diana’s lookalike and pour out all the love he couldn’t give to Diana.

For that impossible thing to actually happen…

But there was a huge gap between imagination and reality.

Lambert was glad to see Olivia, but that was all. He didn’t feel any flutter or emotion towards her.

Perhaps he couldn’t feel much for Olivia because he was always thinking of another woman.

Lambert was more worried about Yerena, who had completely lost her position due to Olivia’s appearance.

He had wanted to keep her place open in case she returned someday.

‘…If there’s no place for Yerena at the center anymore, I could take her to House Heidegger.’

It would be easy to settle Yerena in his marquis household. He could use the plausible excuse of her being his fiancée.

Yerena was poor, had many people troubling her, had nowhere to go, and above all, she readily accepted his skinship, so she probably wouldn’t refuse if he asked her to become his fiancée.

Of course, they still hadn’t found Yerena’s whereabouts.

Even Benjamin, who had confidently claimed she was alive, was the same.

Time was flowing mercilessly, and it was frustrating not finding any proper traces.

…At least until just a few days ago.

“….”

Lambert lightly clenched and unclenched his large hand.

A few days ago, when he got a large abdominal wound from Komodo. He had lost consciousness after stubbornly refusing guidance.

That day in the forest, it felt like someone had held his hand.

Not the rough hands of the herb gatherer who had happened to find him and brought him to the center.

That hand somehow reminded him of Yerena with its soft touch.

As soon as Lambert regained consciousness, he searched for whoever had held his hand.

But the herb gatherer who had helped stop his bleeding said he hadn’t seen anyone else.

Everyone said he must have imagined it from losing too much blood, but Lambert didn’t believe that.

He could still feel the sensation of that soft hand on his fingertips.

Lambert searched the forest as if possessed.

His assistant and those around him looked at him like he was crazy.

Even if the whole world saw him as crazy, Lambert had to keep searching the forest.

Wondering if the owner of that hand might be Yerena…

Perhaps he had imagined it himself because he missed Yerena’s guidance.

However, sadly, he couldn’t find anything. He only learned that there was a large potato field nearby.

Since he hadn’t expected much, he wasn’t heartbroken about the failed search.

But he became even more convinced of ‘Yerena’s survival.’

Though it was a conviction born from animal instinct, his intuition had never been wrong.

Though his true feelings were hard to read, perhaps he could trust Benjamin’s words, who never spoke nonsense.

It felt like she was hiding somewhere not too far away.

Come to think of it, he’d heard that Benjamin had been thoroughly investigating Duncan and Chelsea Center lately.

There must have been a good reason for that languid man, who never took the lead in anything, to be shaking down Duncan.

Probably a reason related to Yerena.

Lambert thought he shouldn’t just sit still either.

“I should start searching more seriously too.”

Even if he were to confirm that she was really dead, he wanted to know her fate for certain. Not through Duncan or Benjamin.

And simultaneously, another matter had come up that he wanted to handle.

Lambert didn’t want to let the person who complicated things go unpunished either.

‘Rosie McCloy.’

That woman who pushed Yerena off the cliff needed to pay the price for what she did.

The reason he had left Rosie alone until now was that he didn’t want to reveal his lingering attachment to Yerena.

It felt unacceptable to care for another woman while thinking of Diana.

But the longer Yerena was absent, the more his longing for her grew.

The loneliness was too intense to excuse it as just missing her warm guidance.

Even when he was at death’s door in that forest, he searched for Yerena, not Diana.

Even after meeting Olivia, who looked exactly like Diana whom he could only see in dreams, he still ended up thinking about Yerena.

He didn’t like that Olivia had taken Yerena’s place.

He could no longer ignore the hot feelings that boiled up from deep in his chest whenever he thought of Yerena.

It was different from the pure love he had felt for Diana.

Hotter, deeper, more sensual.

Did he… like her?

No, he had liked her.

Her boldness and cuteness, her gentleness in following his words despite showing reluctance, even the pleasant scent when their lips met.

She was a woman without any flaws.

And he had thought she would always be his guide, staying by his side.

But Yerena suddenly vanished, and Lambert realized his feelings too late.

‘If I had realized earlier, would things have been different?’

A sigh thick with regret escaped through Lambert’s teeth.

Apart from regret, now that he had acknowledged his feelings for Yerena, he couldn’t leave Rosie alone.

***

Surprisingly, today was the first settlement day.

It had already been a month since I opened Jinjijo Transportation!

Our busy Guildmaster personally came to deliver the first settlement statement.

The statement showed my settlement amount processed according to our agreed-upon rate.

“H-h-how many zeros are there?”

It was the statement with the most zeros I’d ever received in this world.

An enormous amount had fallen into my lap, making me unconsciously gulp.

My goodness, my goodness, my goodness…

My hands holding the statement trembled.

If the first month was this much, my heart raced thinking about how much more money I could gather later.

I… guess I was destined to become rich.

I realized once again that Yerena’s harsh fate had come to an end.

“I cleaned out Duncan’s pockets completely.”

The Guildmaster proudly said as he sat on my desk.

I felt very sorry about emptying Duncan’s pockets when he had only shown me kindness. Even thinking that, I couldn’t stop my lips from curling up.

Sir Duncan, I’m sorry for making you poor when you must be having a hard time lately.

I’ll prepare a really nice birthday present at least. That’s the only way my conscience will survive.

I apologized to Duncan in my heart.

“Instead of completely, couldn’t you have cleaned them out just a little? I feel bad for Sir Duncan.”

“What does it matter? It’s money earned honestly through work. Besides, for someone who feels bad, you’re smiling too much.”

“Because money is nice. Hehe. Right, I mean, it’s not like I earned it illegally!”

All I did was interpret, secretly visit battlefields a few times, and take care of the contracted monsters, yet I struck gold.

I felt newly grateful to the Guildmaster who had suggested the transportation business.

Because no matter what Tamer abilities I had, this was a business I could never have done alone.

─Kyuuuu!

‘Be proud!’

Bless acted haughty as if he had become rich himself, not even knowing how much I had earned.

He had been acting moody like a teenager in puberty until a few days ago, but now he was back to normal.

“Yes, I’ll be proud!”

I pushed my chest out a little like Bless.

I felt absolutely great.

“But what should I do with this money? Should I expand the business?”