Chapter 48

“You know the name of Retona’s southernmost resort city, right? Berna. He bought land there and built me a house.”

“Why? Was he a stranger?”

Ashton frowned, thinking.

“It was just chance. Meeting him.”

“He gave a random orphan boy land and a house?”

“That’s the odd part.”

Ashton agreed with her skepticism, eating a misaligned sandwich piece with his fork. Sabina watched him, suspicious—maybe he was exaggerating.

“I wondered too.”

“Did you ask why?”

“Of course. But he never gave a satisfying answer. Just said it was something to do in his old age.”

He carefully cut another sandwich, wrinkling his nose.

“Told me not to worry, since I was rich.”

Ashton gazed out the window, recalling,

“I remember him transferring a huge sum from Milum International Bank to a Retona bank. Thanks to him, I got a house and a small job. He visited every few days for a month.”

Sabina slowly began eating her sandwich. By the time a third of hers was gone, Ashton’s plate was clean.

“After that, he bought more barren land near Berna, left me the deeds, and disappeared. I don’t know why he bought it—the ground was weak, nothing could be built, and even the previous owner considered it a headache.”

“That sounds unbelievable.”

“Right? It’s the kind of luck people dream about. I don’t understand why he chose me for such generosity with no strings attached.”

Ashton shrugged.

“When I grew up, I tried to repay him, but couldn’t find him. I don’t even know if he’s alive. I hired a detective…”

He trailed off, finishing his story.

“Once, I heard he just vanished from a hotel near Berna’s coast.”

Maybe Ashton regretted that the gentleman disappeared, but Sabina approached the story differently.

“Weren’t you worried the house and deeds might be forgeries?”

“Of course. And I was young. Even a small house or cheap land seemed like a fortune. I worked hard to avoid anyone finding out I lived alone.”

Sabina looked at him as if to say, ‘You can’t really hide that.’

Ashton grinned.

“I did get bullied, but I wasn’t weak.”

Hiding was easy. Just a touch of someone’s hand was enough to dispel suspicion.

Well, there was no need to explain that.

“Then, at the harbor, I met my second benefactor. We’re still close. I call him Uncle Albert.”

Albert was a fisherman on a squid boat, who looked after young Ashton by bringing him his wife’s cooking and hand-me-down clothes from a neighbor’s growing son.

Again, Ashton received inexplicable kindness.

“You were really lucky.”

Sabina blinked. Ashton, having eaten another sandwich, took out washed green grapes from the basket. Sabina nibbled a few, thinking, ‘The old gentleman must have given him the watch.’ After all, a Maslado watch was too expensive for a fisherman.

But there was no reason to interrupt Ashton’s story. Sabina decided to keep listening to see how far his luck went.

“That’s right. Even luckier was when Uncle Albert brought news one day.”

Ashton paused.

“The barren land the old gentleman left me was covered with weak sand and rocks—all magical solvent. Your grandfather, Walter D’Vialis, had just invented the scroll.”

Sabina, who’d been biting a grape, fixed her gaze on Ashton. That was the stroke of luck that made him rich in Retona.

“Actually, I had no business sense at all. None. So even with such assets, I had no idea what to do.”

“A harbor errand boy or a squid fisherman wouldn’t have much business sense. I doubt the fisherman taught you how to grow your wealth.”

“Funny, but that’s what happened. I never sold any solvent until prices soared—that was Uncle Albert’s suggestion.”

Ashton smiled wryly.

“A young businessman needs confidence more than humility, so people talk me up, but my success is mostly luck and connections.”

“That’s strange.”

Sabina replied plainly, putting her fork down.

“How did you appraise the solvent? Only mages can identify magical medium.”

“I had a mage do it.”

“So someone must have tried to buy it—you must have had trouble refusing.”

“There’s a way.”

Sabina wondered how he managed to hold onto the resource until prices rose. She waited for Ashton to explain, but he kept quiet.

“Trade secret.”

Sabina narrowed her eyes, not suspecting Ashton had appraised the solvent himself.

“Anyway, the Maslado pocket watch must be from the old gentleman who vanished from the hotel. Too easy.”

She sounded certain. Ashton smiled, not denying it.

In truth, the watch’s origin was neither the gentleman nor the fisherman.

The train drew ever closer to Retona. Sabina realized Ashton often looked out the window. He was as excited as the day they planned the trip.

“You love Retona.”

“It’s a beautiful country.”

That was why he wanted to come with Sabina.

“You seem happy.”

Ashton leaned his head against the window, glancing at Sabina. She sat upright, dressed in white, her hair flowing down her back, adorned with a coral-shaped comb, like a sea fairy from Berna’s legends.

“But even so, I’ve never forgotten what I have to do.”

What was it that he had to do? Sabina blinked.

As the sun sank westward, the train slowed. The conductor walked through each car, announcing they’d arrive at Dialun Station, the capital of Retona, in ten minutes.

“Actually, it’s been a long time since I came to Retona.”

Sabina quietly whispered as she handed Ashton her travel bag.

Her last visit had been at seventeen, during Academy summer break with her grandfather. She’d last been to Berna even earlier, at fifteen. Berna, famous for its sea and Miras flowers, was always crowded.

Dialun Station was just as Sabina remembered—obsessively white everywhere. Platform, ticket gates, waiting rooms, all painted white.

“It’s too white here.”

“‘Too much of any color’ isn’t something someone who always wears black should say.”

“I’m used to you talking back to me now. But you’re getting cheeky.”

Ashton laughed aloud.

Since the train came from Brinita, most passengers were Brinitans. It was an off-season destination, so the train wasn’t crowded. Sabina ignored the peddlers wandering the station and stepped outside.

Outside, several carriages waited. It had been a long time since she’d ridden a horse-drawn vehicle. Sabina glanced at the shiny, handsome beasts, then climbed aboard with the driver’s help.

“For today, let’s stay at a hotel in Dialun and head to Berna tomorrow after a late start?”

It would take several more hours by carriage from Dialun to Berna, so leaving immediately would mean arriving late at night. Sabina nodded.

Ashton gave the driver their destination and climbed into the carriage. Sabina looked at him as if the situation was unfamiliar—naturally, Ashton spoke in Retonan.

“It’s strange.”

“In two weeks, you might find it strange to hear me speaking Brinitan. Do you understand Retonan?”

“I learned it. I can mostly understand, but I’m not good at speaking.”

“Say something.”

Sabina was silent for a while, then replied in a slightly dissatisfied tone.

“It’s not polite.”

Her Brinitan-accented speech made Ashton laugh.

“My grandfather was fluent in Retonan. Whenever we traveled, he always handled communication.”

The hotel wasn’t far from the station, and they arrived quickly. Dialun was a lively city. People with sun-darkened faces and hair faded by strong sunlight chatted quickly.

Sticking close to Ashton for check-in, Sabina was guided by the bellboy and suddenly spoke.

“No one’s making a fuss.”

The man carrying her bag glanced down. Sabina looked up at him.

“In Ridblon, everyone makes a fuss when they see me. But not here. No one recognizes me.”

As Walter D’Vialis’s granddaughter, Sabina had always been the center of attention. Since growing up, every action became news or gossip. But here, no one seemed to care what she did—they were just polite.

“So this is what it’s like.”

She spoke as she rode the elevator to the floor with their assigned room.

“Living quietly.”

Fame wasn’t always a bad thing. Sabina’s influence, second only to the royal family, made her someone people couldn’t treat lightly, and that was thanks to her reputation. She was simply fascinated by a world she’d never experienced before.

“That’s exactly what I wanted you to feel.”

Ashton said that. Sabina looked at him with slightly suspicious eyes. The elevator stopped at the top floor, where the restaurant was. Ashton, seeing Sabina hesitate to get out, raised both hands in surrender.

“Eighty percent of it is just that I wanted to come for myself.”

Only then did Sabina leave the elevator.

Dialun wasn’t a seaside city per se. Still, as befitted ‘coastal nation Retona’, the restaurant menu was mostly seafood. Sabina, who rarely ate meat, liked the variety of seafood dishes.

“It’s delicious.”

Sabina, who rarely commented on food, offered her opinion for once. Ashton smiled softly.

“Maybe it’s just because you’re hungry.”

“It’s not that. It’s genuinely good.”

Sabina’s response to his gentle probing was firm.