Chapter 7.2

As she thought she would need to look up the relevant laws as soon as work ended, Daphne sent the man away. The man, who looked like he would stick around until he got at least a little money, left with a strange smile on his face.

“Daphne, if you need any help, just tell me. I’ll do anything for you.”

“Thank you for saying so. But first I need to find out what’s going on.”

Hailey’s face was clouded with concern. Daphne, instead, comforted her as they stepped outside. The sky was clear, in contrast to her gloomy mood. It would have been better if it had rained.

“Sir Grey!”

At that moment, someone called her name from afar. She didn’t even need to look back to know who it was. Of all times, why did she have to run into him now? Daphne forced a neutral expression and turned toward the voice.

“Um, I heard what happened. If there’s anything I can do to help…”

She suddenly felt anger, forgetting that she had always liked him until now. Or maybe, because she liked him, she didn’t want to show such a pitiful side of herself.

But in her heightened sensitivity, her words couldn’t come out gently. In the end, Daphne snapped back in a sharp voice.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think this is something you should be involved in, Sir. And honestly, it’s a little uncomfortable for you to come find me like this, anytime, anywhere. I appreciate your concern, but I’d like it if you kept your distance.”

“Ah… I’m sorry. I was too hasty.”

Embarrassment flickered in his eyes. Only then did Daphne realize what she’d said, and she dropped her gaze, mumbling an excuse.

“No, my words were harsh too. I’m sorry. I’ll be going now.”

She heard him call her from behind, but Daphne couldn’t stop walking. Instead, she hurried her steps to get away from there.

All she wanted was an ordinary life, earning a salary and enjoying good food now and then—why did nothing ever go her way?

She suddenly felt like crying.

* * *

“Isn’t this actually a good thing?”

Jermel, who had just poked Evan’s still-unhealed wound, pressed down on his shoulder as if telling him to calm down and listen a bit more.

“Don’t look at me like that, just think about it seriously. You glaring at me doesn’t scare me anyway. If you’re going to move on, now’s the best time. If you miss this chance, nothing will change.”

“If my feelings were so easy to let go of, I would’ve done it already. But I can’t. My heart is already too…”

Evan dropped his shoulders and buried his face in his hands, letting out a deep sigh. Seeing him act as if he was carrying the weight of the world alone, Jermel recalled his own first love.

I don’t think I was ever that bad.

But that wasn’t the point. As a friend, what mattered was helping him get over his sorrow quickly.

“You really are hopeless, you know that? With her personality, she wouldn’t want you to pay off her debt for her. If she did, she would’ve come to you first. But she didn’t. Even if she didn’t ask you to pay it, the fact that you weren’t the first person she thought of in that moment says it all.”

“In that moment…”

“Yeah. Lovers are supposed to share both happy and sad times. The person you want to turn to first for comfort—that’s what a lover is.”

“But is there really a reason to share even the sad things? I don’t think it’s right to bring up things that will just make the other person sad.”

This idiot…

Jermel wondered where to even start, and whether he really had to explain things like this. He grabbed his throbbing head, then spoke slowly after a long sigh.

“This is why you never get anywhere, you fool. The important thing isn’t the fact that you share sad news, it’s the desire to be comforted. It means showing the deepest parts of yourself. You can only do that with someone you truly trust and care about. That’s what real love is!”

He’d once wondered if Evan was uninterested in women and maybe liked men instead, but now it was obvious Evan was completely taken with the pink-haired medic. If she’d been from a suitable family, maybe it would’ve worked out, but given the situation, he had to help Evan move on.

The first step was to help him face reality. Jermel slung an arm around his shoulders and leaned in.

“And hiding sad things isn’t good for the other person either. Would you feel good if she kept secrets and suffered alone without you knowing?”

As soon as he finished, a shadow fell over Evan’s face. So dishonest. There were nights he’d come back to the dorm late, or not at all—he’d definitely gone all the way. The saying about late-blooming thieves never sleeping was made for him.

Jermel tried his best not to push Evan’s buttons too much, since he might explode in a different sense.

“See, it feels like crap, right? What, am I not someone you can trust with your feelings? Do you really love me? That’s what you’d think. Can you say you wouldn’t?”

Love was fleeting, but the power and honor in Evan’s hands would last a lifetime. He was skilled, so he’d surely rise to a high position soon.

So Jermel could only give his friend sincere advice: Please, just think rationally, like you used to.

“Just think of this as your last chance and move on. That’s advice from someone who’s lived a few months longer than you.”

Whether it would work or not, he didn’t know.

* * *

“Yeah. It’s not like I thought something like this would never happen.”

Just, she’d never imagined it would be now. If she’d known, she would’ve sued from the start. But back then, she hadn’t even been registered in the Lewin Barony, and for a commoner to sue a noble was to risk death.

“But who was that mage?”

The mage who had helped her get this far—Rezan Grey. She’d tried to ask his name to thank him, and searched for him after he disappeared, but in the end, she hadn’t been able to find out where he’d gone.

Why had he helped her? Probably just out of pity.

In this complicated situation, her frustration started to head in a strange direction. Even though she knew blaming him now wouldn’t help, she couldn’t help herself.

She’d grabbed a few documents just in case when she escaped the Baron Lewin’s manor. But with Baron Lewin already arrested, she wasn’t sure how much help they would be.

Either way, he wasn’t getting out of prison easily. Unless he left as a corpse.

That thought made her happy, but the fact that she had to clean up his mess made her angry. He really was a man who brought nothing but trouble to her life.

“What am I supposed to do….”

With a sigh, Daphne collapsed onto her desk, letting out a groan. Not a single day went by without a loan repayment letter arriving. At this rate, she might really lose everything—even her job.

‘But who can I shove this onto?’

She had gone to the administration office to get documents proving her name was Daphne Grey, but even there she couldn’t get a clear answer. All they told her was that her surname had changed at some point, not who had changed it.

So she had to prove she had no connection to Baron Lewin and push the debt onto someone else.

Most likely, the person who should repay this debt was a family member tied to her on paper. In other words, it didn’t have to be the Lewin Barony—anyone related by blood would do.

‘No. Why am I even worrying about that? I need to take care of myself first. I should start by sorting out the birth certificate that Baron Lewin submitted without my permission.’

But that was bound to be difficult. If they did a DNA test, it would prove the parent-child relationship, so she couldn’t claim she wasn’t his child. The fastest and most accurate way would be to be adopted by someone else or to prove that the paperwork was falsified.

‘But who would adopt a grown woman? I wouldn’t, either.’

If only she could run into that mage somewhere. Maybe he would help her. Well, she couldn’t be sure, but it was a hope.

It would be a lie to say Evan didn’t cross her mind at this moment. But he was the one person she could never ask for help. She didn’t want to show him such a miserable side of herself, and just imagining him pitying her made her chest feel tight.

She didn’t care what others said about her. But when it came to him, she couldn’t be indifferent. She wanted him to see only the good in her, to always leave a good impression.

So she couldn’t speak, and couldn’t ask for help. If she borrowed the power of the Clyde Earl’s family, all the debts Baron Lewin had dumped on her would be solved. But she didn’t want to be someone who approached him for that purpose.

Even if he understood that wasn’t her intention, he would still become a man tangled up with a strange woman. And that label would clearly do him no favors in life.

She was usually good at facing reality, but today, her chest ached more than usual. Why did she have to be Baron Lewin’s child, with nothing to her name?

Regret for things she couldn’t control filled her. All she had was a meager salary and abundant magical power. She wondered if she should transfer to the Magic Development Department even now.

They said there were many perks if you joined the Magic Development Department, so maybe there was something she could use in this situation.

Of course, there would be a lot to lose, too.