Is the Friend of a Friend a Stranger? - Chapter 19.1

As expected, Count Wilden, who was insisting on expelling Owen, backed off as soon as Bronowitz appeared.

Of course, the count also apologized in a polite manner and offered to compensate for any damage. But there would be no idiots who would reach out their hands and ask for it. It was more profitable to ask for a relationship that could last using this as a pretext.

Owen was released from prison only after the whole matter was resolved. It was because the count said that he had to take his uncle.

‘But they really don’t look alike.’

That was what the knight who was with Count Bronowitz and Owen said.

Owen seemed very surprised as soon as he entered the room where the count was, and the count’s face revealed a dissatisfaction that could not be hidden. Judging by the suffocating atmosphere, the relationship between the two seemed to be terrible, as expected.

‘No wonder. No way he was happy with his uncle, the child born from his grandmother’s affair.’

But the strange thing was that even though he was so dissatisfied, the count himself looked as if he was advertising it by coming all the way here. He could have handled things quietly enough without revealing himself. He came to the knights as if he wanted everyone to know where Owen had come from.

He had been ignoring him until now, so why was he suddenly like that? Did he need Owen now?

The only thing a person who held a position like Bronowitz needed from a young man like Owen was nothing but the benefit of marriage he would get. It was well-known that the count’s son had married a woman in an inferior position in pursuit of love.

‘I’m not good at doing things that go against other people’s expectations. Is it because I grew up without being loved?’

Sylvia recalled Owen, who had unmistakably exposed his weakness in that small room. Blond hair that sparkled in the sunlight that was pouring in. The smell of dust in the filthy room, and the faint smell of soap emanating from him.

If he couldn’t do anything that went against expectations, did that mean that even if the count asked him to marry another woman, he wasn’t able to refuse?

Sylvia thought about things that complicated her mind, then shook her head and went to sleep.

No matter what happened to Owen, what did she have to do with it? For her, Heston’s matter alone was overwhelming.

***

“Dear heavens, Young Lady! Your face is such a mess!”

Alicia made a fuss as soon as she looked at her the next morning.

“Even if I just woke up, how can my face be a mess…”

As Sylvia stood there, rubbing her heavy eyelids, Alicia gently but diligently moved her hand and started dressing her up.

“It’s such a mess, what should I do?”

She wiped her face with warm water.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t sleep the whole night because of what happened with the knights?”

Her hair was braided up and fixed, and her side hair was neatly pulled out and tidied up.

“You even hurt your chin the other day. Is perhaps someone harassing you?”

The uniform was warm and had a soft scent. Sylvia was impressed by Alicia, who spoke endlessly as she gave her arms and legs as she asked. But she liked that. When she went on a dispatch and it was cold, she had to wash herself shivering.

‘No. It was better in my case at least. Heston took the water and mixed it with some hot water.’

Instead of making a fuss as she looked at his hands, red from the cold, and saying, ‘Are you alright? You didn’t have to do this… look at your hands. Thank you, I’ll use it well,’ Sylvia wanted to share her warmth with him.

At this point, though, it was all meaningless.

She took her medicine as usual, but Alicia, who had been quietly watching her, narrowed her eyes as if she was suspicious.

“Aren’t you taking that medicine for too long? What kind of medicine is it?”

“I told you. That time…”

“You’re taking it because the magic the Young Master cast on you makes you feel weird? But isn’t it said that it is usually fine after three or four days?”

“Is that so?”

Where did she hear such a thing? Embarrassed for a moment, Sylvia asked stupidly. Without missing the slight crack in Sylvia’s voice, Alicia straightened her chest and brought the earrings she was holding.

“Yes. But you’ve been taking it for more than a week already. Are you sure this isn’t some strange medicine?”

“It’s not.”

“It looks really suspicious. Maybe one day I’ll steal some of it and take it to the doctor.”

“Why are you so confident in saying you’re going to steal?”

“There’s no need to hide that medicine if it’s legitimate, right?”

Silently, Sylvia took all the medicine and put it in her pouch. Alicia stared intently at the pouch, then snorted and hung the earrings on her ears.

When the red gem, which looked like a pomegranate seed, filled with mana was hung on Sylvia’s ear, it shone for a brief moment and then subsided.

***

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