The wicked woman is roasting coffee beans again today.

Chapter 8 – Part 2

***

One of the men, glancing at the lead, hastily hopped into a carriage and headed off somewhere. They entered a mansion with fluttering banners bearing a headdress woven of olive wood.

The place where the little lady of the house had broken up with her husband and unleashed her pent-up emotions seemed like a bitch. The unheated hallways had only grown quieter since Lynet’s departure.

“My lord, Owen is here.”

The knight outside the door called out, and the door opened from within. Inside, Nixon opened the door at his lord’s command.

“My lord, I’m back.”

Owen bowed as he entered.

“So, how’s the shop going?”

At Kenneth’s inquiry, Owen, taking a deep breath, replied:

“The building was clean, and it was decorated quite charmingly, according to the young lady’s taste.”

“Lynet’s taste is charming? Hm.”

Kenneth, who didn’t know what his daughter’s tastes were, sighed softly and looked at Nixon, and Nixon’s head bowed slightly. Kenneth, who had always given Nixon money for Lynet’s birthday so that he could make his own arrangements, felt guilty again.

“By the way, how’s the store going?”

Although he wanted to provide overall support as a father, it seemed that Lynet wouldn’t want it. It seemed she wouldn’t even want to see his face, let alone visit the shop.

So, after Lynet left, he sent Owen, who had joined as a steward, to oversee things there. He thought Lynet might misunderstand if she saw a familiar face.

“Uh, well… um…”

Unable to answer easily, Owen smiled awkwardly. Although Kenneth didn’t seem to hear, he seemed to know what Owen had seen.

“It seems business isn’t going well.”

“Unfortunately, that’s the case. It’s been three days since the shop opened, but I haven’t seen anyone who looks like a customer come in.”

“Ah…”

He had confidently assured that everything would go well, but since business wasn’t good, it seemed like people wouldn’t come here, even if it made them uncomfortable to see his face.

“My Lord, don’t worry too much. There’s still some of the seed money you gave left, so she should be able to manage with that for now.”

“That may be so, but even if Lynet spends all that money out of pride, it’s clear she won’t easily come back to this house. What should we do about this?”

“If I may say so, My Lord, even though you may not like to hear this, how about sending a letter to Viscountess Florence?”

“But they’ve moved out by now, so the letter won’t even make it inside.”

Florence was Kenneth’s cousin-in-law. Thirteen years ago, Viscountess Florence had sealed herself inside her family estate and hadn’t engaged in any external activities since then.

“Then how about talking to the young master? I heard Viscountess Florence’s son, Casper, is also serving in the same knight order as Edgar, sir.”

“Ah, I forgot that Casper and Edgar are in the same place.”

Having forgotten that his nephew was a knight in the royal palace, Kennethe nodded at Nixon’s words. Viscountess Florence had an overflowing love for Lynet, so if it was about Lynet, she would probably do anything.

“When Edgar comes in, have him bring him to me.”

“Yes, understood.”

Shortly after, as Edgar, who had received rigorous training, entered the mansion, Nixon went to fetch him.

“Young master, my lord wishes to see you.”

“Just wait a moment.”

Before sitting down in his chair, upon his father’s orders, Edgar headed to the study. Just seeing his father sign documents piled up on the large desk made him feel suffocated.

“Father, you called for me, so I came. What’s the matter?”

Although his appearance resembled his father’s, it was uncertain whose personality Edgar took after. Seeing Edgar, Kenneth said to Nixon:.

“Lynet has opened a shop. Are you aware of this?”

“Of course I am, but I deliberately didn’t go to see it because I thought Lynet wouldn’t want to see me.”

He hadn’t gone close, but Edgar had seen from afar and then turned away when Lynet opened the shop. If it was Lynet’s personality, she seemed like she would manage the shop well.

Even if the shop failed, Edgar wasn’t overly worried because he had this place to fall back on.

“So, not a single customer has entered Lynet’s shop so far.”

“It might be because she has never managed a business before, and the menu might seem unfamiliar. But once word gets out, it should be fine, so don’t worry too much.”

Although Kenneth was worried about Lynet, he couldn’t openly support her. Seeing his father’s reaction, Edgar chuckled.

Rummaging through his pockets, Kenneth flicked a coin with his fingers. Edgar instinctively caught the gold coin. It was a gold galleon.

“I have money too.”

“Just take it. And make sure to tell Casper that Lynet is running a shop. Pass this along as well.”

“Understood.”

Kenneth seemed quite anxious, perhaps because he was giving enough money to cover several months’ worth of wages that ordinary people had to work themselves to death for. He seemed to think that providing more money would only decrease the likelihood of Lynet accepting it, so he decided to provide only this much support.

The next day,

Edgar arrived at the palace and immediately sought out Casper. Casper’s face was filled with exhaustion from the late-night shift.

“What? Do you have something to tell me?”

Although they were peers in terms of age, Edgar and Casper didn’t have a particularly good relationship. Seeing Casper speak curtly, Edgar chuckled and said,.

“I wanted to talk about Lynet.”

“What? Lynet? Hey! Is there something going on with our Lynet? I was so worried about her that I even went to see the Duke of Pruina, but Linette wouldn’t meet me.”

Directed towards the blind affection for Lynet from Viscountess Florence, Edgar subtly leaked his words.

“Lynet has left the house.”

“What? Why do you say that now? What on earth have you done to cause my sweet, dear, lovable, bitable little Lynet to run away from home?”

“Dum spiro spero”