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    “W-what did you just say?”

    Roswyn stood frozen, her voice trembling as she posed the question.

    “I don’t quite understand.”

    She tilted her head to the side as if Frey’s words were difficult for her to comprehend, but her increasingly pale face told a different story.

    “I told you, Roswyn.”

    To that, Frey responded once again.

    “I don’t want to love you anymore, and I don’t want to meet you either.”

    “W-wait!”

    Just as Frey turned to get back into the carriage, Rosewyn’s hand had shot out and grabbed his arm.

    “Are you throwing a tantrum? You’re just upset, right?”

    “......”

    “Hm, you seem quite upset, don’t you? Okay, it’s my fault. I’ve been too hard on you. I’ll try to be better from now on...”

    “Roswyn.”

    Her expression turned apologetic, and she took a tentative step closer. But when she heard him speak in a low tone, she flinched back.

    “...Let go.”

    “Oh, uhmm...”

    Roswyn released her grip slowly.

    “F-Frey? Why are you acting like this?”

    From her perspective the Frey that had always worn a foolish smile in her presence was now looking at her with coldness in his eyes.

    “Y-you. Has that strange detective agency brainwashed you? Or did you eat something weird? You seem a bit different from your usual self.”

    “...Sorry, I’m just a bit busy right now.”

    “W-wait!”

    When Frey tried to leave yet again, Roswyn timidly had stopped him once more, this time holding the hem of his cloth rather than grabbing his arm as she had done before.

    “.....!”

    Only after he had given her the same cold look did Roswyn realize something was wrong.

    “Sigh...”

    Frey watched Roswyn for a moment, then sighed deeply.

    “How long are you going to stay here?”

    He asked, frowning.

    “...Something’s strange.”

    Roswyn continued to stare at him with a puzzled expression, all the while muttering to herself.

    “Did he get possessed? If not, did he really get brainwashed...”

    “...Tsk.”

    “Y-you, there’s no way you don’t like me anymore, right?”

    Frey let out a small sigh and spoke.

    “...After countless confessions until now, I’ve finally come to the realization that I would never be able to receive any love from you.”

    “What? But...”

    “They say, ‘there’s no tree that won’t fall after ten hits,’ but no matter how many times—be it a hundred or a thousand times—I try, you won’t fall for me..”

    Roswyn’s gaze dropped.

    “Even so, I held onto the hope that one day you’ll see my sincerity... but that never happened. “

    “......”

    “I knew you were using me, I knew you treated me like a pushover... I knew you only saw me as a source of money, and in reality, you also detested and looked down on me.”

    “N-No...”

    “But still, it doesn’t matter to me. Such treatment was something I always received from those around me, so it wasn’t anything new.”

    He didn’t let her speak, clenching his fist as he continued.

    “Even so, even if I was used by you, became a source of money, and treated as a pushover, I still wanted to convey my sincere feelings to you...”

    Frey allowed himself to breathe; it seemed his emotions got the better of him for a moment.

    “I’m sorry.”

    Locking his eyes with the now frozen Roswyn, he spoke in a soft voice.

    “You must have suffered a lot because of me all this time, right?”

    “Frey.”

    “You no longer have to put up with the Empire’s top scoundrel and loser like me bothering you, making you disgusted anymore. You won’t have to go through the trouble of entertaining someone you dislike.”

    “.......”

    “I can no longer reveal my true feelings to you, for I fear that doing so would shatter my own heart and become a burden on you”

    After he finished speaking, there was a moment of silence between them.

    “Then...”

    “Wait...”Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com

    “What now?”

    Frey asked with a deeply furrowed brow. It was her third time blocking him from boarding the carriage.

    “W-who are those women?”

    “What?”

    “Don’t go!”

    “........”

    And then, there was a moment of silence.

    “Talk?”

    As Lulu and Irina stealthily approached Frey with uncertain gazes, Frey, who was standing between them, glanced at Roswyn, who was outside the carriage.

    “Talk...”

    After a moment of contemplation, he spoke with a dark voice.

    “If you really want to talk about feelings, come find me with the flowers I gave you.”

    “...What?”

    And then, the carriage slowly moved forward.

    “If you don’t do that, I don’t think I’ll ever want to meet you face to face anymore.”

    With those words, Frey left the Starlight Mansion’s garden in the carriage.

    “........”

    Roswyn, who stood still in that spot, fell silent for a while.

    “Ha.”

    As the carriage disappeared, she began to mutter with a baffled expression.

    “Am I... just being pushed away? B-by Frey of all people?”

    “This is ridiculous. Who does he think he is? He is just someone who always follows me all around like a puppy, and now he...”

    At first, it was a mix of anger and embarrassment.

    “Push me away... Why...”

    As time passed, Roswyn’s voice started trembling more and more.

    “W-what the hell are those women... There’s no way. I was the only one showing interest in Frey...”

    “W-well, that’s right. Go ahead. Do you think I would even care about it? I... I already have the Hero by my side. I would never cherish you...”

    Like that, she muttered alone in front of the mansion’s yard.

    “...Never.”

    Suddenly, with a vacant expression, she said that.

    “Just for someone like Frey... It doesn’t matter either way...”

    And from that moment, Roswyn’s voice completely changed.

    “W-what is this... What is it...”

    Completely bewildered, Roswyn started muttering while sitting in her place.

    “Disgusting... I feel strange. Why? Why? It doesn’t matter anyway, right? It was just Frey, whom I detested so much. And he has finally left on his own...”

    Roswyn muttered something as she felt the intensifying sunlight and the chilling breeze contrasting in the courtyard.

    As the sun grew stronger, in contrast, the chilly wind swept through the courtyard.

    “...Jealous?”

    Suddenly, she remembered the words the mysterious detective at the detective agency said.

    “Me? Jealous because of Frey...?”

    Roswyn mumbled as she slowly rose from her seat.

    “No way, that can’t be...”

    She denied it verbally, but her complexion continued to darken as she began to break out in a cold sweat.

    “E-even if it’s not jealousy... this feeling...”

    Then, she completely stood up like that.

    “I-Isn’t this what I wanted from the start... I might have been a bit excessive... and that wimp might end up being used by those foolish kids...”

    Saying so, she slowly began to walk outside the mansion.

    “T-that’s right, flowers. I only need to come again while bringing flowers to have a talk with him. We can’t afford to lose a VIP client like this. This is totally not out of jealousy.”

    Despite no one listening, Roswyn continued muttering as she headed outside.

    “Wait.”

    As she abruptly halted her steps, memories of all the flowers he had given her flooded back.

    “Uh...”

    All the flowers she had burned with her solar mana as soon as Frey left or had given as gifts to her employee or carelessly discarded in the warehouse or trash cans.

    “...Grind.”

    She had stood frozen in place for a while, anxiously grinding her teeth because of those memories. However, eventually, she moved her steps again and thought to herself.

    ‘It’s okay, no problem. I can just find them at the guild.’

    Something went terribly wrong, but she believed she could turn the situation around.

    ‘...If I search it properly, there should be at least one left.’

    She headed towards the waiting carriage outside the mansion.

    ‘Imagine how many flowers I have received from him. I even received one as a gift just a week ago, didn’t I?’

    Despite it being early, the sunlight was unusually strong today.

    “.....Ah.”

    As she walked through the bright sunlight, Roswyn suddenly recalled the golden flowers she had ruthlessly trampled, the one Frey gave.

    “........”

    The memories surged right before she got on the carriage.

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