“I heard you got a letter from Angela.”
However, Edgar was the smartest person on the continent. To him, finding an excuse was easy.
“Oh, you knew.”
“Of course, I know everything about you.”
His warm gaze reminded Rubica of the confession of love he had made a few days ago. Normal days had followed it and what had happened then, now felt like a dream. So, why was she thinking about it now? He just said it was right for him to know everything about her, but it embarrassed her.
“Rubica.”
She didn’t know what to say, but then he suddenly came close. She could feel his breath right in front of her nose and her cheeks turned red.
“I heard your cousin did well with her entrance exam. Does she need anything? If she needs something or help, just tell me anytime. There’s nothing I cannot help you with.”
Before, Rubica hadn’t cared much about his kind consideration since she thought he was just trying to keep Claymore’s name honorable and respected.
However, after he confessed that he loved her, now it came to her with a completely different meaning. He was trying to win her heart, and she didn’t know what to say to him.
“Oh, um, it’s fine. I think Angela is doing well. There’s no need to worry.”
“Really?”
“What?”
“Is she really okay? Is there nothing wrong? Anything I can help you with?”
He was pressing on her and it surprised her. Too late, he realized he had made a mistake.
Shit.
He couldn’t let her find out that he had read her letter first in secret no matter what.
“I’m just worried. You don’t have to withhold everything to yourself.”
“I don’t.”
She didn’t withhold anything. She would always counter back immediately whenever he did something she didn’t like…
The time she slapped his face in anger, and saying she would do the same to him if he talked down to her… it all crossed her mind. Her cheeks were now fiery hot.
He liked her even after all she had done to him? It was strange. There had to be something wrong with him.
However, he was the one frustrated.
She did withhold everything to herself! She couldn’t even tell him about Isaac, much less about the ring.
Edgar really wanted to accuse her, but he managed not to. It was his fault that she couldn’t tell him about all that as he should have made her trust him.
“Oh, right.”
Rubica seemed to be reminded of something, and Edgar’s chest billowed up with hope.
“What is it? Just tell me.”
He looked at the pair of lips which he wanted to kiss right away. If those cute lips demanded anything, he was going to grant it even if it would cost his life.
“Oh, um, your personal wealth. Where do you keep it?”
“My personal wealth? At Seritos Bank, of course.”
Rubica gulped hard. She wished Edgar would not misunderstand what she was about to say…
‘No, I should not be scared!’
She wanted him to misunderstand. She wanted him to think of her as a strange woman who made strange requests so that he would lose his interest in her.
“Can’t you move it to Jackal Bank?”
“Jackal Bank?”
Edgar raised an eyebrow.
“But it’s not like it has a stable finance, nor does it have a high interest rate…”
He was right. There was nothing where Jackal Bank was better than Seritos Bank. However, within a few years, it was going to be the safest bank of all. After all, Goblins were stubborn and didn’t take their clients’ money.
‘But it’s not like I can tell him that.’
Instead, Rubica raised her chin high.
“So, you don’t want to?”
“No, I didn’t mean…”
“But you’re talking so much, it means that you don’t want to.”
Edgar sighed.
Rubica wanted to make the future that was about to come to him at least slightly better. And, if she could also get rid of the love he had for her, it would be even better. She wanted him to be sick of her.
“No, I will do it.”
“Okay.”
She couldn’t hide her joy at hearing his answer and smiled brightly. For a moment, Edgar wished he could raise her high up. If only she would keep smiling like that to him, he could put all of Claymore’s wealth in Jackal Bank, not just his personal wealth.
“And is there anything else?”
“Anything else…?”
Edgar pressed her again. She stared at him, not knowing what this was about. He even looked somewhat anxious.
“If there is, do not hesitate to tell me.”
Just say you are worried about your troublemaking cousin. Then, I’ll take care of it. He will not be able to mess up with you ever again, even in hell.
“Then…”
Rubica put her chin on her hand and gave it a thought. Edgar thought she was hesitant to talk about Isaac as it could be quite embarrassing. Therefore, he patiently waited for her to talk. However, what she said after a long silence was not what he had expected.
“I want to buy a gem.”
“A gem?”
“Yes, a really huge and expensive one.”
Edgar narrowed his eyes and looked at Rubica. Although she was trying to smile innocently, he could see that she was somewhat embarrassed.
“Is there anything more?”
“More?”
This time, she shook her head. Her faint brown hair beautifully swayed. But right now, Edgar couldn’t see that beautiful scene.
“No?”
“No. Why do you keep asking?”
‘Because that can’t be your final answer!’
Edgar had to try really hard not to say that. If he showed he knew about Isaac, she would get to find out he had seen Angela’s letter.
“Just think about it. Do you have anything you need my help with?”
“No.”
“Think again.”
“Still no.”
“Then think again.”
Rubica was now really confused and just blinked.
“But there’s really nothing.”
“Ha.”
She wasn’t asking for his help with what she actually needed help and asked a useless favor. Edgar sighed and didn’t try to hide that he was offended, but Rubica seemed rather happy at that.
“I want a really huge and expensive gem. You will pay with your budget, right?”
“Oh.”
She was saying the typical line, and Edgar could now see what was going on.
Rubica was easily making seemingly useless demands like, ‘Move your personal wealth to Jackal Bank, and buy me a gem with your money,’ but she wasn’t asking for his help with Isaac’s matter. It seemed like she was planning to take care of it on her own without troubling him.
‘Ha.’
She was hiding what he was supposed to take care of and making some childish demands. There could be only one purpose behind it.
‘She’s trying to make me hate her.’
Some women would suffer after turning away some lovesick men flatly. There were men who couldn’t accept it and chased women around or hurt them, demanding them to tell their true feelings. To avoid such things, a few women came up with a clever tactic. This was called, ‘The safe refusal’.
‘I want to have an emerald as huge as my fist. If you truly love me, you should be able to do that much for me.’
When a woman made such a request to men who wouldn’t let them go, they easily went away, calling her extravagant and hungry for money.
Being refused was at least a hundred times safer than refusing, even if it came with such criticism. Edgar knew well about the tactic thanks to his beautiful mother.
Moreover, he also had taken it up to himself to ensure that the women, who desired him, were sick of him because of his coldness.
‘Now this is really hurting my pride.’
He hadn’t known a day would come when the woman he liked used the ‘safe refusal’ tactic on him. The fact that he had it all didn’t mean he could have the heart of the woman he loved.
‘But she will regret it so much once she finds out that I’m Arman…’
Now, this would be equal to his shameful past of cursing Arman and trying to criticize him.
‘Okay then. You want to provoke me with money? I will let you taste Claymore’s wealth.”
“I will have Carl bring the most famous jeweler from the capital by tomorrow afternoon. Oh, and don’t you need shoes? You only have comfortable leather shoes now, but you must have shoes with diamonds too.”
Shoes decorated with diamonds?
Rubica widened her eyes. Although she normally bought shoes that matched the color of the dress she would wear, she had never thought of using gems on shoes. After all, shoes were almost never seen when wearing a long and wide dress.
“And why are you using this fan?”
“What’s, what’s wrong with it? It has lace from Sharman and really pretty embroidery.”
“But its ribs are not made of jade.”
Edgar harshly criticized the small fan on the table. Then, he took out a magnifying glass from an embroidery basket and criticized it too.
“And why is this made of silver when it should be gold?”
Then, he immediately called a servant without giving Rubica a chance to speak.
“Replace all of these with gold.”
