For Sale: Male Lead, Obsession Included - Chapter 144

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“Hey, hey. Careful with that!”

“That goes up to the third floor.”

“That’s the last one. Let’s hurry and finish this!”

“I’m so sick of construction on a haunted building, seriously.”

With workers quitting again and again, the construction that had dragged on sluggishly finally entered its final stage.

Even in the chilly wind at the tail end of winter, the workers moved furniture while sweating.

Working nervously in case something went wrong, they grew increasingly excited as the end came into sight and picked up the pace.

Meanwhile, there was one figure watching the busy workers.

Standing a good distance away from the building, he stared intently at each piece of furniture and decor being carried inside. His persistent red eyes gleamed as if he meant to memorize every last item.

The man, wearing a long black cloak the same color as his hair and standing with one leg cocked, incongruously held a chicken skewer in his hand.

Taking a bite of the chicken, he chewed slowly. Even as he munched, his gaze never left the workers’ hands.

“A bed’s going in.”

Though the cold wind at winter’s end should have been biting, the man who had stood there watching the building for a long time, Declan, spoke for the first time.

What caught his eye was the bed being carried by three workers.

A bed that needed to go up to the third floor.

A bed. A bed, huh.

A red tongue swept once over lips smeared with chicken skewer sauce. His saliva-glossed lips slowly curved into an arc.

It seemed the three-story building Estira had bought was meant to become her home.

In a good mood, Declan turned his body with a spin.

Far in the distance, the townhouse of the Duke of Ragnar came into view. After gazing at the top of its tall spire, he slowly lowered his eyes and shifted his gaze to Estira’s building.

Height, angle, position, distance.

After meticulously checking everything, Declan finally began to move.

He should prepare to welcome Estira.

Now, it was truly the final stretch. She was scheduled to arrive in the capital within a month.

* * *

The large hand gripping the skewer, bits of chicken still clinging to it, trembled faintly with excitement.

“Mr. Peddler!”

“Long time no see.”

Running into the peddler I used to meet only in Dongguk, and only once every few months at that, in a faraway foreign land made the moment feel especially meaningful.

A long time ago, I’d asked the peddler about the various routes from Dongguk to the Empire’s capital. The man claimed his fortune chart had about five hundred travel stars and wandered all sorts of places as a hobby, so I figured he’d know more efficient and faster ways to get to the Empire.

Sure enough, aside from the route I’d taken before, he told me about three other routes, and the one that caught my eye the most was the sea route.

It was troublesome in that you had to take a ship, but it was the shortest distance. Even compared to the shortest overland route, it was about one third shorter.

It would’ve been nice to take this route when coming to Dongguk too, but the sea route still wasn’t well developed. If you were unlucky, you might run into pirate ships, and since there were no officially operated state vessels, traveling by sea was, in reality, difficult.

If only the sea route were open, how convenient it would be.

It’s fast, it’s a straight line, and you can carry a lot of cargo at once.

With one trade ship loaded with Dongguk’s unusual, health-boosting ingredients and medicinal herbs, it felt like you could become rich within a few years.

I’d suggested an overland route development project linking Dongguk to Ribolto before, but once I got back to the capital, it seemed I should propose a sea route instead.

“It looks like the weather’s going to turn bad, so let’s get going quickly.”

Thanks to the peddler’s wide network of connections, we were able to board a small ship, tucked away in a corner.

“Ah.”

“Jin, is this your first time seeing the sea?”

“Ugh. Yes.”

Having grown up his entire life in a region surrounded by mountains, Jin wore a completely stunned expression when he saw the sea for the first time. It was such a dazed look that I wanted to take a picture and tease him, if only I had a phone.

Watching Jin, who still hadn’t adjusted and was swaying this way and that like he was tap dancing on the rocking ship, I tied my hair tightly into a single knot against the blowing sea breeze.

The wind was cold.

But by the time we got off this ship and arrived at the capital, a gentle spring breeze would be blowing.

Just like the season back then, four years ago, when I parted ways with Declan.