Please Lend Me 50 Million - Chapter 58

Shrinking away from the sunlight, Asha eventually entered a shaded alleyway. Unlike the crowded streets, the alley had relatively fewer people. Melos, who had to keep his large frame hunched within the crowds, straightened his shoulders with a much-improved expression. No matter when she looked, it was a giant, truly massive body that didn’t suit an administrative official. Though, in inverse proportion to that, his heart was small and cute.

“Madam, wouldn’t it be better to just go back now? The sun is hot today, and I think we’ve looked at the market prices enough….”

Melos nagged Asha while diligently scribbling on a notepad smaller than his palm. He must have wanted to go back quite badly, as his backside was already jutting out toward the carriage stop. My, how could such a large man hate exercising this much…. Unlike his physique, his spirit was a natural-born administrator.

Asha replied indifferently, not even pretending to listen to Melos.

“No. If I go into the mansion like this, I’ll either have a heart attack or my heart will run away—one of the two is bound to happen. If I die, you won’t even get your salary. Is that what you want?”

“If you pass away, the Count will take care of us. Since we have a history.”

Melos, who had already been seasoned by Asha’s numerous threats, didn’t even bat an eye and thrust his massive frame forward. In a way, it was an action that could seem sociable, but his large size was intimidating.

“Are you this anxious because of that thing you’re plotting with Cecile?”

Asha, stepping back to avoid his somewhat burdensome face, gave a rough nod. Perhaps dissatisfied with the insincere answer, Melos, with narrowed eyes, began to interrogate Asha. As the saying goes, blood is thicker than water—it seemed his wife’s safety was more important than the marital harmony of his masters.

“Don’t make her do dangerous things.”

“Eek—”

How sorrowful, truly sorrowful. Here she was, struggling like this just to receive some affection from her husband, but instead of helping, he was rubbing salt in her wounds. Her insides, already burnt, were drying up. Asha shooed Melos toward the shops with a look of disgust.

“You’re acting insolently again? Cecile is taking on dangerous work out of loyalty.”

“…Loyalty?”

“Shh. There are things you don’t know about. Stop whining and go buy some cool juice over there. Don’t forget the market research, either.”

Asha cut off the conversation before he could ask for deeper details. She didn’t forget to threaten him so he wouldn’t talk back for no reason.

Even if the object of Cecile’s loyalty was her wallet, wasn’t it essentially the same thing?

Melos, who expressed his dissatisfaction with pouting lips, seemed to realize he had been overstepping and walked toward a stall. It was a sluggish gait that made it perfectly clear how much he didn’t want to go.

I’d rather die than deal with this.

Asha cleanly averted her gaze from Melos and turned her eyes to the surrounding market.

Early summer—where else could there be a season more vibrant than this? It was a fresh scene, different from the busy spring for sowing or the winter dominated by worries over food.

The sound of the fountain, soaring high and then pouring onto the ground, created a repetitive rhythm. As the laughter of children blended in, it became a symphony of summer.

Peaceful.

Stepping back from the stinging sunlight, the summer met in the shade was more brilliant and peaceful than ever. Worried she might miss that vitality if she blinked once, Asha blinked slowly like a sleepy puppy. Just as she was capturing summer, Asha’s eyes suddenly rounded.

Brown curly hair and a small frame.

An awkward, bow-legged gait.

Even in the chaotic marketplace, Asha recognized that existence at once.

Because he was….

“Gale, Serman?”

The scammer who had taken her fifty million Rublangs and vanished!

How could she forget that face? The face she had seen until she was sick of it since their Academy days was as vivid as if it were etched into her retinas. Furthermore, that unlucky habit of glancing around! It wasn’t just once or twice that she had thought his calculating gaze was disgusting—how could she not recognize him!

Though he was in shabby attire, unlike before when he walked around without a single wrinkle in his collar as if displaying his noble birth, it was definitely Gale Serman.

‘Why are you coming out from there…?’

The emotion that hit Asha the moment she recognized him was neither anger nor a desire for revenge, but sheer absurdity.

He had scammed the Countess of Bellstein of all people and gone into hiding. This was a matter of honor, which was more important than money. Why else would even the Halsweins, who hadn’t wanted to help Asha, be searching for Gale Serman as if combing through every inch of land? Yet the man whom the Halsweins of the North and the Bellsteins of the South couldn’t find despite their thorough search was wandering right in the middle of a market in Peliche? It made no sense logically.

While Asha was floundering in bewilderment, Gale Serman raised his head upon hearing someone call him. It was a moment that felt incredibly slow, as if someone had cast a spell.

The moment their eyes met, the same thought occurred to both of them.

‘This bastard recognized me.’

A moment of confrontation—neither could move first. As their flustered gazes quickly intertwined and the subtle tension reached its peak, Gale hesitated as if to run away first. Sensing that, Asha flashed a soft, elegant smile.