I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - Chapter 57

“Hubert? You mean the guy who has a lot of money?”

“Apart from the play, László is a very bad son of a bitch.”

“What?”

“He tests Odelette’s love, even though he knows what she’s going through, and he doesn’t reveal his identity, asshole.”

Killian looked shocked at the swear word I let out. But I had no intention of taking it back.

He finally got over his shock and asked me another question.

“But if you really love someone, would you be swayed by the mere lure of money?”

“Killian. You’ve never been without money, have you?”

“Well…… no.”

“There are too many things that money can solve…… for it to be just money.”

I knew that all too well, which is why I could understand Odelette, and why I couldn’t forgive László.

“Besides, the honor of the family was at stake in her marriage, and she couldn’t just throw it all away for the love of her life.”

“But……”

“You know that pain all too well, Killian.”

Killian froze at my answer. Wondering if I had unnecessarily rubbed his wounds, I quickly changed the subject.

“The play makes Hubert out to be a very mean man, but in reality, he is the one who loves Odelette.”

“He takes Odelette, who is already madly in love with another man, by intimidating her with money, isn’t he?”

“Yes. He knows she’s in love with another man, and yet he goes out of his way to get her. If he were that rich, he could have gotten a woman as beautiful as Odelette to be his wife who loves him just as much.”

“That’s……”

“Maybe if László hadn’t reappeared as if to take revenge on Odelette, Hubert and Odelette could have lived as a normal, happy couple.”

For the first time, Killian nodded.

“So it is quite foolish for Odelette to take her own life at the end, and to be honest, it’s not that unlikely, and I’d bet my neck that the author of this play was a man.”

“You tend to put your life on the line a bit too much, but you’re right, the playwright is a man.”

“So he must have thought a woman would be remorseful and take her own life, but women, you know, they’re a lot stronger than you think.”

I smirked, but Killian just stared at me without moving.

‘Did I sound too aggressive?’

I felt a pang in my stomach.

Maybe I’d made a mistake by picking at his wounds earlier.

At a time like this, I needed to break the ice quickly.

“Shall we get out now?”

“……yes.”

We walked out of the opera house side by side, the excitement still building.

I felt a tickle in my stomach because we looked so much like a normal couple on a date.

As we stepped out onto the street, where the sun hadn’t yet set, Killian looked back at me and asked, “Should we head back to the mansion, or do you want to look around the streets?”

Huh? He’s going to take me around some more!

“I want to see the streets!”

“Wait, you’ve never seen the streets before?”

“Not really, but…… it’s my first time with you.”

He held out his arm to me, looking a little more relaxed now.

I swallowed hard and placed my hand cautiously on his arm.

My heart skipped a beat as I felt his hard forearm beneath the fabric.

Everything seemed so relaxed on the evening street.

The Piroche Street I walked down with Killian was close to Darsus Street I’d walked down with Anna the last time, but unlike Darsus Street, it was a mix of commoners and nobles.

“Look at that! What is that?”

A merchant was rolling something slimy on a stick and handing it to the child.

“It’s candy.”

“Candy?”

“It’s a foreign way of making candy, they say it’s all the rage these days.”

I had a vague memory of seeing it on TV in my previous life. It looked a lot like the candy they sell on the streets of Turkey.

‘The author must have used Turkish candy as a reference.’

When I stared at it, Killian smirked and pulled me in front of the counter.

“Make me one.”

“You want one, lady?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll make it very pretty for you!”

The candyman swirled what looked like multicolored melted taffy with a slender wooden stick and quickly made a lollipop, which he dipped into a fine powdered sugar before pulling it out and handing it to me.

“Fifty sennas!”

“Here.”

“Oh, look, I’m sorry. I don’t have enough change, so…… just give me a minute and I’ll change it for you.”

Killian handed over a 1,000 sennas bill, and the candyman was puzzled. After all, not many people would take out a bill to pay for street candy.

“No change.”

“Sorry?”

Killian put his arm around my shoulders and started walking, leaving the surprised candyman behind.

I giggled to myself, amused that I was in this strange world eating Turkish candy that I had never eaten in my previous life.

“Is it that delicious?”

“Yes. It’s very sweet, but it also has a sour flavor.”

The fifty sennas candy tasted like melted sugar.

But maybe the fact that it was Killian who bought it made it taste better somehow.

As I was sucking on the long lollipop, Killian looked at me and swallowed hard.

“Seeing me eat it makes you want to eat it, doesn’t it?” I asked, half teasingly.

He nodded slowly and whispered, “I do want to eat, although it’s not the candy I want to eat.”

“What? Then what’s……”

I wasn’t sure what he was saying, so I looked up again, and Killian looked me straight in the eye, swallowed again, and shook his head.

“Nothing.”

“What……”

He looked embarrassed to tell me he wanted candy.

Just then, I heard a child’s sweet voice.

“Buy flowers! Buy flowers!”

A little girl was selling flowers in a small basket with only a few left.

They were already half-wilted, so no one was paying attention.

But if she didn’t sell them all, she would definitely be standing here until nightfall.

“Hey, lend me some money.”

I forgot to bring any money with me on the way out, so I tried to borrow some from Killian, but instead of lending me money, Killian walked over to the child and bought all the remaining flowers.

“Thank you, my lord!”

The child, who looked to be seven years old, bowed to Killian again and again, then took the empty basket and ran off into the distance with a lightness of step.

Then Killian gathered up the wilted flowers he had bought from the girl, tied them together in his handkerchief, and handed them to me.

“No lady buys flowers herself when a man is by her side.”

“It sounds like an old-fashioned saying, but I’ll take it for now.”

I took the small bouquet he held out and pressed my nose against it.

The wildflowers, which must have been picked in the mountains or fields, had a scent closer to that of grass, but their rusticity somehow made them more appealing.

Come to think of it, this was the first time I had ever received flowers from anyone in my entire life, past or present.

In my previous life, my parents believed that it was better to spend the money on Jajangmyeon [1] than to spend it on a bouquet of flowers that would never be eaten.

[1] Korean black bean noodles.

Actually, so did I.

But when I received the bouquet in person, I felt like I was floating on air.

“I’ve never gotten anything like this…… before.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sure you’ve never gotten flowers that wilted before. I’m sure they would have been fresher this morning.”

“No, no. I’ve never received flowers before.”

“You…… what?”

I was staring at the flowers and smiling when I felt a strange vibe next to me, so I turned my head and saw Killian looking at me with a very strange look on his face.

“What’s wrong, Killian?”

“You’ve never…… gotten flowers before?”

“Never.”

“You mean the men who were courting you didn’t even bother to send you flowers?”

“Ah…… those…… I never received, though they may have sent them.”

“What……”

It was a bit of a shock to me, too, that Edith didn’t remember receiving flowers in person.

There were plenty of men who had sent her bouquets as part of their courtship, but they had all been used to decorate Countess Riegelhoff’s room, Shane’s room, or the mansion itself.

‘Why did they have to be so strict with Edith? Isn’t she their biological daughter?’

But I can’t say that out loud, because I haven’t yet met the third exception condition.

‘I shouldn’t have told him I’d never gotten flowers before,’ I thought with regret.

I turned Killian’s attention to a clown. “Whoa, look at that, Killian!”

I pointed with the intention of keeping Killian from digging deeper into my problem, but the clown who could strike all sorts of poses and not drop a ball thrown in the air was fascinating.

I grabbed Killian’s sleeve and pulled him closer to the clown.

We weren’t the only ones watching, but a few people were throwing coins into the hat in front of the clown.

The commoner children probably didn’t have any money, and the nobles passing by would find it undignified to join the commoners in watching a clown.

“Killian. Do you have any coins?”

“No.”

“I’m afraid I can’t just walk by after watching this……”

“Of course that’s not polite.”

With that, he pulled out another bill and handed it to me.

Again, it was a 1,000 sennas bill.