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Even though I had seen it countless times in my dreams, my heart pounded rapidly.
"Huh...!"
When I woke up, struggling from the nightmare, it was morning.
I still clutched my rapidly beating heart and exhaled.
'This dream, it's been a while... Is it because I heard Idris's story yesterday?'
When I was young, I had a friend.
An unnamed child from the slums.
In those days, I wandered the nearby forest to find herbs for my sick mother, and that's how I met him.
At that time, my father was enjoying an affair with his current wife, so he ignored my sick mother and me.
The head of the family neglected the mistress and her daughter, and the servants naturally neglected us as well.
I had no one to rely on except my sick mother, so I quickly became close to that child.
We became each other's only friend, but...
My mother passed away, and too much time passed while I was being abused by my stepmother.
When I finally went to find him, he had already closed his heart to me.
'I wanted to tell him my real name and ask for his name when we met again...'
But the next day, when I went back to find him.
Only terrible bloodstains remained in the house where he lived.
That conversation, full of misunderstandings, on a day of heavy rain became our last memory.
I regretted it for quite a long time afterward.
If I hadn't turned away that day.
Would you still be alive?
'...I've accepted that it's an irreversible reality now.'
Still, whenever I had that dream, I felt down that day.
"But I have to work."
Shaking off the sinking feeling, I got up, lightly dressed, and headed to the dining room.
'The weather is nice today.'
Perhaps thanks to the rain yesterday, the clear blue sky stretched out beyond the window.
The garden, with dew on it, sparkled and shone with the sunlight.
As I walked along the hallway, admiring the sunny garden alone, the memory of last night naturally came to mind.
"How would you feel if a friend who hurt you when you were young came to find you?"
The story Idris told yesterday.
'That story, Idris himself must have been the one who inflicted the wound, right?'
If he was the one who was hurt, there would be no need to wonder about the feelings of the person who was hurt.
'Well, but it seems like he has a chance to meet his friend again, so I hope it works out for him.'
As I was thinking that, I arrived in front of the dining room.
'Come to think of it, Idris said he had an external schedule and would be leaving early, right?'
I was about to enter the dining room, thinking of enjoying a leisurely brunch alone, when I was startled.
"Good morning."
Idris was in the dining room.
"Didn't you say you had an external schedule in the morning?"
"Ah, that? I canceled it."
Not canceled, but said he canceled it?
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to have breakfast with you."
"...Are you kidding me?"
"Why do you think I'm kidding? Wouldn't a loving lover be reluctant to leave their partner to eat alone?"
...Didn't he just use me as an excuse because he didn't want to work?
While thinking that, I was also relieved by his usual glib appearance.
I was secretly worried that he would have a sad face like yesterday.
As I approached and sat next to Idris, food began to come out quickly.
Idris, who had wet his whistle with an aperitif, asked.
"What's your schedule today?"
"I'm looking for a designer, and I don't think there's anything urgent to do right now, so I'm going to look for something in the library."
"That's good. I have something to look for too. We can do it together."
We finished breakfast amidst the usual trivial chatter and were leaving the dining room.
I was about to head to the library with Idris as planned, when Wigg appeared with hurried footsteps.
"Boss! We have a big problem!"
"You startled me. It's always a big problem with you?"
"Well, because it really is a big problem!"
"What is it?"
"Duke Farnese has swept up all the new designers!"
"What...?"
I gasped at the news Wigg delivered.
Judging from the previous incidents, I expected him to interfere this time as well.
'This guy, how far is he going to show me the bottom?'
I thought that I couldn't be more disappointed after the events of the past and present lives, but that was my arrogance.
I bit my lip slightly.
'Actually, if Feitan gets involved, it's no contest.'
No matter how much I have Idris behind me, it's only as a 'lover'.
An unstable relationship that could end at any time.
But Feitan?
'He's already Duke Farnese, who owns a large business.'
If we compare it to modern times...
It's like a new business starting in a large corporation with a well-established parent company, versus a start-up company that's just starting out.
It was obvious who the designers would choose without even seeing the results.
"Shall I solve that problem for you?"
Idris, who had roughly grasped the situation through Wigg's and my conversation, interjected.
I hesitated, about to grab the lifeline thrown in front of me.
'...No. I don't want to rely on Idris's halo.'
As I said before, this contractual relationship will end someday.
When that time comes, I will have to face it alone, so I had to build the strength to overcome it myself from now on.
"No, I'll take care of this."
"Are you really okay?"
I blinked at Idris's strangely worried question.
'When did he say he wouldn't be a knight in shining armor?'
But I didn't feel bad about him readily offering to help.
Rather, just the fact that there was someone behind me who could help me at any time...
'It makes me feel a little more secure?'
But.
'So I want to show him that I can do it well on my own?'
I smiled confidently and replied.
"I can do it, me. But thank you for readily offering to help."
"Do you have a plan in mind?"
"Since the design workshops will all be concentrated on Duke Farnese's side, I'm thinking of going out to the plaza."
"Why the plaza?"
"There are designers who run their own small shops there. There might be rough diamonds who have built up experience but haven't seen the light yet?"
I thought it would be better to take the initiative and move myself than to just post an advertisement and wait anxiously.
"Of course, there's a high probability that they'll think Duke Farnese is better... I'll have to use what I have to directly persuade them."
"What you have?"
"This."
I put my thumb and forefinger together to make a circle.
Although the size of the business cannot be compared to Feitan, I had a pretty advantageous card.
'That's money!'
Now that the mining of the magic stone mine has begun, I am guaranteed a huge profit.
'So, shouldn't I present the 'large amount' from 'it was too big an amount to refuse'?'
Looking back on my previous two lives, I can solve about 95 percent of all the problems in the world with money.
"Then I'll be back. Let's go, Wigg."
I turned around with Wigg and headed to the mansion's entrance.
No, I was about to head there.
If Idris hadn't grabbed me.
"How about taking me instead of the aide?"
For some reason, Idris's eyes looked strangely cold as he looked at Wigg, but there was no time to question it.
I was more surprised by the unexpected offer.
'Idris personally directed the mansion's interior, and considering his usual attire, his eye for design would definitely be helpful.'
But...
"Didn't you say you had something to do in the library earlier?"
"Ah, that."
Idris answered with a refreshing smile, without even a hint of hesitation.
"It's gone."
...Huh?
Not something that can be done later, but gone?
"Then shall we go?"
Before I could think deeply about the question, I inadvertently took the hand that was offered to me.
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