Such two could never be friends, they would only become mortal enemies.
And that was exactly what Ariella liked.
‘Lonnie Griffith.’
Ariella pictured the man with a gangster-like impression in her mind.
She remembered the way he looked up and down at her body and snorted when she was Aaron’s fiancée.
“Drab, drab. What’s the point of being pretty? The person is so gloomy. Aaron, I feel sorry for my friend!”
He said this to his group and burst into laughter. Even though he knew his voice was loud enough for Ariella to hear.
Perhaps he wanted to show that he was brave and close to Aaron by belittling the Crown Prince’s fiancée. How petty.
“As soon as it was revealed who the real Duchess was, if he had approached her right away when she was a fallen kite, he would have already had a child.”
“Hahaha! How would you handle the aftermath? She would have clung to you, saying you were responsible because she had a child.”
“With that face, I could specially make her a mistress. Would Aaron and I have become more like brothers then? Haha!”
Her heart felt very light as she recalled the conversation she had heard beyond the curtain.
There were so many sinners in the world. It was so convenient to have targets that could be used without worry everywhere.
‘Should I be thankful for this?’
Ariella chuckled softly and fiddled with the rope on the table.
“Lady, what is that rope?”
Amira, who had been listening quietly, asked with a puzzled look after confirming that the conversation was over. The sight of a thick, sturdy rope coiled on Ariella’s table was so out of place.
“Oh, this. I bought it as a gift.”
“…A rope?”
“Yeah.”
Amira’s face darkened as she stared at Ariella. She knew that her Lady was a bit lacking in common sense, but she didn’t know that she would buy a rope that could be used to tie up ships at the harbor as a gift.
“Who are you going to give it to?”
Amira asked, struggling to figure out how to stop Ariella.
“I’m going to give it to David.”
But as soon as Ariella answered, she stopped worrying. It was only then that she realized what she meant by ‘gift’.
She wondered in what way she would give the gift this time.
She was curious, but Amira didn’t ask. Because she was sure that she would be able to see the results directly someday, not too long from now.
Milo Hunt was a fairly well-known young man in Salisbury Street, Edinburgh’s entertainment district.
Having lost his parents in his youth, he wandered the streets early on, associating with unsavory friends, and alcohol and gambling eased his loneliness.
He started working at a gambling house through a friend’s introduction and gradually made a name for himself. By the time he became an adult, he was already recognized as a member of Salisbury.
Whether it was thanks to his innate sociability and likable appearance, or his quick-wittedness, Milo had friends everywhere in Salisbury. There was no place his friendship didn’t reach, from pubs and gambling houses to entertainment establishments and detective agencies.
However, unlike his other friends, Milo didn’t completely turn to a life of crime, which was the result of his only remaining family member constantly dissuading and educating him.
Milo had an older sister. Unlike him, she was completely ordinary in appearance, personality, friendships, and even her job: Maya Hunt.
Maya worked at a shabby sandwich shop in Salisbury. The sandwiches were nothing more than a thin slice of ham between bread, but it was a busy place with quite a few customers throughout the day.
Whenever she had a spare moment, she would chase after Milo and nag him.
Telling him not to hang out with bad friends and to get a decent job. Her daily routine was to grumble that if he worked in such a place, he might get caught by some strange noble and it would be the end of him.
Milo found her very annoying, but he still went to her shop every night to have a late dinner.
“I’ll take care of my own business, so stop nagging me,” he would say, taking his sister home and returning to work. That was Milo’s daily routine.
And that routine crumbled in an instant.
Maya died. Despite all her nagging, she was arrested and killed for the crime of insulting a noble.
Milo, who received Maya’s body, asked what kind of insult his sister, who was so afraid of nobles, could have possibly committed. The officer ignored his question as if he hadn’t heard it.
He got the answer from the owner of a nearby store.
“He kept finding fault with her, saying the sandwich didn’t taste good. Maya kept apologizing, but something must have bothered him so much… He nitpicked and took her away on charges of insulting him.”
