Atonement, About it's Cruelty - Chapter 30
Regardless, Oscar continued to observe Seo-ah. With her gaze averted, he had no need to worry about eye contact, which made him feel more at ease. While it was partly due to his habit of scrutinizing people, he also found it somewhat amusing.
First and foremost, her demeanor was fascinating.
She sat so perfectly still that he would bet his entire fortune that even the toes of her feet, hidden under the table, were aligned horizontally. Moreover, her fingers, handling the contract, moved with the grace of someone performing a dance, as if in a song by his mother. Her hand seemed to experience a different resistance from the air, slow and weighted, and despite her flushed, red face suggesting extreme heat, she hadn’t once used a hand fan.
Her clothes, looking like they were from two decades ago, were one thing.
But what about the demeanor of someone who seemed to have been raised in privilege, yet couldn’t handle eye contact? It wasn’t just fear; it felt like a deeply ingrained habit, and it was too pronounced to be purely a cultural difference.
Despite her apparent discomfort, she spoke the common language of Norfolk fluently and was literate as well.
Could she be an illegitimate child of a noble raised on the best?
“What do you think of the contract terms?”
“Ah…”
“If there’s any clause you don’t like, let me know.”
Oscar was prepared to amend most clauses if necessary, except for the ones stipulating the delivery of the documents inside the safe and that he would be responsible for her safety until the safe was opened.
Those weren’t negotiable terms.
Regardless of how much Seo-ah struggled, he had no intention of letting her go. So it would be best for her to be cooperative, for both his sake and hers.
As his cold gaze, contrasting sharply with his kind facade, landed on the contract in Seo-ah’s hand, she spoke up.
“You mentioned a weekly payment of 500 million Kerte as part of the condition for my safety…”
“Hm?”
“How much is 500 million Kerte worth?”
Oscar chuckled softly, nodded slowly, and then glanced out the window and then at his own clothes before responding.
“According to the standards of the upper class on the Norfolk continent, a house that would be considered a mansion in a major kingdom’s capital would be worth around 10 billion Kerte. Excluding castles, of course, as those aren’t usually valued.”
“Understood.”
“To maintain such a property would cost about 400 to 500 million Kerte annually. A suit like the one I’m wearing would cost between 5 and 10 million Kerte. This is based on upper-class standards, while the average annual income of the middle class is around 50 million Kerte.”
“…”
“When you visit the Felpe Bank later, you’ll see that opening the safe will take at least six months, no matter how brief the time frame is. During that time, if you entrust your safety to me and receive protection and the equivalent of a mansion in exchange… wouldn’t that be reasonable? When you add in the money inside the safe, it will be quite a substantial amount.”
“…”
“Is it insufficient?”
Oscar asked gently, almost in a soothing tone, as if to reassure her. If it wasn’t enough, he could always add more. After all, it was nothing compared to the amounts he casually spent overnight.
With that thought, Seo-ah, who had been staring blankly at the contract, shook her head slightly.
“No, it’s fine.”
She then slightly lifted her gaze and said,
“This is sufficient.”
As she placed the contract back on the table, the part she had been holding was wrinkled from her tension. Oscar’s lips curled upward as he noticed the crumpled edge of the paper.
“Very well. If you feel it’s lacking, just let me know anytime.”
He took out a fountain pen from his pocket and offered it to her.
“Shall we sign?”
Seo-ah, who had been looking at the fountain pen, carefully got up from her seat. She then placed her hands together and extended them towards him. Oscar’s gaze fell on her clasped hands.
The hands of someone who traveled from a distant land in need of money, yet were smooth and delicate without a single callus.
As he placed the fountain pen on her hands, they gently closed around it. Seo-ah then returned to her seat, but instead of opening the pen, she simply stared at her hands.
Observing her closely, it was clear she was examining it timidly, not by moving the pen around, but by tilting her head this way and that, as if inspecting a museum artifact.
“Is this the first time you’ve seen a fountain pen?”
“…”
“So it’s new to you.”
Oscar mumbled nonchalantly, and Seo-ah bit her lip before speaking.
“That…”
She tried to speak but her voice cracked, so she cleared her throat softly. Taking a deep breath, she bowed her head a little more and turned red as she spoke.
“I’ve seen dip pens that use ink, though.”
“That’s an artifact.”
“…”
“Open the cap.”
It seemed even that was a difficult task. She blinked rapidly and carefully twisted the cap, only to find it wasn’t budging.
“You need to pull it off.”
This time, she followed the instruction quickly, gripping it with both hands and applying force. The issue was that her knuckles were prominent, but the pen remained stubbornly in place.
“Is it not opening?”
Oscar asked with a touch of exasperation, and Seo-ah’s already red face turned even redder.
“It’s not that… it’s just, I’m afraid I might break it…”
Oscar couldn’t help but laugh, wondering if the contract was even necessary.
“With 500 million Kerte a week, you could afford to throw away a pen after using it just once. Just pull it out.”
Although it seemed odd to open a pen in such a manner, Seo-ah managed to finally open it with both hands. She then looked even redder as she carefully placed the pen on the signature line and asked.
“Should I write my name here?”
Her hands were now also red. Oscar glanced at her flushed hands and nodded lightly.
“Use the same name as on your identification presented to Felpe Bank.”
With her red hands gripping the pen firmly, Seo-ah wrote her name neatly in vertical script. Oscar, observing the elegant script with interest, tilted his head and asked.
“So, you write it as Seo-ah?”
“Yes.”
“It’s three letters, though?”
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