I'm Looking for the Male Lead for the Ending - Chapter 16
Chapter 9.1
“Young Lady, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m really sorry. I should’ve acted more considerately, but I gave you the tart for no reason…”
I thrust a sweet chocolate cookie into her mouth as she mumbled an apology. Looking at Marie, who blinked her eyes in response to the sudden cookie in her mouth, I smiled and raised the corners of my mouth.
“Marie, do you realize that if you apologize one more time, it will be the tenth time?”
“Young Lady…”
“So, you can stop apologizing now. I’m really okay.”
“Bu, but!”
“It’s really okay. Honestly, it’s not like I don’t understand. My brother may be angry because he takes pride in the name Aidelis.”
It wasn’t like I didn’t understand. Still, wasn’t throwing food on the floor a little too far?
The thought of having to stand firm against his fiery temper in the future and recalling the gloomy mood from witnessing Heron and the ending, I felt disheartened. The journey had only just begun, and if I was already facing such trouble, I couldn’t even imagine how much more heartache lay ahead. Contrary to the nonchalant response I gave, I felt an unspeakable frustration welling up inside me that I couldn’t bring myself to express
Suddenly, I remembered his gray eyes looking at me, trying to suppress the boiling anger.
‘It doesn’t matter how angry he was, how could he just throw it away like that? Does he have any idea how much effort and money goes into making a tart?’
This was why rich young masters were no good. So many people were dying of starvation because they couldn’t get a proper meal…
I recalled the memories of traveling the empire with my mother before entering the Marquis’s estate. I’ve met children who had to go hungry several times a day and people who had no money and couldn’t even afford to see a doctor.
As memories of the past resurfaced, the peace I had struggled to maintain reached a boiling point, much like water boiling over.
Unable to suppress my anger, I angrily chewed the cookie, my cheeks puffing out in frustration. At that moment, Marie, who had been sneakily watching my reactions, clapped her hands together.
“Young, Young Lady! How about we go for a change of mood?”
“…A change of mood?”
I narrowed my eyes as the sudden thought crossed my mind that everything that had happened to me today had started because of a change of mood.
If I had just returned home immediately after confirming with the caretaker that Heron hadn’t come to the arena, nothing would have happened to me now. And fortunately or unfortunately, Heron’s mission hadn’t disappeared yet either. It seemed like the mission was focused on checking on his situation rather than following him…
Ongoing Mission — Confirm Heron’s situation! ]
I let out a shallow sigh and brushed away the floating window from before my eyes. The more I thought about it, the more amazed I was by the fact that all that suffering had left me with nothing but diminishing favorability and an unfinished mission.
As my face stiffened, Marie spoke to me with an anxious voice.
“Y-yes, of course! Even though what happened today was supposed to be a change of mood…”
“….”
“St, still, competition is coming up soon, and I heard that the street shops will be opening near the square starting today!”
“….”
“Ah, um, and there are, uh, a lot of accessories and things there, too…? Young Lady?”
My head instantly turned back at her words.
“…Is that not good?”
I looked at Marie, who was cautiously gauging my reaction, and wondered why I hadn’t thought of that before.
…A man’s lapis lazuli brooch that appeared with the presence of an unknown child.
I asked, balling my fists and turning to Marie.
“If it’s a street store, would they also sell men’s brooches?”
“A brooch for men?”
After pausing for a moment at my words, she eventually nodded vigorously and replied.
“Of course!”
“All right. Then, let’s get out of here, Marie!”
˚ ･: * ✧ * :･ ˚
“Young Lady, what do you think of this?”
I glanced at the brooch that Marie showed me and shook my head in response.
“No, there were leaves surrounding the edge of the brooch. This one doesn’t have that kind of decoration.”
“Leaves?”
Her gaze once again shifted to the stall after listening to me.
In the meanwhile, despite the fact that we have looked at each brooch displayed on the board, the brooch that the child had clutched so dearly during my last life was nowhere to be found.
‘I thought that if there was a similar brooch, maybe I could find the artisan who made it and possibly uncover the child’s identity, but it seems like a long shot after all…’
Something came to mind when Marie suggested a little while ago that we should go look at street stores. I had given up, thinking that the child I had met might not be real and that I would never see them again, but…
‘…That brooch is different. It was definitely real.’
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