What kind of investor in the world is so desperate to throw money at someone?
I just laughed, but Ari was serious, so I had no choice but to say I would and try to calm her down.
‘If this works out, maybe I won’t have to ask my parents for investment money? No, wait, maybe I can just take a little from Ari? But money matters between friends aren’t good…’
It was advice I had heard from older merchants in the past.
Not that I ever had friends to borrow money from anyway…
Some of them lent money out of goodwill and ended up losing both friends and family.
No matter how good a person was, they couldn’t resist the power money held.
Anyway, I decided to think more about that later and spend the night in the village.
Though calling it “in the village” didn’t mean staying inside—it just meant camping nearby.
At first, the villagers looked troubled when they heard important people would be staying, but their expressions eased when they heard we’d just be camping.
Some of the villagers hired by Ray even brought things like dried fish to please me, their employer.
“Thank you.”
I had no idea how to eat it, but it was offered with kindness, so I accepted it without refusing.
They must have gathered the courage to bring it, and rejecting it would only hurt them.
I gave it to the cook Ray brought, and they turned it into a stew made with the fish.
“Oh ho, this is good. Should I say it’s warm and comforting? Or cool and refreshing?”
My brother, gulping down the stew like water, smiled brightly.
According to the cook, nobles didn’t usually eat this kind of dish, but commoners living by the sea often did.
It was a different flavor from the big, fatty fish you eat as steak, and I liked that.
Even Ari, who had recoiled with a snooty face wondering how anyone could eat this, seemed to enjoy it, eating peacefully.
After a light dinner, we played card games for a while, and as the night grew late, we decided to sleep.
I fell asleep in the carriage next to Ari, watching the stars—but suddenly woke up in the middle of the night.
“Gasp!”
As soon as I opened my eyes, a blue window floated before me.
One of those divine message windows.
<Best>[PleaseCheckOutEvilWhiteBeastᅲᅲ]
Honestly, if you believe the Lovey-is-the-hidden-villain theory, hit like.
‘Hidden villain?’
What’s a hidden villain?
I feel like I’ve heard the term before…
But from the way it sounds, it didn’t seem like a good thing.
Curious, I clicked open the folded section, and more posts streamed down below.
[GettingOffThisTranslation]
I don’t think she’s a hidden villain.
Isn’t she just someone trying to live her life?
Every time I see her, she’s working to earn money.
[NamNamSooSooMathAcademyDirectorNamNamSoo]
Still, it’s weird how she keeps being mentioned.
It pops up out of nowhere in the story, like it’s trying to remind us not to forget her.
[GettingOffThisTranslation]
Yeah, but still…
[PleaseCheckOutEvilWhiteBeastᅲᅲ]
Honestly, the recent development was so weird.
Why did the male lead suddenly start thinking of her out of nowhere?
Is he cheating?
‘The male lead?’
I was shocked as I read.
The male lead knows me?
My heart pounded wildly at the sudden revelation.
And then—
‘Cheating?’
How shameless!
That’s something only Pedro would do.
Even if the male lead didn’t know, I was innocent.
[LVSTheVillainOfLifeOrDeathChoices]
Who’s the better match for the male lead: the female lead or Lovey?
[PleaseCheckOutEvilWhiteBeastᅲᅲ]
Ugh—don’t make me curse——
[TheMostPerfectHouseIsHoopyHouse]
This person’s putting on an act even here.
They were even trying to pair the male lead with someone of their choosing…!
Fuming with anger, I couldn’t hold back and suddenly jumped up.
“Mm.”
Because of that, the carriage shook, and Ari, who was sleeping next to me, nearly woke up—but thankfully, she just shifted in her sleep.
“Sigh…”
The divine messages didn’t offer anything concrete.
Though the male lead apparently knew me, there was no explanation of how.
Nothing about whether his thoughts were positive or negative.
Some gods even teased, saying I should replace the female lead next to him, and ended up bickering with other gods…
My face flushed with heat in an instant.
I was furious.
If you knew me, why didn’t you come see me sooner?
You’ve never even once tried to meet me…
I didn’t even know who he was, yet all I felt was resentment.
I tried to cool my burning face with a hand fan, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
So I carefully stepped outside the carriage.
Shhhhhh…
It was a hot night, but maybe because we were by the sea, the breeze was cool.
Still, it wasn’t enough to bring down the heat in my face, so I decided to wander a little nearby.
‘It’s dark, but… with all the knights stationed nearby and this not being a popular location, there shouldn’t be anyone here besides us and the villagers.’
It should be safe to walk around a bit.
Wearing my slippers, I walked toward the beach, thinking I might just sit in the sand until I cooled off.
“Huh?”
But someone was already there on the beach.
It was Raymund.
Under the moonlight, he sat alone, staring out at the dark ocean.
Maybe he sensed my presence, because Ray turned and looked back.
I reflexively raised my hand in a small wave, and Ray returned the wave.
“You’re out here too?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep. What about you, Seiana?”
“Me too.”
I approached and sat beside him.
Then I noticed there were shells scattered around him.
Some of them were already open.
Do clams usually come out like this?
I’d never seen it before and found it strange.
Ray casually picked one up and popped it open with a tuk using his hand.
‘Do they really open that easily?’
It opened as effortlessly as opening a coin purse, and I found it fascinating.
I tried to open one too, but the tightly shut clam showed no signs of budging.
Was it just this one?
I tried a different one, but that wouldn’t open either.
Was I just unlucky?
I frowned in confusion, and Ray chuckled, took the clam from my hands, and easily opened it again with a tuk.
“Here.”
“Huh…?”
I took it, but had no idea what I was supposed to do with it.
I stared blankly at the lifeless clam inside when Ray pressed the flesh with his finger—
And out popped a tiny pearl with a pop.
“Whoa!”
“This one too.”
Ray said that as he scattered pearls into my hand.
Maybe because the shells weren’t very big, the pearls were about half the size of a green pea, but they were evenly round and had a nice shape.
They roughly matched the number of open pearls on the sandy beach.
That’s when I realized the clams hadn’t just come out on their own.
“You… brought all of these from under the sea?”
“Just the ones I could reach.”
Ray said casually and opened another clam to take out a pearl.
This one was a bit bigger than the others, but it was misshapen.
Unusually, it was heart-shaped.
“So cute.”
I picked it up between my thumb and index finger and rolled it around.
I stared blankly for a moment, then held it out to Ray along with the others.
“Here.”
“Why? Don’t you like it?”
Ray looked at me with wide eyes, as if surprised I was returning them because I didn’t like them, and I was the one who became flustered instead.
Didn’t he bring them from the sea because he wanted to keep them?
Was he just showing them to me?
But no.
“I brought them for you from the beginning.”
Because I just like pearls.
That’s why I brought them, Ray said—and that made my heart flutter again.
There was no one else at the beach.
So he must have brought them himself, not asked anyone else to do it.
The thought that he went to that effort just for me squeezed my heart.
“Are you sure I can really have them?”
Something welled up inside me, and my voice cracked as I barely managed to speak.
Under the moonlight, Ray smiled brightly.
“Please.”
His words sounded more like a request for me to accept them.
I fidgeted my fingers.
This moment… it tickled me somehow.
Even during the day, I had wondered—was there anyone else who trusted me and cared for me like this?
Even though I loved pearls, I never thought about actually digging for them while I was at the sea.
But he remembered something I said in passing and made the effort, just hoping I’d be happy.
That made my heart flutter in a different way.
‘I want to… do something for him too.’
Not because I wanted to give something in return, but just because I wanted to do something for him too.
But nothing came to mind.
Even when I asked what he liked, he’d just say anything was fine.
And earlier today, I’d even received his help again—I felt bad.
‘Ah…?’
There was one thing I did know he wanted.
Ray wanted to call me by a nickname.
‘But… would that even be enough?’
Compared to what he gave me, it felt like such a small thing—it was embarrassing.
But it was all I could give him right now.
“Ray…”
“Yeah?”
“How do you want to call me?”
I was too embarrassed to say, “Would you call me Lovey?” so I left the answer to Ray.
But the moment he understood what I meant, his eyes started sparkling more brightly than the starlight above.
And I sparkled in them too.
“I…”
Ray opened his mouth but suddenly stopped.
He seemed to be thinking about something, then spoke again.
“If it’s okay with you, Seiana… I want to call you something different.”
“Different how?”
“I want a name only I can use to call you.”
Huh…?
I was a little taken aback by that.
My nickname, Lovey, came from my middle name.
That middle name was a symbol of my family’s love for me.
So naturally, I’d only ever had that one nickname—until now.
Seeing ayi’s serious face as he asked made my cheeks flush.
It was just a short version of another name, not the one I usually used—but a name only he would call me by.
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