Chapter 68. Between Love and Acting (6)

Nick was suffering from a lack of sleep.

In the first place, there were not many outsiders visiting Caronda, but due to the nature, he could not just roughly look at them.

Therefore, it was difficult to meet outsiders who claimed to be a couple for hours because of fatigue.

“Ha, it’s hard now that I’m old.”

Nick sighed and swept his tired eyes.

Almost no one believed him when he went through all the hardships to get to this position.

He only used one room and managed all of his few belongings.

In addition, a safe full of gold coins was hidden deep in the room.

“If I had Lanella, I would have asked for help.”

Lanella was one of the people he believed in a little.

It was because he had seen her since they were very young in the nursery.

Lanella was one of the nicest children in the nursery where they grew up.

She even got a job as a doctor’s assistant at a public hospital, saying it was better to help people.

“Oscar was crazy. I can’t believe he was obsessed with the cranky Marilyn over the docile Lanella.”

He did not know how Oscar, who had only repeated foolish choices, was now living.

It was also Lanella who accidentally met his twin brother, Oscar, in the south more than 20 years ago.

“I helped receive Oscar and Marilyn’s child… But it was stillbirth. I couldn’t see people I knew sad. So I quit everything and came down to the south. I can’t believe I met you! It’s fascinating.”

“Then those two…”

“They’re obsessed with money, saying it happened while giving birth to a child in a public hospital.”

“Then I don’t have to contact him. It’ll only interfere with them making money.”

Since then, Lanella has been in touch with Nick.

And when he bought the title and got the land, he settled in Caronda.

Lanela first asked for a maid’s seat in the castle, but Nick refused, saying he had no money to pay.

Of course, at that time, Nick’s room had a safe full of gold coins.

After being rejected by him, Lanella got a job at a nearby animal farm and lived well.

Not long ago, when they got older, she left saying she wanted to go up to the capital and live.

It was when Nick, who found out that a couple was fake after three hours of interrogation, was taking a breather for a while.

“Shall we bring in the next outsiders? They’re the people in room 312.”

“Oh, okay.”

Nick, who was no longer able to see suspicious human trafficking in the territory, not only took special measures but also prepared thoroughly for it.

It was to directly deal with all outsiders by making the Castle itself like a hotel.

‘I only have to suffer for a few months. If I do it strictly for a few months, more people will say they won’t come because it’s dirty and cheap. Caronda isn’t that great a place.’

“Tell them to come in.”

When Nick spoke in a tired tone, voices of a man and woman quarreling came from afar.

“Why didn’t you eat broccoli? I saw what was hidden behind the plate while washing dishes.”

“There were too many. We ate it all yesterday. And I can live well without eating broccoli.”

“Broccoli has twice as much vitamin C as lemon. I saw that you don’t even eat fruits.”

“Don’t pay attention to my body composition.”

“How can you say such harsh things?”

“What do you mean?”

“According to you, we’ve been close for a long time. How can I not pay attention?”

“Oh, did you roll too much until late last night because we were so close to each other?”

“Was it too much? …I should have eaten breakfast better this morning.”

“It’s okay. There was nothing else you wanted to do while staying in the room alone. Thanks to you, I was exhausted after a long time and fell asleep.”

The butler sighed and shook his head.

“These days, young people…”

Nick also coughed in vain in the conversation he could hear outside.

The woman’s sulky voice continued.

“Anyway, if you’re worried about vitamin C, I can drink two glasses of lemon soda tonight.”

“What kind of calculation is that? If you look closely…”

“I can’t hear you. I can only hear you nagging. Blah blah blah….”

“Don’t shake your head like that. It’s stuck on the button of my shirt. Come over here. I’ll take it out.”

Nick thought inside that it would be okay to bombard and approve questions for about two hours this time.

‘Unstoppable physical touch, natural nagging, and comfortable way of talking like they have been together for a long time… That’s a real couple.’

Nick, who evaluated in his mind, rubbed his temple and observed the new outsiders.

A slender young woman with light purple hair walked in first.

And a good-looking man came in, nagging her.

He was a blond, well-built man with glasses on.

And, as soon as they saw Nick’s face, both of their eyes widened.

~*~

(Annabelle’s pov)

After facing Nick Averson, the lord of Caronda, Ian and I were frozen.

‘Oh, Dad?’

A middle-aged man with very familiar features was looking down at us with a tired face.

When I blinked my eyes and looked closely, he was subtly different.

‘Well… The eyes are a little sharper and the impression is much dirtier.’

“We are twins. My older brother also grew up in an orphanage, and he ran away early.”

It was a little surprising, but I thought I knew how this happened.

Ian whispered to me as if he had come to his senses after being frozen stiff.

“How did this happen? Is this also black magic? Why is Oscar Rainfield over there?”

“Ah, I think…”

I answered with a quick whistle.

“He’s my father’s twin brother.”

“Oscar has a twin brother?”

“Yes. I heard that there was a change of titles and surnames in distant provinces.”

As we muffled our whispers, Nick, my uncle, frowned and shot coldly.

“Didn’t you two have enough time to talk? Why don’t you stick to the purpose of coming here?”

“What is your purpose here?”

“You have to prove your relationship to me. Stop whispering.”

Ian and I looked at my uncle quietly.

In fact, we couldn’t even hear what my uncle was saying.

So far, the lord had been hypothesized to be related to black magic, but it was very difficult to realize that the person involved could be my blood.

“Is this someone related to black magic?”

We continued our whispers between the two of us.

Ian seriously answered my question.

“Things to prevent black magic are too thorough for that…”

Ian must have come to appreciate the lord’s abilities while staying here for two days.

“I think the hypothesis that he was afflicted with black magic would be correct.”

I shook my head in response to Ian’s words.

“I don’t think it’s possible to kill a few people with just your eyes, but it doesn’t mean that your conscience has been completely eroded like a slave.”

All the slaves we saw at the Black Market who had lost theirselves under the influence of black magic had their eyes widened.

Recalling that fact and whispering, Ian nodded in response to my words.

“How were the managers? The managers who became subordinates of black magic seemed to be fine.”

Come to think of it, there was no way to distinguish between managers and ordinary people.

I seriously planned.

“Shall we try? To see if he uses black magic or not?”

Of course, my operation didn’t deviate much from ‘finish him as quickly as possible’.

“By the way… He seemed serious about getting rid of black magic. Seeing outsiders being monitored so thoroughly to stop human trafficking.”

At that time, my uncle yelled.

“How rude! I’m going to die because I’m busy, but you’re ignoring me right now?”

“It was rude, but we weren’t just joking either. I was talking about something very important.”

I answered without realizing it.

I knew it wasn’t my father, but it felt very strange because it was the same as my father’s face.

“It must be very important to you! I’m busy, so I’ll start asking questions.”

“Questions?”

“I’ll decide whether you two are con artists or not.”

My uncle angrily pointed at Ian with his finger.

“Let’s start with the guy first. Recite everything as detailed as possible since you first met.”

Ian, who was pointed out, looked slightly embarrassed.

And he began to speak slowly.

“We met for the first time 8 years ago as contestants…”

His low voice continued slowly.

So, eight years ago, he seemed to be talking about the moment we encountered in the sword contest when we were 14.

“I still remember the moment I made eye contact with her through the sword.”

His voice was calm and slow as if he were reminiscent, so he was secretly immersed in it well.

Even the butler’s eyes, which were looking at us with a pathetic expression, were thinning.

“The hair fluttering behind her serious face was pretty, and the way she held the sword was serious, so I couldn’t even hear the crowd’s shouts.”

Of course, it must have been a lie as we only pretended to be false lovers, but strangely, my toes tickled.

“I was somehow moved by the speculation of rushing to do my best, and I wanted to get along somehow after winning.”

My cheeks began to heat up.

I also remembered my first meeting with Ian.