For Sale: Male Lead, Obsession Included - Chapter 71
“Why? Isn’t the salary I give you enough? If you just save your salary properly for five years, you could live a life not envious of most nobles.”
“What’s this? Why are you getting angry?”
“…Indeed.”
Despite the generous salary and assurance of Truu’s safe life, he declared he would choose money without understanding my intentions, which irritated me.
I sighed deeply as Feyden looked me up and down as if I were a strange person.
“Whenever you’re overly greedy, you end up getting hurt.”
“I know. I followed you for the money and ended up suffering for it.”
“Suffering…? You should have thought it through before signing the contract.”
“What’s with the nagging, shorty?”
Feyden gently pressed his hand down on the top of my head and walked ahead.
Watching his leisurely figure walking away made me sigh again.
If someone other than me came to him with mountains of gold and asked him to kill the emperor, I would want to tell him to refuse outright.
Of course, he’d likely call me crazy, and besides, I didn’t want to disrupt the original storyline any further, so I kept my thoughts to myself.
I’ve seen too many female leads in romance-fantasy novels suffer backlash trying to change the future.
And I already have my hands full with Declan’s obsessive backlash alone.
For these reasons, I had no intention of changing his values, so I slowly followed behind him.
“Says the one who’s absurdly tall.”
Perhaps when his salary builds up and he starts to feel financially secure, his perspective might shift a bit.
Though Feyden, who accepted my request, isn’t exactly the most trustworthy person, I genuinely liked him and hoped he could walk a flower-strewn path ahead.
Perhaps I feel sympathy for him, as a fellow side character destined to sacrifice for the protagonist.
“Hey, Potato. They’re selling that Kerina gossip rag here.”
“Buy me one, please.”
“Give me money.”
***
Ariel, who was sitting in a confessional tucked away in a corner of the temple, stood up. The sun had already cast long shadows, marking the passage of time.
He placed a letter he had carefully written and tucked it into his chest.
Ariel had lived a life without needing to step foot in a confessional, as he had nothing to be ashamed of in the eyes of angels. Yet now, his face was as dark as a stormy sky.
…I have sinned.
Could he truly receive Estira’s forgiveness with just this letter?
Though he had poured his remorse into a letter confessing that he had secretly reported her actions…
The trust they had built over the past month, falling asleep with their backs to each other, would crumble to dust. And Estira’s gentle heart would undoubtedly suffer deeply.
Even if he ended his journey with her, the sin he had committed would not disappear.
Wiping his reddened eyes several times, Ariel let out another deep sigh, hoping that the road back to his lodging would never end.
How should he tell Estira and give her this letter? After countless deliberations, Ariel suddenly stopped in front of a shop.
There, displayed in the storefront, was the gossip paper that Estira always bought whenever she visited a village.
‘She’s probably already bought it by now.’
Still, he couldn’t ask for a better excuse to approach her. Without a second thought, Ariel picked up the gossip paper and headed to the counter.
“Oh my, do priests read gossip too? Hoho. You’re in luck. We’ve just received some fresh news.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, yes. Look here. This.”
The shopkeeper pulled out a flyer tucked into the front page of the gossip paper and handed it to Ariel.
“They say the news came in so urgently that they didn’t even have time to print a new batch.”
“…The Duke is suddenly visiting his territory?”
“Yes! After being away for years, he’s suddenly coming back. People almost fainted from shock! He left the capital quietly, so no one knew. The salesperson said it was such hot news that it just came in.”
“When is the Duke expected to arrive?”
“Well, he might already be at the castle by now. The bakery owner over there said he saw the portal opening.”
Ariel carefully stored every bit of information from the shopkeeper in his mind, intending to pass it all on to Estira.
With the letter carefully tucked between the pages of the gossip paper, Ariel realized how inadequate he felt.
Though he had poured his entire heart into the letter, he thought perhaps if he added a small gift of something Estira liked, it might lift some of the heavy guilt weighing on him.
With that in mind, Ariel began wandering around the marketplace.
