Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 23

Revenge Has Interest 23. Having a Dream (23/200)

Having a Dream

2023.08.23.

Leah was so overjoyed and excited that she didn’t realize she was staring blankly at Terrun with a foolish expression. She was disappointed, then surprised, and then she cried.

Terrun must have found her fickle reaction amusing.

Honestly, whatever hurtful things he had said to her were now forgiven.

“Terrun is absolutely right. People are different on the inside and out.”

Outwardly, they might criticize something as vulgar, but inwardly, they were filled with curiosity about new things.

Terrun felt good seeing Leah happy, but the closer he was to her, the more uncontrollable his excitement became.

He shuddered at the desire to kiss Leah and do even more.

“Terrun, if you want to start a business, you need a shop, right?”

“Th-That’s right.”

Terrun’s face turned red, and he kept swallowing hard. He was seized by the desire to pick her up and take her to bed, and all sorts of lewd fantasies stimulated his instincts.

“I’ll go downtown. I’ll go with Pauline and see if there are any suitable shop locations.”

“Just the two of you?”

“It’s okay. I won’t be late. And it’s uncomfortable having Luke following me around all the time.”

“I’ll only allow it if you come back early.”

“Yes.”

Leah jumped up from her seat and ran towards the door. Then, she suddenly turned around and walked towards Terrun with quick steps.

“Thank you, Terrun.”

Leah blushed like a girl and conveyed her gratitude to him with a kiss on the cheek, expressing her sincerity.

Terrun looked at Leah with a dazed expression. Until now, she had maintained a certain distance from him, but when she said, ‘Thank you,’ he could feel her sincerity.

Terrun reached out towards Leah as she walked away from him. But he had to soothe his disappointment with only an empty hand.

‘Getting me excited and then just leaving like that…….’

The heat that had enveloped his whole body rapidly subsided. He felt a little resentful towards the clueless Leah.

Just then, James came in with a stack of documents.

“The young lady seems to be in a good mood.”

“So it seems.”

Terrun answered absentmindedly. But suddenly, he became curious.

Did all men have such lewd fantasies as he did? Or was he the only one with such a peculiar inclination?

“James, what do you think of a man who feels a different emotion when he sees a woman crying?”

“Excuse me……? What do you mean by a different emotion?”

“Well, like, a woman is crying because she’s sad, but the man is aroused by her face because he thinks it’s pretty. Of course, I’m not talking about myself. Don’t misunderstand.”

Terrun was worried that James might realize it was about him even as he asked the question. He had never asked him this kind of question before.

“That’s a perfectly normal reaction.”

The quick-witted James knew very well how to behave as a butler. So, he answered a little mechanically. That way, Terrun wouldn’t feel embarrassed.

“Is that so?”

“The fact that a crying woman is beautiful means that there is affection. And the fact that a man’s body is aroused when he looks at that sight is a very normal reaction. It would be a different matter if he were a cold-blooded person or impotent.”

“I see.”

Terrun wore a satisfied expression.

James was also pleased. It seemed that spring had finally come to Terrun as well.

“Where did Leah go?”

“She said she wants to start a business, so she went downtown to look for a shop location.”

“Excuse me? You allowed that?”

James asked, startled. A noble lady doing business was absolutely unacceptable.

Moreover, Leah was the fiancée of Duke Courtois, the most prestigious family in Lubeck. It would be a blemish on her reputation as well as that of the Duke’s family.

“James, the world has changed.”

Terrun replied, looking at the pale-faced James.

“But…….”

“I’m going to help Leah do whatever she wants to do, whether it’s business or something else. You saw it too, didn’t you?”

“Saw what?”

“I think you said Leah was beautiful when she skillfully wrote a letter to the Turkish Sultan?”

“That’s a different situation, isn’t it?”

“I know how precious it is to have a dream and a clear goal in life.”

He had spent his days in endless darkness, feeling listless. A hell without dreams or hope. Even now, he still had nightmares, though not as often as before.

The mountains of soldiers’ corpses and the wails of the dead begging to be saved. Even Aiden, who had lost one leg and was bleeding, still had pain that had not healed.

“Hell and heaven are not far apart.”

Terrun wore a bitter expression. He had realized at too young an age that hell was not just a place to go after death. It appeared in various forms, such as space, time, and people.

Among them, the most terrifying hell was himself.

“I like Leah when she’s dreaming. I hope James will support Leah’s dream too?”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Only then did James agree with Terrun’s words.

* * *

Maddox and his men had obtained the most extravagant carriage and were lying in wait near the Duke’s residence.

“Has anyone seen the Duke’s fiancée?”

Maddox asked his men. Neither he nor Rapha, the leader of the organization, knew what the Duke of Courtois’s fiancée looked like.

“Where would the likes of us have the chance to see such a noble lady?”

“That’s true. I did get a good look at the Duke, though.”

When he came to get the herbal medicine, he was so shocked to see the Duke.

The first impression he had of him was that of a giant black eagle.

Originally, you could tell a person’s emotions by looking into their eyes, but the Duke only had deep darkness.

Therefore, it must never be revealed that this was the work of the Rapha organization.

“Brother Maddox, over there……!”

One of the men pointed to a carriage leaving the Duke’s residence. A young woman’s face could be seen through the open window.

“Is that the woman? Follow her without being noticed.”

“Yes.”

A carriage with the Duke’s family crest and a young, beautiful woman looking out the window.

More confirmation was needed, but he had a feeling that this woman was the Duke’s fiancée.

“Brother Maddox, I have a very good idea. We can kidnap that woman without much effort.”

“What is it?”

The man explained his plan to Maddox, speaking passionately.

Soon, a smile spread across Maddox’s face.

He had been wondering how to capture the woman who got out of the carriage in broad daylight without her noticing, but he would be able to finish the job easily without seeing her in a bad state.

“You’re a clever one!”

Maddox laughed heartily.

* * *

Leah and Pauline got off in the city center.

“Please come back to this spot by 4 p.m.”

Pauline made a time arrangement with the coachman and approached Leah. The two were very excited about starting a new business.

“We’re going to make Chenel’s lace a luxury brand.”

“It’s not fair if only noble ladies buy it.”

“Well, it should be priced so that ordinary women can save up and buy it.”

“Miss, how about putting a trademark on the lace?”

“A trademark?”

“Since it’s Chenel, we’ll put a ‘C’ with a sparkling wing-like decoration.”

“Good idea, Pauline.”

Leah and Pauline bumped palms and laughed out loud. They had a good feeling that things would go smoothly.

But that feeling was only temporary.

The two met with an agent and looked at several shops. They were going to start small, so they didn’t need a big shop.

But there was no place that had the right rent, size, and location. No matter how well they sold the lace, they would be in the red after paying the rent.

However, they couldn’t open a shop in the outskirts where there was no traffic. Leah knew that better than anyone else.

“The Duke will support you with as much money as you need.”

“It’s meaningless to start with Terrun’s money.”

Leah wanted to achieve things one by one on her own, even if it was a small amount of money.

What Terrun had said when he took her to the chapel and showed her the necklace was engraved in her heart and could not be erased.

[If you have real ability, you don’t need this. It contains the wisdom that the merchants have gained through repeated failures. But if you don’t actually face failure or success, it’s useless. You can’t just blindly follow and succeed.]

His words were a hundred times right. Foolishly, she also believed that she would succeed soon if she only found her father’s memorandum.

But as he said, it means nothing unless you do it yourself.

‘I’ll take out the memorandum when a crisis strikes.’

“Miss, I’m hungry. My legs hurt too much.”

She had been walking around all morning, so it was understandable that she was tired. Leah felt sorry for dragging Pauline around.

“Shall we go to a cafe and have some dessert?”

“Yes! Please!”

It took so much effort and legwork to find just one shop location.

‘Nothing is easy.’

Leah felt anew how great her father was. The two went to a cafe, had tea and dessert, and then came outside.

“Miss, it’s already four o’clock.”

Leah looked at the clock tower in the distance. It seemed like it would be best to finish things up for today. Soon, the Duke’s carriage would come to the meeting place to pick up her and Pauline.

Then Pauline pointed ahead, as if she had seen something.

“Oh! There’s our carriage coming.”

“How did they know we were here?”

‘Hmph! Terrun is too suspicious.’

It was obvious. He must have been worried about letting them out alone, so he told them to follow them from a distance without being obvious.

“My legs hurt anyway, so that’s good.”

“That’s true, but…….”

Before she knew it, the carriage stopped in front of the two, and the coachman hurried out and opened the door.

‘The smell is unique.’

Pauline was startled by the smell coming from inside when the coachman opened the door.

It was a scent that hadn’t been in the carriage when they had ridden it earlier. But no matter how she looked at it, it was definitely the Duke’s carriage.

“Oh! Wait a minute, I left my parasol at the cafe. I’ll be right back. Miss!”

Pauline stopped as she was about to get into the carriage with Leah.

“Okay, I’ll wait here, so hurry back.”

“Yes.”

Pauline immediately returned to the cafe, and the coachman, who was wearing a hat pulled down low, opened the carriage door.

“Not yet, Pauline hasn’t come yet.”

Leah did not get into the carriage and waited for Pauline to return.

“Please wai…t inside.”

“Should I?”

Leah got into the carriage.