If You Wish to Have Me - Chapter 145

At those words, Gilliam blinked his wrinkled eyes and recalled the man named Gale from his memories.

The person he had seen when he accompanied the Duke to visit Manoa’s Trading Company.

If it was that man, he certainly had more opportunities to observe him for a longer time than his master.

This was because while their respective superiors were having intimate conversations, the two of them stood side by side at the door, waiting.

As he pictured the taciturn man’s face in his mind, his head naturally tilted in puzzlement.

‘Insolent, you say…….’

To be honest, it was difficult for Gilliam to agree with such an expression.

The attitude of Gale that he had observed was extremely businesslike and ordinary.

Of course, he didn’t seem to welcome Duke Hillan’s party very much, but wasn’t that natural in a way?

Who would welcome people who suddenly showed up without any prior appointment or notice?

Moreover, the Duke had only briefly encountered that man twice – when entering and leaving Manoa’s office.

In those fleeting moments that could be described as merely passing by, what exactly had he glimpsed in Gale’s expression?

Or had he really seen anything at all?

“…….”

Gilliam’s expression darkened as he reflected on the series of strange behaviors his master had recently displayed.

At least to others’ eyes, Seyard Hillan didn’t seem much different from before, despite his long-awaited wedding being disrupted, and in some ways, he might have been even more active than before.

But when observed closely, the reality was completely different.

His life, which had been structured according to regular habits ingrained in his body, had gradually changed.

Sometimes he would skip meals claiming he had no appetite, then on other days he would become absorbed in walks, wandering the garden endlessly until Gilliam’s persuasion finally brought him back to the mansion.

Originally, his schedule was one that maintained a general framework but changed flexibly when special circumstances arose, so at first, it didn’t seem particularly strange.

Even Gilliam, who prided himself on knowing Seyard Hillan – or more precisely, Vischer Hillan – better than anyone else, initially underestimated the situation, thinking that perhaps the impact wasn’t entirely absent after all.

However, his master’s behavioral changes became increasingly pronounced.

Not to mention his increased alcohol consumption, some nights he would stay up all night while other nights he would oversleep to the point where his sleep schedule became erratic, and he even neglected his duties as a Duke.

When Gilliam asked why he was engaging in such unprecedented negligence of work, his answer was this:

He just didn’t feel like it.

‘Should I be grateful that the next day, he tackled the backlog of work with frightening efficiency as if nothing had happened?’

In any case, Duke Hillan’s behavior and attitude had been changing daily lately.

Gilliam and the Duke’s other close associates were doing their best to manage the situation from nearby, but there were limits, and recently even Hillan’s general servants were beginning to notice that something was off with their master.

Since he had been handling external schedules without incident, others were still unaware of this fact, but it was uncertain how long that would last.

Not long ago, the Duke had even assigned an informant to Gale, ordering background investigations and surveillance.

As Manoa’s aide who appeared to closely attend to her, he was clearly a subordinate who enjoyed considerable trust.

If, by any chance, the informant’s tail was discovered and it was revealed that Duke Hillan was behind it, Manoa would undoubtedly express considerable displeasure.

There was even a possibility that she might interpret it as a family-level attack against the Manoa Trading Company.

If asked whether Manoa was such a threatening presence to the Hillan family, he would answer no, but she wasn’t someone to be taken lightly either.

‘This will become very troublesome.’

That’s why when Gilliam first heard his master’s instructions, he had, unusually for him, subtly expressed opposition.

But the Duke didn’t change his mind, and when he heard the informant’s report a few days ago, he smiled mysteriously as if his judgment had been proven right.

He couldn’t quite understand what was so tremendously important about the information that Gale had stopped by some famous confectionery in the capital to buy sweets.

His master probably connected those sweets with the missing Lady Vansfelt, but in Gilliam’s judgment, it was speculation with quite insufficient evidence.

After all, weren’t those sweets beloved by many people, which was why they became famous in the capital?

However, the highly loyal Gilliam couldn’t bring himself to point this out.

Above all, seeing his master act nonchalantly while continuing to show erratic behavior left him speechless.

‘If only he were someone who expressed his emotions clearly…….’

Certainly, from a distance, he looked exactly like a man suffering from the pain of being rejected by his lover, but the Duke he observed up close was no different from usual.

He greeted the servants with the same smile as before, sometimes even initiated jokes first, and hummed cheerfully during his walks.

Should he be described as like a madman who believes he’s perfectly fine?

Even when the exasperated Gilliam once asked if he was alright, he simply shrugged his shoulders as if asking what he meant by that.

Gilliam, who had always been proud of his master who never lost his composure under any circumstances, found it hard to contain his worry these days.

The Duke neither explosively vented his emotions nor appealed to others for help.

Come to think of it, that was his innate nature, and he was also a person raised that way under the family’s ideals.

So it would be presumptuous to offer comfort, and the old aide could only stay by his master’s side.

All he could do was wait with a desperate heart for the woman presumed to be the cause of his master’s condition to return.

Nine times out of ten, she was also the only one who could restore things to their original state.

“What’s wrong, Gilliam?”

Just then, the man in the bathtub suddenly called his aide and met his eyes.

“Do I seem crazy?”

It was a monotone question that didn’t seem upset or angry.

Rather, he even seemed to be enjoying himself with both corners of his mouth turned up. Gilliam, who had been staring at his master for a moment, shook his head.

“That could never be the case. If you have any orders, please tell me.”

Carrying out whatever it might be. That was the loyalty Gilliam had maintained for over ten years, and whether he was crazy or not, his master was this man before him.

“Shall I send word to the informant to look more into why Gale went to Octava? The people around him might know something.”

At Gilliam’s question, the Duke, who seemed to contemplate for a moment with his gaze lowered, opened his mouth before long.

“Good, do that. But be especially careful that he absolutely doesn’t notice. Absolutely.”

Like a predator luring its prey into a dead end, his eyes flashed.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And it would be good to mobilize the informants in Octava as well.”

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Hillan’s people were everywhere in the world, and they naturally resided permanently in important diplomatic partner countries like Octava.

“After providing Gale’s description, tell them to search for his whereabouts. Since he holds a fairly important position in the trading company, he can’t stay abroad for long and will return to this country soon.”

“Then I’ll arrange for some to remain at the port to watch for Gale’s appearance while the search proceeds.”

“Yes, if there’s someone who accompanied him to the port, we should be able to roughly find out where Gale went in Octava by following that person, but even if he was alone, investigate as much as possible.”

“Yes, I’ll follow your orders.”

“How is the background investigation into him going? Didn’t he have any acquaintances in Octava?”

“I’m sorry to say that nothing has been revealed yet. Since he’s worked at the trading company for a long time, he has many records of going abroad, so there might have been some connection when he visited Octava, but since he’s just a trading company employee, the information is…….”

No matter how good Hillan’s intelligence network was, collecting information on someone who wasn’t a famous figure required considerable time and effort.

“It can’t be helped. Continue the investigation but it’s probably best not to expect too much.”

“Yes, if we discover anything, I’ll inform you immediately. Then I’ll take my leave.”

“Yes, good work, Gilliam.”

“Not at all. If it helps the Duke and Hillan, it’s nothing but an honor for me.”

Even after his faithful aide, who had given his usual loyal greeting, withdrew, Seyard spent some time in the bathtub.

On the surface, it was a scene not much different from before Gilliam’s arrival, but his inner state was worlds apart.

It truly wouldn’t be excessive to compare it to hell and heaven.

“……No, it’s still too early to call it heaven.”

The threshold of the path to heaven. He had barely found the signpost.

His heaven, Kisa Vansfelt.

Splash. The water in the bathtub churned as the man finally raised his body.

Seyard roughly dried himself with a towel that was lying on the floor, then instead of removing his wet clothes and taking out a robe from the shelf, he leisurely walked out of the bathroom.

Soon a servant would come with new clothes following Gilliam’s instructions, but he didn’t feel like waiting.

He lay down on the bed without caring that the covers would become soaked with moisture.

“Kisa.”

Then he closed his eyes as if tracing the scent of the woman who had once slept in this bed.

“I can tell. We’ll see each other again soon.”

He looked forward to the day of their reunion.