"But..."
It's ridiculous to just throw away such an expensive necklace.
She wasn't sure how much it was worth, but with the size of the jewels, she thought it would sell for enough money to buy a mansion in the countryside, then eat and play for the rest of her life.
How could she throw away such a necklace?
Rachel glanced at Ian as if he was being absurd.
"How could I do that..."
Rachel's gaze was absolutely correct. It was the look you gave someone who's out of their mind.
"It's yours now, so it's your choice."
Ian inhaled as if he was going to sigh.
Rattle
"I'll leave now."
As Ian rose from his seat, Rachel would normally have followed him out, but she was sitting in a daze because she was still in shock, then she followed him a step later.
Rachel returned to her room after Ian left, carefully picked up the box from the tea table, and put it in the bottom drawer of her dressing table.
She carefully put it down in there, and closed the drawer. She didn't know when he would change his mind, and ask for it again.
This necklace must've been something Ian wanted to give her.
"Was this one of the interests that His Majesty mentioned?"
The reason why he brought her here. The reason why they ate together every day. The reason why he gave her such a gift.
"Ha..."
She guessed that it all stemmed from his unknown interest.
"Why are you..."
Six years later, she didn't know why he was interested in her.
"Besides, throwing away such an expensive item is just..."
The current emperor seemed to be out of his mind.
'War trauma.'
She remembered reading a book.
Rachel could read and write, so she'd made money from copying and selling books as a transcriptionist after she fled from Ian six years ago. So, she was forced to read a lot of books about different things.
Yes, she remembered reading about it in a book.
The fact that some people who've experienced war live their whole lives suffering from the trauma of that time. Some of them would never be able to live their daily lives normally ever again.
How could anyone be unaffected by a situation in which both parties were killing each other and dying?
Rachel suspected that Ian was in the same situation.
"Yes, His Majesty is unwell right now."
After he went through a war, the trauma made him crazy.
"Did he forget who I was, right? If that's not the case..."
Otherwise, there was no reason to be nice to the maid who ran away.
"Why did this happen to me out of all those people..."
She didn't know for sure, but Ian seemed to have changed after the war. If something was wrong, it must have been very wrong.
"Ha..."
Rachel sighed a little as she came to that conclusion alone.
When would Ian's interest in her wane?
She felt sorry for Ian, who had lost his mind while he was young, but Rachel felt most sorry for herself, who had been brought to the capital so suddenly.
