Since that was settled, I didn't plan on staying any longer.
There were things that I wanted to do now because of what had happened here today, so I had to go and take care of them.
But before I could go, Haley suddenly stopped me.
I was confused why she stopped me, but I waited for her to speak.
She seemed to be hesitating over something as she didn't say anything at first, but then she suddenly asked me, "About buying the store, were you serious?"
This question caught me off guard and I looked at her with one brow raised, not understanding why she would suddenly ask this question.
All I saw in her eyes was a serious look as if she was expecting a serious answer to this question.
So while I was still confused by why she would ask this question, I replied, "Well, it was half serious and half not."
This time, it was Haley's turn to be confused as she asked, "Half serious? What do you mean?"
I explained, "I'm interested in this business since it is the third largest company in the city. This is definitely a business that is worth investing in. The problem is that I have to talk to others first before making this decision."
Haley revealed a teasing smile as she said, "I thought that a baron like yourself would be able to make any decision that he wanted. It turns out that you still have to confer with your subordinates first."
This was just teasing since she knew that this was just good business sense.
If one rushed into making a purchase like this, they would suffer in the end since there were many different things that had to be considered.
If they didn't think it through and bought this business without any thought, both the buyer and the business would suffer.
However, that wasn't what I meant when I said that I needed to talk to someone.
In response to this teasing, I revealed a bitter smile and said, "It's not like that. I have to talk to my wife first before I do something as big as this."
When Haley heard this, she couldn't help revealing a strange look as she immediately said, "Wife? You have a wife?"
I didn't understand the strange look that she had, but I said with a nod, "That's right."
The strange look on Haley's face continued to evolve before she finally revealed a smile and said, "As a baron, I'm sure that you don't just have a single wife, right? You must also have many different concubines, right?"
When I heard this, I couldn't help revealing a bitter smile again before shaking my head. Then I said, "I wouldn't dare do something like that, she's the one with the noble title. I'm the husband that she took in, so I wouldn't dare do something like that to her or else she would surely divorce me."
While I didn't know if this was true, it was true that Baroness Rose was the one with the title and I just married her.
I knew that I wouldn't keep the title if she ever divorced me, so I didn't dare act too cocky with it. After all, this wasn't something that was mine in the first place, so I wouldn't use it to brag.
As for using it to scare off a few people…I wasn't above that.
Haley fell silent when she heard this and the look on her face completely disappeared.
There was this strange calm look that appeared on her face that seemed like she was hiding the emotions that she was feeling.
But when I looked closely, I could see…a trace of what seemed to be disappointment in her eyes.
Why would she feel disappointment over this?
I just couldn't understand at all.
Still, seeing that she wasn't saying anything, I decided to change the topic back to what we were talking about before.
"As for buying the store, I'm sure that my wife would see the benefit in that. But right now, our territory is suffering a bit, so before that, we wouldn't think of buying anything." I just explained in a calm voice.
Haley didn't react at first as if she hadn't heard me, but then she gave an understanding nod before saying, "You have your circumstances, I understand that. I was just hoping that I could get an understanding partner like you instead of the one that I have right now." After saying this, she revealed a bitter smile.
I also revealed a smile when I heard this as I thought back to her father.
Since we had finished talking about this, there was nothing else for us to talk about.
So I bid her farewell and headed off.
…
After he was gone, Haley revealed a look that had a trace of disappointment again.
She looked out the window, watching as his carriage disappeared before muttering to herself, "So he already has a wife…and she's the one who has the noble title…"
She didn't know why she was so hung up over this, but there was a tiny feeling of sadness that was inside of her heart whenever she thought of this.
She also couldn't help thinking of the way that he looked when he had appeared to save her. She thought of both the time in the street and when he had saved her earlier from her father.
As she thought about this, she couldn't help losing herself in a bit of a daze as a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.
But then she suddenly shook her head and pulled herself out of her daze.
Haley said to herself, "No, no, I have to focus, I still have more work to do. I still have to go talk to our workers and set up a transport to bring the food and supplies to his territory."
As she thought of how she would be able to help her saviour, there was a bit of happiness that filled her heart.
But at the same time, there was another feeling that she didn't understand that dug its way into her heart.