Episode 2: Innocent Transactions

‘…Oh, he looks like a pure stag with that smile!’

Was it the face of an innocent handsome man?

Although he was covered by glasses and shyness, he had a very neat and tidy appearance.

When I stared at his face, the man quickly averted his gaze awkwardly and raised his glasses.

‘Do you happen to have a disease that kills you when our eyes meet?’

“I… Then, I will buy all the remaining tarts. Please wrap it.”

“Oh, you would like to buy all of them? Yes, customer.”

I grinned and walked to the cashier, carrying a tray of tarts.

Then I carefully wrapped the pretty tarts topped with luscious red dates and shouted into the kitchen.

“Today’s bread is all sold out! is closed!”

Red hair popped out of the kitchen.

“What? You managed to sell all of the tasteless date—”

“……!”

When my eyes shifted and blinked to point to the ‘hogu’ guest, the red wolf shut his mouth and went inside.

(TL/N: 호구 – a slang for ‘a stupid person who is easy to be deceived by others.’)

‘Heuk heuk, did you hear that?’

I glanced at him slightly, but he was only staring at the interior blankly.

‘Wow, that’s good.’

“The package is ready, customer!”

The man strode over to the cash register with his long legs and took the packet.

In case he had heard it, let’s sacrifice the bread I left out to eat.

‘I can’t lose my precious regulars!’

I rustled from below, took out a bag of bread, and held it out casually.

“This is for free!”

No. 1 popular menu.

It was a long, crispy baked baguette.

“You seemed to like it the last time, so I left it out in advance! I’d like to give this to you…”

I made a golden remark with a smile on my face.

‘Fufu, regular customers are weak to this kind of service.’

“…Ah…”

Unsurprisingly, the naive man looked genuinely touched for a moment.

He received the bag of bread respectfully and carefully, in the posture of receiving an ancient artifact from the emperor.

His large figure, with a baguette draped over his broad shoulders, looked a little cute.

He was fiddling with the bread with his thick, long, white fingers.

‘Yes? What are you hesitating about?’

While I was in doubt—

The young man’s sharp rib cage shook violently at the neckline.

(TL/N: in other words, he’s breathing heavily, lmao.)

Then, as if he had made up his mind, he pulled something out of his coat and held it out to me.

“……?”

My eyes turned towards him.

It was chocolate and white flowers.

A cute pink ribbon was hung from the chocolate, and the white flowers were as clean and pretty as small snowflakes during the first snow.

“…Please accept this.”

The man’s large hand was trembling slightly.

“Thank you?”

I accepted it in surprise.

“Then.”

He smiled a little cutely. He looked like he had done something.

Then he strode out of the bakery with his long legs.

I stared blankly at his retreating back.

“That person…”

I muttered.

“Why did he just go without paying…?”

...━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━...

“Glutinous rice! What did that glasses guy give you?”

Um immediately came to me and checked what the customer had given me.

I waved the chocolate and flowers.

“Chocolate and white flowers, uhmm.”

Um’s dark eyebrows swung upward. It was a look of exasperation.

“Hey, that glasses guy. It’s really obvious.”

“That’s right, it’s really obvious…”

I rubbed my nose and smiled happily.

“He must be someone who is really serious about bread.”

“……?!”

I raised my index finger like a keen detective and spoke.

“I secretly kept a baguette and gave it to him, so he gave me something like this in return, right? I’m sure it means to take care of it next time. He tends to come late, so he always misses our bakery’s most popular menu item, the ‘Baguette’!”

How disappointed must he have been every day?

“So he’s serious enough to bribe me, the bakery owner. Well, it’s good to be comrades—”

“Glutinous rice, you are really…”

Um looked at me in astonishment for a moment, then shook his head.

“Poor, poor glasses guy… Why do you have to be this sort of bread lover?”

Ugh, why was he feeling sorry for him?

Wouldn’t it be good for regulars if the owner of the bakery was a bread lover?

It was when I was tilting my head.

“Pfft.”

Sordi, who was elegantly drinking black tea and eating freshly baked madeleines on one side, laughed.

“What did I do wrong, Sordi?”

The handsome lily said, as always, with a bright smile on his face.

“No way. I thought my baby was cute today.”

‘…For those with severe bean pods, yes.’

Even though I became an adult, it was understandable that I was still called ‘baby’.

When I once protested, he gave a fairly reasonable answer, “I am thousands of years old, aren’t you a child compared to me?” and I was immediately convinced.

He had lived so long that he couldn’t count his age properly, so he roughly lumped together as a thousands of years old.

“Then let’s turn off the lights and wrap up.”

I hummed and cleared the empty shelf.

‘I’m so proud.’

When all the bread was sold out, the bakery owner’s heart was at peace as if she ate a lot of hot and tender stew.

I grabbed a small watering can and went outside.

Then, I watered the flower bed full of colorful flowers next to the spot where a wooden signpost that reads in crooked writing was erected.

The pretty, dainty flowers drank water and sunshine.

“Ah, today is good too—”

Life on Bayonaire Island was more satisfying than I expected.

‘It’s a godsend to have chosen this island.’

The island of Bayonaire appeared in the original, and was mentioned several times in an episode where a swindler embezzled imperial funds and ran away.

“I will definitely go to Bayonaire Island. If I go there, no one will find me.”

Indeed.

In addition, he would sometimes describe how wonderful the island’s natural environment was, how marvelous the dazzling sunlight and the sea was, and I fell in love with it while reading.

‘It’s a nicer island than I imagined.’

As mentioned in the original, really, there was no one who found me when I came here.

Gerard must have dispatched hundreds of pursuers.

Of course, ‘Circe’s Phantom Thief Boy’ must have done a great job by diligently erasing my traces and cutting off the pursuit.

‘I thought he’d just help me lightly.’

During that time, he came to the island several times and took care of me. Thank you very much.

It was the same when I first settled here.

“I’ll just use the name Annette.”

“…Changing your name will make it easier to evade the chase.”

“Changing one’s name and hiding is like a criminal’s life. Whenever other people call me by a different name, I will feel unhappy because I’ll remember that I am living in hiding.”

“…Ah.”

The thoughtful phantom thief boy said, wrapping his hand around his cheek.

“I will definitely cut off your pursuit. So have a happy new start here. Understand?”

“Yes!”

“Don’t worry, the name Annette is very common here.”

It was true. In the Western Continent, the name ‘Annette’ had been quite popular for over 20 years, and it was definitely a name that would show up in the ‘Top 10 most common names’ list. 

I had also read it several times in newspapers and magazines.

‘It’s an extra debuff.’

It was clear that the author just wrote it as it was.

“And I… Because I want to keep calling you by your name…”

The phantom thief said something a little cryptic.

Anyway, it was a bit of a surprise.

He didn’t seem to think of it as just a transaction, but as if he really wished me happiness.

‘Of course, even if he was, it’s information, so I can’t completely believe him.’

Usually, incredibly scary people sign contracts to get a price worthy of it.

It was clear that the phantom thief boy was actually a very scary person.

‘He might want something huge later on.’

Of course, so far, he hadn’t wanted anything.

‘What does he want from me?’

He didn’t really want anything to the point where I was getting a little anxious.

Anyway, other than that, it was a peaceful and happy daily life to the extent that there was no problem at all.

Uh… 

“…Still, I’m a little concerned about the customer who put it on credit.”

I remember the tall man giving me chocolates and flowers (without paying for his bread) and then walking out.

The first ‘credit’ customer in the history of a small bakery!

I set the watering can aside and sat down on the bench under the porch.

Then I lightly inhaled the scent of the white flowers that the man had given me.

‘It’s a familiar flower.’

‘I think I’ve received it before, when was it?’

But I couldn’t recall every old memory, so I gave up and untied the pink ribbon.

Inside, a shiny chocolate with a rich cacao scent was revealed.

Nom—

I took a bite and it melted on my tongue.

“……!”

Then I covered his mouth in surprise.

‘It’s very tasty.’

The chocolate given by the unidentified nerdish man was soft, sweet, and thick.

I instantly became happy and smiled brightly.

Thank you for reading ❣️ ❣️

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