Guidelines for the Perfect Goodbye - Chapter 211

Casey Heens believed in love. She believed that true love encompassed all the beautiful words—trust, justice, affection, care—and would never betray her.

If betrayal occurred, it would be the fault of humans, not love itself. Even in her most broken moments, love would remain whole.

Once again, Casey was shouldering the risks of potential betrayals.

Cecilia and Nigel might ignore her.

Miguel might leave her and escape alone.

Yet if she were afraid of such betrayals, she wouldn’t have called this feeling love in the first place.

“Casey, who did you meet yesterday to be so cheerful today?”

At her father’s question, Casey didn’t answer, torn between not wanting to lie and not wanting to put Cecilia in an awkward position. Thankfully, he found his own answer.

“Oh, was it Sir Nigel Rosencrantz?”

“……”

“I knew it.”

Count Heens took her silent smile as confirmation, visibly relieved.

“When I heard he canceled yesterday, I worried he’d lost interest in you.”

From the beginning, there had been no such affection from either side. The feelings that didn’t exist had been patched together like scraps of fabric, packaged convincingly, not by Casey, but by Count Heens.

“He probably wanted to meet alone. At his age, I understand. I was foolish to interfere.”

He added another warning for Casey.

“You may spend time together as much as you like, but don’t cross the line before marriage. A man driven by desire will lose interest in something he’s already conquered.”

Casey held back a smile. Nigel had never once shown her any desire.

His true feelings lay elsewhere, with a woman he was already romantically involved with. To speak of ‘conquest’ between two lovers… how old-fashioned her father was.

Feeling stifled, she replied obediently.

“Yes, I’ll be careful.”

“Good. I’m grateful to hear that.”

Count Heens, with his timid eyes, took her hands.

“…And you’ve forgotten him, haven’t you?”

“……”

Casey responded with a silent smile, hoping he’d interpret her silence on his own.

“Casey.”

This time was different. The count fixed her with a relentless gaze, determined to hear a proper answer.

“I…”

Casey believed in love. Love did not permit lies. Her love was…

Knock, knock.

A timely knock sounded on the door.

“Who is it?”

“Milord, Sir Nigel Rosencrantz has arrived.”

“At this hour?”

Count Heens withdrew his hands, his chest swelling as he spoke, and Casey, freed from his gaze, took a small breath. She turned to the servant in surprise.

“What brings Sir Nigel here…?”

But as she spoke, she realized her mistake and stopped. If he’d come because of yesterday’s canceled appointment, she would have to explain today’s meeting to her father.

Although she’d said nothing, her elderly father’s mind had already pieced together an assumption of her ‘affirmative’ response.

“I’ll go out to meet him!”

Casey stood up abruptly, catching her father’s attention with her sudden action.

“If it’s Sir Nigel, it’s been a while since I’ve seen him as well. I’ll join you. It would be rude to ignore such an esteemed guest, sudden though his visit is.”

“……”

Lacking the skill for subtle evasion, Casey resigned herself to meeting Nigel with her father in tow.

In the drawing room, she felt on edge, dreading the possibility that he might mention ‘yesterday’s appointment’.

However, Nigel didn’t bring it up at all. He drank tea, discussed the weather with Casey, and offered investment advice to Count Heens.

“As you’re well aware, it’s rather late for the Heens family to begin independent business ventures. It might work in a provincial area, but the capital is already home to several established companies.”

“What do you think about building a factory in the north?”

“A textile business?”

“Yes.”

“To be honest, I can’t recommend it. Even the current textile factories can’t manage their surplus production, and the stockpiles are overflowing. Textile work doesn’t have a low initial cost either, and with the constant need to oversee labor, establishing a factory in the capital would pose considerable risk for you, Count.”

“What if we focused on quality? I heard there’s been a recent innovation in textile machinery.”

“Machines develop faster than humans. By the time your factory secures contracts and regular clients, better machines would likely already be on the market.”

“……”