<CHAPTER 27>
So We Can Be Alone
As the carriage carrying Zekter passed through the teleportation portal, Evelyn glanced at her fiancé.
“So what is it you want to say?”
She was genuinely curious about what great words he had to convey that he chose an enclosed carriage.
She watched from beside him as he recited the activation spell to ensure no sound would leak outside.
Then Aksion raised his lips elegantly.
“So we can be alone.”
Ugh, that terrifying mouth.
As expected, that ill-mannered fellow wouldn’t tell her everything at once.
“Stop with the pointless talk!”
When Evelyn spoke somewhat irritably, holding her forehead, a mischievous smile spread across the man’s lips.
Was it her imagination that she seemed to be getting caught up in his pace more and more?
Her pride somewhat wounded, she put on a sulky expression.
Aksion swept his disheveled bangs back once.
Then he rested his chin on his hand indifferently and spoke in a low voice.
“There’s something I need to handle, and I need your help.”
“You… need my help?”
Evelyn tilted her head with a somewhat suspicious expression.
Then, as if to satisfy her curiosity, the man took out an invitation from his pocket.
The invitation, written in gold ink on black paper, bore the words “Banquet Blooming at Midnight.”
“What is this?”
When she received the invitation with a puzzled gaze, Aksion raised one eyebrow crookedly.
“There’s a troublesome matter there, you see.”
The man, showing annoyance for an instant, explained the situation with somewhat dry eyes.
Evidence had been found that a guild belonging to the underworld was smuggling prohibited drugs.
Normally, Aksion’s subordinates would have handled it neatly and sensibly, but since it was a mountain guild, he seemed to be taking action personally.
‘A kind of undercover investigation, well, something like that?’
Evelyn carefully examined the invitation she received from her fiancé.
The dress code for the banquet was written as “mask.”
Perhaps because she enjoyed K-detective shows in her previous life. Though she pretended otherwise, her heart was beating a little faster.
‘But something feels strange!’
The drug incident at the banquet venue in the original story was clearly supposed to be uncovered by the male protagonist, Kalid.
While she was lost in thought for a moment, Aksion cut to the chase without preamble.
“Evelyn, I want you to be my partner.”
Since the condition for attending the banquet was entering with a partner, he would naturally have designated his fiancée.
But Evelyn couldn’t shake the feeling that something was fishy.
For the man who always demanded compensation, his condition was remarkably modest.
Moreover, for her who had been Aksion’s partner all this time, it wasn’t a difficult task either.
“Really… that’s all?”
Evelyn narrowed her eyes and sent a suspicious gaze toward her fiancé.
Then, a strange light glinted in the man’s red eyes as he let out a languid laugh.
“Then is something more possible?”
As if that would happen.
“Words once spoken cannot be taken back, you know?”
When she glared at him with fierce eyes, Aksion lightly shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s a shame.”
Though his expression didn’t look regretful at all.
Evelyn clicked her tongue inwardly and was shaking her head when.
The man who had been gazing at her intently slowly pulled up the corners of his mouth.
“Evelyn, you were the one who spoke first.”
“About what?”
“Since you’ve already spoken, you can’t break this promise either.”
Evelyn showed a puzzled gaze at the man’s meaningful warning.
Then Aksion continued in an extremely calm tone.
“I’ll send you a dress that suits you soon.”
“No thanks, what’s with the dress.”
When she frowned slightly, calling it excessive, Aksion answered composedly.
“Then let’s go look together.”
“No, you must send it!”
At Evelyn’s quick change of stance, he smiled more brightly than a devil.
“Yes, if that’s what you wish.”
***
Aksion, who had dropped Evelyn off at the Count’s residence, immediately returned to the Valentino Ducal House.
She still couldn’t understand the intentions of her fiancé, who had taken time out of his busy schedule to come all the way to the orphanage.
‘If this was the case, why did he come all this way?’
Just as Evelyn was shaking her head slightly to escape from stray thoughts, Zekter, who had arrived at the Count’s residence earlier, approached her with a happy face.
“You’re back, Sister?”
“Yes, nothing happened, right? No one gave you a hard time?”
Several persons of interest came to mind, so Evelyn asked the boy cautiously.
Fortunately, nothing seemed to have happened, and Zekter answered in a bright voice.
“No! Everyone treated me kindly.”
Rarie and Gideon, who had been waiting after receiving the message, had prepared accommodations for him.
While nodding at the boy’s story, Evelyn soon spoke in an apologetic voice.
“It will probably take a few more days to set up a laboratory in the annex, is that alright?”
Unfortunately, the Count’s residence didn’t have a separate space prepared for experiments.
In Evelyn’s case, she conducted her experiments in the research laboratory in her botanical garden.
Then Zekter smiled brightly as if he didn’t mind at all.
“I’m fine! I’d like to take this opportunity to help Sister and the others at the mansion.”
Rarie and Gideon, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, showed newly impressed expressions.
“Oh my, how commendable.”
“It’s like seeing myself when I was young.”
In the warm atmosphere, Evelyn raised one eyebrow as if she didn’t quite understand.
“Hmm? I remember someone being a degenerate who neglected his training.”
When they were young, he would often skip training using the excuse of guarding his master.
At her sharp words, Gideon coughed awkwardly several times.
“Ahem, My Lady, how long ago are you talking about.”
If she pressed further here, he would surely get sulky.
Amused by her confidant’s reaction, Evelyn lightly shrugged her shoulders.
“I’ll go in first, if I stay up late my fair skin will be ruined.”
Rarie, who had been about to follow her, showed a bright smile to the young boy.
“She really is unstoppable, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she does seem a bit like that.”
When Zekter readily nodded, Evelyn looked at them with a somewhat shocked expression.
“I can hear all of you!”
In the greenhouse garden where the afternoon sunlight gently permeated, the fresh scent of flowers wafted abundantly.
On the long table, appetizing desserts and subtly sweet black tea were prepared.
In the comfortable atmosphere where they asked after each other’s well-being, gentle laughter could be heard here and there.
It looked like any other tea party where noble ladies lightly sipped tea and conversed.
But this tea party was somewhat different in nature.
They had gathered here for a different reason.
“My goodness. Is that really true?”
“Yes. It’s a book specially procured through connections.”
A lady with a triumphant face placed a book on the table.
The moment that book was revealed, the tea party venue was instantly filled with silence.
The ladies present wore strange expressions, and Evelyn was no different from them.
That book was an unpublished new work by the author of “Circumstances of Being Selected as the Crown Prince’s Husband.”
“How in the world… did you obtain this?”
“Well, I am the granddaughter of a major bookstore owner.”
A grandmother who respects her granddaughter’s secret hobby, there was no truer adult of this era.
Well, it was a must-read for cultured women, so it should be fine.
“I wonder what content will touch our hearts this time, I’m already looking forward to it.”
“Please give us a spoiler, even just a little!”
“Ahem, then I’ll read just a tiny bit.”
The lady who procured the book read the introduction as a taste, and the ladies listening intently couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.
“Oh my, I absolutely must buy this!”
“When exactly is it being released?”
Evelyn also gazed at the book on the table with sparkling, bright eyes.
A love between a ducal house heir with 101 secret tastes, she was already salivating.
Truly a feast for the senses…!
