Chapter 4
I lowered my arms that were covering my face and slowly opened my eyes.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was an unfamiliar man holding me in his arms and looking at me. His hair was as black as the night sky, his eyes were red like blood, and there was a small mole under his eye.
Flawless skin, sharp eyes, and clear, distinct features.
He was an incredibly handsome man, so much that he could easily compete with the male leads from the game. No, he stood out even more than them.
Because of his outstanding appearance, I stared at him blankly without realizing it.
“Miss?”
The voice calling me sounded like an echo.
The man’s emotionless face came closer as he looked at me, who was only staring at him absentmindedly.
“Miss?”
At his second call, I finally came back to my senses and looked around.
Then I noticed that I was still being held in his arms. Since he had turned his body while protecting me, it seemed that the glass pieces had fortunately not reached me.
“Whew, that’s a relief.”
Still in his arms, I touched different parts of my body.
After confirming that I was not injured, I let out a sigh of relief.
I calmed myself down and looked at the man again.
Looking carefully, he was the mysterious person who had been following us until just now. Fortunately, because he was wearing an inconvenient robe, it seemed that the glass pieces had not reached his body either.
“Ha…… Wouldn’t it be better to come out now?”
The man frowned and sighed while looking at me.
“Sorry…… Ah!”
When I tried to put my hand on the floor to get out of his arms, the man grabbed my hand and pulled me back into his arms.
Because of that, I ended up being held against his broad chest once again.
“What……?”
“There are pieces of glass on the floor.”
I turned my head and looked down.
There were pieces of broken glass scattered on the ground.
If he had not stopped me, my palm might have been covered with holes.
“Guest, are you…… are you alright?”
“Yes.”
“I will clean this up immediately.”
A restaurant employee who had approached us quickly cleaned up the broken glass pieces around us.
After everything was cleaned, I looked to the side and saw that the other person who had been accompanying the man was already gone.
In front of me, the man who had stood up first stretched out his hand toward me.
Naturally, I grabbed his hand and stood up.
The man looked at me with an expression of disbelief, then released my hand and picked up the handle of the knife lying on the floor.
“Thank you for helping me…….”
While I was looking at the unfamiliar man, something sparkling above his head caught my attention.
Looking closely, I saw a round purple object shining like a jewel.
Inside it was a symbol that looked like a locked padlock.
“Could it be…… affection level?”
I knew it the moment I saw it.
It was the affection level that the system window had shown me.
“…….”
The man looked down at me as if I was a strange person, because I was staring at him and muttering to myself.
I became certain.
This man in front of me was one of the capture targets.
Then I absolutely had to catch him.
“Thank you for helping me.”
“I only did what was necessary, then…….”
“Wait! I want to give you something as thanks for helping me.”
I hurriedly grabbed his sleeve as he was about to leave.
I could not let him go like this.
I had only seen his face. I had no information about where he lived, whether he was a noble or commoner, or anything else about him.
“It’s alright.”
The man refused in a cold voice and pulled his robe over his head.
He looked around as if searching for someone.
He was probably looking for the person who had been with him earlier.
“Duchess! What should I do? Are you alright?”
At that moment, Bellia came toward us with a worried expression.
When the man saw Bellia approaching, he pushed away my hand that was holding him and quickly left the place.
“No……”
I tried to follow him, but Bellia grabbed me.
In the end, I could only watch his back as he disappeared.
“Duchess, are you really alright? What happened?”
“Bell, I’m fine.”
“Who were those people earlier?”
“He helped me. Let’s return to our table.”
After returning to our seats, I stared at Bellia.
Since they had followed behind us, there was no doubt that they had been following either Bellia or me.
But my beauty was outstanding, yet there was no way they were following me.
The only people who had always been obsessed with me were the male leads from the game.
Then there was only one conclusion.
They had been following Bellia.
“Bell, by any chance……”
“Yes?”
“No, it’s nothing. The steak looks delicious. Hurry and eat.”
“Yes! Please enjoy your meal, Duchess!”
I decided not to tell her.
If Bellia found out someone was following her, the timid Bellia might stop leaving the house.
Unlike Bellia, who happily ate her steak with a bright expression, I could not even tell whether the food was entering my mouth or my nose because I was thinking about the man I had lost right in front of my eyes.
“Hmm! Perfect. With this, I should be able to find him, right?”
I happily held up a piece of paper with a person’s face drawn on it and shook the bell.
After finishing my meal with Bellia and quickly returning home, I spent several hours carefully drawing this picture in my room.
“Duchess. Did you call?”
Emma hurried into the room after hearing the bell.
I smiled brightly and handed her the paper.
“Emma, have you ever seen this person?”
“A…… person……?”
“Yes. A person.”
At my answer, Emma looked carefully at the paper again.
Soon, she made an awkward expression and looked at me.
“Duchess, this person is……”
“Yes.”
I thought she recognized him immediately because he was such a handsome man.
With a face like that, he must have been famous among women.
“I can’t find him.”
“Why?”
“I have never seen anyone in the world who looks this randomly shaped.”
Emma handed the paper back to me and spoke with a serious and firm expression.
“Emma…… Did I draw it that badly?”
“Haha.”
While Emma gave an awkward laugh, the nanny came into the room.
“Duchess, Du……”
Before she could finish speaking, I shoved the paper with the messy drawing toward her face.
“Nanny, what does this look like?”
The nanny looked at the drawing, then glanced at Emma and began seriously thinking.
“Nanny will be able to recognize it.”
“Hmm……”
“You have to recognize it.”
“Umm……”
“You’re the only person who has seen my drawings since I was young!”
“Alright. Is it a black cat?”
“That’s too cruel, Nanny.”
“Oh my, my eyesight has gotten worse recently.”
“Forget it. I know my drawing is strange too.”
Yes.
I realized it after drawing it.
There was no way I could find that man with this picture.
Because I was hopeless at drawing.
“So who is this person?”
“Oh my, it was a person?”
I saw the nanny look at the drawing again in surprise.
I know. I know.
It’s embarrassing, so please stop looking.
“Just throw this away properly.”
I crumpled the paper under the nanny’s gaze and handed it to Emma.
I decided that I would just hire a guild as planned.
It might take some time, but if I continued watching Bellia, I would eventually discover who he was.
“He’s a man. A very handsome one.”
“A man?”
At the word “man,” Emma and the nanny looked at me with curious expressions.
“Yes. Now that I think about it, why did you come here, Nanny?”
“Oh, right. The Duke said that he wants you to have meals together from now on.”
“What?”
“Hoho, you can start having dinner together from today.”
“No, I……”
“Then, I will see you later.”
Before I could argue, the nanny left the room with Emma after only delivering the Duke’s message.
Even until the door closed, the smile never left the nanny’s face.
Clatter, clatter.
This situation felt like déjà vu.
A familiar sound, familiar silence.
And Kairos Pomerne Duke, who was staring at me from across the table.
“Dia.”
“Yes, Duke.”
I did not know why he kept calling me by my nickname, but I looked at him with an annoyed expression.
“You must be careful.”
“About what?”
The Duke really needed to relearn how to have conversations.
If he removed the subject from every sentence, how many people could understand him?
“You must be careful of all men.”
“Excuse me?”
“All men except me are dangerous.”
What kind of nonsense was this?
I was so shocked and speechless that my mouth simply closed.
“Is this because of the drawing earlier?”
The nanny approached me and explained.
She must mean that messy drawing.
Why did she show that to the Duke?
“What drawing?”
“The drawing Duchess showed me.”
“Why would that……”
“I showed it to the Duke!”
The nanny smiled proudly while looking at the Duke, who nodded.
“The Duke recognized who it was immediately.”
“What?”
“Isn’t that right, Duke?”
“Yes.”
The Duke looked at me with a slight smile, as if he was proud of something.
He could recognize someone from that terrible drawing.
The Duke really was a genius.
“Who could our Duchess’s first love be?”
“It’s not like that, Nanny.”
“You said he was extremely handsome.”
Who could stop the nanny?
However, I felt like I needed to stop her.
The more she spoke, the colder the Duke’s expression became.
“Why are you looking for that child?”
The Duke asked while looking at me with an unhappy expression.
“He helped me a little.”
“Helped you……”
“So I want to repay him. Do you know who he is, Duke?”
“……”
The Duke definitely seemed to know who he was.
He seemed to think for a moment, then quietly looked at me.
“You know who he is, right?”
“If I tell you.”
“If you tell me……?”
“Call me Dad.”
“……”
Why was the Duke so obsessed with the word “Dad” in this life?
Even the nanny, who was listening beside us, looked at the Duke with the same bewildered expression as before.
At this point, I really wondered if this was a system error.
I wanted to meet him as soon as possible and escape this game, so I decided to just call him Dad.
“Alright. D……Dad……”
The moment he heard me say Dad, a bright smile spread across the Duke’s face.
“So who is that man?”
If he was not the man I was looking for, he better prepare himself.
Forget Dad.
Every time we met, I would call him “Kairos Pomerne Duke” properly with full respect.
“Prepare yourself to enter the Imperial Palace with me tomorrow.”
“The Imperial Palace?”
“Yes.”
He seemed to be a knight, but was he part of the Imperial Knights?
With that level of appearance, I should have seen him at least once when I was involved with the Crown Prince in my previous life.
But I had never seen that face before.
Well, the Crown Prince had been obsessed with me and locked me away so I could not meet anyone.
There was no way I could have seen him.
One good thing was that he seemed to belong to the Imperial Knights.
The Imperial Knights were made up of talented noble youths who excelled in swordsmanship.
Compared to trying to capture a commoner because of the difference in status, the fact that he was also a noble was a relief.
“Then I will go upstairs first.”
After happily finishing my meal, excited that I would soon learn his identity by coincidence, I stood up to return to my room.
“Alright, Dia. Have a good night.”
“Yes, Duke…… Ah, Dad, you have a good night too.”
Leaving behind the Duke, who still had an unfamiliar gentle expression and tone, I left the dining room.
