Chapter 03
I quickly pushed the man in front of me so that Giwoo, who was entering through the door, could not see me, and hid behind his wide body.
“Lady Lumania… Ahem.”
After witnessing a couple showing affection, Giwoo cleared his throat and stepped away.
At his voice, I unconsciously shrank my shoulders and trembled slightly. The man then tightly grabbed my waist.
And then.
“What is this?”
“Um… a hand kiss?”
“Boring.”
After saying it was boring, he grabbed my hand that was near his chin and kissed it.
The kiss happened in an instant, and I had no time to push him away.
Before my surprise could even disappear, Marquis Giwoo, who had moved away toward the inner part of the garden, spoke to me with suspicious eyes.
“Ahem, excuse me!”
At his voice, my shoulders shook reflexively.
The man who had been kissing me turned around and faced the marquis. When Marquis Giwoo saw the man’s face, his eyes widened as if he had seen something he should not have seen.
“Ah, it was Duke Hailers. I apologize.”
The name that came out of Marquis Giwoo’s mouth belonged to the eldest son of the Hailers family and the current duke.
Eden Kluer.
No way, this man was Eden Kluer Hailers?
In the setting of , Ermensel had three families that were founding contributors.
One was the Herman family, who contributed through their wealthy fortune.
One was the Istiria family, who contributed through diplomacy.
And the last was the Hailers family, who contributed through war.
The heads of each family wanted to make the country they founded into a good nation, so they wanted to place a wise person on the throne as emperor.
Hailers refused, saying that he was only someone who held a sword, while Herman refused because he said his mind was only good at making money. Because of their agreement, Istiria, who had the greatest intelligence among the three, became the emperor.
Hailers and Herman received the titles of duke and became reliable supporting families that helped Istiria even until now.
As expected of a man carrying the blood of a family that gained glory through war, he was the duke and head of the family who had terrifying rumors surrounding him, including that he could even eat a living person.
Now that I thought about it, his hair color was exactly the same as described in the novel.
Both his hair and eyes resembled moonlight.
In the novel, he was described as rude and someone who never showed interest in any woman except the female lead, Hesse Herman.
And I just kissed that kind of person.
Something had gone terribly wrong.
I had not even met my favorite character, Siobhan, yet.
Besides, unlike how he appeared in the novel, he was kinder than I expected.
I was not sure if the word “kind” suited Eden Kluer, but because he had been described almost like a tyrant in the novel, I had already developed the prejudice that he was extremely rude.
At Marquis Giwoo’s words, Hailers only looked at him as if asking who he was and did not say anything.
“I apologize. My name is Ter Giwoo, the eldest son of the Giwoo family.”
After accepting Giwoo’s introduction, Hailers gave a short reply.
“So?”
“The reason I came here is… I saw my fiancée entering this place, but I could not find her. By any chance, the person behind Duke Hailers…”
At Giwoo’s words, the hand holding Hailers’ clothes tightened.
That damn fish-like man. He was always sharp at times like this.
Giwoo kept trying to peek behind Hailers, as if trying to confirm whether the woman behind him was me.
If Hailers turned around and handed me over to Giwoo, it would be a disaster, so I held onto his clothes as tightly as I could.
However, it seemed that Hailers had no intention of giving me away so easily.
“Are you saying I kissed your fiancée?”
“That is not what happened, but I thought I should check. Even if you are the duke, it would not be right to kiss another person’s fiancée.”
“That is true.”
After agreeing with Giwoo’s words, Hailers slightly turned his head and looked at me.
“Did you make a fiancé without my knowledge?”
Without my knowledge…?
Had Hailers and I known each other before?
His question was strange, but that was not important right now, so I simply shook my head strongly.
“No.”
“She says that is not the case. Then she is even less likely to be your fiancée, Marquis.”
“Please do not do this. Let me confirm…”
As Giwoo moved a little closer, Hailers’ voice became much lower.
If his attitude toward me earlier had been playful, his current attitude was completely different.
“I am not a very patient person.”
It was a warning.
A warning telling him to leave while he was still showing mercy.
Fortunately, Giwoo was not foolish enough to ignore it, and he left as if running away.
After he disappeared, only Hailers and I remained inside the greenhouse filled with moonlight.
I thought I should quietly leave when I had the chance, but then I raised my eyes at the emotionless voice.
“Well then.”
“……”
“Let us have a little conversation, Lady Eloa Lumania.”
I was slightly surprised when my name came out of Hailers’ mouth.
In the original story, Eloa had almost no connection with Hailers…
“Do you know me?”
“How could I not know you? Everyone is talking about the lady who took first place in the hunting competition.”
“I did not know you were interested in such rumors.”
“Other people may only hear rumors. But I was there when you took first place.”
At Hailers’ answer, I could not hide my surprise.
“The hunting competition you participated in was held in Hailers territory. Did you not know?”
“……”
“Judging by your expression, you did not know. Well, if you knew who I was, it would have been difficult for you to act so boldly just now.”
“B-bold? What do you mean bold! I only gave a hand kiss, and the lip kiss… anyway, you were the one who did that, Duke!”
Because the word “kiss” felt strangely embarrassing, I avoided saying it clearly. Hailers, however, teased me by saying it himself.
“Yes, a kiss.”
“It was not a kiss, it was just a peck!”
“You speak well.”
I was being dragged along by Hailers.
This man, seriously!
“Lady Lumania, since you took my first kiss, I believe you should take responsibility.”
“I will. Respon… what?!”
“Why? Did you plan to take a duke’s first kiss and refuse to take responsibility?”
“No, it was not even a kiss, it was just a peck… And it was your first time?”
It was already difficult enough being dragged around by Hailers, but the things this man said were even more overwhelming.
Most of all, Eden Kluer Hailers, known throughout the empire as the “Enchanting Black Rose,” having his first kiss?
It was unbelievable that he had never even touched lips with someone before.
Of course, in the novel, Hesse Herman was also written as his first love, showing his devoted love…
But if I stayed here any longer, I felt like this man would completely control the situation.
“Anyway, thank you for helping me. I am a little confused right now, so I will take responsibility for that ‘responsibility’ later.”
After emphasizing the responsibility he kept mentioning, I quickly left the greenhouse.
On my way back to the party hall, I ran into Marquis Giwoo, who was wandering around.
“Lady, I have been looking for you for a long time. Where have you been?”
Right. I could not keep avoiding him like this.
I had already entered the novel, and since I decided to live as this person, I would marry my favorite character.
“Marquis, about our enga—”
“You are not saying we should break off the engagement now, are you?”
“Yes, that is right. Please break off our engagement. I want to marry someone I truly love, not someone I am tied to because of money.”
At my answer, Giwoo immediately responded.
“But, Lady, was it not you who suggested marriage in exchange for helping your family?”
“……!”
It was an answer I never expected.
Of course, I thought Eloa had personally decided to marry Giwoo, but she was also the one who proposed marriage to him first?
What was Eloa thinking when she proposed to Giwoo and later regretted it?
“For your family to rise again, you must make a sacrifice.”
It was the same thing I had seen in Eloa’s diary.
Whenever Eloa showed her dislike, he must have persuaded her this way.
But it would not work on me.
Go to hell, Ter Giwoo!
“No. I will make my family prosper without sacrificing myself. And more importantly, there is someone I must take responsibility for.”
It was not a lie.
I had to take responsibility for Lumania’s family as the eldest daughter of this world, and I also had to take responsibility for my own life.
“Responsibility? Who could you possibly need to take responsibility for…?”
At that moment, a familiar deep voice was heard.
“Me.”
