Chapter: 08
As if drawn by a powerful magnetic field, Cervante moved slightly toward where they were. Then he felt a sharp pang in his chest.
“What am I doing?”
Perhaps his pride was hurt because his body had moved before his will, completely against his own intentions. So he immediately left the restaurant.
Do I really need to?
A year had already passed. Was there any reason to acknowledge those two while they were enjoying an intimate date together? Especially when their relationship had hardly ended on good terms.
Just then, a car stopped in front of Cervante, and Martin ran over to open the door for him. Cervante got into the car and took a moment to calm himself down.
Pathetic.
Cervante grew irritated at his own behavior.
There had been no reason for him to avoid Dennis and the princess in the first place. Yet the anger he felt toward Dennis for disappointing his expectations and leaving the military still had not faded. He should have handled the situation rationally and maturely.
He should have simply exchanged a light greeting with Dennis as a good superior and adjutant and moved on….
No. There was no need to interrupt their time together.
Two conflicting emotions battled inside him. The thought that he should not ruin Dennis’s pleasant time with the princess was also very strong. One thing was certain: he could no longer afford to behave so petty.
If he had not realized it in time, he would only have made a fool of himself.
At that moment, Secretary Martin broke through Cervante’s thoughts.
“I’m sorry, Your Grace.”
“For what?”
“I didn’t know Her Highness the Princess was there.”
Martin assumed Cervante was upset because he had seen Katarina. Since the two had once even discussed marriage, it was understandable that Cervante would not be pleased to see her with another man.
“It’s fine.”
“But about that man. You know him well too, don’t you, Your Grace? Sir Dennis de Albiere, the Golden Marksman.”
“I know him.”
“I was surprised because he was different from the rumors. I heard he was very delicate and pretty, almost like a woman, but to my eyes, he looked unmistakably like a man.”
“……?!”
Cervante’s brows furrowed at Martin’s words. Just as the car began to move, Cervante hurriedly ordered it to stop.
Dennis looked like a man?
The man he had seen in the restaurant had definitely been Dennis. Although he had only seen him from the side, could he really have failed to recognize him?
Just then, the two people in question emerged from the restaurant. They were still in a warm and cheerful mood, but a whirlwind of confusion began to rage within Cervante’s eyes.
The shining blond hair, fair skin, green eyes, and beautiful features were unmistakably similar to Dennis’s. As his secretary had said, this was not a face that was merely pretty like a woman’s. It was definitely Dennis, yet the atmosphere he gave off was completely different from before. The unfamiliarity of his appearance was enough to leave Cervante confused.
“Let’s go.”
At Cervante’s command, the car began moving again. But his mind remained fixed on the place where the two of them were standing.
Was that really Dennis?
Inside the restaurant, he had clearly felt that the person was Dennis, but seeing him again outside, something about him seemed strangely unfamiliar. His appearance and height were the same, yet somehow he was different. At the same time, it was difficult to deny that he was Dennis.
But one thing was certain.
His feelings had suddenly gone cold.
What changed?
The unfamiliar sensation left Cervante bewildered.
Even after returning to the ducal residence, Cervante’s mind remained complicated. But whenever he was about to forget about it, the trio of adjutants would come barging in and completely disrupt his peaceful daily life.
If he had known this would happen, he should have left them behind in the military. He regretted not stopping them from taking leave at the same time as him.
Before he knew it, the drawing room of the ducal residence had become crowded.
“Are all of you that free?”
Cervante asked, awkwardly forcing what was supposed to be a welcoming expression onto his face.
“We’re busier than we were in the military.”
Before he could even ask why, they each began explaining in turn.
“I go to the gentlemen’s club to gather information about international affairs.”
“I go to the theater to broaden my knowledge of culture and the arts.”
“I’ve been looking for books I haven’t had the chance to read.”
Cervante could not help but chuckle. It was widely rumored that Bartel had become addicted to poker at the gentlemen’s club, while Lauro was constantly flirting with ballerinas. At least Gael, he had heard, practically went to the Imperial Library every day.
Still, they had more than earned the right to do so.
After living fiercely in the military more than anyone else, who could criticize them for enjoying a portion of their lives?
“How is the commander doing?”
“I’ve always been the type to pursue a perfect life.”
“Are you telling me you aren’t resting and are reading the complete history of world wars?”
Lauro asked with a sigh.
“Am I crazy? I’m perfectly enjoying doing absolutely nothing but having fun and eating.”
His answer was met with hearty laughter from the men in the drawing room.
Then Gael suddenly surprised everyone with an unexpected question.
“Everyone, have you heard the news about Captain Dennis?”
The cheerful atmosphere instantly froze, as though someone had poured a bucket of ice water over it.
“I heard Dennis is preparing for a wedding at the estate….”
Bartel replied casually as he drank his tea.
“Then are the two of them doing it together?”
“I suppose so.”
“They’re twins, after all. But what was Count Vertier thinking when he gave his children the exact same name? It must be difficult to tell them apart….”
Cervante had been silently listening to the adjutants, but his eyes widened at the last remark.
Twins?
Who was a twin?
Dennis?
And they had the same name too?
This was the first he had ever heard of it.
“What do you mean, twins?”
At Cervante’s question, all three adjutants looked at him in confusion.
“Captain Dennis is a twin, isn’t he?”
Bartel answered as though it were nothing important, but thunder seemed to strike inside Cervante’s head.
His eyes widened and began darting about in confusion. This time, Lauro asked,
“Commander, you didn’t know Dennis was a twin?”
“I thought you knew.”
Gael drove the point home.
Then the conclusion was obvious.
All this time, he had been the only one who did not know Dennis was a twin.
For four whole years….
Unable to withstand his mother’s relentless urging, Dennis began attending social gatherings in earnest. More precisely, it wasn’t really a social gathering. He was sitting in a café somewhere in downtown Marina to meet a potential husband.
The man she was meeting today was the son of a foreign nobleman and reportedly had a villa in Marina. Dennis had been turned into Misha’s doll and dressed up to perfection.
The coffee was nothing like the pitch-black poison they had drunk on the battlefield. This was the finest coffee, sweetened with condensed milk, and it tasted wonderful.
However, the young nobleman she had met for the first time in her life was so unfamiliar that Dennis had no idea what to say.
“Miss Dennis, I believe marriage should be between people of equal standing.”
The nobleman named Alfonso wasn’t particularly bad in terms of either his conditions or appearance.
At least, not so far….
“I see.”
“Do you have any hobbies or special talents?”
Honestly, Dennis hated this sort of interrogation.
The very idea of being put on display in the marriage market, where both sides compared conditions and calculated whether the numbers matched, was horrifying.
But this man had even taken out a small notebook and a pen. Judging by the fact that it wasn’t a new notebook, he seemed to have quite an extensive history of such meetings.
He’s treating me like a commodity. What an annoying bastard…!
“Shooting is both my hobby and my specialty.”
“Shooting? Ah, I see. Since you’re the daughter of Count Vertier…. But what use could there possibly be for a woman learning how to shoot?”
Alfonso asked while running a hand through his heavily pomaded hair.
A woman?
How could every single thing he said and did be so irritating?
Dennis briefly squeezed her eyes shut and thought of Bartel. For a moment, she immersed herself in her emotions as though she had been possessed by the hot-tempered Bartel.
“I’ve always dreamed of having the perfect family. A wonderful husband and lovely children. Just imagining it makes my heart swell with happiness. A family is a woman’s goal in life, after all, isn’t it?”
At Dennis’s gentle, soft voice, Alfonso’s eyes lit up.
“I believe a family is everything to a woman. But I’ve heard that if you become too happy, the heavens become jealous and sometimes give you terrible trials. For example, if my husband were to fall in love with another woman or take a mistress….”
Alfonso’s face, which had been bright and cheerful the entire time, slowly stiffened.
“If someone were to destroy my family like that…! I could never forgive him.”
“You… couldn’t forgive him? What exactly do you mean by that?”
“I’d shoot him there. So that he’d never be able to use it for the rest of his life. Fortunately, I inherited my father’s blood, so I’m an excellent marksman.”
Dennis’s gaze fixed squarely on Alfonso’s most vital area, and he instinctively lowered both hands to cover it.
When the normally graceful Dennis began glaring at him with wide, menacing eyes, Alfonso’s face turned pale.
Dennis did not miss the opportunity and began counting silently in her head.
One, two, three!
“Miss Dennis, I’ve greatly enjoyed our meeting today. If I have the opportunity, I would be honored to meet you again—”
Exactly when she reached three, Alfonso fled the table without even managing to finish his farewell.
Dennis watched his retreating back and gave a hollow laugh.
Life is really so interesti—never mind. It’s boring.
