Chapter 10…
Lady, It’s My First Time, So I’m Going to Cause Some Trouble
I wasn’t the only one who recognized the other.
He was looking at me, too, making a dumbfounded sound of, “Huh?”
That didn’t mean we were on friendly enough terms to greet each other, though. I tried to walk right past him.
I really did.
“……What are you doing?”
I snapped at him, glaring displeasedly at the man blocking my path.
It wasn’t just my imagination. He clearly had no intention of letting me pass, standing firmly in place and looking down at me.
Had I hit his lower jaw, and now he wanted me to hit his upper jaw, too?
“Apologize.”
Huh?
“Apologize for what?”
“You broke my jaw and made me fall off a balcony. And you also pressed your knee into my solar plexus!”
“Ohhh.”
“Apologize to me.”
The man fixed me with a stern glare, as if he had no intention of backing down until he heard the answer he wanted.
But what was wrong with this guy? He’d brought all of that on himself!
“You’re the one who should apologize first. Did I attack you out of nowhere? You were the one who barged onto a balcony where a delicate lady was standing!”
I’d let it slide because I was pretty gutsy. Someone else would’ve been so shocked they’d have collapsed on the spot, you idiot.
“And you’re the one who ran away after declaring us even, aren’t you?”
Without even throwing my shoe back to me, either.
“Of course, I was in the wrong, but—”
“You didn’t apologize to me, either.”
At my sharp retort, the man flinched. He’d been so focused on how wronged he felt that it hadn’t even occurred to him that he hadn’t apologized to me, either.
“Th-then…… I’m sorry.”
“Fine.”
I accepted his apology without a fuss. But just as I tried to walk past him, the man grabbed me.
“W-wait a moment.”
“What is it?”
“I apologized.”
“Yes. And I said fine, didn’t I?”
“That’s not what I mean. You need to apologize, too.”
Good grief. What was I supposed to do with this ridiculous man?
“Why should I? I was acting in self-defense.”
“But my jaw—”
“It probably just hurt for a while. Looking at you now, you don’t even have a bruise.”
I glanced around, discreetly surveying my surroundings. It was about time I got this clingy man out of my way.
There wasn’t another soul in sight, but if I shouted, someone would surely come.
Judging by the voices coming from beyond the garden, there was definitely someone nearby.
I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but their steady syllables and tone sounded like someone desperately searching for somebody.
“Then forget the apology. Just let me ride in your carriage.”
For some reason, the man who’d been making such ridiculous demands suddenly started making an equally strange request.
“I’ll give you ten gold coins!”
Apparently anticipating my refusal, he hurriedly tried to strike a deal.
“My goodness, this is unbelievable……”
What did he take me for?
“Give me twenty gold coins.”
“Twenty? You’re a downright highway robber!”
“You’d better hand it over willingly before I raise the price to thirty.”
Looking as though he’d picked the wrong person to mess with, he squeezed his eyes shut and reluctantly nodded.
“Don’t mind me. I’ll get into your carriage on my own.”
With that, the man disappeared back into the garden.
I shrugged and headed toward my carriage.
The moment the coachman escorted me inside and closed the door, the opposite door opened, and the man slipped in without making a sound. Then he quickly ducked down toward the floor.
My eyes narrowed at his suspicious behavior.
“I’m not a suspicious person. I’m just sneaking out to have some fun without His Majesty finding out.”
Sensing my gaze, he hurriedly offered an explanation.
His excuse was so absurd that I lost the will to even be suspicious.
As expected, not a single noble around here is right in the head.
Only after we had completely passed through the main gate of the Imperial Palace did he straighten his back, sit properly, and adjust his clothes.
“Even if you paid me, how could you let a man you barely know into your carriage so carelessly? Who knows what he might do?”
Having begged me to let him ride in my carriage and even paid me for the privilege, he apparently had enough time to lecture me now that we’d left the palace.
“Do you think I’d be defenseless while alone in an enclosed space with an unrelated man?”
I pulled a revolver from the holster strapped to my ankle and casually waved it around.
The man’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Could you possibly be Lady Ulphina, the one who shot Marquis Fenri……?”
“That’s me.”
I informed him proudly.
“O-oh! Ah, so that’s…… um……”
Watching him become so startled that he temporarily lost the ability to speak was quite satisfying.
Even if he’d been entertaining any strange ideas, he wouldn’t dare act on them with the barrel of a gun pointed at him.
“What’s your name?”
“My name?”
“Yes. I let you into my carriage, and now you’ve even learned my identity. It’s unfair that I’m the only one who doesn’t know who you are.”
“Tatio,” the man answered.
“Tatio Nomen.”
“Where are you going, Mr. Tatio? Surely you don’t intend to come all the way to my house.”
“You needn’t worry at all. I have no intention of going to Lady Ulphina’s house. Once we pass a few intersections up ahead, I’ll disappear as though I’d never been here.”
Tatio answered with a playful smile, his eyes glinting mischievously.
The rich colors of the evening sunset streamed through the carriage window.
Bathed in the languid light, where even dust motes scattered like gold dust, he possessed a peculiar charm.
Is it because of his hair?
His red hair, tinged by the sunset, looked like wine left out beneath the sun. At the same time, it resembled a fiercely burning flame.
As I gazed at him absentmindedly, Tatio suddenly asked me a question.
“When did you learn martial arts? Judging by the techniques you used on me, you don’t seem like a beginner.”
“It’s been a while.”
“Don’t young ladies generally learn swordsmanship?”
“I’m talented in lots of things.”
“Even so, you’re a young lady of House Nezer, a viscount’s family. Was there really any need to train that extensively?”
In other words, since I’d grown up in a wealthy household, I could’ve simply had bodyguards assigned to protect me whenever danger arose. Why reject that protection and learn dangerous techniques myself?
Why else? Because I needed to.
How could a commoner without money afford expensive bodyguards?
But instead of explaining all that to him, I simply flashed a smug smile at his bewildered expression.
“A lady has all sorts of circumstances that men know nothing about.”
The intersection Tatio had mentioned was none other than Toglou.
“I’ll get off here, the—why are you looking at me like that?”
“What kind of look am I giving you?”
“Like you’re looking down on me……”
“No. This is just how my face naturally looks, so don’t worry about it.”
“I don’t think that’s true. Did I do something wrong?”
“Wrong? I’m the one who made a mistake.”
The foolish mistake of letting a man like you into my carriage without a second thought. Naturally.
“You’re going to a club, aren’t you?”
“Huh? Yes, that’s right.”
“I thought so.”
There was an unmistakable hint of contempt in my voice as I said it.
If even I could hear it, there was no way Tatio couldn’t.
“……Does the fact that I’m going to a club offend Lady Ulphina?”
“Not particularly. Why would I be offended just because someone I met for the first time today is going to a club?”
While the women of high society entertained themselves by hosting tea parties and salon gatherings, men often congregated at social clubs to while away the hours.
These clubs were generally membership-based establishments that offered alcohol and premium cigars. Gentlemen gathered there to converse, play games, gamble, and strengthen their social connections.
Young noblewomen made their official debuts in high society through debutante balls, while young noblemen announced their entrance into society by joining social clubs.
On the surface, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with that.
The problem was that the club this man was visiting was located in Toglou.
The clubs in Toglou all looked splendid on the outside, seemingly no different from any other social club. However, there was one glaring difference.
They provided women.
The clubs strictly enforced secrecy among their members, and the men never carelessly revealed the pleasures they enjoyed there.
As a result, the women of high society had absolutely no idea that the clubs in Toglou were depraved establishments. Meanwhile, the men secretly laughed at the women’s ignorance.
In other words, I had just driven a man who could be described with a single word for the male sex straight to one of these places in my own carriage.
Damn it!
