IATAOTHKG | CHAPTER 48

~CHAPTER 48~

“Gigi.”

Marquis Beririch frowned and tried to dissuade his daughter with an uneasy expression.

Meanwhile, the Caliph only now learned the name of Miss Mustard.

…Actually, I think Mayna mentioned it sometime, he thought, though only the image of Mayna’s face came to mind and the name itself had completely slipped his memory.

Gigi.

Thinking the name somehow suited her, the Caliph sat there with a face that looked like he’d bitten something foul and allowed Gigi to cling to him.

Gigi hugged the Caliph tighter as if her father’s voice were completely inaudible to her.

“How long has it been, Sir Renox…!”

She pressed her cheek against his chest with exaggerated snorts, and the Caliph closed his eyes briefly.

Then he answered in a stiff, almost soldier-like tone.

“Yes. It’s been a while.”

“Kyaa!”

No sooner had the Caliph finished than Gigi shrieked like a raven.

“Oh my! How can your voice be so handsome?”

At last winter’s party at Renox Castle, Gigi had been cold-shouldered and hadn’t even managed more than a passing word with the Caliph.

Well, he must have been preoccupied that day, she reasoned with a peculiar smile as she looked up at him.

He might’ve liked me a bit, but he was probably conscious of other people’s eyes. And besides…

Back then she had misread the Caliph’s gaze toward Mayna as the passion of a man in love, but later learned she had been wrong.

As she deepened her friendship with Mayna, she realized the two were strictly business acquaintances.

A holy knight and his aide—nothing more.

“Hoho.”

Gigi quietly closed her eyes and laughed, deciding to let go of the slight insult from that day.

If she wanted a superstar husband adored by everyone, she’d need that level of understanding.

“I almost forgot that handsome face, you know?”

In her head she already imagined the engagement and marriage ceremonies, and she openly coquetted.

She rubbed her chest against the Caliph and pressed closer, and the Caliph stiffened in surprise.

Oh my. He’s completely frozen, she thought.

Who would have guessed he had such a cute, flustered side?

He looked perfect in every way, but perhaps he was a bit dense when it came to romance.

“Hohohoho.”

Watching Gigi’s giddy, loose behavior, the Caliph came to a conclusion of his own.

This woman might be a little crazy.

After all, even a person lacking common sense wouldn’t normally throw themselves at another man and rub their body against him like that.

Though he felt tempted to shove her away and be done with it, he couldn’t bring himself to act so in front of his father.

He glanced toward Marquis Beririch to silently ask him to do something about his daughter, and the marquis, scratching the back of his head, stepped over to the two.

“Child, Gigi…!”

Marquis Beririch scolded her with mock severity and tugged at her arm to pull her away from the Caliph.

“Ouch! That hurts, Father!”

Gigi glared at her father and pouted.

“You promised you’d tell me when Sir Renox came to our house, but you broke that promise again!”

“Father’s getting on in years, so he’s been forgetting things more and more…”

“That’s just awful!”

The Caliph smoothed his disheveled clothes and watched the ridiculous bickering between father and daughter.

Normally completely uninterested in other people’s affairs, he had already heard so much about Marquis Beririch and his youngest daughter that he knew the gist.

Apparently the marquis once bought an island as a birthday present when his daughter turned seven, raising her with indulgent care.

That pampered youngest, Gigi, had grown into a foolish beauty who lived only for her desires, and the marquis was still paying the price.

“Gigi. Right now I’m discussing important business with Sir Renox, so—”

“Wha—what?”

“You know I’m preparing a new business recently, don’t you?”

“Ha, hahaha! …That uniquely colored lipstick brand?”

Gigi nodded with an arrogant air.

Marquis Beririch’s face went pale.

The Caliph shook his head slightly.

He didn’t know exactly what the business entailed, but he could already imagine how it would go.

“You’re serious about this?”

“Father, I’m not joking. I even asked for advice from one of my smart and capable friends.”

“You have a smart friend among them…?”

The marquis trailed off at the end of his sentence.

Gigi added confidently,

“Lady Winslet.”

Until that moment the Caliph had watched the pair’s conversation with dull eyes, but at the mention of Winslet his gaze suddenly brightened.

He knew the two met often.

Even on the day Mayna drunkenly submitted her resignation, or the day she made that absurd declaration about preferring to dance with monsters in a dungeon rather than continue working—she had met with Gigi then as well.

“Miss Beririch.”

For the first time the Caliph said Gigi’s name aloud.

“Yes, Sir Renox!”

Gigi turned to him with a practiced fluttering eye-smile.

“Join me for a cup of tea.”

At the Caliph’s offer she melted like dripping candle wax.

Women, after all, could become instant best friends in an hour.

If he handled silly Gigi carefully, he might be able to pry some truth about Mayna’s feelings from her.

“That would be lovely…”

Gigi answered as if she’d already gone through engagement and wedding ceremonies.

Seeing his daughter in a daze, Marquis Beririch’s face turned pale again.

If she was going to keep causing trouble as naturally as breathing, he simply wished she’d get it over with right in front of him.

Gigi twisted her upper body coquettishly toward the Caliph and asked,

“Hmm?”

The Caliph watched Gigi writhing like a squid in a steamer and chose his words carefully.

“It is not chivalrous to drink with a lady on a first meeting. That is something the common ruffians do.”

The Caliph, who cared little for the notion of chivalry, answered plainly.

He had no intention of drinking with some strange woman he didn’t even like.

“Sir Renox… how could you…!”

Gigi, who had just finished planning children, cried out in mock outrage.

She couldn’t imagine that her trivial action might cause any serious repercussions.

* * *

At the same time, Mayna had hurried to the Ocean Agency after receiving Banze’s urgent summons.

Sitting on the reception room sofa, Mayna nervously bit her lip.

Before she could catch her breath the door flung open.

“You’re here, Lady.”

The man who entered was not Banze but her husband, Grand Duke Hugo Motenson.

Mayna sprang to her feet and bowed, and he waved her to sit with a genial smile.

“You came, sir?”

“Yes. As you know, my wife is away on business.”

Omitting the remark that he had come in her stead, Hugo sat opposite Mayna.

From the glossy black velvet of his jacket he produced something and handed it to Mayna.

It was a sealed envelope containing a secret letter.

“They insisted it couldn’t be late, so they kept pressuring me.”

Hugo relayed Banze’s words with a slight smile and added,

“They warned me not to open it; it is a letter meant only for our lady’s eyes.”

“Ha ha…”

Mayna forced a laugh and carefully took the letter in her hands.