Chapter: 73
I bit down hard on the soft flesh inside my mouth.
‘Get a grip, Lari.’
Stop getting your heart fluttering over every little thing he says.
Are you really going to make a fool of yourself in front of the Duke?
A little while later.
I smiled, pretending to be calm.
“Thank you. I suppose the ladies are so fond of you because you’re such a gentleman, Your Grace.”
“Well, I didn’t say it specifically to win their favor.”
Huh?
I blinked twice.
The Duke casually added,
“I was simply telling you what I honestly think.”
“……”
For a moment, I felt as though I had lost the ability to speak.
‘No.’
If I start stammering here, it’s all over.
I already knew that the Duke was an exceptionally courteous man, didn’t I?
I hurriedly waved my hands and changed the subject.
“Oh, you’re flattering me. Miss Morgan is not only considered one of the most beautiful women in the capital, but she’s also exceptionally talented…”
The Duke then asked me with a strangely displeased expression,
“If you don’t mind me asking, how long are you going to keep talking about Miss Morgan?”
“What?”
“I think that’s quite enough.”
It sounded almost as though he no longer wanted to hear anything more about Miss Morgan.
Without realizing it, I let my voice trail off.
“Then, what would you like to talk about…?”
“Who knows?”
The Duke looked straight at me.
I swallowed dryly.
It felt as though I had become trapped within those blue eyes, as blue as a frozen sea.
……I simply couldn’t move.
“I would like to talk about Lady Ancia.”
“About me?”
“Yes. For instance…”
His blue eyes rolled gently before settling on my earlobe.
“Those earrings I gave you as a gift.”
Ah.
I froze.
Could it be that the Duke had been thinking about the gift he had given me, too?
……So I wasn’t the only one conscious of it?
“It’s just that I noticed you haven’t worn those earrings even once.”
The Duke asked me carefully,
“Did you perhaps not like them?”
“……”
I gazed quietly up at the Duke.
The Duke, who was always so composed, looked strangely nervous today.
“No.”
I immediately shook my head.
“It’s just… I never found the right occasion.”
“The right occasion?”
“Yes.”
I wanted to look away immediately.
Those blue eyes staring into mine were far too captivating.
It gave me the strange feeling that if I made even one wrong move, I might never be able to escape from them.
But.
“Since Your Grace went out of your way to give me a gift, I…”
I didn’t avert my eyes from him.
I gazed steadily into the Duke’s eyes and continued speaking clearly.
“……I wanted you to be the first person to see me wearing the earrings.”
My mouth had gone completely dry.
I continued, taking care not to let my voice tremble.
“But I didn’t know when I would get to see you again, so I kept putting it off…”
“So.”
At the same time, the Duke spoke in an impatient voice.
“Are you saying that you deliberately didn’t wear them because you were thinking of me?”
“……”
What would happen if I told him that was exactly right?
Would the dam holding back the feelings I had desperately tried to suppress, simply because he was ‘Seraphina’s destined man,’ finally break?
I was afraid.
And yet I…
“Yes.”
I willingly admitted it.
At the same time, a smile slowly spread across the Duke’s handsome face.
It was a pure, spotless white smile.
“……I’m glad.”
The moment I saw that smile.
Everything in the world reflected in my eyes seemed to lose its color.
The only person who still possessed color, the only one shining brilliantly, was…
The Duke.
‘What should I do?’
I raised a hand and gently pressed it against my wildly beating heart.
‘I really am falling for the Duke…….’
A carriage came to a smooth stop in front of the Ancia Viscount family’s townhouse.
Dietrich got out of the carriage first and offered Lariat his hand so that she could easily step down.
Once her feet touched the ground, Lariat smiled brightly.
“Thank you so much for today.”
“Not at all. I was the one who enjoyed being able to spend time with you, Lady Ancia.”
After exchanging their farewells,
Lariat entered the townhouse.
Dietrich quietly watched her retreating figure.
At last, Lariat disappeared completely through the gate.
Only then did Dietrich step back into the carriage.
“……”
The carriage began heading toward the Claudius townhouse.
Sinking into the carriage seat, Dietrich went over everything that had happened today once again.
The magnificent opera he had watched today.
Sophia’s beautiful singing.
All of it had already completely disappeared from his mind.
There was only one person occupying Dietrich’s thoughts now.
‘Lady Ancia.’
Lariat seemed to have been deeply impressed by today’s opera.
It was obvious from the way she had chattered incessantly about Sophia.
“Miss Morgan was really beautiful.”
It had been nothing more than a simple compliment.
He could have casually agreed and moved on.
But instead—
“Still, I think Lady Ancia is more beautiful.”
……The true feelings that even Dietrich himself had not realized he possessed had suddenly slipped out.
Objectively speaking, it was true that Sophia was more beautiful than Lariat.
But from the moment he encountered Lariat at the opera house today until the moment they parted,
Dietrich had seen nothing but Lariat.
Her jet-black hair gently flowing beneath the dark-blue night sky.
Moonlight falling smoothly over her snow-white skin.
She looked almost like a fairy of the night, something that could only exist in legends.
She seemed so ethereal that she might dissolve into the air at any moment…
Perhaps that was why.
“I would like to talk about Lady Ancia.”
That was why he had no desire to hear any more about Miss Morgan.
“For instance, those earrings I gave you as a gift.”
Dietrich had unconsciously said that as he looked at her empty earlobe.
And the moment the words left his mouth, he realized his mistake.
‘Damn.’
How someone chose to use a gift was entirely up to the person who received it.
Yet he had gone out of his way to ask about that particular matter…
‘Could it be that I was worried about it?’
Dietrich was simply bewildered by this unusual side of himself that he had never noticed before.
Meanwhile, Lariat had stared at him with wide, startled eyes like a frightened rabbit before saying,
“Since Your Grace went out of your way to give me a gift, I…”
Her face had become slightly shy as she quietly replied,
“……I wanted you to be the first person to see me wearing the earrings.”
And Dietrich thought that the way Lariat had looked so flustered and unsure of what to do…
was incredibly endearing.
‘I shouldn’t have asked.’
Dietrich covered his face with both hands.
The tips of his ears had already turned bright red.
“……”
After spending quite some time turning today’s events over in his mind, Dietrich suddenly raised his head.
The Claudius ducal family’s townhouse was already close by.
‘Come to think of it, it seems Eva planned all of this…’
Dietrich furrowed his brows menacingly.
At last, it was time to interrogate his troublesome little sister and find out exactly what had happened.
Bang!
The door flew open without even a knock.
The person standing beyond it was Dietrich.
He was the only older brother of Evangeline, a man who was usually so relaxed that he could even be irritating.
“Eva!”
Dietrich shouted angrily.
Evangeline, who had been lounging around on her bed, glanced up.
“Oh, Brother?”
Then she sprang to her feet, her eyes sparkling brightly as she began bombarding him with questions.
