Chapter: 95
The place I was in right now was the Hall of the Sun.
And within it was the portrait room I had been looking forward to the most.
As befitted a family with so many beautiful people, every portrait displayed in the room featured an exceptionally handsome or beautiful appearance.
But among them, the childhood portraits of the Duke and the Lady were in a league of their own.
Brilliant golden hair, and the distinctive vivid blue eyes of the Claudius family.
Pale, flawless skin, delicate features, and cheeks flushed red like ripe apples.
They were so adorable that I almost wanted to check whether they had angel wings hidden behind their backs!
But then.
‘…Why is it that none of the Duke’s portraits show him smiling?’
Unlike the Lady, who was smiling brightly, the Duke had an expressionless face despite being so young.
The only portrait in which he was actually smiling was…
‘The family portrait.’
It was a portrait of the former Duke and Duchess of Claudius sitting side by side with their two children.
The Duke and the Lady looked no older than ten, even at most.
The Duke’s expressionless face, and then his bright smile, like that of an ordinary boy his age.
Looking at the two contrasting portraits made me feel strangely unsettled.
‘Well, he must have gone through a lot.’
It had been described in detail in the original novel, too.
The Claudius siblings losing both their parents at such a young age.
And the young Duke struggling tirelessly day and night to protect his family.
Of course, that past had been used as a plot device for the kind and innocent Seraphina to comfort the Duke and advance the romantic relationship between the two of them…
‘Ugh, what’s the point of thinking about Seraphina?’
I hurriedly shook those thoughts from my mind.
“Ah, this portrait?”
Just then, the Lady came scampering over to my side and looked at the portrait.
“It was painted when I was five.”
“Then the Duke was…”
“Nine.”
“…”
As far as I knew, the former Duke and Duchess of Claudius had died in the year the Duke turned ten.
How much could have happened in just one year?
…For that cheerful face to lose its expression.
But at that moment.
“Eva.”
Someone called the Lady in a calm voice.
‘Oh! That voice?’
I turned around and saw the Duke standing there.
“It’s been a while, Lady Ancy.”
The moment our eyes met, the Duke gave me a gentle smile with his eyes.
‘Ah.’
My heart immediately began pounding wildly on its own.
No, heart. Stop showing off.
You don’t need to go crazy over something as simple as one little eye-smile.
Could you at least think about your owner’s dignity?
“It is a pleasure to see you, Your Grace.”
Trying to hide my flushed face, I politely bowed to the Duke.
The Duke then looked strangely disappointed and lightly shook his head.
“We’re alone together. You don’t have to be so formal.”
“Even so…”
“Well, I thought that Lady Ancy and I had become a little closer than we used to be.”
When I hesitated slightly, the Duke asked me with a somewhat dejected expression,
“Was that just my imagination?”
Good grief.
When one of the most handsome men in this world drooped his shoulders and asked me something like that…
How could I possibly answer, ‘No, you’re mistaken’?
For someone as weak to handsome men as me, it was impossible!
“I’m really happy to hear you say that, Your Grace.”
I smiled sweetly, pretending to remain calm.
“By the way, you helped me so much with the Gusto incident, but I’m late in thanking you. I don’t even know how I should express my gratitude…”
“No, it’s all right.”
The Duke casually added,
“I didn’t help you expecting gratitude in the first place.”
Hmm. Then did he help me because he was considering the Lady’s feelings?
…But something about that was a little strange.
No matter how close I currently was with the Lady…
He had even risked a confrontation with the Great Temple, not to mention that extravagant legal team…
‘No. Stop reading too much into it!’
I hurriedly restrained myself from trying to attach meaning to every single thing the Duke did.
Honestly, at this rate, I was going to end up having a wedding ceremony with the Duke inside my own head without his permission!
Just then.
‘Huh?’
I tilted my head.
‘Doesn’t the Duke look strangely tired today, too?’
Dark shadows hung beneath his eyes.
His complexion also looked somewhat paler than usual.
The only unfair thing was that despite looking so exhausted, it actually made his decadent beauty stand out even more…
“Um, Your Grace.”
Without thinking, I spoke to the Duke.
“You look tired. Have you been sleeping well lately?”
“Ah.”
The Duke made a look as if he had just realized something and unnecessarily brushed a hand over the area around his mouth.
Then he smiled awkwardly.
“I’ve been a little busy with work lately… Is it that obvious?”
It’s not merely a matter of it being obvious.
Your under-eyes are practically black?!
“Um, perhaps you should get some rest?”
After hesitating for a moment, I carefully suggested it.
“You look extremely tired.”
“Am I that bad?”
“Yes. I know how responsible you are about your duties, Your Grace, but your health is important, too.”
I tried my best to persuade him.
“If you were to overwork yourself and damage your health, all your work would come to a complete halt. Wouldn’t that be even more inefficient…?”
“Yes, yes. Lari is right.”
The Lady immediately chimed in, her eyes gleaming like a hawk’s.
“Brother, your face is seriously no joke right now. I’m telling you, the skin under your eyes is pitch-black! You look like a ghost!”
“Eva, a ghost?”
The Duke let out a weary groan, but the Lady was relentless.
“So, how about all of us go to the villa for a little vacation?”
“The villa?”
“Yeah! Lari came all the way to the ducal estate for the first time in a while, and you need to rest, too. It’ll be fine, right?”
“Ah, I think that might be difficult…”
The Duke instinctively started to answer, but suddenly flinched.
The Lady was glaring at him with an absolutely murderous stare.
‘Wait, why is she glaring at him like that?’
Her gaze was so frightening that even I, standing beside them, felt my knees go weak…
The Duke hurriedly nodded.
“Yes, that sounds like a good idea.”
“Right? It’s a really good idea, isn’t it?”
Only then did the Lady smile brightly.
Even in that smile, I could feel the silent pressure saying, ‘Agree with me already!’
“Y-Yes, of course.”
“Eva, you’re right.”
The Duke and I hurriedly nodded our heads.
And just like that, in the blink of an eye, our vacation at the villa was decided.
“Since we’ve already brought it up, shouldn’t we go as soon as possible?”
The Lady insisted on it.
Unable to resist her momentum, we headed straight for the Claudius villa the very next day.
The villa was a cozy two-story mansion built near a large lake.
The mansion, constructed from rose-colored bricks, was so lovely that it looked like a house where fairies from a fairy tale might live.
“Oh my goodness, it’s so beautiful.”
I looked around with sparkling eyes.
The colorful autumn leaves were even more dazzling than flowers in full bloom.
Behind the mansion stretched a low mountain, its autumn foliage turning it so red that it looked as though it were ablaze.
“Do you like it?”
“Of course! It’s so beautiful!”
I answered the Lady’s question, thoroughly excited.
There was only one thing bothering me…
‘Is the Duke really all right?’
I glanced sideways at the Duke.
And for good reason—the dark circles beneath his eyes had become even deeper than they were yesterday.
‘He looks incredibly tired.’
Considering how much he had been working lately, it was almost a miracle that he hadn’t collapsed.
Could he have overexerted himself just to come to the villa with us?
Just as I was observing the Duke with a suspicious gaze…
‘Ah.’
I suddenly stopped.
As though he had sensed my gaze, the Duke was looking directly at me.
The moment our eyes met, the Duke gave me another gentle eye-smile.
“I’m glad you like the villa.”
I answered while doing my best to appear calm.
“It’s all thanks to you and the Lady.”
The Lady immediately turned serious.
“‘The Lady’? What do you mean? We agreed you would call me Eva!”
“Well, we’re not alone together. The Duke is here too…”
I hurriedly made an excuse.
It made sense, didn’t it?
When it was just the Lady and me, there was no problem with calling her casually. But when the Duke was present, I thought it was better to maintain proper etiquette…
“That makes me a little sad.”
Huh?
Confused, I turned toward the Duke.
At the same time, the Duke added playfully,
“It seems I’m not included in the ‘we’ Lady Ancy is referring to.”
Although his voice was playful, there was a strangely pointed edge to his words.
“That’s…”
As I didn’t know what to do and trailed off for a moment,
the Duke smiled at me with an unbelievably beautiful eye-smile and asked,
“Could you let me be part of that ‘we,’ too?”
“…”
For a moment, my heart sank with a heavy thud.
