Chapter 33
“What do you mean…? Ha. Miss Ines, you are my fiancée. Isn’t it only natural to treat one’s fiancée well?”
“Not yet.”
Cedric’s words were cut off in an instant by Ines.
Despite the incredulous look in his eyes, Ines stubbornly forced herself to say it.
“Not yet, right? I’m only a prospective fiancée, and it’s not uncommon for close arrangements between families to completely fall apart and come to nothing.”
“Then, Miss Ines…”
Crossing his arms, Cedric stared at her silently.
“Do you still think our engagement could come to nothing?”
His gaze lingered on Ines’s lips.
He wanted her to say no.
But no matter how long he waited, he did not hear the answer he wanted.
Cedric clenched his fist tightly.
He wanted to show her only his best side.
But at this rate…
He might truly lose his temper.
Taking a deep breath, Cedric calmed his emotions and asked again.
“Do you truly think that?”
Yes.
It’s more than just thinking so.
I believe it absolutely must happen that way.
However, it was something she could not say directly to Cedric.
Once again, Ines could not answer.
Yet although she gave no answer, it was no different from having already answered.
Sometimes silence reveals a greater truth than a lengthy excuse ever could.
Seeing that she would not deny it, shock flickered in Cedric’s eyes.
“Come to think of it, on the day I visited you while you were recovering, you also asked me to break off the engagement.”
Cedric’s voice sank slightly.
He had thought it was merely a passing whim.
Could it be that it wasn’t?
“After that day, I thought we had become considerably closer. Was that all just my misunderstanding?”
“…I’m sorry.”
The moment the apology left her lips, Cedric’s hand tightened further.
He did not want to hear a simple apology.
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
“Why did your feelings suddenly change? I believed that you had harbored affection for me for a long time, and that those feelings remained unchanged even now.”
Saying this much felt pathetic, but he wanted to know.
No, he needed to know.
What exactly was shaking Ines’s heart so deeply?
“There are many things involved in marriages between noble families. I believe Miss Ines understands that very well. Yet for you to insist so strongly…”
He did not want to believe it, but it was not impossible.
“Do you perhaps have another man?”
For a moment, the painter who had come to see him in a Greenwood carriage flashed through Cedric’s mind.
The mere thought of her holding another man in her heart instead of him soured his mood so thoroughly that Cedric’s voice dropped noticeably.
“What?”
The question was completely unexpected.
Startled, Ines reacted immediately.
In the blue eyes she looked into, a fierce tidal wave was raging.
“Absolutely not.”
Unlike the previous questions, this one was very easy to answer.
Another man?
If that were the case, things would actually have been easier.
The moment he heard her answer, the fierce look in his eyes quietly settled.
The fact that it was not because of another man improved his mood so absurdly that it felt ridiculous.
“…If that’s not the case, then I would appreciate an explanation. Frankly speaking, I find it difficult to understand your reactions, Miss Ines.”
At Cedric’s words, Ines clenched her fist as well.
Each word he spoke felt like a heavy weight pressing down on her shoulders.
Difficult to understand?
She felt exactly the same way.
“I should be the one asking.”
“Asking what?”
“Strictly speaking, Duke Angel and I are not in any sort of relationship yet.”
“Ha. That again. Fine. Even so, let’s call ourselves prospective fiancés. It’s difficult to say we’re nothing to each other when an engagement is right around the corner.”
The words “nothing to each other” inexplicably irritated Cedric, forcing him to correct his wording.
“You talk about a marriage between families, but isn’t our engagement rather sudden? Don’t you think so?”
“Even engagements that have lasted since childhood can be broken off overnight. In that sense, I don’t think the length of time is an issue.”
“If even long-standing engagements can end that way, wouldn’t a sudden engagement have even more weaknesses?”
“No. There are no weaknesses.”
His firm voice showed not the slightest trace of doubt in his own words.
“I am a cautious person by nature. However, once I make a decision, I do not regret it. The moment I accepted Count Greenwood’s proposal, I had already decided to take Miss Ines as my wife.”
At the sudden appearance of the word “wife,” Ines’s eyes trembled greatly.
The same was true for Cedric.
He had wanted to approach her slowly so as not to frighten her.
Seeing how she kept talking about breaking off the engagement, he regretted burdening her too much.
“Ah, I’m sorry. What I just said was…”
“Why are you doing this?”
Moisture tinged Ines’s voice.
She only wanted things to quietly proceed the way she wished.
Why did he keep shaking her resolve like this?
“You’re the one who suddenly changed, Duke Angel. Why, after keeping your distance all this time, are you suddenly…”
Until now, Ines had believed Cedric’s greatest strength was his courteous yet cold personality.
Whether he liked someone or despised them, he always maintained a similar attitude.
The saying that it was just as difficult to become Duke Angel’s enemy as it was to become his friend was a joke, but it was not entirely without basis.
Yet after seeing him today, she realized she had been completely wrong.
She had never seen such a passionate side of Cedric.
The passionate side of the normally gentlemanly and kind Cedric felt unfamiliar to Ines.
When she faced him like this, she became confused enough to think that he might actually love her.
‘Don’t be ridiculous. That’s impossible.’
Don’t misunderstand.
Throughout the long years during which they had known of each other’s existence, they had never once shared a meaningful connection.
As for private meetings, all they had was one hospital visit and a single date.
How deep could the feelings of a fiancé like that possibly be?
At most, it was surely nothing more than human affection.
Yet every time Ines encountered a side of Cedric she had never known before, her heart wavered a little more.
It was a burden she had never anticipated.
Whenever she looked into those eyes, blue enough to hurt, she felt as though she wanted to confess everything honestly.
Unable to bear it, Ines lowered her head.
You want an explanation?
That in a previous life, where you were my husband, both you and your family met an unjust destruction?
How could she possibly tell him that she could not bear to experience that guilt again?
In any case, it was something she could never say.
Gathering herself as sorrow threatened to make tears spill from her eyes, Ines spoke in a low voice, offering excuses that barely resembled explanations.
“I’m grateful that you think well of me, Duke Angel. But as you know, I’m not someone who suits the Angel ducal family. I’m timid, and I struggle even to stand before people… Just look at today. Being the center of attention in front of others is uncomfortable and difficult for me.”
While Ines’s voice grew increasingly emotional as her feelings became more complicated, Cedric, strangely enough, felt calmer the more he listened to her.
Ridiculous as it was, the fact that Ines had not been avoiding him because she disliked him brought him great comfort.
“Miss Ines. I’m sorry.”
Cedric’s warm voice came from above her head.
His tone carried both relief and an awkward embarrassment.
“I failed to consider that my actions might make you uncomfortable. Unlike me, you are not accustomed to people’s attention, and I forgot that. I was thoughtless. I’m sorry.”
Unable to think of any response to his repeated apologies, Ines could only remain silent.
“I’ve never really paid attention to things like that. I was certainly insensitive. Without even realizing it, I…”
Embarrassed by his own immature behavior in bringing up another man, Cedric rubbed the back of his neck.
“I’ll be more mindful from now on, so please forgive me this once.”
Forgive him?
The absurdity of those words left Ines’s mind completely blank.
“Forgive you…? I-It’s okay.”
“So you forgive me? Please answer clearly.”
His blue eyes, folding gently as he smiled, now shone with the clear calmness of a sea whose waves had finally settled.
His playful tone softened the atmosphere considerably.
Only after confirming that Ines’s tense expression had relaxed slightly did Cedric summarize the situation.
“So, Miss Ines, what you’re saying is that until the engagement ceremony takes place, you do not want to attract public attention in front of other people.”
It was a subtly misguided conclusion, but Ines nodded.
If she brought up breaking off the engagement here, the same situation as before would simply repeat itself.
If it could not be resolved here anyway, there was no reason to mention it.
After all, they could not continue arguing in such an open place.
“That’s right.”
“If that’s the case, then the solution is simple.”
Simple?
Unable to understand what he meant, Ines looked up at him.
“Then we can simply meet alone.”
“In a private place.”
“Without attracting people’s attention.”
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