Chapter 10
The butler who came down from upstairs wore a troubled expression as he informed him that the young lady was asleep.
Though it seemed like quite a delay just to confirm that fact and return, Cedric nodded obediently.
“Then I’ll come back another time.”
Yet, despite his composed demeanor, he was in quite a state of confusion.
He had visited the mansion knowing full well that the head of the household was out.
The reason he had committed such an uncharacteristic rudeness without making an appointment in advance was solely due to a strange thirst to see Ines Greenwood.
It was only after stepping out the front door that Cedric realized he was still holding the bouquet in his arms.
It was a gift, after all—he wanted to deliver it to her. He hoped she would wake up and feel pleased seeing the tulips he had brought.
“Should I ask him to leave a message?”
He could have him convey that he hoped she recovered soon. Or perhaps it would be better to leave a note.
Ever since hearing that peculiar story from the earl, it had been nagging at him. Since he hadn’t taken any action until now, she might think of him as a heartless person.
He wanted to show Ines his good side. It stemmed from his wish that she anticipated and desired the engagement as much as he did.
When Cedric opened the front door again, a bell rang in his ears.
It was the sound from the bell that nobles used to summon servants.
Since Earl Greenwood was out, there was only one person in the mansion who could be ringing the bell.
“Ah, Duke Angel.”
As their eyes met upon Cedric’s reappearance through the door, the butler’s face turned ashen.
As the head of the Angel Dukedom, Cedric had met countless people up to now.
Thus, from the butler’s flustered appearance alone, Cedric could tell that he had lied to him.
“You lied to me.”
Cedric regarded the butler with a peculiar gaze.
Leaving the butler, whose eyes wavered in uncertainty about how to respond, Cedric ascended the stairs.
The bell’s sound guided him clearly in that direction.
His prospective fiancée, who had cunningly lied without knowing he was outside, was still ringing the bell.
* * *
After shaking the bell for quite a while, someone finally opened the door and entered the room. Ines naturally assumed it was Marie. Without even checking who had opened the door, she blurted out sharply.
“Marie. From now on, if Duke Angel comes to see me, refuse him no matter what.”
Marie was the type to express a lot of doubt about things that didn’t make sense. While shaking the bell, Ines had thought up a plausible reason.
“I don’t want him to see me looking like this. You know what I mean, right?”
It was an excuse she had crafted, drawing a clue from the butler’s reaction.
“You know how it is? Wanting to show only your best side. So from now on…”
However, Ines’s words didn’t continue to the end.
“You’re plenty lovely to look at right now, so you don’t need to worry about that.”
It wasn’t Marie’s chirpy voice.
Startled, Ines hurriedly turned around, and there, contrary to her expectation, stood not Marie but Cedric, holding flowers with a slightly flushed face.
In the face of this utterly unexpected situation, Ines’s body froze. Cedric approached slowly and said to her.
“I heard from your father at the Noble Council meeting. That you injured your leg. I came to visit you in your illness, but I was told you were sleeping and was about to leave.”
“Ah…”
Watching the flustered Ines, Cedric smiled faintly.
“Then I heard the bell and came up just in case. Good timing, it seems.”
“I… suppose so.”
To the visibly disconcerted Ines, Cedric took another step closer.
“Oh, and I heard you like tulips.”
Then he placed the bouquet on Ines’s lap, where she was covered by the blanket.
Seeing that bouquet, Ines felt her throat tighten.
Pink tulips.
She had thought everything had changed, but some things remained the same.
In her previous life, too, Cedric had given her flowers as a gift on the day they first met.
“The yellow tulips looked pretty, but…”
As if visiting a lady in her illness was awkward for him as well, Cedric said while rubbing the back of his neck.
Without realizing it, Ines interrupted him and spoke.
“Their flower meaning isn’t very good, those tulips.”
Unattainable love. Vain love.
It was a flower meaning she could never forget, after how much the social circles had gossiped about the yellow tulip bouquet Cedric had given her in ignorance in her previous life.
At the same time, a faint smile touched Ines’s lips. Because another memory had surfaced.
After that incident, Cedric had done something that left everyone speechless.
He had procured pink tulips enough to fill the entire room and sent them. Thanks to that, rumors spread through the capital that pink tulips had been wiped out.
“As expected, Miss Ines knows flower meanings too. Good thing I listened to the florist’s advice.”
Cedric pulled up a chair and sat beside Ines’s bed. Since Ines’s gaze on the pink bouquet was soft, Cedric felt genuinely satisfied with his choice.
“I heard you were quite badly hurt.”
A hint of ease appeared in his voice. Avoiding Cedric’s eyes, Ines lowered her gaze.
“It’s not bad enough to worry about.”
“How did you end up stepping on glass? I thought you were a careful person.”
As if he had known her well for a long time.
Cedric was surprised at his own words expressing familiarity.
The anger that had risen from the thought of being deceived had long since vanished somewhere far away.
His disappointment had melted away like snow at Ines’s words about wanting to show him only her good side.
If anything…
He felt rather pleased.
“I dropped a cup and then stepped right on the spot.”
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“No. It’s much better now.”
This was the first time he had conversed with Ines this closely. Unlike his own tension, Ines seemed natural. Their first conversation was far from what he had anticipated.
‘Was I always this awkward with words?’
He wanted to carry on the conversation smoothly, but looking at Ines made him feel like a novice.
Meanwhile, Ines’s mind had gone blank at Cedric’s sudden appearance.
‘Cedric…’
It was the real Cedric.
Not the final moment when he was executed after harsh torture in a wretched state, but Cedric from the most brilliant period she remembered.
Just taking in his appearance made her throat tighten. It was incredibly hard to pretend to be calm. However, she soon realized that this was an opportunity.
Her father happened to be absent.
On the first day she had returned through time, meeting Cedric like this couldn’t be mere coincidence.
‘I have to say it.’
Ines clenched her fist out of habit. Cedric was continuing the conversation. From ordinary topics like flowers or the weather to subjects she might be interested in. Interrupting him, Ines swallowed hard.
“Duke Angel.”
“Yes, Miss Ines.”
Cedric responded to her call with a slight smile.
Her voice was even more pleasant than he had imagined.
Thinking about it now, it was absurd. Deciding to get engaged to a woman whose voice he didn’t even know. He thought coming for the sick visit was the right choice as he gazed at Ines with a gentle look.
Cedric and Ines’s eyes met. Ines hesitated for a moment, then resolved herself firmly and opened her mouth.
“I have something to say to you, Duke.”
“Something to say? What is it?”
Ines had something to say to him. Not knowing what it was, Cedric straightened his posture with a bit of anticipation.
“I heard from Father yesterday. That you accepted the marriage proposal.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“I’m truly grateful that you came to visit me in my illness, but I do not wish to be engaged to you, Duke.”
“…Pardon?”
Not comprehending her words, Cedric reacted a bit slowly. Following that, Ines spoke to Cedric in an earnest tone.
“Father won’t listen to me. But if Duke Angel says he wants to cancel the engagement, Father will have no choice. So please, I beg you. Break the promise you made with my father.”
Ines’s voice clung slowly to Cedric’s ears.
“I do not wish for the engagement.”
Cedric murmured, slowly repeating her words.
This was already the second time today. Hearing a suggestion to retract the engagement decided just yesterday.
When he heard this from Earl Greenwood at the Noble Council, he thought the greedy man had some other scheme. That he was weighing between himself and a partner who could bring more benefits through Ines’s marriage.
But he hadn’t expected Ines to say the same. At this point, he couldn’t help but be curious about the reason.
Cedric’s eyes, which had been flickering with excitement, settled calmly. Yet he maintained his kind smile. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him, after all.
“What is the reason?”
“Pardon?”
“There must be a reason you don’t want to be engaged to me.”
Cedric asked, suppressing the bubbling rage inside that felt ready to burst.
“Have I done something wrong to you, Miss Ines?”
“No. It’s nothing like that.”
“Then have you heard some bad rumor about me?”
“Not at all.”
“If it’s neither of those, then please explain why I must endure such an insulting remark, Miss Ines Greenwood.”
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