<22>
As expected, Rowena giggled at Dante’s shocked face.
Dante found it difficult to immediately understand the words that were being exchanged.
However, one thing was clear.
“So…… you’re saying my uncle intends to make me his successor? Not you?”
“Exactly! I am here for you.”
Rowena briefly explained the plan for the succession of the title. She explained that the fact she was here, and the fact that Seymour was raising her, was all because of Dante.
“Even if you cause trouble, no one will kick you out. Because you are the person who was qualified to be in this house from the very beginning!”
At Rowena’s explanation, Dante took on a truly stunned expression.
“……So, this was all my misunderstanding?”
“Exactly! I know you might not believe my words, but—”
“No, I believe you.”
This time, on the contrary, Rowena took on a slightly surprised face.
Perhaps it was natural. Dante had always acted defensively toward Rowena.
Ironically, it was for the same reason that Dante believed Rowena’s words.
‘There is no reason for that child to tell me such a lie.’
If someone else had said it—no, if it were the words of an adult—he wouldn’t have believed it.
But Rowena was a child just like Dante.
A child who had many things in common, more than Dante thought, and who similarly had nothing.
In fact, considering his status as a noble and having an uncle, Dante actually had more than Rowena.
If one had to pick the side that could be easily discarded in a worst-case scenario, it was definitely Rowena.
‘And yet…….’
Rowena approached Dante without hesitation.
Just why?
“……Why are you telling me this?”
“Huh?”
“You didn’t need to tell me. Everyone likes you—”
What use could someone like me possibly be to you.
He couldn’t bring himself to spit out the following words. He was embarrassed to reveal all these inner thoughts to a girl smaller than himself.
However, Rowena smiled brightly as if she had heard those unsaid words, and then she grabbed Dante’s hand firmly.
“Because, you are going to marry me!”
They say a married couple is one.
“So, we are on the same side.”
The same side.
That phrase pierced into the boy’s ears. The clasped hands and the steady gaze. Everything about that moment.
Beneath the boy’s black hair, a peculiar light flickered in his quiet golden eyes.
“Rowena. Then are you on my side?”
“Huh? Of course!”
Rowena, nodding her head vigorously, spoke with a mock-solemn face.
“And you have to be on my side too. You mustn’t betray me. I really need you to be here.”
That way, I won’t get kicked out of here, and I can get the cure.
Unaware of Rowena’s ulterior motives, Dante, who was staring blankly at their clasped hands, suddenly asked.
“Continuously in the future? You’ll be on my side forever?”
This time, even the great Rowena had no choice but to ponder the answer for a moment.
The reason was simple.
‘Actually, the contract I signed only goes until Dante inherits the title.’
Rowena was merely a stepping stone for the succession of the title.
So, after inheriting the title, they could divorce as much as Dante wanted.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t thought about what to do after that.’
Well, things will work out somehow! Surviving comes first.
Rowena brushed off the lingering discomfort and nodded her head greatly.
“Yes! Continuously in the future.”
“……Ha.”
At the clear answer, Dante let out a hollow laugh in spite of himself.
However, rather than being a sneer, it was something that burst out due to a sense of fulfillment that rose up unconsciously.
“That you are on my side.”
A relationship that will someday lead to marriage.
A child who says without hesitation that she is here for him, and who says she needs him.
Just what is it about that that makes him feel this way?
Suddenly, the sunlight shone behind Rowena, dazzling his eyes. Because the shining thing looked more like the girl in front of him than the sunlight, Dante narrowed his eyes slightly.
“If you don’t betray me, I won’t either. So don’t betray me.”
“It’s a promise!”
When Rowena held out her pinky, Dante hooked his finger into hers and sealed the deal.
The promise was made. Rowena smiled brightly and grabbed Dante’s hand to help him up.
“Then let’s go steal some apples!”
“……Are you really going to steal them?”
“Of course!”
“This is unbelievable.”
However, there was a smile hanging on Dante’s lips that he couldn’t hide.
The two sneaked into the kitchen and stole one apple and three cookies.
Then, hiding on a staircase where no one would be, they shared and ate them one by one in a friendly manner.
And as for the remaining one.
‘I should bring this to the Duke!’
Rowena clutched the cookie and headed toward Seymour’s office with short, quick steps.
After Seymour made a promise with Rowena to ‘return home before eating dinner’, he had moved some of his major duties to the Duke’s mansion entirely. Thanks to that, a structure was created where he could continue his work in the office of the mansion without necessarily going to the company.
When Rowena first learned this fact, she was a little flustered.
‘Ah, my original plan wasn’t meant to be like this.’
The idea was to come back early and go to bed early!
But after seeing Hugo’s reaction, Rowena changed her mind.
‘I don’t know how long it has been since I’ve seen His Grace’s face this often. Until now, no matter how much I begged him to return, he would only stop by once to pick up clothes at most……! This is all thanks to the young lady!’
It seemed Hugo had suffered a lot of heartache.
Regardless, it was a good result. At least if Seymour was at the mansion, the time Rowena could see Seymour would increase!
‘Thanks to that, I can even bring him snacks!’
Rowena stood in front of the firmly closed office door, knocked, and went inside.
“What is it?”
“I came to give you this!”
When she held out the cookie, Seymour picked Rowena up and sat her on the desk.
“You give me food every time. Don’t you ever get tired of it?”
“Eating is important! You shouldn’t be hungry, Duke.”
In Townsend, giving food belongs to a tremendous expression of affection.
If there is no food, you get hungry. And, if you get very hungry…… you can die!
So, it’s similar to sharing your life.
To not know that, the Duke is a fool.
“I am not hungry, so you eat it.”
“Yes! Hihi.”
The Duke is a genius!
As Rowena ate the cookie while giggling, Axel Portman, who was watching Rowena warmly, bowed his head.
It seemed he was in the middle of a report.
“Your Grace, then I will come back later. I will finish the report then—”
“It’s fine. This child is related to this matter anyway. Continue.”
When Seymour gave a light gesture with his chin, Axel continued the report.
“So, it seems Miss Donna Devon was intended to become the face of the new brand. It seems they are proceeding quite secretly……”
“It seems it was discovered due to this incident, then. I see. So what is the brand name?”
“It is Eden.”
The moment she heard those words, Rowena’s movement of eating the cookie came to a sudden halt.
‘Eden?’
The reason was simple.
The luxury clothing brand, Eden.
That was the business run by Valentin Latimer, the male protagonist of <The White Birds>.
And it was the most decisive reason why Seymour’s clothing business failed.
The Latimer Ducal House.
A great family said to be daringly comparable to Somerset, and the family where Valentin, the male protagonist of the original story, is the head.
In <The White Birds>, Valentin and Seymour are described as light and shadow. The things Seymour does repeatedly meet with failure due to Valentin, and that follows the same line even down to love.
The launch of the luxury clothing brand, Eden, was an event no different from its starting point.
Rowena carefully retraced the original story.
‘It was said that there were no talks, and then it was a surprise launch.’
In fact, if it were simply a surprise launch, it wouldn’t have been such a big problem.
The important thing was the design Eden brought forward.
‘Unconventional clothing designs received from the famous fashion designer, Rothschild!’
Because of exactly that, Seymour’s clothing brand ends up failing!
☆▪︎▪︎☆
