Ch 3.9
But regardless of that, he believed that Adela’s affection for him was not a lie.
It was a belief in Adela, who had treated him like real family, unlike the Duke who had viewed him only as a useful tool since he was a child.
Eden stepped out of his reminiscence and returned to the present.
‘Kane Maxius.’
The man who had broken off engagements with Adela, following Belita.
He did not know the Duke well since they had no points of contact, but he could be certain of one thing.
Throughout the meal, Kane had not taken his eyes off Belita.
It was the same for him as it was for Eden.
‘Absurd.’
While his petty and cowardly behavior was absurd, why did it make him feel so foul?
Was it because of Adela?
Or…….
Even he found it difficult to say exactly what emotion he held for Belita.
However, after that regrettably short conversation with Belita, he could be sure of just one thing.
The woman he faced in the garden had changed.
He could not say the loneliness and emptiness that used to fill her eyes were entirely gone, but they had nearly vanished.
Eden was curious about that.
He grew to want to know what the method was.
He wanted to hear from her how the emptiness and loneliness in her heart had come to disappear.
He wanted to ask how he could make this hollow feeling, which had taken root deep inside him at some point, go away.
He grew to want to hold onto her.
After that day, the days were ordinary.
It was a day when I was learning and carrying out my duties one by one.
An incident occurred that shattered this peaceful daily life in a single stroke.
“Young Lady……!”
Mary called for me urgently from outside the room.
I told her to come in and set down the book I was reading.
However, the expression on Mary’s face as she entered was unusual.
It was a subtle expression, looking as if she had seen something she shouldn’t have seen while also being full of worry.
“What is the matter?”
“Well…….”
“Why? What happened?”
It was rare for Mary to hesitate this much, so I looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“Um…… Duke Kane Maxius has arrived…….”
“What?”
For a moment, I thought I had misheard.
Of all people, why would Kane come here?
“What are you talking about? Who arrived?”
“Duke Kane Maxius…….”
Seeing her say the same name twice, it seemed the man had truly come.
“Did he come to see Father?”
Thinking about it again, it wasn’t as if this were a place he couldn’t come to.
Though in both Belita’s memories and my own, he had never once set foot here.
In any case, even if the relationship between the families wasn’t great, he might have come because of work that necessitated meeting my father.
So, I replied in a rather casual tone.
“It’s not that……!”
“If not that, then what?”
“He said he came to see the Young Lady. The Duke is currently waiting for the Young Lady in the drawing room……!”
“What?”
What kind of absurd development is this?
I was so dumbfounded by the news that Kane had come to see me that I lost my words for a moment and stared at Mary with a blank expression.
“Young Lady?”
Mary called out to me cautiously.
I only now understood why her expression had been like that from the moment she walked in.
“He really came to see me?”
“Yes…….”
His persistent staring during the meal at the Imperial Palace the other day felt unsettling, and it seems something was destined to happen because of it.
I didn’t have a shred of desire to talk to that man face-to-face.
However, he was not the kind of person I
could just turn away at the door simply because I didn’t want to see him.
‘Truly, he is a man who makes people exhausted in so many ways.’
After letting out a heavy sigh, I finally forced my reluctant feet to move.
I headed toward the drawing room, thinking about why he could have possibly come.
‘He really is here.’
I had my doubts, but he was truly in the drawing room.
No matter what talk came out, my response was only one.
Holding onto that thought and steeling my heart, I opened the drawing room door, and Kane stood up from his seat.
“Lady Hates.”
He called me with a voice that didn’t seem to suit him at all, not the cold-as-ice voice from two years ago.
“Welcome, Duke Maxius.”
“It has been a long time, Lady Hates.”
I first pretended to welcome him with a noble attitude.
“Please, sit, Duke.”
After telling him to sit, I took a seat across from him and immediately asked about his business.
“You said you came to see me?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Is there still talk left for us to have face-to-face like this?”
At my words, his expressionless face faltered slightly.
I thought again about the reason he came.
‘Don’t tell me……’
Did he come to ask for the diamond mine back that he gave me two years ago?
That is absolutely not happening.
Do you know how I managed to get that……!
It was the compensation I received for enduring harsh persecution and insults for a full six months while putting on a god-tier performance.
I glared at him with a wary gaze.
“I felt our conversation at the Imperial Palace the other day was too short, so I visited the Ducal house to talk a bit more.”
However, completely unexpected words flowed from his mouth.
“……You came just for that?”
“Yes.”
I could not hide my bewilderment and looked at him with suspicious eyes.
“I am currently a bit too flustered. Do you think it’s possible for people who broke an engagement over such unpleasant matters two years ago to engage in such casual conversation?”
“I believe there is no reason it cannot be done.”
Wow, look at this audacity.
Even two years ago, he didn’t even blink an eye when he said he found someone he loved and asked to break the
engagement…….
Even now, he sat there with a completely unfazed expression.
I found that sight of him so tiresome and sickening that I shook my head.
However, even after seeing my reaction,
Kane continued to speak without pause, as if he were a man who had made up his mind, with a completely unbothered expression.
“Even though we broke our engagement two years ago—.”
It was then.
Just as Kane was continuing to spout nonsense, Father entered the drawing room.
“What do you think you are doing now!”
Then, with a face full of immense rage, he yelled at Kane without preamble.
“What kind of place do you think this is, that you dare seek out my daughter!”
“Father, please calm down……!”
I pretended to stop Father while inwardly cheering him on to do more.
‘As I thought, it’s good to have a reliable father.’
Though he has a fiery temperament and is hot-headed, easily becoming angry, he was a very dependable father at times like this.
“Leave at once. Otherwise, Duke or not, I will have you dragged out of this place!”
Father even pointed a finger at him, looking ready to actually do so.
As Father glared at Kane, unable to cool his excitement and huffing continuously, Kane quietly rose from his seat.
Then he walked up to me, looked at me,
and said with a slight smile.
“The timing isn’t good today. I will come again next time.”
Seriously, how can he be so calm and audacious?
I felt goosebumps all over my body as I saw this new side of him today.
“What next time!”
