Chapter 60
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
Dear, I believe you may be misunderstanding.
Episode 60
When it came to expressing my feelings, I was utterly, completely proactive.
I adored it. Absolutely. Madly.
"Why are you grinning so foolishly, Lucas? Don't. It ruins your charisma."
"Oh my—Your Grace, you are absolutely perfect as you are right now. But we're running behind schedule, Your Grace! It seems Grace has already finished her preparations?"
"Oh dear! I got so caught up encouraging Lucas that I completely forgot about myself."
At Haem's urging, Selena hastily turned to leave.
Before exiting the room, she quickly kissed Lucas on the cheek and gave him a parting instruction.
"Keep it under control when you go. Completely."
It was a mother's words—she already understood where he was going and why.
Lucas chuckled softly in response.
"Don't worry. That's precisely my specialty."
Selena left the room with a satisfied smile.
Lucas kicked his adjutant—who had arrived with a piece of straw stuck to the back of his head—and commanded him.
"Check your appearance and get out here within one minute."
"Yes, sir!"
Haem answered energetically and rushed toward the mirror.
* * *
After driving for approximately an hour, the carriage reached the destination Lucas desired.
Toward the Duke's carriage, the door of what appeared to be a new carriage swung wide open.
As I glanced at it peripherally, Haem quietly informed me.
"They say they had it newly constructed with exceptionally sturdy material. Strong enough that even a cannon wouldn't break it."
"Oh, really? Should we test whether that's actually true?"
At Lucas's laughing remark, Haem waved his hands frantically in alarm.
"No, please. Please don't say such things. I never want to handle your duties again. My esteemed lord, no—my esteemed master, I sincerely pray for your long life, peace, and freedom from all troubles."
While Haem earnestly prayed for Lucas's wellbeing, his black carriage passed through a modest garden and arrived at the lobby of Oellin Marquess Residence.
Thomas, the butler of Marquess Oellin, who had been notified in advance and was waiting, greeted them respectfully.
"The Marquess is waiting for you. Allow me to show you the way."
The Marquessate, which employed only the minimum necessary staff, was generally quiet.
Lucas, Haem, and Hound—who always escorted Lucas with an unobtrusive presence—followed the compact, sturdy-framed Thomas up to the second floor.
Footsteps echoed softly through the silence.
* * *
"It has been quite some time, Duke."
Capren Oellin greeted Lucas warmly as he entered the Reception Room.
Haem and Hound, who had followed behind him, stood quietly in a corner of the Reception Room.
"Indeed, it has."
Lucas exchanged brief pleasantries before settling into the seat of honor on the sofa with the ease of his long legs.
An expensive-looking suit, crafted stitch by stitch by a master's hand, fell in perfect knife-sharp creases along his elongated frame.
As Lucas reclined leisurely and clasped his hands over one crossed leg with arrogant composure, a sleek wristwatch gleamed into view above his wrist.
'That is....'
Gulp.
It was a possession so precious that even Capren Oellin would never dare covet it.
The wristwatch itself was an accessory first unveiled by the Queen of Occandium Duchy mere years ago.
It was difficult to manufacture, and few artisans possessed the skill to create one.
While wall-sized timepieces had become commercialized, crafting something small enough to gleam upon the wrist remained an extraordinarily difficult feat.
That very timepiece—which took a full year to complete and which Capren Oellin had never even glimpsed—now glimmered before his eyes.
Because of it, the arrogant bearing of the large, sturdy-looking young Duke sitting comfortably in his place with crossed legs barely registered in his awareness.
The Marquess forced his wandering gaze back under control and reluctantly broached the subject.
"So, what business brings you to seek me out?"
Lucas Black smiled faintly and offered an entirely different answer.
"Ah, Grace is doing well."
Seeing Capren's frown at the apparent non sequitur, Lucas replied calmly.
"Were you not curious? I assumed that was why you requested I send her home. Or was I mistaken?"
'Ah.'
At Lucas's words, Capren twisted his brows subtly and reluctantly nodded.
"Well, that is...."
Capren, who had been forcing out a response, changed his expression and spoke again.
"Grace seems to be imposing upon the Black Duchy for far too long. And since we are not yet married, it hardly seems proper for her to remain at that residence for such an extended period."
Seizing the opportunity, Capren offered a cunning smile.
"In truth, marriage is uncertain until the very end, is it not? For an unmarried young woman to linger so long in a young nobleman's residence hardly serves the best interests of that child's uncertain future."
"I see."
At the Marquess's words, Lucas smiled as though he had drawn it on his face.
Leaning back loosely, he tapped his fingers against the armrest—tap, tap—drawing out the moment.
An uncomfortable silence stretched between them.
"So then...."
At last, he ceased his tapping and opened his mouth.
"You wish to dissolve the engagement now?"
Lucas asked in a languid tone, as though he had just uttered something genuinely amusing.
"Ha! No, well, not precisely.... You understand, our Grace is such an accomplished young lady in every regard that many houses desire her hand."
Lucas listened to Capren's words with an expression of profound tedium.
Watching from afar, Haem marveled anew at his master's remarkable talent for conveying utter disdain through expression alone.
Fortunately, Capren Oellin possessed a remarkably poor ability to interpret Lucas Black's expressions.
"Ha, well, some cannot help but reveal their ardent affection for the girl. Given how passionately he courts her, it seems impossible to ignore him, wouldn't you say?"
Tap, tap-tap.... Tap.
Lucas's long, somewhat rough fingers drummed against the armrest once more—tap-tap, tap-tap.
He pressed a temple with deliberate pressure and let out a low hum.
Because Lucas merely nodded as if in agreement and maintained his silence, Capren Oellin felt his insides burning with anxiety.
'...Did I provoke him unnecessarily?'
Capren Oellin could discern well enough that Lucas was using every excuse to keep Grace close. In truth, one would have to be a fool not to notice.
Legs and arms did not break so easily, nor was it common for a nobleman to detain a noblewoman's daughter for such trivial reasons.
If that were the case, the reason was obvious.
He had already become intimate with Grace.
Capren Oellin's eye twitched imperceptibly.
Grace resembled Elenoa greatly. When Grace was young, I had thought them nearly identical.
Though Grace's features had shifted somewhat as she matured, Capren still found himself startled at times when he looked upon her.
'...Even her vulgarity mirrors her mother's, truly.'
Already clinging to a man like that.
Capren clicked his tongue inwardly, yet in truth, this was not entirely unfavorable for him.
What manner of house was the Black Duchy?
Save for the Royal Family, it was the greatest house in this realm.
The house itself harbored an aversion to power struggles and did not involve itself deeply in royal affairs, yet its authority remained undiminished.
And most mysteriously of all was the wealth this house possessed.
Millions of hectares of land and islands, and the merchant guilds the house controlled were among the largest on the continent.
To forge a connection with such a house would be an absolute gain for Capren.
'But the problem is that fellow will not yield so easily.'
Even should they marry, he was not a man who would surrender considerable wealth for my sake.
If Grace were to marry out, it would become infinitely harder to extract anything from him.
'I failed to seize the initiative from the start....'
The moment I witnessed him and Grace embracing in this very mansion, right before my study, my vision had gone white with rage.
Capren despised women who conducted themselves vulgarly.
Especially he could not bear to see Grace behave in such a manner.
It was because that woman, Elenoa, kept surfacing in my mind.
So on that day, when I saw Grace and Lucas Black locked in an embrace, I could not restrain the inferno burning within me.
And having already raised my voice, I wished to suppress Lucas Black's spirit even slightly.
Of course, I knew that raising one's voice was not an effective method of subduing an opponent.
But I had believed Lucas Black had only recently become a Duke, and that he would fear me as his betrothed's father.
That was my miscalculation.
I had thought it entirely possible, yet it was not so at all.
There was something unsettling about him—about Lucas Black.
Capren Oellin, meeting the blue eyes of Lucas Black as he gazed at me with deliberate intensity, ultimately had to avert my gaze.
My pride was wounded, yet there was something in that gaze that made one profoundly uncomfortable.
Like a demon concealing some hidden truth, his eyes gleamed with an unsettling light.
'Good grief, why is he being so silent? It's making me uncomfortable.'
Though I had placed the wager, my throat grew inexplicably parched at the thought that something might go awry.
"Ahem! Hem!"
He pretended to clear his throat and took a sip of the cold tea. It was then that Lucas finally spoke.
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org