ATPE 10

Chapter 10

After the Preparations Were Finished

Meanwhile, in the northern part of the river, in the Ildivoire district where noble townhouses gathered together.

Even among the many magnificent mansions there, the Admancanon Ducal Estate stood above all others in overwhelming grandeur.

The estate was usually so quiet it felt silent.

But today was different.

Crash—!

One of the flower vases decorating the corner of the Duchess’s bedroom shattered into pieces.

Flowers, ceramic fragments, and water mixed together and instantly turned the floor into a complete mess.

After hearing something break, a maid rushed in and froze at the sight before hurrying away to find cleaning tools.

Standing in the middle of the chaos, Dalia Admancanon ground her teeth hard.

In her hand was a horribly crumpled newspaper extra edition.

“That wretched thing⋯⋯ even tearing her apart wouldn’t be enough⋯⋯.”

After forcing out those words through clenched teeth, Dalia directed her anger at the innocent maids nearby.

“Do you all have eyes or not?! Can’t you see what I’m doing right now? Instead of wasting time cleaning that up, help me get dressed!”

“A-Apologies, Madam!”

The trembling maids hurried over to help her prepare herself, and glaring at them with contempt calmed Dalia’s anger a little.

“Where is His Grace the Duke right now?”

“I heard His Majesty summoned him to the royal palace early this morning.”

At the maid’s answer while arranging her hair, Dalia tightly closed her eyes.

There was no doubt Rascal had been called to the palace because of what happened at the banquet yesterday.

After causing such chaos and humiliating an unmarried noble lady, he was probably being told to take responsibility and marry her.

‘Perhaps they’re even advising him to formally begin marriage talks with that side today.’

Anxious, Dalia unconsciously began biting her nails.

And her worries were not baseless imagination.

The royal family had always subtly protected the Barishart family.

Fourteen years ago, Count Barishart nearly caused the war against the Kingdom of Argentum to end in defeat, yet he received no serious punishment.

And even before that, the royal family had paired Sir Carlos— once an insignificant knight— with a maid serving the former queen.

Dalia knew very well that bringing in the daughter of a family secretly favored by the king would not actually be a bad decision.

But even so, she had a reason she could never accept Serenia Barishart as her daughter-in-law.

It did not matter that Serenia was the daughter of the man responsible for her husband’s death.

The real problem was her background.

Long ago, when the Admancanon family had still only been counts—

there had been an orphan girl taken in by Lady Muriel, the count’s daughter at the time.

That orphan girl later became Helen Barishart, maid to the former queen Muriel Zigranto and wife of Sir Carlos.

In simple terms, Serenia Barishart was the daughter of a woman who had once served as a mere maid to the young lady of this household.

“⋯⋯I cannot allow something like that to sit in the seat of this duchy’s mistress.”

While Dalia muttered those words to herself like a vow, the maids finished helping her dress and stepped back.

She admired the flawless noblewoman reflected in the vanity mirror for a moment before standing up.

Then, just before leaving the room, she sharply shouted at the lined-up maids.

“What are you all standing around for? Clean up this mess!”

The moment those words fell, the maids hurriedly rushed into action.

Watching them with dissatisfaction, Dalia immediately headed to the study and called for her secretary.

“I don’t care what methods you use. Bring me a way to stop that thing from entering this house. If you can find a weakness, good. If not, setting a trap is fine too.”

As she spoke, Dalia placed down a heavy pouch.

The secretary immediately understood her vague order and picked up the pouch.

“Would it be acceptable if she ends up physically harmed?”

“There must not be any trouble that traces back to us, like with her father.”

Despite the difficult condition, the secretary simply smiled.

“Yes. Understood, Madam.”

Ain rented out the entire enormous luxury restaurant on the top floor of the Neriad Hotel.

‘Using a restaurant large enough for hundreds of people with only the two of us⋯⋯.’

Serenia desperately tried to stay calm in the face of luxury she had never experienced in her entire life.

Then she nervously asked him:

“So⋯⋯ what am I supposed to do now?”

Having grown up under a father who embodied restraint, discipline, and stubbornness, Serenia had never even read a romance novel before.

Because of that, while she had heard the word “date” many times, she had absolutely no idea how one was actually supposed to go.

Still, now that they had decided to create evidence of their relationship, she was prepared to do her best as long as someone told her what to do.

After all, doing something well was better than doing it badly.

While she sat there full of determination, a waiter placed appetizers on the table and quietly left.

Ain looked at her enthusiasm with a deep smile before speaking.

“In that case⋯⋯.”

Naturally picking up a fork, he stabbed a slice of melon wrapped in salty ham.

“Now then. Say ahh.”

Serenia stared at the melon suddenly held right in front of her face with utter disgust.

She glared at him, who was smiling brightly like he was having the time of his life, and sharply asked:

“What exactly are you trying to do?”

“Well obviously, act like affectionate lovers.”

He lightly waved the fork holding the melon as he continued.

“We need at least this much cheesy behavior if we want people to believe we’re dating.”

After hearing that, Serenia could not argue at all.

For a serious moment, she deeply struggled between the dignity she had protected for twenty-five years and the contract worth three— no, six million crovats.

Meanwhile, Ain dramatically complained in front of her.

“Ow, ow. At this rate, my arm is going to fall off.”

Serenia glared at him fiercely before finally opening her mouth slightly with the expression of someone swallowing poison while crying.

Ain immediately seized the chance and quickly pushed the melon into her mouth.

Enjoying the sight of her cheeks and ears turning bright red from strange embarrassment, he pulled back the fork.

Serenia chewed the melon with tears nearly forming in her eyes.

The sweet juice of the melon mixed with the salty taste of the ham and filled her mouth deliciously.

‘⋯⋯It would honestly feel better if it tasted bad.’

Serenia became deeply depressed.

It felt like she had sold away human dignity because of appetite.

Whether he realized it or not, Ain continued feeding her all kinds of food afterward like a mother bird feeding its chick.

After realizing that delaying things out of embarrassment would only make things harder for herself, Serenia decided to simply accept her fate.

She obediently ate everything he fed her for a long while before suddenly realizing something.

He was only feeding her and not eating anything himself.

Serenia looked back and forth between him and the hand she was playing with awkwardly.

‘⋯⋯Am I supposed to feed him too? Is this what dating is originally like?’

She felt like that probably was not right.

But the guilt of being the only one eating slowly destroyed her rational thinking and pushed her forward.

Awkwardly, Serenia picked up a fork and stabbed the last remaining slice of melon before holding it out toward him.

Ain, who had been elegantly removing bones from a steamed fish dish, was so startled by the sudden green object appearing before him that he dropped the fork in his hand.

Clang.

Without even thinking to pick it back up from the table, he stared blankly at her.

Looking confused by his reaction, Serenia awkwardly said:

“Ah⋯⋯?”

“Yes?”

As if he had heard something unbelievable, Ain stared at her in shock.

Annoyed, Serenia half shouted at him.

“I said say ahh too!”

“Eh⋯⋯?”

He made a completely dumbfounded sound like someone had smacked the back of his head.

Taking advantage of the moment, Serenia firmly stuffed the melon slice into his open mouth.

Ain became unusually flustered.

Covering his mouth with both hands while his eyes darted around chaotically, he looked completely shaken.

Watching him strangely, Serenia grumbled:

“What’s wrong with you? You’re acting like I did something terrible.”

“No, it’s just⋯⋯.”

Mumbling unclearly because of the melon filling his mouth, Ain quickly chewed and swallowed it as if he realized he could not continue like this.

Then, returning to a perfectly calm expression, he suddenly said something strange.

“Actually, I’m currently managing my figure.”

“⋯⋯What?”

“Thank you for feeding me, but I’m fine now.”

“Huh?”

“A glass of cold water is enough for me.”

Serenia blankly stared at him for a moment after hearing that.

She had heard of noble ladies surviving only on water to maintain their figures.

But this was the first time in her life she had seen a man like that.