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Chapter 03
‘This is insane. Completely insane.’
It was already a mad scheme; another drink or two wouldn’t change anything. It would just make the madness even more mad. Chloe opened the tightly shut door of her composure.
“Melvin, stop squawking. Even a duck makes less noise than you.”
“D-duck? Did you just call me a duck?”
“If you understood, then be quiet. Can’t you see everyone’s staring at us?”
As if she were planning to scream even louder, Melvin took a deep breath. The one who stopped her was Dür.
“Melvin, there are eyes on us.”
For someone a few years older, Dür tried to act composed. But Melvin, who had long since thrown etiquette into soup and eaten it, didn’t listen.
“What did you just say to me?”
“That’s not what I meant…”
“How can you not take my side in front of your sister?”
Melvin’s sharply narrowed eyes turned to Dür. Chloe decided to join this ridiculous spectacle without hesitation.
“How old are you, and you’re still picking sides? Are you a child?”
“This isn’t about picking sides—”
“Our Kaiden is younger than you and still far more mature. Melvin, you only get more childish with each passing year. How tragic.”
“What did you say?”
“What’s the point of hiring so many tutors if your father did, if your head still refuses to learn anything? Compared to you, our Kaiden is truly admirable.”
“Heh. It’s all thanks to you, Chloe. Your wisdom made me this mature.”
“Honestly, your mouth…”
Chloe tapped Kaiden lightly on the chest with her fist. Kaiden smiled as if she were the most adorable thing in the world, rubbing his cheek against her.
“Ugh!”
Completely ignored by the two, Melvin’s face turned bright red with rage.
“Dür, say something! They’re mocking me!”
In her fury, Melvin didn’t even realize she had referred to the Berder family’s young lord as “those people.”
Dür was in no better state. He looked at Chloe and Kaiden clinging to each other, then spoke with a conflicted expression.
“Chloe… are you really… in a relationship with Lord Berder?”
“Dür!”
Who told you to ask that?!
Melvin finally lost control and stormed out of the café. But this time, even Dür did not follow her. He only stared at Chloe with distant, complicated eyes.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…What kind of look is that supposed to be?”
“A look like you’ve been drinking alone, thinking about your ex-wife.”
In other words, an ex-husband’s face.
Chloe stabbed a grape dessert with her fork. The force was so strong that juice nearly splattered across the table.
“Why aren’t you going after her?”
“Are you two really… dating?”
“What kind of question is that? Can’t you see it for yourself?”
“…I see. You look good together.”
So dignified just moments ago, and now suddenly pathetic. Chloe felt irritation rising.
“Stop worrying about other people and go catch your future wife. You know what happens if you add an annulment on top of a divorce, right?”
A divorce alone is acceptable for a man. For a woman, it becomes a flaw. Dür had repeated this more than ten times before.
“…Alright. See you at the wedding.”
Dür stood up, as if reluctantly conceding defeat. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly turned back.
“I hope… Lord Berder will attend as well.”
What nonsense is he saying now?
Chloe opened her mouth to shut him up, but Kaiden was faster.
“Of course.”
“Then… I’ll take my leave.”
And thus, the conversation with her old acquaintance ended. Chloe felt as though something tightly clogged inside her had finally cleared.
It felt like… drinking sparkling water infused with pine needles. Refreshing, yet strangely cold.
“You seem quite satisfied.”
A voice from above snapped her out of her thoughts.
“Ah!”
Chloe quickly pulled herself away from Kaiden’s chest. The place where they had been touching still felt oddly warm, so she frowned and spoke sharply.
“I never thought I’d do something this insane in my life.”
“Yet we seemed to coordinate quite well.”
“That’s…”
Her attempt to sound cold didn’t work. The memory made her face heat up again.
‘I must be crazy.’
Flirting by lightly punching a stranger’s chest, acting coy, and even clinging to him like that.
“You seem to have a talent for acting.”
“That was… only because of the situation.”
Humans tend to reveal hidden potential when they’re desperate.
“Well, I enjoyed it.”
Chloe looked at Kaiden, who still hadn’t erased his smile. What exactly was so enjoyable to him?
‘How ridiculous must I have looked?’
For him, this was probably just a cheap little performance. The fact that her desperate reality was mere entertainment to him made her feel miserable. Even worse because it was all built on lies.
“Is there anyone in this world as shameless as you, casually interfering in someone else’s family affairs?”
“But it helped, didn’t it?”
He wasn’t wrong. So Chloe stopped complaining.
Still, she refused to stop thinking of him as insane.
‘I do feel a bit sorry about the leftover drinks… but I should leave.’
She intended to end her connection with Kaiden here. Getting close to the Berder heir would be advantageous, but not if he was insane. Worse, if he treated others’ pain as entertainment.
“Anyway, thank you for today. I’ll get going now.”
“Already?”
“I need to clean up the mess I made.”
Melvin was the type who couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She would surely spread rumors everywhere that Chloe and Kaiden were dating. Chloe would be busy fixing her own lie from now on.
“If fate allows, we might meet again.”
Though if it were up to her, she would gladly kick that fate away.
“Then I’ll be off…”
“You’ll be seeing me again soon.”
“…Pardon?”
Chloe lifted her head sharply at the strange words.
“Chloe, you will need me.”
“What do you mean…?”
“This.”
Kaiden lifted a shining white object between his fingers.
“If you’re not taking this, what do you plan to do?”
It was a wedding invitation—white lace and glittering beads decorating the paper.
Dür and Melvin’s wedding invitation.
“…Ah.”
Only then did Chloe realize her biggest problem.
[“I hope Lord Berder will attend as well.”]
If she remembered correctly, Dür had indeed invited Kaiden to the wedding. And Kaiden had replied…
[“Of course.”]
Oh, God.
Clutching her forehead, Chloe staggered and collapsed back into her seat.
“I said you’d need me.”
Chloe Garrett’s fake lover—Kaiden Berder. To complete this lie perfectly, she needed him.
But…
“Free acting ends here. Next time, I think I’ll require payment.”
What an arrogant man. A man with terrible personality. A man who might even be insane. Her instincts screamed that she should not get closer to him.
“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of accepting your help any further.”
“You’re planning to go to the wedding alone?”
“So what if I do?”
It wasn’t a problem. She had originally planned to go alone anyway.
If people asked about Kaiden, she would simply say they broke up. There would be gossip, but the bride was Melvin—people would restrain themselves out of courtesy.
But Kaiden saw it differently.
“A short-lived relationship with the Berder heir… That’s bound to invite misunderstandings.”
“What misunderstandings?”
“That you still have feelings for that fondue man.”
“Fondue… are you talking about Dür?”
“Yes.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Everyone except you would probably think it makes sense.”
Kaiden leaned back lazily.
“A short relationship is exactly the kind of thing people love to speculate about. They’ll wonder why it didn’t last.”
“Chloe Garrett only ever had one man in her life—Dür Danken. And even after their breakup, she remained alone for nearly two years.”
“So what will people think when they hear she met a new man, dated briefly, and broke up right before Dür’s wedding?”
“They’ll assume she still hasn’t forgotten her ex-husband.”
