TVPTL 22

Chapter 22

After shaking her for quite some time, Veloa finally opened her eyes into slits.

“Eee… eee…”

She lazily waved her arms as if telling me not to bother her anymore, then buried her face into my arms and fell back asleep.

“It seems this won’t do. My lady, you should return to your room,” Leandro said, tugging the bell cord. Madam Salisbury knocked on the drawing room door.

“Carefully now.”

Leandro, who had taken Veloa from me, carefully handed her over to Madam Salisbury.

“Do not worry, Your Grace,” Madam Salisbury said with a smile, as if she was used to handling her.

“She’ll be fine, right?”

Even after the lady left, I couldn’t take my eyes off the door.

“She just sleeps a lot…”

I knew there was nothing wrong with Veloa. Lady Anette had already told me as much.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel anxious and uneasy.

What if I had done something wrong?

What if I had missed something important that led to this?

What if it was all my fault?

These thoughts kept spinning in my head.

“There is no problem,” Leandro said.

Not “there probably isn’t,” but a firm “there isn’t.”

His voice was full of certainty.

“Even soldiers returning from missions can sleep for over ten days straight if they’re extremely fatigued.”

His golden eyes looked at me.

“This is normal.”

Somehow, his confident words calmed my restless heart.

“But if you’re still worried—”

And just like that, my heart grew restless again.

“—I’ll reassure you as many times as you need until your anxiety subsides.”

A warm, firm hand rested on mine, which I had placed on the sofa. Long fingers slipped between my hand and the cushion, gripping mine.

“Lady Ermia.”

He smiled.

Tezer Leandro smiled at me.

His cheeks flushed slightly, as if embarrassed yet pleased to be holding my hand.

And in that instant—

My mind went blank.

Have you ever seen a handsome man smile?

Not just smiling, but doing it right in front of your face, while holding your hand?

If the opportunity arises, I suggest you run.

Because it’s really, really bad for your heart.

‘I-I can’t breathe.’

I blinked slowly. My heart, which had frozen at his smile, was now pounding like mad.

“Hmph.”

Preston swirled his drink and gave a probing glance, then smiled his usual public smile.

“You really have fallen in love, haven’t you, Tezer?”

“Yes, Uncle.”

Leandro nodded, still tightly holding my hand.

“Otherwise, would I have called you here to talk about getting engaged?”

“Well, Miss Tekins is quite a beauty, I’ll give you that.”

“She’s more than that.”

Leandro turned his gaze back to me, gently brushing my hair behind my ear.

“I was afraid another man would snatch her away, so I brought her to my mansion.”

Please, just stop!

‘At this rate, I’ll die!’

“I’m sorry!”

I jumped to my feet. Was there a second heart in my ear?

My whole body was pounding.

“Sorry, just, I— I need to use the restroom.”

Honestly, I wanted to say I just needed to go breathe.

But that would be weird, so I offered the most normal excuse and hurried out of the drawing room.

‘The Duke must be crazy!’

As soon as I shut the door, I gasped and screamed internally.

I knew I had to play along with the setup that he had fallen in love with me at first sight and brought me to his mansion.

But this level of acting?!

I thought he’d just say stiffly, “I brought her here because I’m in love,” and leave it at that!

But holding hands, touching cheeks, stroking earlobes, saying my name—

‘Isn’t this out of character?!’

Leandro is supposed to be someone who lost the ability to feel emotions!

So why…

I clutched my pounding chest. Even without looking in a mirror, I could feel my face burning.

This won’t do.

I need to cool down a bit before I go back in.

I wandered the hallway, waiting for my cheeks to stop burning red.

“Lady Tekins.”

The drawing room door opened, and Count Preston stepped out.

“Count.”

I gave him a polite nod. I wanted to run up and kick him, but I restrained myself for now.

“Sorry for showing such an unseemly display…”

“No, no. It’s quite all right.”

He waved his hand with a chuckle.

“In fact, I was pleased to see it.”

But his eyes, unlike his smiling lips, gleamed with danger.

“As you know, my nephew has been on the battlefield for a long time. I thought he didn’t even know how to be around women.”

“…”

“In all that time, he never once brought a woman to his tent. I thought the boy had gone mad in the head.”

Wow. That killed the mood fast. Should I say thanks?

I gave Preston a cold stare.

“But Lady Tekins,” he said, finally getting to the point.

“May I hear what you were going to say earlier?”

He was still smiling warmly, but the air was getting tense.

“If I’m right, it had to do with the Viscount Tekins?”

“Ah, well, that is…”

I purposely hesitated. It was frustrating, but the Ermia Tekins Preston knew would behave like this.

‘Preston knows me better than anyone.’

Wasn’t he one of the people who sold me out with Jeff?

If I acted too confidently or spoke too boldly, he’d get suspicious.

‘It’s better if he lets his guard down, thinking I’m just a pushover.’

“Well…”

“Child.”

Impatient, Preston reached out first.

“I know what you went through in the Tekins household.”

He held my hand tightly.

“I couldn’t help you back then, but now that you’re part of our family, I can. Please, let me help.”

“…”

“Yes?”

I gave a slow nod, then forced myself to speak, putting on a face of fragile courage.

“Do you know about Fool’s Gold?”

“Fool’s Gold?”

“Yes, it’s an ore that looks exactly like gold—but it’s not.”

I’ll admit it.

Jeff Tekins, that bastard of a half-brother, was talented in fraud.

But that didn’t mean he was immune to being conned himself.

“A while back, my brother was scammed. He was furious because the coins he bought were made of Fool’s Gold.”

In other words, he had been tricked into buying fake coins.

“He was enraged and, after some thought…”

I glanced at Preston, then continued.

“He decided to get revenge by sending fake coins to people he had been doing business with.”

Preston’s face hardened at my words. He gave a stiff smile.

“Do you happen to remember when that was?”

“Hmm, maybe around this time… three years ago?”

“…!”

Preston’s body began to tremble slightly.

Whether it was shock or anger, the timeline clearly matched up.

‘As expected.’

I held back a grin.

‘I didn’t take Milton’s ledger for nothing.’

The best lies are mixed with truth.

On a hunch, I had rummaged through Milton’s ledger all night.

And though it mostly contained evidence of his embezzlement, not a single direct note about Preston—

There was one line.

Just one, scribbled like a doodle. Enough to confirm a deal took place three years ago.

That was all I needed.

‘The date is perfect.’

I had gone to jail because of Milton after the deal between Jeff and Preston.

They had already built some trust with earlier transactions.

After a few frauds, Preston even roped in his underling, Milton.

‘You’ve got a lot to lose, don’t you?’

I smiled at Preston, who was now frantically calculating something behind his eyes.

‘This is no time to sit around.’

Come on. Move.