Chapter 14:

A few days later, in the evening, Leon Voltane came to visit.

He had the expression of a disobedient puppy.

I glanced behind the man’s large shadow at the door, then finally asked what I wanted to know.

“Where is Lucian?”

“I didn’t bring him.”

“Why?”

“Because it seemed like you’re only interested in the child.”

“That is ridiculous!”

“Want to know what’s really ridiculous?”

The man casually walked into the house without waiting to be invited.

“Those Chastang pearls.”

“……”

I immediately shut my mouth.

The fact that Countess Chastang had given me pearl jewelry had become a huge topic of conversation, together with the rumors about Leon’s illegitimate child.

Every day, an enormous number of invitations arrived at my house.

I almost screamed whenever I saw them.

Later, I discovered that the pearls Countess Chastang had given me were not ordinary pearls.

They were rare treasures that could only be collected in very small amounts from rare magical beasts. They were even named after the Chastang family, who had discovered them.

Leon didn’t seem to care whether I knew this or not.

He tilted his lips into a crooked smile.

“I heard you came back wearing the Chastang pearls instead of the jewelry I gave you.”

Leon slowly approached me.

His cold hand brushed the back of my neck.

“Who were you wearing them for?”

“How could I refuse Countess Chastang’s gift right there?”

“Are you afraid of her?”

“Yes!”

“What about me?”

His large body suddenly came closer.

His unbelievably beautiful face looked down at me.

His deep blue eyes were like dark water reflecting light.

I had once spent a very long time looking into those eyes.

I almost got lost in my thoughts.

But then I gritted my teeth.

I suddenly headbutted him directly in the chin.

“……!”

“Don’t try to threaten me!”

Leon stepped back, holding his chin.

One eyebrow slowly rose.

“So you’re saying I can use force?”

His voice sounded playful, but my back suddenly became cold with sweat.

Damn it.

I’d gotten too comfortable around him.

I’d forgotten that he was the crazy man from the Magic Tower!

“I-I didn’t say that…”

“Okay.”

He smiled and bent down.

He gave me a quick kiss on the lips before pulling away.

“Look forward to it.”

My face turned bright red.

I covered my lips with my hand.

Only when Leon was leaving our house did I finally manage to call after him.

“L-Look forward to what?!”

He didn’t even turn around.

He simply waved one hand in the air and calmly walked through the garden before getting into his carriage.

It looked like an ordinary carriage with no Voltane family symbol on it.

Rita opened a box covered in black silk and screamed.

“M-My lady! This is a tiara set!”

“A tiara… what?”

“A tiara set!”

“It has a tiara, necklace, earrings, bracelet, and brooch all together!”

“Oh my goodness! I feel like I’m going to faint!”

The color drained from my face as I held a pen, preparing to record the contents of the box.

Rita didn’t care about my expression.

She ran toward me with the tiara in her hands.

She almost tripped, then quickly regained her balance.

Her excitement was obvious.

She held the tiara against my hair and murmured dreamily,

“The deep blue sapphire matches you perfectly!”

“Uuugh. If you stand next to the Duke wearing these, it will look as if the Duke’s colors have been transferred to you!”

“How romantic!”

“I see…”

I answered weakly while writing down the details.

Tiara.

A design containing sapphires, diamonds, and peridots.

A matching necklace, earrings, bracelet, brooch, and belt.

Why was I making a list like this?

“Ma’am. A carriage from the Duke’s estate has arrived.”

“Again?”

“It brought flowers and… one dress.”

I grabbed my hair in frustration.

This was the list of gifts Leon had been sending me like a madman.

Syril approached and reported calmly.

“There’s one problem. The carriage has already arrived.”

“What about my reply to his letter?”

“There was no letter.”

“Then I need to send him another letter!”

“Send the Duke’s carriage back immediately. Send all the gifts back with it!”

“The thing is… they have already unloaded all the boxes and left.”

“Aaaah! Leon Voltane, that man!”

If I had known that this was going to be his declaration of war, I would never have let him leave so easily that day.

I quickly wrote another letter.

I had already written several like this.

Please stop doing this and just talk to me.

I looked at what I’d written for a moment, then added a few more words.

I miss you. Kiss kiss.

I dried the pretty letter written in gold ink and handed it to Syril.

“Send this to the Duke’s estate immediately!”

“And from today onward, whenever a carriage from the Duke’s estate arrives, don’t let them unload any gifts!”

“But… we don’t have the authority to stop the Duke from doing that.”

“It’s not an order. They’re gifts. We can refuse them.”

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

Syril looked at me seriously.

Her eyes seemed to say:

Won’t he get even more upset?

I pounded my chest and nodded.

“Then tell him this. I want a reply more than gifts.”

“Tell him I won’t accept any more presents unless he sends a letter with them!”

“Even he should listen to that much.”

“Understood. I’ll tell him immediately.”

Syril immediately left for the Voltane estate.

I collapsed onto the sofa.

My plan to live a quiet life had been completely destroyed.

Leon Voltane had started acting crazy.

For the entire past week, he hadn’t shown his face even once.

Instead, he sent four carriages every day.

The carriages were black and extremely noticeable.

The Voltane dragon emblem was displayed proudly on them.

And, most importantly, they were filled with so many flowers and gift boxes that it looked like the windows might burst.

Yes.

He did this four times a day.

For an entire week.

The Duke of Voltane had visited a dress shop with a child while shopping for women’s clothes.

Then the unmarried young lady was suddenly receiving countless gifts from the Duke of Voltane.

No noble in the capital could misunderstand what those things meant.

That was why the invitations pouring into my house suddenly stopped.

I remembered Leon’s beautiful face as he smiled and said,

“Look forward to it.”

My blood pressure rose again.

I’d thought he meant he would physically fight me.

I never imagined this was what he meant by “using force.”

Why was he so angry that I had returned wearing Countess Chastang’s jewelry instead of his?

“My lady, don’t look so depressed!”

Rita pointed toward the mountains of boxes in my study.

“Look! They’re all jewelry!”

I immediately stood up.

My eyes fell on the jewelry list lying across the desk.

“That’s right.”

A yellow diamond necklace.

A brooch decorated with leaf-shaped peridots and rose-shaped rubies.

A large sapphire ring carved so that it looked like a star was trapped inside it.

“Jewelry is still jewelry!”

I clenched my fists.

“Even if he asks for it back later, I’m never returning it!”

“Exactly, my lady! That’s the spirit!”

“Rita, organize all the boxes.”

“I need a special safe that can be protected with magic, so call a merchant who can make one.”

“My lady! You’re amazing!”

I couldn’t just sit around if I wanted to keep my sanity.

I helped Rita organize the boxes.

There were so many that I couldn’t even complain anymore.

I’ve never seen anyone make another person suffer in such a strange way.

I could only admire Leon Voltane.

While carefully comparing the boxes with the records and wondering how much money I could make if I sold everything, I heard Syril’s voice again.

“My lady, a carriage from a count’s estate has arrived.”

“Send it back… Wait. It’s not from the Voltane estate?”

“No.”

“It is from the Chastang estate…”

For some reason, Syril’s normally emotionless face looked slightly tense.

“The second son of the Chastang family has come to visit.”

“Dominique Chastang.”

“The young master, Dominique Chastang.”

The bundle of records slipped from my hands.

The papers covered with drawings of jewelry scattered across the floor.

Dominique Chastang.

Countess Chastang’s second son.

I froze.

Why is he here?