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Chapter 05………………………………………….
“Didn’t you say you would pay for it yourself?”
Jerdan looked at Rubelia with a slightly dumbfounded expression.
“I am paying. It’s just that the money currently belongs to His Grace the Grand Duke.”
Even Rubelia, who had spoken up this time, looked a little embarrassed and averted her eyes awkwardly.
She added a small excuse: in any case, I’m the one who placed the order.
“There’s no way the marquis would be stingy enough to not even give his precious daughter pocket money.”
“He did, of course. I just lost that purse yesterday… I threw it at a dangerous kid while saving someone, so it ended up being my purse.”
At Rubelia’s words, Jerdan fell silent.
“So!”
With a look that said I’m completely justified, Rubelia looked back at him.
“How much do you need?”
“Everything you have, for now?”
“……”
Jerdan was momentarily speechless. In all his life, this was the first time he had encountered a noble lady in a situation where he couldn’t tell whether he was lending her money or being shaken down.
Sensing the silence, Rubelia flinched slightly.
“Well… I don’t really know how much it is, so…”
She forced an awkward smile and carefully gauged his reaction.
“How much is it?”
Jerdan asked the café staff, thinking she looked like a squirrel desperately trying to sneak off with acorns.
“I’ve never thought squirrels were particularly cute, either.”
He wasn’t sure whether it was due to the freshness of the situation or the strange sense of familiarity he felt toward her.
“Its silver coins two.”
At the staff’s answer, Jerdan looked slightly incredulous.
Not because the amount was large. The Grand Ducal household had more money than it knew what to do with; two silver coins were nothing more than dust floating in the air.
But that was from the perspective of the ducal household. For a normal tea house, two silver coins was not a trivial amount.
Generally, 100 copper coins equaled one silver coin. A cup of tea cost about 10–15 copper coins, and even desserts were around 20–30.
“What on earth did you order?”
Hearing his murmur, the café staff carefully showed him the order list.
Jerdan was impressed when he saw it.
They’re going to eat all of this?
There were only two teas, but an enormous amount of desserts. If they really ordered all that, two silver coins made sense.
“Can you even eat all of this?”
Looking at Rubelia’s small frame, Jerdan frowned.
“With His Grace the Grand Duke, it’s no problem at all.”
Rubelia replied confidently, as if she would never order something just for herself.
Hearing that, Jerdan silently paid, still looking unconvinced.
Soon, Rubelia and Jerdan sat down at a suitable spot near the window, and after a while the staff brought their tea and desserts.
Even from the order list it had seemed like a lot—but seeing it in person was even more overwhelming.
“I’ll definitely pay you back for what I borrowed today.”
Rubelia said, gazing affectionately at the delicious desserts on the table.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“No, I will. Money between people should always be handled clearly.”
Above all, hadn’t they decided to be friends?
So financial matters had to be clear.
She had seen too many friendships ruined over money in her life to treat it lightly.
“It’s not like I lack money.”
“That’s not the point. This is about trust.”
Rubelia said firmly with a very serious expression.
“Trust?”
“Yes. No matter how small the amount, if you don’t repay it, you’re betraying the trust of the person who lent it to you.”
At her words, Jerdan looked a little surprised. He hadn’t expected such an answer from her, since she usually said strange things.
“…I didn’t lend it to you because I trust you.”
I don’t trust anyone to begin with.
Jerdan thought this with a faint sneer.
“Still, you wouldn’t just lend money to anyone, right?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
Jerdan looked at her as if it were ridiculous.
He wasn’t a charity worker, after all.
And no one would casually ask him to lend money anyway—they all knew how he would react.
“So it still means you trusted me in your own way. I’m not just anyone.”
At her words, Jerdan quietly looked at her.
It was strange—having this kind of conversation about trust with someone he had just met yesterday. It was awkward and unfamiliar, yet not unpleasant.
“Which is why I will definitely repay it.”
“I don’t trust people.”
The only person he trusted was his uncle—and even that trust was not absolute.
Given his life, it couldn’t be otherwise. After losing his parents and becoming Grand Duke at a young age, Jerdan had been surrounded by predators who constantly sought to devour him.
A moment of carelessness became a fatal dagger.
Everyone who approached him had an agenda.
Even the one person he trusted before his uncle had not been on his side in the end.
“Don’t worry. I’m Rubelia.”
She smiled brightly and spoke confidently.
There was no particular reason for her confidence. She simply believed she would never harm or use him, so there was no reason for him not to trust her.
“Don’t be so sure of yourself.”
Jerdan said in a slightly cold voice, though he himself didn’t know why he had started talking about something like this.
“I’m really a good person. A really good person. I just don’t know how to prove it. You’ll understand once we meet more often.”
Rubelia smiled brightly.
“Strange confidence.”
“Confidence is half of life, you know. And I’m especially confident when it comes to honesty and trust.”
She said it proudly.
She had never once tried to deceive or use anyone in her difficult life.
If anything, she was too honest.
Even if becoming friends with Jerdan was a forced decision for survival, she had no intention of treating him without sincerity.
She didn’t want a fake friendship.
Even if it was the villain in the original story she had to befriend, it didn’t feel as uncomfortable as she had expected.
Unlike the terrifying image she had of the Grand Duke in the original story, the real Jerdan seemed surprisingly ordinary and calm. Not as bad as she had imagined.
“…I see.”
Looking into Rubelia’s clear, honest eyes, Jerdan found himself thinking that maybe—just maybe—he could trust her.
That those eyes could not be faked.
But he brushed the thought aside.
“Of course.”
Rubelia nodded in satisfaction.
“Now, since I’m treating you, please enjoy.”
Feeling they had talked too much instead of eating, she eagerly turned her sparkling gaze toward the desserts.
“…I’m the one who paid.”
“It’s borrowed money, I told you. I’ll even pay interest.”
Rubelia said, glaring playfully.
Jerdan let out a small laugh without realizing it.
“Then I’ll enjoy it.”
The sweet scent tickled his nose, and Rubelia already felt a smile forming as she picked up a dessert enthusiastically.
Ah, this really is happiness.
If you eat this, even the worst villain in the world would see the light and turn over a new leaf.
She was quite proud of her decision.
But then she looked at Jerdan’s face and hesitated.
“Your Grace, are you sick?”
“…What is this…”
He had taken a bite, only to immediately regret it.
The overwhelming sweetness filled his mouth so intensely that he felt dizzy.
He had always hated sweet things.
This level of sweetness was the worst he had ever experienced in his life.
“Oh, are you reacting because it’s too good?”
Rubelia, misunderstanding him completely, asked brightly.
“Is this… supposed to be good?”
“It’s the best taste in the world!”
“I’ll give you that.”
Because if something even sweeter than this existed, he would want to burn the entire dessert shop down.
Jerdan said through clenched teeth.
For someone who rarely expressed emotion, it was rare for him to feel anger from something like this.
“Here, try this one too.”
Rubelia handed him another piece, even though she wanted to eat it all herself after one bite.
“…You want me to eat that?”
Jerdan looked at it with reluctance. It looked even sweeter than the last one.
He hesitated.
Maybe she really was an assassin sent to kill him after all.
Eating that might kill him from sweetness alone.
“…I’ll yield this one to you.”
Meaning: I absolutely cannot eat it.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“So I get to eat it all?”
“If you would, I would be very grateful.”
He looked at the dessert like it was poison he could never consume.
Rubelia, on the other hand, looked deeply moved.
This precious thing… this delicious thing…
Maybe Jerdan had chosen her as a friend from the very beginning.
Just as she had tried to treat him to delicious food to become friends, perhaps he too was trying to become friends by giving up such delicious things for her.
She clasped her hands and looked at him with shining eyes, like a fanatical devotee gazing upon a god.
Jerdan flinched under her gaze.
And then her expression suddenly stiffened.
Through the window, she saw the last person she wanted to see—Hasedian.
No, why here of all places!
He should’ve been out collecting stones or something!
Thinking she absolutely could not meet Hasedian after finally escaping the marquis’s estate, Rubelia decisively ducked under the table without hesitation.
