🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 47
“No matter how much of a thorn in your side I’ve been, I must admit this treatment is a bit overwhelming, Young Viscount.”
“……”
“Oh, of course, being invited to the Sarkis Ducal Residence is an incomparable honor, though.”
Cassian could have bet all his fortune that Arsen never thought that way.
“Then why do I have to keep second-guessing myself while showing kindness?”
He didn’t understand why everyone was making such a fuss just because he was offering luxurious hospitality to his fiancée’s childhood friend.
It felt suffocating and frustrating. Cassian roughly loosened the cravat that had been choking his neck.
He might have felt a little dizzy.
“Let’s depart.”
Just as he was about to command the coachman and step into the carriage,
“Wait!”
“Stop!”
Damia grabbed the hem of his coat at the exact moment Cassian shouted, an almost instinctive reaction as if she had been waiting for it.
“…Why?”
Embarrassed that his feelings showed too clearly, Cassian deliberately answered nonchalantly.
Damia’s gaze remained fixed on his face, as if she were lost in deep thought.
“Why… I mean, is there a reason?”
She stammered unconsciously.
“After coming all this way, you’re really leaving so soon?”
Damia tugged on Cassian’s arm in disappointment.
He could have easily shrugged her off, but he found himself helplessly pulled along.
Damia wrapped her arms around him. At the warmth of her body, Cassian instinctively stiffened.
He didn’t even need to see it to know that his cheeks had flushed crimson.
“Your complexion suddenly looks awful. Give me your hands right away.”
“You…”
“You’re taking your medicine properly, right?”
Damia whispered into his ear.
It didn’t seem like she was sad to part with him so much as concerned about his physical condition.
“Take off your gloves quickly too.”
Though he felt a little frustrated, he couldn’t show it.
Cassian silently removed his gloves. As her warm hands touched his, his chest fluttered.
“Damia?”
From behind, that infuriating brat called her name in disbelief. His voice trembled slightly.
It was strangely satisfying, and the fiery anger that had boiled inside him began to calm. Cassian smirked.
“You like me way too much. We’ll see each other soon anyway, and yet you act like parting is some great tragedy.”
Cassian lifted his chin proudly, an expression soaked in victory.
Holding her hand gave him immense satisfaction and confidence.
“Hmph, hmph.”
Oblivious Arsen cleared his throat. His presence behind them felt unbearably piercing.
A childish thrill crept up from his toes. He was overjoyed.
He had to consciously restrain himself from bursting into loud laughter.
“Young Viscount, now let go.”
“……”
“I think this is plenty.”
Damia wiggled her hand.
Even though he knew he had to let go, his body refused to move. He wanted to savor this moment a little longer.
“Young Viscount! W-we’ll see each other again soon, right?”
Damia suddenly shouted, breaking her whisper.
Startled, Cassian released his grip, and Damia quickly stepped back.
“Then, Damia. Your father will be here soon, so it’s just for a little while that I’ll be taking care of the Young Viscount.”
Arsen replied casually, as if Damia had directed the question at him.
“Wait just a moment. We’ll meet again soon. Now, driver, shall we depart?”
Even speaking politely, he urged the coachman forward.
“Now, Young Viscount, come inside quickly.”
He guided Cassian inside and even closed the door himself.
“We’ll meet soon, Damia.”
And he gave a greeting to his fiancée on her behalf.
“You…!”
It wasn’t until the carriage departed that he fully snapped back to reality.
“I’m a bit tired from the time difference, Young Viscount. I’ll rest my eyes for a moment.”
Between Bellotea and Rodion, there was no such thing as a time difference.
“What are you talking about?”
Arsen was already leaning against the window with his eyes tightly shut.
He didn’t look so much tired as trying to hide the surge of anger rising within him.
“Do as you please.”
The moment Cassian noticed that, he felt an even greater sense of relief.
He answered with remarkable generosity.
Since he had brought a stranger straight into the Ducal Residence, he had fully anticipated his mother’s opposition.
Still, he couldn’t help feeling nervous. Cassian idly looked around Elena’s reception room.
“A childhood friend of the young lady, huh.”
Cassian bit his lip lightly.
Elena sat elegantly at the tea table. Her icy gaze made Cassian straighten his back instinctively.
“Yes. I brought him along first to prevent unnecessary rumors.”
Elena tapped the table lightly with her nails—a habit she had when she needed to think carefully.
“Of course, the two of them are truly just friends, and the Fonti Lord also said he may stay at the residence.”
“Then why did you bring him personally?”
“I stepped in because I care for my fiancée.”
“So… it was jealousy, then.”
It wasn’t that at all. He was merely acting rationally to fulfill his responsibility as Damia’s protector, seeing her almost like a younger sister.
“…I see.”
Of course, Cassian wasn’t foolish enough to honestly relay all of his thoughts to his mother.
“I apologize, Mother. I acted without consulting you.”
“No, you did well.”
“…Did I?”
“He’s quite a handsome boy. Polite too.”
Elena pressed her temples as if she had a headache.
“He’s the young lady’s one and only friend?”
“Yes.”
A deep sigh escaped her lips.
“His father is a successful businessman in Rodion, right? Runs a trading company?”
“Yes. He plans to open a branch in the Empire this winter and has already scouted locations.”
“Even though it’s still summer, he came early. And it seems the son didn’t really need to come at all.”
“He hurriedly came to celebrate Damia’s birthday.”
“Ah, so the young lady has a particular fondness for Rodion.”
Cassian clenched his fist lightly. Damia always gushed about her childhood friend who had moved to Rodion and had a habit of liking anything from there.
Was she planning to leave for Rodion with Arsen after he died?
Even thinking about it sent chills through his entire body.
‘No, Damia likes me too much for that.’
Cassian forcibly shook off the thought.
“He’s surprisingly delicate for a boy. Polite and gentle in speech.”
Although Elena’s words were praise, her expression was icy cold.
“How do you want to get rid of him?”
“…Pardon?”
Cassian briefly doubted his ears. It wasn’t the sort of thing one expected from his always graceful mother.
“From what I see, it looks like he’ll be staying in the Empire for a while, even after things settle down.”
Cassian had the same thought about Arsen.
“He shows no signs of being intimidated, even though you’re his fiancée and the Young Viscount. Usually, that means he wants something he can’t simply yield.”
“I agree with you.”
“That rascal clearly seems to harbor ill intentions toward the young lady.”
Seeing it through Elena’s eyes made his mouth dry.
“Should we treat him as an unwelcome guest?”
“Pardon? I brought him myself.”
“Or should we claim he’s rude and throw him out?”
“Regrettably, his manners are impeccable.”
Elena sighed in frustration.
“Then shall we just overwhelm him with status?”
Even saying it, Elena looked slightly affronted herself—but she seemed confident it would work.
“It won’t work if they move to Rodion.”
Elena picked up her glass, apparently parched.
“We need to find a way, Cassian. We can’t just sit by and let the young lady be taken.”
Her imagination ran wild, but Cassian had no words to stop her.
In fact, his feelings were no different. Deep down, he felt exactly the same way.
