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Chapter – 16
“Ah, I’m the type who enjoys the process of making a rough gem shine. Since I’m the one who invited Mr. Martinez, I should pay.”
Radius answered with a grin.
“No, this doesn’t seem right. I have money too. I don’t think I should be this indebted to you, Young Master.”
He was truly Minerva’s father. Sincere and disliking being a burden to others.
“Ah, please don’t worry about it. If you and Mother have a good date, that is my joy.”
“Even so…….”
Petto seemed uncomfortable, sighing several times before speaking.
“I truly didn’t expect to go shopping like this today, so I’m short on money. I’ll send you the money separately later.”
“Ah, I told you, that’s not necessary. Hahaha.”
Radius was satisfied just watching Petto. As expected of Minerva’s father, when well-dressed, he was quite handsome.
‘Of course, not as much as my real father. But then again, none of Mother’s lovers surpassed my real father in looks. Well, this is good enough.’
Radius said with a satisfied expression.
“I wish I could have reserved tickets for Minerva’s musical, but she’s currently practicing for her next work. So, I prepared tickets for a musical by other actors.”
“Ah…….”
Radius held out the musical tickets to Petto.
“The restaurant for dinner is near the theater, so I think the date course of dinner followed by the show should work well.”
Petto stared at the tickets Radius handed him for a long time.
“Why are you going this far…….”
“You seem like a really good person, Mr. Martinez, and I think you suit Mother well. I believe only a sincere and upright person like you can be Mother’s partner and make her life happy.”
At Radius’s confident words, Petto was flustered.
“You don’t know me well enough to say that, Young Master.”
“You can tell some things even from a brief meeting. The aura a person gives off through their words and actions, that kind of feeling.”
“Thank you for thinking so highly of me.”
“I have a bit of an eye for people.”
“……I’m a man with little possessions and education compared to Lady Talatha, are you really sure this is okay?”
“Mother was born having everything anyway. She doesn’t expect those things from a lover. What Mother wants from a lover is genuine heart and trust. And you, Mr. Martinez, are a sincere person.”
At Radius’s plain and frank words, Petto stared straight at him.
“……Lady Talatha is a good person without prejudice. And you, Young Master, are also a fine gentleman who takes after her.”
Petto smiled slightly. Somehow, that smile resembled Minerva a little. It was natural for father and daughter to resemble each other.
Radius was in a good mood, as his relationship with Petto seemed to be progressing smoothly.
Soon, Radius and Petto took a carriage and headed towards the townhouse in the capital where his mother was.
Petto wanted to buy flowers first. He insisted, stopping Radius, saying he would at least buy these with his own money.
Truthfully, Radius liked that attitude from Petto too.
‘He’s a man perfectly prepared to become my father.’
As soon as they arrived at Talatha’s residence, Radius got off first and said.
“Ah, thinking about it, Mother might not be perfectly ready yet.”
“Ah. Perhaps barging in suddenly without notice is…….”
“Well, since the date partner is changing from a son to a lover, things might be a bit different. Let me take measures first so Mother can complete her date preparations.”
Radius had Petto follow him and knocked on the door first.
“Young Master. Welcome.”
“Good to see you, Marco. This is Mother’s new lover, Petto Martinez. Mr. Martinez, this is the butler, Marco Jerini.”
“How do you do?”
“Welcome, Mr. Martinez.”
“Where’s Mother?”
“Ah, the Master is in the study.”
“But I understood tonight’s appointment was with you, Young Master.”
“Yes, I didn’t tell her. Mother will be on a date with Mr. Martinez today. Where’s the head maid? Send her to the study. I’ll go talk to Mother first.”
Radius flew to the study, opened the door, and said.
“Mother!”
“Uh, oh?”
Fortunately, Talatha seemed to have finished preparing to go out. It seemed she had dressed up upon hearing they were going to a musical. She was wearing a handsome pantsuit.
“Aren’t you a bit early? Ah, is it because of the travel time to the restaurant?”
“Petto Martinez is downstairs.”
“What?”
Hearing about Petto, Talatha looked at Radius with a surprised face.
“He’s scheduled to have dinner with you and see the musical performance tonight.”
“Don’t joke. That schedule was for you and me.”
“Ah, it’s true. It’s just that the partner changed from son to lover. I brought Mr. Martinez here!”
“What? No, that can’t be…….”
At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and the head maid along with several maids entered.
“We heard the Master has finished preparing to go out, but the date partner has changed.”
“Huh? What? Is Petto really here? No, Petto has no reason to be here……. Why?”
“Probably because he wants to see his lover, why else?”
Radius said with a wide grin.
After confirming that Talatha was choosing jewelry brought by a maid, Radius went downstairs. Seeing Petto sitting blankly on the sofa was almost laughable. Radius sat next to Petto and said.
“If you wait a bit, Mother will be down soon. She was surprised that her date partner changed today.”
“Probably so. Usually, one would contact in advance. I hope my sudden visit wasn’t rude.”
“She probably didn’t have anything else going on anyway, so it’s fine. The afternoon schedule was my appointment.”
Radius looked at Petto, beaming. In Petto’s awkwardness as he looked at the bouquet, a bit of Minerva’s likeness showed.
“This musical is performed by other actors, but if you two build a good relationship, we can go see Minerva’s performance together later.”
“Ah…….”
“Until now, I haven’t had a proper partner to share the appreciation of Minerva’s musicals with, but since you’re her father, I think we’d connect very well if we watched musicals together.”
“Is Minerva that good?”
Petto’s expression softened.
“She’s the best. I believe there is no musical actor better than Wilhelmina Martinez.”
“Are you being nice to me because you need a partner to enjoy Minerva’s performances with?”
At the joking question, Radius laughed loudly and replied.
“Oh dear, am I found out?”
While they were chatting, Talatha soon appeared.
“What’s this, the atmosphere seems nice?”
Although the words sounded prickly, Radius knew that Talatha was actually in a good mood.
When Talatha was happy, she disliked showing her feelings and would grumble like that. But the faint smile at the corner of her mouth was unmistakable.
“What, no word…… I hope Rady hasn’t been rude.”
Now that he looked, Talatha’s outfit had changed to a more elegant feminine dress.
Radius’s mother, Talatha, usually lived her life almost always in her navy uniform. She rarely had occasions to wear what’s commonly called a feminine dress.
The reason was that she never knew when she might be dispatched, so comfortable pants were better.
Furthermore, her consistent argument was that she already had so much that her appearance wasn’t an issue in her social interactions.
But after being discharged due to injury, Talatha stopped wearing her uniform.
She gave the simple reason that she was no longer a soldier, so there was no reason to wear the uniform, but Radius thought she was making that flimsy excuse, perhaps worried that wearing the uniform as a civilian might cause trouble for the navy.
After that, Talatha often wore pantsuits, as long as it wasn’t the uniform. Of course, sometimes with Sophia’s help, she wore feminine dresses, but it was rare.
For such a Talatha to be in a feminine dress? Moreover, she had put more effort into her accessories than usual.
It seemed to Radius like the first time he had seen Talatha put this much effort into her appearance to meet a man.
(The day Talatha first introduced Petto, she had also dressed very beautifully, but Radius had no memory of Talatha’s appearance that day due to Minerva.)
He was a bit confused whether the redness on his mother’s cheeks was from blush or from being happy to see Petto, but Radius was satisfied.
“You two look really good together.”
