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Chapter 35
Poor(?) Berenice (3)
“Nayan Blaze!”
“Who dares call my name… eek!”
Nayan, who had been groping the waist of his provocatively red-haired “lover” and looking forward to spending the evening with her, turned his head at the voice and froze on the spot.
A man was walking toward him with an angry face — a man Nayan could have recognized from far away.
‘I never heard the captain of Wilthiera’s knights was out and about!’ he thought.
He ground his teeth recalling that Marien hadn’t told him this, and forced himself to adopt as calm an expression as possible.
If he could get through this crisis without incident, he planned to find that stupid woman and give her a slap across the face.
The only reason he’d tolerated her silly behavior right in front of him was that she’d been passing on information in a timely way! Now Nayan had no intention of putting up with that useless woman any longer.
“Viscount, did you happen to borrow money from that man?”
The “lover” was just as foolish.
Well — what could you expect from an actress who couldn’t even memorize her lines? If she hadn’t had a sponsor she’d probably be on stage as a half-naked bit player.
Not that he wasn’t satisfied in bed, but aside from her pretty face and body she had nothing of value — Nayan thought she was a thoroughly stupid woman.
“Quiet!” he snapped.
“Are you angry at me?”
The woman folded her hands over her chest and drooped her eyes as if wounded. Nayan ignored her and, pretending nothing was wrong, greeted the man who had come right up to them.
“Sir Walker… it’s been a while.”
His voice shook, and it sounded weak even to his own ears.
But Nayan tried to act brazen.
After all, that man was only a knight employed by the marquis’s house, and Nayan was Blaze’s viscount — the fiancée of the marquis’s daughter. If he could just smooth this over now, he figured it wouldn’t turn into a big problem.
“How dare you!”
But that proved to be wishful thinking.
Like an enraged bull, the man charged forward and grabbed him by the collar.
Nayan clutched at Louis’s wrist pitifully, rose onto his toes and squirmed, trying whatever he could to calm him down.
“Si-Sir Walker! J-just a moment… kuh… just hear me out…!”
“Shut up!”
Louis’s voice hit like thunder; Nayan froze.
His legs went numb and his whole body trembled.
Luckily, more and more people were turning to watch, so he didn’t think his neck would be twisted off right here and then… but still—
“Damn, what kind of strength is this…!”
Is this what it feels like to have your throat choked? Whether people were watching or not, he thought for a moment that he might die on the spot.
“Sir Walker, please let him go now.”
“Miss!”
“Don’t let that sort of man sully Sir Walker’s honor.”
A voice as gentle as an angel’s came to his rescue.
Nayan, who’d been balancing on tiptoe, sagged when Louis let go of his collar, and collapsed to the ground in an embarrassing heap, coughing.
It felt like dying and coming back to life.
When he looked up with that thought, he met a cold stare that took his breath away for another reason.
“Be-Berenice?”
It was his fiancée — Berenice Wilthiera, the most beloved daughter of the Wilthiera marquis house.
‘Why wasn’t I told!’
Nayan thought. On days when he had plans with his “lover,” he’d made a point of checking Berenice’s movements. If anyone discovered he had another “lover” while they were engaged, it would be embarrassing — for him.
Well, once they were married and she was no longer the marquis’s daughter but Viscountess Blaze, things might change. For now, though, he needed to be careful.
‘She takes my money and doesn’t do the job properly, huh?’
Gritting his teeth at the thought of Marien, Nayan forced a smile toward Berenice, who watched him impassively.
She didn’t look very angry, so if he could sweet-talk his naive fiancée a little, he could smooth things over and maybe even teach that arrogant captain a lesson.
“Berenice, I think there’s been a misunderstanding a little while ago.”
“A misunderstanding?”
“Yes, yes. I was merely moving about with an actress I sponsor to pick out costumes for the next play, but for some reason Sir Walker misunderstood and grabbed my collar.”
“…….”
Thinking his ‘persuasion’ was working, Nayan smiled brightly and continued.
“I know Sir Walker is loyal to the marquis’s house… but I am Berenice’s fiancé — Nayan Blaze, Viscount.”
“And…?”
“So, if he apologizes to me for his rudeness here, I won’t lodge a complaint with the marquis’s house.”
Not a bad show of magnanimity, he thought genuinely.
A mere knight had the nerve to grab the collar of the man who would one day inherit a countship.
If the man refused to apologize, Nayan planned to actually lodge a complaint with the marquis’s house and see Sir Walker made a fool of — he was happy at the thought — but Berenice’s look made his face fall.
“Berenice?”
“Why should Sir Walker apologize to the Viscount?”
“Didn’t you hear me? A misunderstanding—”
“You say Sir Walker ‘misunderstood’ and thus grabbed your collar? And you expect him to apologize for that?”
“Berenice, your tone is—”
Only then did Nayan really take her in. He’d heard her hair had gone a little gray, but there was something about her mood that felt different from usual.
“Caught on a date with another woman and yet acting overly confident,” she said.
Her changed attitude was what struck him most.
He’d thought she was modest and naive — someone who’d put up with whatever he did once they were married — but what was this sharp, cold look in her eyes?
“Another woman? What nonsense is that! She’s just an actress I sponsor! If you’d listen to Miss Lizzy—!”
“That Lizzy seems to have realized the situation and fled,” Berenice said.
Nayan, who’d been motioning for the actress to stick to his story, turned his gaze to where the “lover” had just been standing. But the red-haired actress he’d spent years and money on was gone, just as Berenice had said.
‘After all I poured into her, she runs off leaving me?’
Recalling the money and time he’d spent, Nayan clenched his teeth in betrayal. He hadn’t even had time to compose his angry face before turning back to Berenice.
“Since the Viscount looks aggrieved, we should hear that woman’s side too. Sir Walker, fetch her.”
“But Miss—”
“With so many eyes watching, he won’t be able to do anything to me.”
At Berenice’s words, Nayan finally glanced around and flinched at the countless people staring at him and Berenice.
“Did Viscount Blaze really cheat?”
“I did see him wrapping his arm around a woman earlier…”
“The Marquess’s daughter wouldn’t lie about something like this. It must be true.”
“I heard a rumor, actually…”
As whispers swirled around him, Nayan ground his teeth. To be humiliated over something so trivial!
His anger turned toward Berenice.
Just as he decided he couldn’t let this insolent fiancée have things her way, something escaped her that should never have left her mouth.
“I don’t think I can continue our engagement with someone who so readily lies even about things you can plainly see.”
“…What are you saying?”
“I mean I will reconsider our betrothal.”
“You mean you’re going to break it off?”
“I could.”
“Berenice!”
“I am far too precious to spend my remaining years with a shameless, brazen man.”
They weren’t even married yet — was it a crime to have his arm around another woman? They hadn’t been caught rolling in bed; was this really grounds for calling the engagement off?
Heat rose in Nayan’s head. He grabbed Berenice’s wrist tightly, determined not to let that insolent fiancée get away with it. Pushing past a maid who stepped between them was nothing.
“Say that over something this trivial? Break our engagement? Who do you think you are!”
“Let go!”
“If you don’t like another woman being next to me, say so honestly. Don’t start spouting nonsense about canceling our betrothal!”
As a furious Nayan tugged at Berenice to warn her again, a man in a worn robe with his hood pulled low stepped up, grabbed Nayan’s hand that was holding Berenice, and gripped it hard.
“If it’s clearly your fault, I might be able to break it off for you.”
“Who are you? How dare you stop what Viscount Blaze intends without permission?”
As Nayan seethed and glared as if ready to kill him, the man laughed softly and pulled off his hood.
