TDFL 05

Chapter 05

I gave a brief reply and took my seat. The staff immediately began setting out tea and desserts.

Louis also finished organizing the documents he had been reading and handed them to an attendant.

“I seemed to recall hearing that you like the tarts here, so I invited you. I hope they meet your expectations.”

“Thank you for your thoughtfulness.”

His memory was truly extraordinary.

It wasn’t even something I’d told him directly. He must have heard it through his older brother.

“Have you given it some thought?”

Watching Louis urge me for an answer with a gentle smile, I absentmindedly traced the rim of my teacup.

The reason Louis had proposed to me.

And my answer.

“I’ll accept your proposal. However, I have one condition.”

I held out the letter Louis had sent me.

At the bottom was a short poem.

“The bitter winter passes, and a radiant morning arrives.

In the blooming spring, we shall meet there.”

It was only two lines.

But anyone who knew what the poem truly meant would be horrified.

It was a poem written by a revolutionary who sought to overthrow the tyrannical Emperor of the Ancient Empire.

This was the hint Louis had given me.

A roundabout way of telling me why he had proposed.

“If what you want from me is for me to help you take revenge against His Majesty…”

“…”

“…then once your revenge is complete, divorce me. That is my condition.”

“You want a divorce?”

Louis stared at me as though asking for an explanation, so I repeated the excuse I’d already prepared, just as I had with Diego.

“There is already someone I care for.”

“So?”

Louis sounded completely indifferent, as though he couldn’t understand why that mattered.

“I don’t think it’s right to remain married while my heart belongs to someone else.”

“I don’t mind.”

“I do.”

Louis fell silent.

While he considered my words, I picked up my fork and took a bite of the strawberry cake in front of me.

I was so exhausted that I felt like I needed to eat something before my brain would start working again.

“I thought I’d heard you liked the lemon tarts here and never touched the strawberry cake.”

As he pushed the strawberry cake closer to me, Louis added,

“I suppose your tastes have changed.”

Alice loved lemon tarts.

She never ate strawberry cake.

“People change.”

Rather than making excuses, I answered calmly.

“It’s not unusual for your tastes to change as you grow older.”

Just in case, I cut off a piece of the lemon tart with my fork and forced myself to eat it.

The sourness was so sharp it made my tongue ache, but I pretended nothing was wrong.

“I think so too. People change. Their tastes, their thoughts… even their hearts.”

The corners of Louis’s lips curved into a gentle smile.

“So if you happen to fall in love with me before my revenge is over…”

“…”

“…then give up on the divorce.”

“That’s my condition.”

I thought about it for a moment.

No matter how I looked at it, I wasn’t losing anything.

Even if I really did fall in love with him, I could simply pretend I hadn’t and still ask for a divorce.

I had no idea why he was making such a proposal, but there wasn’t any real downside.

Besides, I don’t have another choice.

I nodded in agreement.

“Very well. But I think it would be better if we put it in writing.”

“That won’t be difficult.”

As though he’d been expecting those words, Louis summoned an attendant to prepare a contract.

“Is there anything else you’d like to add? Anything you’d like me to guarantee?”

“No.”

After carefully reading through the document, I shook my head.

The contract Louis had drafted was flawless.

Rustle.

I was checking it one last time before signing when his calm voice reached me.

“I do have one more thing.”

I looked at him questioningly.

Holding his pen, Louis added another line to the contract.

“Both husband and wife shall remain faithful to each other.”

“…”

“In other words, no bringing anyone else into our marriage.”

“I’m rather possessive.”

He apparently meant that neither of us was to take lovers or mistresses.

But with that pleasant smile on his face, it almost sounded like he was teasing me.

“I have no intention of damaging Your Grace’s reputation. Besides, I despise infidelity as well.”

“Ah. I suppose you would.”

Louis smiled knowingly, no doubt thinking of Diego.

I was about to answer when my stomach suddenly churned.

Is it because of the lemon tart?

I’d forced myself to eat something I normally wouldn’t touch, all because I was pretending to be Alice.

Apparently my body wasn’t taking it well.

I tried soothing my stomach with warm tea, but it wasn’t enough.

“I’m sorry, but may I excuse myself for a moment?”

Despite my sudden request, Louis simply instructed an employee to escort me.

Following the attendant, I went to the restroom and threw up everything I’d eaten.

Afterward, I felt much better.

Am I really going to have to keep doing this?

Pretending to be my sister was proving difficult from the very beginning.

“How are you feeling now?”

The moment I returned to my seat, Louis asked.

“I feel much better now. Thank you for your concern.”

He really was perceptive.

I’d tried so hard to act like nothing was wrong, yet it hadn’t fooled him at all.

Come to think of it…

My eyes drifted toward the gloves Louis was wearing.

After hesitating briefly, I finally asked,

“Do those gloves have some special significance? It seems rather warm today, yet you’re still wearing them.”

I wasn’t asking because I truly didn’t know.

I’d simply remembered something from the original story.

“Nothing like that.”

Louis answered without hesitation.

“I just don’t particularly like touching other people.”

“…I see.”

I could easily guess the words he hadn’t said aloud.

Louis didn’t see other people as beings equal to himself.

To him…

Everyone else was nothing more than insects.

Which meant touching another person felt the same as touching a bug.

In the original novel, Louis had once severed a man’s wrist simply because the fool had grabbed his cloak without permission.

So my conclusion wasn’t an exaggeration.

Back then, I’d enjoyed reading that scene because the man had been trying to harm Alice.

Now it wasn’t nearly as satisfying.

It simply meant that if I crossed Louis…

The same thing could happen to me.

Remembering his cruelty, I decided it was better to make things perfectly clear now.

“I won’t touch you without your consent, Your Grace. If you’d like, we can add that to the contract as well.”

“There’s no need.”

Resting his chin elegantly on one hand, Louis smiled.

“After all, Miss Leonia is going to be my wife.”

“All the more reason to be careful when people are close.”

We weren’t actually close at all.

If I believed those words and ended up getting stabbed later, I’d be the only one suffering for it.

When I insisted, Louis merely nodded as though indulging me.

“Very well. Then we’ll add what you just said to the final section of the contract—”

At that moment, a shadow fell across the table.

I looked up, wondering if Louis had called another attendant.

“Leonia?”

“…Alice?”

Standing there…

Was the real person Louis had been searching for.

Alice.

“…Alice, what are you doing here?”

It felt as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over my head.

I’d been certain Louis had rented out the entire third floor.

Had I been wrong?

I hurriedly glanced at Louis’s expression.

Surely he hasn’t recognized her…

Fortunately, after seeing me greet Alice, Louis looked at her for only a brief moment before calmly returning his attention to the contract.

…Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like he recognized her.

Meanwhile, Alice hurriedly explained what had happened.

“The owner told me you were here. I was wandering around the second floor when I spotted your back…”

She trailed off awkwardly with an embarrassed smile.

Apparently she’d realized she’d barged in far too recklessly.

Still, one question remained.

Someone as familiar with the café as Alice would never have been stopped from entering the second floor.

But the stairs leading to the third floor had been guarded by Louis’s knights.

So how had she gotten past them?

“I don’t recall giving anyone permission to let her in.”

Without looking up from the contract, Louis spoke in a detached voice.

“I-I’m not entirely sure either…”

“Sir Rowen. Bring me the knights who were guarding the stairs.”

Seeing Alice’s troubled expression, Louis called for the knights to explain themselves.

“…Our apologies, Your Grace. The two ladies have similar hair colors, so it appears there was a misunderstanding.”

The explanation left me with a strange feeling.

The day I first met Louis, he’d mistaken me for someone else.

And now…

The exact same misunderstanding had happened again.

I glanced at Alice, who seemed lost in thought.

Her pink hair tied neatly into a high ponytail and her ocean-blue eyes looked every bit like those of the heroine of this world.

As if proving that point, everyone present couldn’t help looking at Alice.

Everyone…

Except Louis.

“A misunderstanding… Well, I suppose such things happen.”

Gracefully lifting his teacup, Louis continued,

“I won’t hold anyone accountable for the moment. You may all leave.”

“Th-Thank you, my lord!”

The knights visibly relaxed.

But they’d overlooked something.

Louis had said he wouldn’t hold them accountable for the moment.

He had never said he wouldn’t punish them at all.

They’ll probably be expelled from the knight order before long.

Louis regarded incompetence as a sin.

“I was thoughtless, Your Grace! I saw my younger sister and acted impulsively. Please forgive my rudeness…”

Sensing the strange atmosphere, Alice immediately stepped forward.

“I sincerely apologize. Please show them mercy.”

Only after she hurriedly apologized did Louis finally lift his head.

“Though this introduction comes rather late… I am Alice Bellasi of House Bellasi.”