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chapter 52
Was what happened yesterday a mistake? With the rain falling and my emotions stirred, I actually told Sian that I wanted to kiss him. Thinking about it now, it was incredibly embarrassing.
I wondered if Sian would come today, and tried to hide my racing heart while focusing on work.
“Miss Lynette, your face is red. Do you have a cold?”
“Huh? No, it’s not that. I just feel a little warm. Don’t worry about me. Washing my face with cold water will make me feel better.”
Seeing Angela worry about her, Lynette shook her head and reassured her.
After the busy lunch period, Lynette’s heart beat even faster. Sian would arrive any moment. While taking deep breaths and playing with a chubby Cheese, the bell rang.
Lynette froze instantly, unable to turn around. It had to be Sian. Was what happened yesterday really a mistake? Lost in thought, Angela smiled brightly and spoke.
“Welcome. How can I help you?”
“I need a latte made by our Lynette.”
At the familiar voice, Lynette finally stood up. Casper, whose red hair seemed slightly longer, smiled at her.
“Do you know him?”
“Yes. He’s my cousin.”
“Oh! Ah, hello. I’m Lynette’s employee.”
Angela understood why he spoke so familiarly to Lynette and bowed politely.
“Hello. Our Lynette isn’t mean, right? She’s too kind to ever do anything bad to anyone.”
“Yes! Our boss is amazing. Hehe, I really respect her.”
Lynette blushed, but for a different reason than usual.
“Ahem, Angela! Cheese is getting plump, so take him outside to play for a while. At this rate, I won’t even be able to carry him around.”
“Okay! I’ll play with Cheese, so you can talk comfortably with your cousin.”
Angela, carrying the noticeably heavier Cheese, left the room discreetly.
“What brings you here?”
“Why, to see our Lynette, of course.”
Casper, who never frowned when looking at her, smiled broadly. Seeing his grin, Lynette made a beautiful flower in the latte.
“Oh? What’s this? My goodness, a flower in the coffee. And it’s the emblem of our family too!”
The Florence family emblem was a daisy. Casper, holding the latte with a fresh white daisy in it, was astonished.
“I made it especially for you.”
“See, I told you Lynette’s the best. It’s too pretty to drink.”
Casper gazed at the latte with the daisy design, smiling.
When he first heard from Edgar that Lynette had run away and opened a shop, he had been shocked. She had no experience in the working world, yet she opened a café.
He was so surprised that he told his father. He waited a few days before visiting, worried that Edgar might scold him if he went immediately. At that time, the café was quiet, but now it was famous even among the knights.
Seeing Lynette captivate the people of Indigo with her café, Casper felt proud of his sister. Running a shop as a woman must have been difficult. She overcame prejudice and discrimination to succeed. Casper felt a weight on his shoulders too.
“Drink it quickly. It’ll taste bad when it cools.”
“No, anything Lynette makes is delicious, hot or cold. By the way, isn’t Edgar coming?”
“He came twice. Once when the shop opened, and then with his friends. But one of his friends…”
As Lynette told the story, Casper’s smile disappeared.
Two years ago, Edgar had gone crazy and hit Andrew. He tried to stop him, but Edgar’s eyes were completely wild. Casper had asked one of the bystanders why, but they just shook their head.
Apparently, something like that had happened. How dare he treat precious Lynette like that! Edgar apparently took care of it quietly when Lynette wasn’t around.
“You must have been shocked, Lynette. But don’t worry. Edgar nearly killed that guy. I tried to stop him, but couldn’t.”
“Edgar did that? That’s impossible.”
“It’s true. Whenever someone beat you up, Edgar would later find them and beat them. He never bragged about it because it wasn’t appropriate to your upbringing.”
Blinking repeatedly, Lynette couldn’t speak, only blinked at Casper.
Until now, Edgar only frowned when she got hurt. She couldn’t believe he had acted like that behind the scenes.
“It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. He made sure you didn’t see it. No one saw, and he beat them. He didn’t say a word to you because he’s discreet.”
When she was young, there were peers from other noble families she met often. But due to their clashing personalities, fights broke out, and Lynette had to endure it. Later, she noticed they started avoiding her.
That was strange, but now she realized Edgar had intervened. Lynette felt a little guilty for ever speaking ill of him.
“Don’t tell Edgar I told you. Otherwise, he’ll nag you for three or four days straight.”
“U-uh.”
Casper, drinking the latte with a look of relief, pinched his sister’s cheek lightly.
“Don’t think too much. I did it because I’m your brother. I would have done the same. I show it, Edgar doesn’t; he handles things quietly.”
After finishing the latte, Casper held the young Lynette like a child and kissed her forehead.
“I’ll be going now.”
“Okay. Take care, brother.”
“I’d stay longer, but someone keeps glaring at me.”
Hearing that, Lynette stood on tiptoe and spotted someone over her shoulder. Sian, wearing a hat, seemed to be watching them with a burning gaze.
Sensing his gaze, Casper didn’t let go easily. Even as he was leaving, he kissed Lynette on the head and cheek.
“Brother, you should go now.”
“Alright. Next time, I’ll come with Father. And any man… must come to our house first. I think it’s right for him to take a beating first.”
Leaving a meaningful remark, Casper noticed Sian looking his way and felt something unusual about him. But he didn’t do anything unmanly like removing Sian’s hat.
“You don’t know who I am, but even if the emperor proposed to our Lynette, I wouldn’t allow it. Be prepared.”
Casper deliberately bumped shoulders with Sian, left a remark, and departed. After he left, Lynette chuckled and spoke to Sian.
“My cousin is a bit overbearing…”
“That’s fine. He’s not a man to me, just a cousin.”
Sian was secretly grateful for the law that forbade cousins from marrying.
“What would you like to drink?”
“Just a latte. By the way, your cousin seems more spirited than your actual brother.”
Sian, sitting down, chuckled as he watched Casper leave. He seemed calm at work, but it was surprising to see him so passionate about his sister’s matters.
“They were close as children—sleeping, eating, and playing together. So he sometimes acted rudely to you. I’ll apologize on his behalf.”
Lynette placed the latte on the table, forgetting yesterday’s kiss incident, and apologized.
“No, it reminds me of when my sister brought a potential husband when she got married.”
He recalled how boldly his sister had acted when not allowed at home. Compared to the weak-looking man before him, it made him feel sympathetic.
“You had a sister too. You must have been lucky. A sister would have hugged and protected you.”
“Cough!”
Sian choked on his latte. Lynette, cleaning the table with a napkin, tilted her head and sat across from him.
“She never did. My sister was kind only when I was little. As time passed, she became a tyrant. I only escaped her violence once I could overpower her.”
Sian shook his head, impressed by how Lynette had captivated a sister like that. With the family’s support, she had come here, but he hesitated. He wanted to propose, but worried about what Lynette would say.
If it were a battlefield, he’d fight with his life, but when it came to sweet matters, Sian was hopeless and kept watching Lynette’s reactions.
“Do you have something to say to me?”
“Huh? Ah… well… the latte is very delicious.”
“I’m glad it suits your taste.”
As Lynette smiled and went to greet other customers, Sian sipped the latte to moisten his dry mouth. Today, his mouth felt unusually parched. He had planned to wait until it was less busy, but the shop remained full until closing.
“Meow, miaow.”
Cheese, who had played outside, came over and tapped Sian’s legs with his pink jelly paws, as if to encourage him. Sian petted him appreciatively.
“Cheese needs to lose weight.”
At that, Cheese turned away as if offended. Sian laughed and set his sights on tomorrow, ready to make it the D-Day.
Sian later visited Marquis Lucas’ residence. Drinking tea with Cordelia, he asked:
“What should I do for a proposal? Please tell me what not to do.”
Cordelia smiled, amused by his urgency, and gave him advice.
“The worst thing? Avoid public events with many people. Every time someone does that, they get rejected. Our Benjamin once did that, and I couldn’t show my face for a while.”
Sian shuddered at the memory. Benjamin had proposed at a party with other nobles present. Cordelia almost slammed the ring box shut on him.
“Never put the proposal ring in a cake or drink. The person wearing it will be disgusted. They might even swallow it and have to retrieve it the next day.”
Cordelia shook her head in disbelief.
“If you fail this proposal, you can just hand Lynette over to me. No, I should ask her to take Lynette herself.”
Whether she wanted Sian to succeed or fail was unclear, but Cordelia smiled.
