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Chapter 29
I scowled when I realized who had grabbed my hand from the butler.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I came to go to the palace with you,” he said.
“Then why are you—”
“You don’t have a partner, Edith. Who else would handle you but me?”
Vincent smiled as if nothing mattered. His carefree attitude was ridiculous.
‘Wasn’t this all settled before?’ I thought.
And yet he showed up again, acting like he didn’t remember our last conversation at all.
I yanked my hand back sharply.
“I don’t need you. Go away.”
“That’s harsh! I even left my carriage to come with you…”
He pouted like a child, cheeks puffed out. It wasn’t something an adult should do, but with his looks, it almost seemed charming.
‘Charming, my foot…’ I thought, rolling my eyes. Still, there was no denying that his appearance gave him power.
Dressed in a white tuxedo that matched mine, he looked like a well-raised nobleman.
But that didn’t matter.
“Butler, give one carriage to Viscount Leandro,” I ordered.
I turned to the butler with a cold gaze, suspecting he might be in on this. But the butler seemed careful and cautious.
“Miss, I can prepare a carriage, but if you delay here any longer, it will be difficult to arrive on time.”
“Do I have to worry about that? The one who barged in should handle it,” I said.
“Yes, ma’am, but…” The butler wiped sweat from his brow as he watched both Vincent and me.
“Since the viscount is here, why not go as partners?”
“Butler—”
“Whistling—Nice one, Butler!” Vincent chimed in, grinning.
‘So this is how it’s going to be,’ I thought. I looked around, trying to find anything heavy to weigh the situation down.
“Of course! Our miss is perfect on her own, but…” The butler seemed to understand immediately what I wanted and shouted.
“If you appear alone at a young nobles’ banquet, all eyes will be on you! You might cause unnecessary gossip!”
“…”
“This old man is only advising you for your own good. Please, trust me…”
The butler almost begged, shaking. It was clear he understood me well—these were exactly the kind of situations I hated.
‘I shouldn’t draw attention.’
I had to avoid the main male leads as much as possible, especially Male Lead 4, who had doubted me before.
Realizing the truth, I sighed and nodded at Vincent.
“Let’s go,” I said.
“Wow, Butler! Impressive!” Vincent said proudly, patting the butler on the shoulder.
“Edith! You should listen to the butler. You probably forgot, but you always complained about going alone,” he said.
“….”
“Be grateful I came with you… hey!”
I ignored him and got into the carriage first.
I slammed the door on purpose, but he followed immediately.
“Edith, the butler probably didn’t tell you, but I’m a year older than you,” he said.
“….”
“Sigh… dealing with a forgetful you is so troublesome,” he muttered.
“But I can’t help it. I’ve always been the one looking out for you. So, call me ‘brother’ again, like when we were kids.”
He sat across from me, speaking casually as if it was normal. I glanced at him sideways.
Outside it had been dark, so I hadn’t noticed, but his ‘rampage meter’ had risen slightly.
‘Last time it was 71%.’
He hadn’t seen me for a while, and part of me felt a little uneasy.
‘Where are you, Leelin? Hurry up and take care of your people!’
The carriage started moving. I turned my head away from Vincent.
“…Are you just going to stare out the window the whole way?”
He spoke casually, but his voice was a little calmer than before. He could still change at any moment.
“We probably don’t have much to say. Let’s just go quietly,” I said.
“Ha. I have a lot to say,” he replied.
“….”
“Still sulking?”
‘Sulking.’ Something that could be serious for some was just a petty annoyance for him.
“Understand me. I’ve been busy looking for Leelin, and I haven’t given you flowers in ages…”
“….”
“So I just… forgot for a moment. Not on purpose.”
“….”
“It wasn’t intentional. So here’s my apology—”
“Vincent.”
“Hm?”
“When did I ask you to apologize?”
His mouth shut immediately. His golden eyes flickered briefly as he stared at me.
“I don’t even remember you, so I’m not mad,” I said.
His jaw tightened. He muttered something under his breath.
“Now you know who I am.”
“Knowing your name and age doesn’t help. I don’t know what kind of person you are.”
“We can get to know each other again.”
“Why? Why should I?”
“Because we’ve been friends for thirteen years.”
“Friends…” I almost scoffed. ‘After ignoring me before, and now friends?’
But I didn’t say it. His face looked too serious, and I didn’t want to provoke him.
“Alright…” I replied reluctantly.
“Do you understand now, Edith? You haven’t forgotten what friends are, right?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded to his teasing and then declared:
“Then we’re officially breaking off our friendship, Vincent.”
“…What?”
“Breaking off. I don’t want to be friends with you anymore.”
“Think before you speak. Don’t just blurt things out.”
His face stiffened, the cheerful mask replaced with something colder. A faint danger radiated from him.
‘He’s really mad just because I said we’re breaking up?’
I was slightly surprised by his reaction.
‘He almost died, then came back alive…’
Earlier, he came to curse me, yet now he wanted to force a broken relationship to continue. I couldn’t understand it.
Vincent muttered irritably:
“How much are you going to regret this later for acting on your own just because you forgot?”
“That’s my problem to deal with later.”
“You…”
Maybe because I refused to give him the answer he wanted, he whined.
He took a deep breath, calming himself slightly.
“Let’s stop. I don’t want to fight with you on such a nice day.”
Nice day? I had already ruined it just by seeing him.
‘Why is it a nice day? Because we’re going to see the heroine?’
I still didn’t understand why he came here instead of asking the heroine to be his partner.
“…I have a question.”
“What?”
“Why didn’t you go to the Purifier?”
His expression changed slightly.
“I thought Leelin would be happy if I came to you… though now you’re a fool, so maybe you wouldn’t know,” he muttered.
“You always begged me to be your partner, Edith. So I chose you this time, also to apologize for last time.”
“Did you two fight?”
“Even with your memory gone, is that all your head can think?”
He laughed scornfully.
“Our relationship is fine. The only problem is that other guys might ask Leelin to be their partner too.”
“….”
“Sigh… she’s too kind. She’ll probably pick the dumbest one again today.”
That matched what I knew of the story. Even without knowing his rampage meter, the heroine could tell his tricks.
He explained the real reason he came to me today:
“I want Leelin to come to me willingly. To do that, I need a little bait.”
He looked at me kindly. I realized I was just a bait to make Leelin jealous.
Then he smiled like a kid waiting for a gift.
“Are you mad, Edith?”
