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Chapter 17
“My lady, next time please send word and I will personally come to the Crowley estate. There is no need for you to make such a precious trip.”
The bearded owner of the pottery shop, who looked good-natured and sociable, saw Minuet off. As he bowed repeatedly, Minuet waved back just as energetically.
“It’s such an interesting place.”
Wasn’t the truly interesting one standing right here?
Having ultimately accompanied Minuet into the city, Onyx suppressed a laugh at her words. No matter how safe the central shopping district of Ivelia was reputed to be, it was not a place for a noble young lady to wander alone.
“Isn’t being a decorator rather rough work for a noble lady?”
“There’s no rule saying a noble lady must do nothing.”
Onyx stared at Minuet, who walked in step beside him, and almost found himself agreeing out loud.
As he watched her bright smile, his gaze gradually dropped. It settled on the very expensive shoes that did not hesitate to step through the muddy street of the marketplace.
They were clearly high-end handmade shoes crafted by a master artisan. No matter how wealthy her family might be, most noble ladies would carefully avoid puddles to keep even a drop of water from touching such fine footwear. Compared to them, Minuet walked straight through the mud without a second thought.
Onyx could not help but let out a hollow laugh.
A woman who did not spare her costly shoes saying that noble ladies should work.
For a fleeting moment, he wondered if that statement might actually be the truth.
“You are quite a progressive young lady.”
“Oh? Is that a compliment?”
Looking ahead, Onyx nodded.
She was unlike the other young ladies who wanted to appear in newspaper gossip columns alongside him. She was still the reckless and unpredictable daughter of House LeVine, but if it was this entertaining a game…
He would indulge her for a while.
Onyx and Minuet walked through the city without a destination. A smile kept tugging at the corner of his lips whenever he looked at her.
Despite the caution he felt toward this audacious woman.
Was she acting thoroughly, or simply releasing the frustration of being confined to a sickbed for so long? She strode through the shopping district with her shoulders bouncing, unable to contain her excitement. He looked down at her quietly.
Her fresh laughter, the way her long eyelashes trembled lightly in the spring breeze, and the neatly tucked hair behind her ears swaying gently—despite the obvious boldness of her plans, he kept smiling.
At least this feeling seemed closer to the latter.
The innocent smile of the LeVine young lady, and Crown Prince Onyx Tromalin walking beside her.
Reflecting on himself in that moment, Onyx suddenly withdrew his generous thoughts and faced reality.
And the numerous reporters and nobles who might witness it.
Surely not.
Frowning, he stared at her, wondering if this too had been carefully designed by her bold mind.
Minuet, who had been staring blankly at something, spun the hem of her skirt and turned toward him.
“We all have to make a living, after all… Since you’re compensating me, how about buying me lunch here as well?”
In the direction she had been gazing stood a display window filled with colorful cakes.
The next scenario—a restaurant?
Onyx failed to suppress his laughter and nodded readily.
I’ll be fooled again.
Entrusting himself willingly to her scheme, he took the lead toward the restaurant.
For the noble lady who claimed she worked just to make a living.
“People will start rumors that Count LeVine is starving his daughter.”
Watching Minuet eat with wide, shining eyes focused on each dish, Onyx wore a teasing expression.
“Or perhaps the lavish meals at your estate simply lack this kind of novelty?”
Unable to admit that she always ate at home with the same wide-eyed enthusiasm, Minuet answered with a sheepish smile.
When Onyx had readily entered the restaurant she chose, he immediately sensed something was off. It was not a place he—or any noble lady—had likely ever stepped into before. Even though Minuet had worn her simplest dress for garden work, the moment she crossed the threshold, every gaze in the restaurant turned toward them.
“It’s so fun discovering new food.”
Unbothered by the stares, she cut a delicious-looking piece of bread into bite-sized pieces and smiled.
“Isn’t that the best part of traveling abroad?”
Onyx, who had been watching only the way she ate, tilted his head.
Travel? From the mouth of a noble young lady?
Unless her parents were diplomats, a woman could only board a ship when accompanying her husband on his travels.
Seeing the question marks filling his expression, Minuet quickly changed the subject and offered him bread.
“You should try some as well. The bread is quite good.”
“I don’t particularly enjoy eating. Since you seem to enjoy it, take your time and eat plenty. No one is chasing you.”
Minuet’s face turned bright red.
“You don’t enjoy eating? Then what makes life enjoyable?”
“How should one live to find it enjoyable?”
Discussing the joy of living through food.
“There are so many fun things. Eating delicious food is fun, buying pretty things is fun…”
Unaware of his sarcasm, Minuet innocently counted on her fingers.
“You sound like a spoiled count’s daughter.”
“That’s right. Living as the daughter of House LeVine is the most fun. So far.”
Onyx pulled his tea closer and studied her face. Living as the daughter of House LeVine. She spoke as if it were not truly her identity—almost as though she had only recently become a count’s daughter.
“What about living as the daughter of House LeVine do you enjoy so much?”
“Unearned income.”
What?
Since he was humoring her, how far did she intend to go?
“Is that why you rejected the proposal?”
Because the imperial family is poor?
His sudden inferiority complex pricked at him.
“Ah… that…”
She had been speaking cheerfully, but at the word “proposal,” her expression dimmed. To show such an obvious reaction in front of the very man who had proposed—
Onyx’s expression darkened as well.
“It may sound… a bit ridiculous to say this in front of someone I haven’t known long…”
With a solemn expression, Minuet set down her fork.
“But isn’t it wrong?”
“What is?”
“Hmm… I don’t think it’s right to spend a second life without love. That’s why I rejected the proposal.”
She spoke openly of thoughts she had locked in her heart for months. Why did she feel such a desire to be honest with this man?
Even if he laughed and dismissed it as nonsense, she felt an impulse to confess that she was not truly Minuet but Min Yuae.
“I didn’t get to date in my previous life.”
“You are quite literary. Dividing your illness into a past life and a present life.”
As expected.
She had not sought his understanding anyway. She had only wanted to speak in front of him. Minuet smiled faintly.
After all, there was no proof.
The longer she lived here, the more confused she became about which life was real—this one as Minuet, or the one she had lived as Min Yuae.
“It’s fine if you don’t believe me. That place was very different from here.”
Love?
Onyx gazed at the materialistic young lady who cloaked herself in the word love.
Love?
Even the horses in the stable would scoff.
Surely she had calculated the size and finances of the family before speaking.
Each time Minuet looked at him with the innocent eyes of a naive young lady, the voice within him grew louder.
She was an interesting woman.
Did she think no one but herself knew of her calculating ways?
A noble lady wearing the mask of a dreamer.
As the hot tea cooled, Onyx watched her with interest while she nibbled at bread and continued talking.
Her story that began with love shifted to the beauty of Ivelia, and soon to her unbelievable imaginings.
Carriages that ran without horses. Delicacies summoned home at any time…
“And there was something like a small board that fits in your palm. If you had it, you could talk to people far away, and send written messages too…”
Grateful that Onyx listened attentively, Minuet stopped and looked at him. She did not need him to believe her—just speaking itself felt liberating.
“And that’s not all. You could do anything with that board. It even played music…”
Suppressing the smile tugging at his lips, Onyx let out a quiet laugh.
“What kind of book must one read to imagine such things?”
“It’s fine if you find it hard to believe.”
“It’s not an easy story to believe.”
He still considered her an unbelievable young lady. Yet spending time with her felt like opening several novels at once.
It was mysterious. Unbelievable.
At times he felt irritated, yet he was entertained.
“Then think of it as a book. There, I worked. I earned a great deal of money and held a high position. Some of the people who worked under me were men.”
“Hmm… Do you mean laborers or servants?”
“No. They were capable people who received fair wages and fair treatment.”
Letting out a thoughtful hum, Onyx silently listened and drew his tea closer.
“And there, with just a flick of a finger, pictures could be drawn. Like this.”
Minuet mimicked holding a computer mouse for him, then burst into laughter at the ridiculousness of her own gesture.
“I’m sorry. Even I think it looks strange.”
After laughing for a while, she apologized and looked at him intently.
For months she had struggled to adapt. Even if she wanted to return to her former life, coming here had not been her choice either.
In truth, she could not even think of a compelling reason to return.
Out of respect for her new life, she had tightly locked away the memories of her past. Yet strangely, when she met him, those memories burst forth like a flood, and she felt freed.
“You don’t believe me, do you? You think I just have a vivid imagination?”
“I am listening carefully.”
Seeing Onyx’s gentle expression, Minuet began unraveling her secrets one by one.
“There, I decorated stores.”
“And that is why you were tending the Grand Duchess’s garden.”
