Chapter 21 – Don’t Lie To Me

Ansel unconsciously spoke in a nervous tone, despite his completely calm demeanor. He said what he had to say without batting an eye.

“And I’d prefer it if we didn’t meet after the wedding.”

“That’s a scary joke, Ansel.”

Her delicate hands tightly clasped the teacup, which still held a faint warmth.

“You’re not serious.”

“I am serious.”

Ansel, who had replied lightly, leaned his head back against the leather sofa.

He appeared calm at first glance, but there was an unmistakable intensity hidden in his greenish eyes as he looked down at her.

Bianca’s heart sank. It seemed as if Ansel was angry.

If he was angry because of her, there would be no reason to refuse, but if he was angry for the woman who would soon be his wife…

A desperate voice followed.

“I know how you feel. You want to escape from your father’s shadow. You’ve always felt suffocated by the family, right?”

Ansel, who had been checking his pocket watch with a languid gaze, let out a heavy sigh.

“Escape? That’s not it.”

“Didn’t you dislike your father? Every time his name came up…”

“Why would I? He’s the one who taught and raised me.”

Ansel, holding the teacup, answered in a calm tone.

It was his genuine feeling. Thus, Bianca’s misunderstanding seemed utterly absurd.

“From the start, deciding to marry someone so unsuitable was an act of defiance against your family, Ansel.”

Bianca, perhaps out of stubbornness, retorted with her eyes wide open.

Her blue eyes, reflecting the chandelier’s light, didn’t look too bad.

For someone who hated wasting time on meaningless things, spending time with Bianca Talbot was far from enjoyable, but her eyes provided a small comfort.

Of course, if they were a bit darker, they would be closer to his ideal, but the moments they spent gazing at the dawn sky were exactly this color…

“Answer me, Ansel. Can you say that the wedding fiasco wasn’t your belated rebellion?”

Bianca’s voice was slightly agitated. Her face, waiting for an answer with her hands clasped, looked somewhat desperate.

He could find it endearing to some extent, but this was a rather crowded coffee shop, not a mansion.

Letting her continue chattering would be like feeding the socialites of the society.

Ansel took a sip of tea with a calm face. Then he asked in a deep, subdued voice.

“Do you think this marriage would have been possible if my father hadn’t approved?”

“That’s…”

“I don’t need to explain my fiancée’s family, do I? You’ve already heard enough from my mother.”

Bianca bit her lip, unable to refute easily. To calm her agitated mind, she too picked up her cup.

Bianca, elegantly sipping the sweet milk tea, took a quiet deep breath as if preparing herself.

Her large emerald earrings sparkled brilliantly. Her gaze was faintly resolute.

“Try to be a little honest today, okay? As you know, it’s my birthday, and I’m your oldest friend.”

What does your birthday have to do with me being honest?

Ansel almost asked that, but he swallowed his words and nodded for her to continue.

After all, he had no intention of meeting her separately in the future, so if this was the last birthday celebration, he would gladly indulge her.

“Shortly after the Viscountess passed away, the Viscount remarried. How could that not affect you? Even I would hate it. Such a young woman as a stepmother.”

Judging by her face, she wasn’t acting.

If anything, it was her pretending to get along like mother and daughter with Viscountess Monmouth that was the act.

Whatever it was, women were truly remarkable beings.

Thinking so, he raised his cup again, and Bianca muttered softly.

“Don’t lie to me. It hurts.”

“….”

Of course, he had no intention of lying, but seeing a woman misunderstanding and getting hurt wasn’t particularly enjoyable.

Ansel didn’t enjoy talking about his feelings, but he decided to clarify things now.

To prevent further misunderstandings. Moreover, it was only polite to give the last birthday gift as the other person wished.

“I didn’t understand it when I was young. But now, I think it’s something I can understand.”

“How did you come to understand it?”

Bianca blinked repeatedly, surprised by his unexpected answer.

However, she was so shocked by his next words that she almost dropped her teaspoon.

“Love comes suddenly.”

“…What?”

“It must have been irresistible, I suppose.”

Despite knowing much about each other, Ansel rarely shared his thoughts. He had always been that way.

When Bianca first saw Ansel, she felt a strong attraction to his aloofness, as if he had locked himself in a high tower.

Ansel was special. But as time passed, his indifference wore on her heart.

She was curious about all his thoughts and feelings. She wanted to reach his depths.

The Viscountess of Monmouth called it the Blaine family’s legacy, and people said he was born to be a soldier.

But no matter how she tried to think that way, it was lonely to suppress her feelings alone. So, she wanted to be a secret exception to Ansel.

“Ansel…”

But hearing his sincere answer for the first time, ironically, she didn’t feel joy.

“Are you saying you really love that woman? Then that marriage too…”

“I told you.”

Ansel, answering in his usual indifferent tone, quietly drank his tea.

His straight eyebrows slightly furrowed as if asking why she was questioning something so obvious, but his demeanor remained elegant.

Bianca watched as his hand, which would look graceful even holding a gun, placed the teacup on the saucer.

Until that hand was neatly clasped on the man’s long legs.

Ignoring the inexplicable dryness in her throat, Bianca spoke.

“Introduce her to me. I need to meet and talk to her to believe it. If it’s true that you’ve fallen in such reckless love…”

“That would be difficult.”

“Why?”

A woman who had lived a life of never lacking anything clung to the only man she couldn’t have with desperate eyes.

“If it’s true, there’s no reason you can’t introduce her to me! We are…”

“I don’t want to create any reason for her to be hurt.”

“Why would meeting me…”

Ansel shrugged his broad shoulders instead of answering.

The woman’s delicate hands clenched tightly inside her soft turquoise satin gloves.

“Ha, is it because she’s a commoner? Are you worried she might feel inferior to me?”

Even if that were the case, it wouldn’t be surprising. Bianca Talbot, the only daughter of the Marquis of Talbot, was one of the kingdom’s most beautiful women and never settled for anything less than the best.

Anything she chose, whether dresses, jewels, or even hair accessories, became a topic of conversation.

It was almost a given that she would one day become a marchioness and be active in the political arena.

She was Bianca Talbot, who even made princesses feel intimidated.

Imagining the intimidation and sense of deprivation a rural lady with neither noble status nor a substantial dowry would feel wasn’t hard.

“I’ll send her a dress and jewelry as a wedding gift. How about meeting her wearing those?”

“Your standards don’t apply, Bianca.”

“How do you know?”

“She’s a completely different being.”

Answering thus, Ansel checked his watch again. His handsome lips twisted slightly.

“You can come to the wedding. My mother will bring you anyway. Confirm it then. But only from a distance.”

“Are you telling me not to even greet her?”

“I don’t want anything from the capital to touch her.”

“Ha…”

Though she thought it couldn’t possibly be true, a sighing laugh escaped her lips.

Ansel Blaine was saying things only men blinded by love would say. And to a woman from an unknown family…

As she was deepening her resolve to uncover the truth behind this mysterious incident, Ansel quietly stood up.

“…Leaving already?”

“Please forgive my rudeness for leaving first, Lady Bianca.”

His deep, charming voice was irresistible.

“Even if I hold you back, you won’t stay, will you, Sir Ansel?”

Ansel smiled faintly instead of answering and promptly left the place.

Ansel Blaine was probably the only person who treated Bianca Talbot so indifferently.

Left alone, Bianca casually adjusted her hair and finished her tea.

Though she was surprised in many ways, she now looked more expectant than anxious.

She vividly remembered his words whispered in a hoarse voice and his clear eyes at the noisy party on the night they graduated as if it were yesterday.

‘…Eyes.’

With a small, breezy laugh, she sipped her tea.

Surely he didn’t expect her to believe him so easily. She needed to investigate why he had made such a big deal out of things.

“What should I do, Ansel? I still need to see that woman.”

Bianca, murmuring sweetly, placed her cup down with a fresh expression.

The sound of the cup clinking against the saucer rang out cheerfully.