Chapter 20

If that was the part Kyle needed, then Hazel fulfilled his needs perfectly.

That only made her more irritated.

‘Since I refused him, he’ll come to his senses. And that Kyle brat, I heard he already has a woman he’s seeing. Did he think I wouldn’t know? Ah, that makes me angry too. Just how much is he looking down on me?’

After glaring only at the blameless candle, she called the waiter and ordered ice water. Even if it was cold water she could not drink freely at the Marquis’s mansion, she felt that only gulping it down would ease the frustration in her chest even a little.

She also needed to cool the heat in her body that naturally followed those decadent afterimages. Everything simply made her angry. Just because his shoulders were a little broad, his face a little handsome, and his legs a little long, why in the world should even her spine heat up!

With a clink, a glass of water was placed on the table. Hazel gripped the cup and muttered resolutely,

“He won’t do.”

“Who won’t do?”

She had even forgotten Alice was there. She had been just about to begin for the tenth time on Kyle Strauss’s rude proposal she had been denouncing all the way here.

Alice’s voice rang out through the restaurant.

“Hazel! Did you see Dennis at the salon too?”

What is wrong with her?

Everything that had happened at the salon had already been shaken out down to the last strand of hair. In the middle of that, she could not understand Alice’s intention in dragging Dennis’s name back in again.

Hazel answered vaguely.

“Huh? Uh, yes, I saw him.”

Alice’s eyes lit up and her voice grew even louder.

“Who else did you meet? It really looked like the Marquis had deliberately taken you there!”

What is wrong with her?

“Alice, your voice is too lou……”

“Tell me, Hel. If it was that gathering yesterday, let’s see, Percival must have been there, and I heard Jeremy went too. Hel, keep a close eye especially on Percival. He’s a really decent man. If it’s Percival, he’ll dote on you even more than Oliver did……”

“We’ll talk later, Al.”

Hazel finally cut off her friend when she could not bear it anymore. She had no idea that, because the reserved tables were set a little apart in the hall, no one except the tables directly nearby could hear Alice’s fussing.

And at the table behind them, Kyle accepted Alice’s glare directed at him and let out a hollow laugh.

Kyle thought,

‘I’d believe it if someone told me Alice is Hazel Fitzroy’s guardian.’

She must really dislike that, after showing Hazel such obvious favor at the salon, he was on a date with another woman today.

And was Alice the only one displeased with him? He could wager half his fortune that Kyle was also in the mind of the pretty young lady across from the beloved Alice, the one frowning so hard.

If possible, he would have liked it to be in an improper sense, but that would never happen.

All at once, his own circumstances felt rather pitiful. To think he would end up watching the reactions of three women, each for different reasons. Kyle raised a wine glass shimmering with red to hide the smile tugging at him.

It was then that Hazel’s voice reached him.

“‘Eugene’ sent me a letter. The Marquis…… Father only passed it to me today. He said a letter came to the mansion the very day I arrived in Bukata.”

In the ten years he had known Hazel, this was the first time a man’s name Kyle did not know had come out of her mouth. Kyle responded absentmindedly to Hannah while listening closely to the conversation between the two women.

Alice exclaimed in admiration. Perhaps it was just Kyle’s mood, but she sounded quite excited.

“Wow, that man is something too. Now I understand why the Marquis didn’t let you even write letters for over a month.”

“Well, thanks to that I got an excuse not to reply.”

“From his point of view, it must have been a bolt from the blue. The girl he had a crush on suddenly turned into a Princess. She rose to a place he can’t reach.”

“What crush, Al. We only saw each other twice. Don’t exaggerate.”

“Hel, I can tell. He was sincere about you. He may have been clumsy about dealing with women, but still.”

“Sure. At least he was more sincere than ‘someone.’”

That was a rather harsh assessment. ‘Someone,’ who was both ‘a madman’ and wholly devoid of sincerity, put the information together.

‘Eugene’ was a man. Eugene and Hazel knew each other already. Eugene felt more than simple favor toward Hazel.

But Eugene seemed to be an ordinary person of ordinary status. In that case, he was not a rival.

“I don’t want to marry you.”

Of course, that required assuming Hazel Fitzroy did not want to marry this man called ‘Eugene,’ either.

Kyle put the last piece of steak into his mouth and wiped his lips.

“Shall we go? It seems you’ve finished.”

“Could you wait just a little longer?”

The meal lasted thirty minutes longer than Kyle had expected.

When Hannah finally rose with her handbag in hand, voices came from the nearby table where the other diners had finished.

“Done eating? Let’s go, Hel.”

Leaning on Kyle’s arm, Hannah turned back. Alice, whose eyes met hers, frowned.

An expected reaction. Hannah smiled kindly and spoke to Alice.

“Alice, hello. We meet here of all places. Did you enjoy your meal?”

“Hello, Hannah. Hello, Kyle.”

“The restaurant Kyle told me about last time was so lovely that I wanted to return the favor by introducing this one. I never expected to run into you here. The lady beside you is…… is she the person I think she is?”

Alice introduced the woman as though she did not care for it at all.

“……Hazel Fitzroy, my friend. Hel, this is Hannah Margaret. She’s my cousin, and General Moore’s granddaughter on his daughter’s side. If you take part in society, you’ll be seeing her often.”

“It’s lovely to meet you, Hazel. I heard you greeted Kyle yesterday as well. If we get married, I’ll be sure to invite both of you.”

But before Kyle could even voice any opinion of his own, Hazel answered Hannah first. Contrary to Hannah’s assumption, Hazel, having witnessed Kyle’s date scene with her own eyes, seemed quite pleased.

“Congratulations in advance.”

“……Thank you.”

Because of her surprise, Hannah’s answer came a beat late.

Leaving her as she was, Hazel Fitzroy, easy and poised, offered a properly mannered farewell.

“Goodbye, Miss Margaret.”

“See you later.”

Hazel soon concluded the conversation by telling Kyle to have a safe return as well. Her manner of speaking was so trimmed of any excess that, for an instant, Hannah had the illusion that Hazel was a thoroughly polished aristocratic lady.

At that moment Hannah’s body tilted to one side. With her handbag hanging precariously from her wrist, Hannah looked up at her partner.

The hand holding her arm, his brows drawn as though at her carelessness, lacked all warmth.

“Miss Margaret, it would be best not to give reporters something to tear apart.”

The voice of the man who had remained silent the whole time before Hazel was completely flat.

“Groundless rumors about a businessman’s private life directly affect the decisions of investors. I trust you understand.”

“I’ll be careful. I’m sorry.”

Her voice had grown small, like her pride after being gnawed away.

Kyle was already heading out of the restaurant.

* * *

The next day.

It was a rainy afternoon. Rather than wait meaninglessly for five o’clock while staring at the clock, Marquis Fitzroy chose to sit upright on the leather sofa and meditate.

“I will refrain from contacting her. I only ask that, even if Hazel comes looking for me first, you will stop her, Marquis.”

“There is no need to go that far. A bond tied by heaven is not so easily severed.”

“That would be better for Hazel.”

“……”

“As her father, it is the final thing I ask of you.”

A strong man whose eyes had brimmed as though he would cry at any moment and yet who had not let even a single tear fall to the end. Robert Bennett, who had said, Please take good care of that child, and that he had nothing more to say before leaving his seat.

From the moment he saw that face, the Marquis had been unable to hate the adopted daughter whose face he did not even know.

Even hating requires effort. That is why finding a reason to hate is work as well. Charles Fitzroy had grown too old for that.

His white brows rose in the shape of a mountain.

‘Now that she has come under my authority, it is only right that I take responsibility. The problem is the Prince……’

During a recent visit to the palace, the Prince had called Marquis Fitzroy over with an awkward smile and asked,

“Is Miss Fitzroy doing well? Now that I have seen her, she is an astonishing beauty……. Does she perhaps have a young man she is seeing?”

It was not surprising. What meaning could there be in the royal family specifically sending a marriageable young lady to Marquis Fitzroy as an adopted daughter. It was plainly an attempt to somehow tie her to their wastrel.

But if he moved according to the King’s will, the Fitzroy name would become ridiculous. As it was, quite a few had already shown unease at the King’s one-sided notice and used inquiries after her well-being as an excuse to test the Marquis’s mood.

The nobles, too, had begun to gauge whether it might be better to turn their backs on the royal family before it was too late. If even Fitzroy turned away, then the pro-royal nobles would lose still more strength.

The arrangement Joseph III had contrived to build his own side was instead causing cracks among his supporters. Sitting upright, the Marquis thought.