3.3

“Unrequited love? There’s nothing like that between Lady Serena and me.”  

Lucius immediately denied the notion.  

He had merely enjoyed a brief fling with her. He didn’t deny the nature of their relationship, but unrequited love?  

That word didn’t suit Serena at all.  

“But you slept with her, didn’t you?”  

“So what?”  

Lucius’s indifferent expression seemed to say, ‘What’s the big deal?’  

Clara let out a disbelieving laugh.  

She wanted to hurl her frustration at him, but with the Young Master present, she could only glare.  

“So, Lady Serena had a connection to you, Baron. Even so, I don’t understand why she spread such rumors.”  

“Now, Young Master, I’d like you to step aside. I need to have a conversation with the lady here.”

“She’s my fiancée, Baron Lucius.”  

“And she’s the lady I had been intimate with. You saw it yourself, didn’t you?”  

At the word “intimate,” Young Master Aiden’s face turned red with anger.  

It wasn’t just Aiden. Clara’s jaw dropped as she questioned whether she had heard correctly.  

“Are you insane?”  

“Maybe a little.”  

Lucius’s gaze swept over Clara.  

His slow, deliberate stare was filled with desire.  

There was no way he wasn’t aroused.  

How could someone who was so easily turned on pretend otherwise?  

“Enough…!”  

When the Young Master shot up in anger, Clara stepped in to stop him.  

“Stop it!”  

“Lady Clara.”  

“Young Master, please leave. I need to speak with Baron Lucius.”  

Her firm tone made Aiden sigh.  

Though he clearly didn’t want to leave them alone, he knew staying would only lead to more arguments.  

“Very well. Let’s continue this conversation another time.”  

“Yes, goodbye.”  

While Clara and Aiden exchanged farewells, Lucius merely nodded.  

Though his attitude was irritating, Aiden bit his lip and left quickly.  

Once he was gone, silence filled the space.  

Contrary to expectations, neither Lucius nor Clara spoke right away.  

Instead, they sat quietly, gazing out the window as if to soothe their weary minds.  

Eventually, Clara broke the silence.  

“‘Intimate’? That was crude.”  

“I’m crude when it comes to women. You should know that by now.”  

Clara let out an incredulous laugh.  

Without even turning her head, Lucius stared at her as she muttered under her breath.  

Having identified Serena as the source of the rumor, Lucius had been working behind the scenes to corner her.  

The moment he heard the rumor, he suspected Serena was behind it.  

And when she came running to him, pretending to be concerned and even shedding tears, Lucius became certain.  

‘It’s her. She’s the one who spread the rumor after seeing us on the terrace.’  

The fact that he hadn’t snapped her slender neck on the spot was a miracle.  

Lucius had used every ounce of his patience to send Serena away with a smile.  

He had even managed to send her off with a smile, though his face turned menacing the moment she left.

“How dare she mess with me.”  

At his muttering, Clara looked at him with wide eyes.  

Her delicate features were so captivating that he wanted to devour her whole.  

“What did you just say?”  

“You don’t need to worry about Lady Serena. As I mentioned in my letter, I’ll take care of it.”  

“Take care of it?”  

Clara’s eyes narrowed.  

What did he mean by that?  

Was he planning to use his body to resolve the issue, given who he was dealing with?

‘I don’t like this.’  

The thought of him doing to Serena what he had done to her made her skin crawl.  

‘Disgusting.’  

“Why are you looking at me like that? Do you find me unappealing?”

“Yes, I find everything about you unappealing.”

“If it’s because of Lady Serena, I feel a bit wronged.”  

“What do you mean, ‘wronged’?”

“You think I’d resolve this with my body, don’t you?”

How did he know?  

Clara’s heart skipped a beat.  

Having known her for so long, Lucius could read her like a book.  

“How do you think she spread the rumor?”  

At his abrupt question, Clara said nothing.  

Her wide eyes stared at him as he smirked and continued.  

“She’s the type to do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Even if it means climbing on top of an old Earl who owns a newspaper.”  

Clara blinked, trying to process his words, then covered her mouth with her hand.  

“The source of the rumor was a newspaper?”  

“A small gossip column, but it caused a big stir.”  

“So, Lady Serena… with Earl Berman…?”

There was no need to explain what she might have done. However, it was incomprehensible to him that such a pure and beautiful woman would go so far as to sacrifice her body just to defame him.  

Was it because she thought I had taken Lucius from her?

“To understand her motives, you’d have to change your entire perspective.”

Lucius stood up from his seat. Then, he gently stroked the back of Clara’s head as she sat deep in thought. Her soft hair slipped through his fingers.  

Regardless of the truth, it was undeniable that the rumor had put her in a difficult position. She could have easily blamed someone, but Clara hadn’t done so.  

Instead, she calmly retraced the events, trying to understand how things had spiraled this far.  

‘Yes. Belle was always like this.’  

No matter what happened, she always tried to understand.

Lucius, without realizing it, softened his gaze as he cupped her cheek. Then, he kissed her lips.  

The light touch of his lips startled Clara. 

What on earth was he doing all of a sudden?  

“B-Baron.”  

“Serena must have anticipated that I’d act this way.”  

“What?”  

“Don’t worry about the rumor. It’ll be buried soon enough.”  

Without explaining why he had kissed her, Lucius smiled and slowly stepped back, leaving her with a reassuring smile.  

“Where are you going?”  

“To finish cleaning up.”  

Leaving behind cryptic words, Lucius bid her farewell. His playful wave was so endearing that Clara found herself waving back without thinking.  

Then, a sudden thought crossed her mind.  

‘Could it be that he came here just to reassure me?’  

Was he worried I might be fretting about the rumors? Was he trying to comfort me in person, telling me not to worry and that he’d take care of it?  

If that were the case, if that was truly his intention…  

“Baron Lucius!”  

Clara shot up and called out his name as she ran after him. But he was already gone.  

She stood there for a moment, staring blankly in the direction he had disappeared.  

What had just happened? What exactly were his feelings?  

***

Lucius’s words that rumors could be erased by other rumors proved true in no time. The scandal surrounding Clara, which had caused such an uproar, soon faded into obscurity, replaced by gossip about Lady Serena.

“Ha! What a world we live in!”  

It didn’t take long for the rumors to reach Clara’s ears. Her father, the Earl, who had just returned from outside, clucked his tongue and spread the gossip throughout the house like a loudspeaker.  

“She may have appeared modest on the outside, but her behavior was a complete mess.”  

The Earl seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood, even dragging Clara out of her room to share the news.  

Clara sat beside him, her expression indifferent. She wasn’t pleased with the situation.  

What Lady Serena was going through now was exactly what Clara had endured just a week ago.  

“Still, to think she got involved with someone old enough to be her father… Or was it her grandfather?”  

Muttering to himself, the Earl burst into laughter. He seemed genuinely delighted that Serena’s scandal had overshadowed Clara’s.  

“Now, you don’t have to worry. Just focus on preparing for your wedding.”  

The Earl glanced at Clara as he brought up the topic. At the mention of marriage, Clara bit her lip.  

It seemed there was no escaping it. Despite her lack of involvement, the preparations for her wedding were progressing steadily, entirely against her will.  

“Young Master Aiden will be visiting today.”  

“…Ha.”  

“Fix your expression. What kind of face is that when your fiancé is coming to visit?”  

“Do you have another daughter? Otherwise, there’s no way there’s a wedding I don’t know about.”  

Her calm remark made the Earl grit his teeth. However, unlike before, he didn’t slap her.  

He was mindful of appearances. Especially in front of the Young Master, showing an unpleasant side wouldn’t benefit him.  

That was what the Earl was thinking.  

“As for the Baron, I’ve decided not to hold him accountable. After all, he did help resolve this situation.”  

The Earl’s gaze briefly flicked to the newspaper. Though he might have expected praise for handling things neatly, the silence left him feeling uneasy. Still, if it was all because of Clara, he could somewhat accept it.  

“We owe the Barony a debt of gratitude in many ways.”  

“Debt? It’s only natural to take what’s due!”  

Watching the Earl’s outburst, Clara decided to voice a question she had harbored since childhood.  

Why did father despise the Barony so much?  

If he hated them so much, why had he turned a blind eye to my association with them?  

“Why do you dislike the Barony so much, even though they were Mother’s closest friends?”  

“What?”  

“I don’t understand. Especially since it was you who indirectly caused the accident involving the previous Baron and Baroness.”  

“Caused the accident?!”  

The Earl shouted, his face red with anger.