Chapter 74

Johann stood in front of the dining room, unable to bring himself to enter, just standing there blankly.  

‘…It’s not even the first dinner, so why am I so nervous like this?’  

Johann grabbed the doorknob and rested his forehead against the door.  

D*mn, it’s even harder after admitting it.  

‘I felt both longing and fear at the thought of seeing her.’  

What if his heartbeat was so loud that everyone could hear it?  

If his face turned red like before…  

‘I feared I might act like someone falling in love for the first time.’  

Since he had no memories, it was true that he was falling in love for the first time.  

“Ahem. Your Grace, are you not going in?”  

Samuel, who had watched Johann stand at the door for ten minutes, finally intervened.  

“…Do I look strange right now?”  

Johann, dressed even better than usual, turned and asked.  

“You look as dashing as always.”  

“The same as usual?”  

He frowned.  

Johann had tried to go meet Lia after the Princess left, but upon hearing she was with Rafaella, he returned to his room.  

To change clothes before the upcoming dinner.  

But no matter what he wore, nothing seemed right.  

Uncharacteristically, he spent so much time in front of the mirror that he barely made it downstairs in time for dinner.  

‘…But after standing blankly at the door, I was late anyway.’  

“You look much more handsome than usual.”  

Samuel, sensing his master’s mood, gave the answer Johann wanted.  

“There’s not a single lie in that?”  

“None at all. Not a bit.”  

After interrogating him, Johann looked himself up and down.  

Then, after taking a deep breath, he opened the dining room door.  

Samuel thought to himself,  

‘He’s been acting strange in front of Miss Lia for a while now. Looks like he’s finally admitted it.’  

He smiled fondly at his master’s love.

“Lia.”  

Johann mustered up his courage and called her name.  

“Daddy!”  

At the same time, Rafaella called out to Johann and ran to him.  

It seemed Lia hadn’t heard him call her name.  

“Li…”  

He tried to call her name again.  

“Um, did the Princess leave well?”  

Lia approached Johann and asked.  

“…She left well, so don’t worry.”  

It didn’t seem like the right time to call her name now.  

‘It would be better to do it when we are alone.’  

Johann looked into her eyes, feeling his heart about to burst.  

Her mysterious emerald eyes were full of anxiety.  

“If I had just taken the carriage from the start, this wouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry.”  

“There’s nothing to apologize for. If you’d gone ahead…, it might’ve been worse.”  

She might have faced Patrizia alone without any preparation.  

‘With the Princess’s personality, she probably would have done something to Lia…’  

Just the thought of it gave him chills.  

If only he could break off the engagement, the Princess wouldn’t be able to come and go as she pleased at the mansion.  

She kept barging in with all sorts of excuses, and it was driving him crazy.  

“I think it was harder for you than for me.”  

“It’s not something you could help as a Duke.”  

Lia spoke to comfort him.  

‘…She really is a kind woman.’  

To speak so gently to a man who’d lost his memory and acted coldly.  

Or maybe, because she felt nothing for him, she could treat him like a stranger?  

That felt even worse than being hated…  

“Daddy, your face looks really weird.”  

Rafaella spoke up, pausing from diligently cutting her veal steak.  

“…I was just lost in thought for a moment, sorry.”  

Johann wiped the sauce from Rafaella’s mouth and snapped out of his thoughts.  

“What kind of thoughts make your face look like that?”  

Rafaella exaggerated her facial muscles to mimic Johann’s expression.  

Lia, too, looked at him with curiosity.  

“……”  

How could he say it was because he didn’t know what her mother thought of him?  

“Pardon?”  

Pressed by Rafaella’s repeated questions, Johann’s gaze wavered, unable to do anything.  

“Raffy, maybe Daddy feels a little shy about saying it. Should we just pretend we don’t know?”  

Lia chuckled softly and stopped Rafaella.  

“But I’m curious.”  

Rafaella mumbled as she resumed cutting her steak.  

Johann, relieved, whispered a small “thank you” to Lia.  

He tried to calm his fluttering heart at her kindness.

* * *

A week later, the Emperor’s attendant visited the Blumhart estate.  

It was to deliver an invitation for Johann, Patrizia’s fiancé, to attend a family dinner at the Imperial Family.  

Johann let out a deep sigh as he looked at the invitation, made of fine paper and decorated with gold leaf.  

‘I wanted to break off the engagement, but now I was being forced to attend a family dinner.’  

What a headache.  

He still had no clear way to break the engagement.  

“Haa.”  

On top of that, he had been so busy all week that he hadn’t even managed to call Lia’s name once.  

He set aside his papers and just stared at the invitation when his mother came to see him.  

“I heard the Emperor sent an invitation?”  

“Yes, Mother.”  

He sat with Isabella on the sofa in the drawing room.  

“Did you come because of the invitation?”  

“No, I have something to ask you.”  

“Please, go ahead, Mother.”  

“…Do you really intend to marry the Princess?”  

Isabella took a sip of the tea the maid had poured and asked.  

“No. If there’s a way, I want to avoid it at all costs.”  

“Right?”  

She brightened.  

“It’s not like you wanted the engagement.”  

“That’s true. His Majesty called me to the palace to congratulate my return, and in front of all the nobles, he just announced it.”  

Isabella frowned as she recalled that moment.  

“…As a reward, he said he’d arrange an engagement with the Princess. How is that a reward?”  

She put her teacup down on the table with a clatter.  

“Calling all the nobles so you couldn’t refuse—it must have been the Interim Empress’s plan.”  

Even now, thinking about it, her eyes blazed with anger.  

“But Mother, why do you ask all of a sudden?”  

“I wondered if His Majesty’s invitation to the family dinner was to discuss marriage.”  

“That’s very likely.”  

“Haa, I really don’t want Princess Patrizia to become part of our family.”  

Just thinking about such a reckless, self-centered woman entering the mansion made both Isabella and Johann sigh.  

“More than anything. Johann, you see…”  

It seemed Isabella’s real reason for coming wasn’t the previously mentioned problem.  

“Your feelings are most important, but…”  

She hesitated unusually long.  

“…If the engagement with the Princess is broken, what about being with Lia?”  

Had his mother read his mind?  

He was startled to hear the very thought he’d had a few days ago come from his mother’s mouth.  

“Marriages across classes are forbidden for great noble houses, but it’s not like that’s always been the case in history.”  

“…That’s true.”  

“If we persuade the Emperor well enough, who knows?”  

Isabella rested her chin on her hand.  

It wasn’t that hard to sway the indecisive Emperor if one put their mind to it.  

“Of course, the wishes of you two are most important.”  

“…I…”  

“Recently, I’ve felt that you seem to have feelings for Lia.”  

“…How did you know?”  

Johann looked as if he’d been caught off guard.  

“You can’t hide love or a sneeze, my son.”  

Isabella covered her mouth and laughed softly.  

“No matter how hard you tried to hide it, your behavior around Lia was so funny.”  

She wiped tears from the corners of her eyes.  

“Why didn’t you say anything?”  

So his mother knew the reason for his strange behavior.  

“You have to realize love yourself. It’s no good if someone tells you.”  

That was true.  

“…Was it that obvious?”  

“Of course it was. If it’s not obvious, is it really love?”  

He felt a bit embarrassed.  

“At Rafaella’s birthday party, you acted so stiffly when you saw Lia.”  

“…So you saw everything.”  

Before, her smile kept bothering him, but that day, just seeing her made his heart race like crazy.  

“So when did you realize your feelings?”  

“It hasn’t been long.”  

“I see. Still, as your mother, it’s wonderful to see you in love.”  

Johann, embarrassed, gulped down his tea.  

“If you were twenty, you might have been even worse.”  

She smiled wistfully.  

“You’d have been even more honest with your feelings, being young and without memories.”  

Maybe so.  

He was curious.  

How had he come to love Lia back then, and when had he realized it?  

“Assuming the breakup goes well, Lia’s feelings are what matter next.”  

“…She must hate me, right?”  

He rubbed his face with his hand.  

“I can’t say for sure. But remember this one thing.”  

Isabella raised her index finger.  

“You have to try even harder than before you lost your memories.”  

“Yes.”  

Because the wounded heart of Lia would be locked up tight.