Chapter 19

Neria finished her short twenty-minute walk and slowly retraced her steps.

As noon approached, awnings had been set up in the salon area. The nobles mingled more actively, snacking on finger foods and drinking sparkling wine.

Neria, absentmindedly searching for Duke Aaron with her eyes, caught herself. She’d gone for a walk to stop thinking about him, yet the moment she returned, she was looking for him again. A bit embarrassed, she justified herself inwardly.

‘He looked like he had something to say to me.’

She slipped her hand into the pocket sewn into her skirt. There was the handkerchief Aaron had given her. He’d said she didn’t need to return it, but maybe she could use it as an excuse to talk to him.

Feeling a bit braver, Neria looked around for Aaron. But he was nowhere to be seen. 

‘Had he stepped out for a moment? Or… had he already grown bored of this pointless gathering and returned to his mansion?’

Just earlier, she had been the one avoiding his obvious gaze, but now that he was gone, she felt strangely disappointed.

Thinking of her regret, she reached for the handkerchief in her bodice, but found nothing.

“Ah?!”

Startled, she quickly patted her chest several more times. The neatly folded handkerchief was nowhere to be found.

She was sure she’d had it when she arrived at the Luet River!

She must have dropped it somewhere. Retracing her steps for a while, she found nothing. Neria’s shoulders drooped, thoroughly dejected.

She felt like the fool her father always said she was, missing her chance.

“Ha…”

“Oh my! That’s—!”

Neria turned her gaze toward a small commotion.

A noble young lady, her face flushed, was chattering about something, and curious girls with sparkling eyes surrounded her.

Such fuss to draw attention happened often in salons, so Neria was about to turn away.

She would have, if what the central noble lady was holding wasn’t the handkerchief Neria had dropped.

“…!”

With wide eyes, Neria stared at the young lady called ‘Ella.’

Enjoying the attention, Ella showed off as she declared,

“This is definitely Duke Aaron’s. See, this brand embroiders the buyer’s initials.”

“The Duke isn’t the type to drop his own belongings.”

Ella replied confidently,

“Maybe it’s some kind of signal. But… where did the Duke go?”

Another noblewoman, jealous that Ella now had a reason to speak with the Duke, replied,

“He was here just a moment ago…”

Neria felt an unpleasant surge of jealousy and frowned.

That was hers.

Neria had no intention of simply handing over the handkerchief to someone else.

‘This isn’t jealousy. It’s just greed.’

Making excuses to herself, Neria cleared her throat to announce her presence. As everyone turned to look at her, she felt a faint embarrassment and spoke up.

“I think there’s been a mistake. That’s my handkerchief.”

All eyes focused on Neria. Some held subtle contempt and disregard.

“Lady Neria, you say it’s yours? Surely not.”

“It seems you don’t know what this brand is, Lady Neria. It’s such an exclusive brand, you can’t just have their things because you want them.”

Their tone was polite, but their words were openly dismissive. Neria felt a surge of indignation.

‘They don’t even know the code from Madame Bonet’s bookshop, or the secret password!’

But Neria wasn’t someone whose spirit would break over such talk. How many years had she trained her patience under the dysfunctional Earl Warwick? As unfilial as it sounded, even her father’s nonsense sometimes came in handy.

Ella sneered as she spoke.

“Oh, don’t be hard on Lady Neria. I rather like that about her… She’s cute and innocent, always wanting attention like a child.”

“And children don’t lie. That handkerchief really is mine.”

Neria replied calmly, not getting flustered. There was no point in matching quarrel with quarrel here. She was already outnumbered; fighting would only make her a target for gossip.

Surviving in society meant responding as boringly and honestly as possible to dampen others’ interest.

“…Huh?”

See? By replying honestly, they were left speechless, mouths rounded in surprise.

“Uh, um…”

Suddenly, one even blinked pitifully, making a sad face…

‘Am I really that charismatic?’

Honestly, she hadn’t said much. Puzzled, Neria put her hands on her hips and tried to look bold, hoping to add to her dignified image.

“Lady Neria is correct.”

“That’s right, I—huh?”

Turning, Neria found herself pursing her lips just like Ella’s group. Bathed in the midday sunlight, a handsome man smiled lazily, shining like the sun god.

“Ah, Duke Aaron!”

‘…Was he always this smiley?’

Aaron’s extraordinary looks brought a strange hush. The first to recover was Ella, who had found the handkerchief. She stammered,

“I-I’ve been wanting to greet you for a while…”

As Aaron raised his hand, Ella instantly fell silent. Seeing him quiet someone with a mere gesture, Neria blinked in surprise.

‘What, is this magic?’

‘…That disappeared 300 years ago!’

“I did give it to Lady Neria.”

Standing behind Neria, Aaron gently reached out his long arm and took the handkerchief from Ella’s hand.

Neria, trying to deny her pounding heart, repeated to herself, 

‘That was just the arm of a gibbon.’

Then Aaron’s broad chest brushed her shoulder. She realized that the word ‘ample’ could apply to a man’s chest, feeling its mass vaguely.

“Lady Neria.”

“Y-yes!”

Neria, nervous, straightened her shoulders and back like a cadet, answering crisply. She nearly saluted.

“Here.”

Aaron placed the handkerchief directly in Neria’s hand. Fortunately, both were wearing gloves.

“Don’t drop things like this. I gave it to you, personally.”

Aaron’s voice was as soft as whipped cream, giving her goosebumps around her ears. Several ladies nearby shivered on their shoulders.

Ella looked doubtful.

“Duke… you gave a handkerchief as a gift?”

The unspoken part was, ‘To Neria of the Warwick family?’

Duke Aaron almost never gave his belongings to women. Such an exceptional gesture drew everyone’s eyes to Neria. She felt uncomfortable, but more than that, she was deeply embarrassed.

It felt like being a worshipper faced with an impossible miracle. And she could feel prickly hostility on her cheeks. She had once wished for romance with Duke Aaron, but not anymore.

Coveting more than you can handle only leads to trouble.

With a pleasant face, Neria pressed her hand to her chest and said,

“The Duke happened to give it to me when I fell and got hurt. He’s truly full of humanity. He’d do the same even for a passing dog.”

Thus, she turned Aaron’s extraordinary gesture into a matter-of-fact act of kindness.

When Neria compared herself to ‘a passing dog,’ the crowd nodded along, thinking it plausible. The hostility faded a bit.

‘Simple-minded people…’

No. She knew it wasn’t that they were simple, but that people believed what they wanted to believe.

Aaron raised an eyebrow, repeating Neria’s words in his mind. She had described his gift as a simple act of goodwill. He didn’t like how firmly she drew the line.

Tilting his head in dissatisfaction, Aaron thought,

‘What if it wasn’t just simple goodwill?’

Neria wanted to keep her relationship with Aaron from seeming too close. Aaron noticed this, but didn’t want to comply so easily.

In fact, as some insightful people had realized, Aaron Denicar was a man with a very narrow heart. Once he got prickly, it was hard for him to return to normal.

“May I walk with you for a moment?”

So he said this, and Neria was flustered.

‘With me? Why?’

Seeing the uncertainty in her violet eyes, Aaron spoke clearly for all to hear.

“I’d like to continue our philosophical conversation from before. It was quite constructive.”

‘Did we… do that…?’

Neria wondered inwardly. The only construction she knew was building mud houses as a child. As for philosophy, she knew nothing. She was sure she couldn’t match the level of conversation Aaron wanted.

As Neria hesitated, Ella narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“…I didn’t know you were so interested in philosophy, Lady Neria?”

‘I didn’t know either!’

Neria glanced at Aaron’s unyielding face. His slightly stiff lips looked stubborn and persistent. In that moment, Neria glimpsed traces of the little prince in his lack of adult composure. Though it was a difficult situation, she suddenly found herself smiling.

“Lady Neria?”

Ella called her, baffled by the out-of-place laughter. Covering her mouth and coughing, Neria widened her eyes and declared,

“Of course! The famous philosopher Alda Malas’s third cousin’s grandson’s next-door neighbor was my grandfather! We had some exchanges!”

“……”

The forceful assertion made everyone hesitate. Then, belatedly, someone in the crowd muttered softly, 

“But he’s just a neighbor…?”

Neria quickly continued, worried that everyone’s attention would focus on that doubt.

“In fact, the Duke and I met by chance in front of the Kingdom Library on Literature Street. The Duke listened to my humble philosophical advice on a certain matter and, well, he wasn’t deeply moved, but he was a little bit impressed.”

Neria pinched her fingers together to emphasize how trivial her advice and his impression had been.

“And! The Duke is the kind of person who, if he received help the size of bird droppings, would repay you with something the size of horse droppings.”

“……”

At the comparison of bird droppings and horse droppings, Aaron’s smile faded.

“So! He gave me this handkerchief, and since I happened to need something to dust off with, I gratefully accepted it.”

Finishing her divinely delivered argument, Neria stiffened her neck, feigning shamelessness.