Chapter 8 – No Romance, Captain!  (Part 2)

Lena suppressed her rising anger and hardened her expression. The air grew cold and heavy.

“So you don’t want to apologize, you want to be apologized to? I’m sorry for the inconvenience I caused you by desiring an engagement that was beyond my means.”

“Ha, why are you so stubborn?!”

“And you think it’s courteous of you to show up unannounced to someone you’ve ended things with?”

Lena turned away with cold eyes. She had given too much time to someone not worth dealing with.

“Miss Leshuriel!”

“Ow!”

A rough hand grabbed her arm as she walked away. Lena immediately shook off his hand. He was truly an unbelievably rude human.

“Just have a cup of tea with me.”

“I said no, didn’t I? Do I need to call the guards to make you stop?”

“Go ahead, call the guards if you wish.”

Galverd whispered from a much closer distance. Lena wanted to ignore his nonsense, but his next words were even more absurd.

“If it goes to the guards, won’t the knight order also find out about this mess?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Would the person you’re seeing be happy to hear that you had a cozy chat with your ex-fiancé?”

Does this look like a cozy chat to you?

Lena’s face twisted in anger. To think he would resort to such empty threats. She swallowed the rising curses.

“When I saw you last time, you seemed very close? Even holding hands like this.”

Galverd interlaced his fingers in front of him, mimicking holding hands. The mocking expression on his face, as if he was watching a farce, made her seethe.

His nonsense knew no bounds.

“So you really did join the knight order just to spread your legs for the Duke?”

“How low can you go?”

Lena looked at Galverd with a disgusted expression. He laughed vilely, seemingly enjoying himself.

“I have something to say.”

“You mean you have a threat to make.”

“Just one cup of tea and I’ll keep my mouth shut. Otherwise, who knows what I’ll say in the social circles.”

“What is it about a cup of tea that makes you do this? Or is it that you have another objective?”

She glared at him with rising hostility. By now, anyone with half a brain would know that his goal wasn’t just ‘a cup of tea.’

A vile smile played on Galverd’s lips. Lena clenched her trembling fists and swallowed her curses.

“It won’t take much of your time. I’m planning to attend the tea party hosted by the Marquis of Morchohanne afterward. Miss Clatine, the eldest daughter of the Marquis, graciously invited me.”

Clatine was well-versed in various arts and boasted an extensive network. Her elegant beauty enchanted many men, and she held significant influence in social circles, being dubbed the flower of the society. However, she had a problem with her loose lips.

In truth, he hadn’t received an invitation to her tea party, but Galverd brazenly held his head high.

Though he had not received an invitation due to being kicked out of the house, there was still a way. 

Galverd was already infamous for being a man who cheated on his fiancée at a dessert shop. Adding more fuel to the fire wouldn’t be hard.

The social scene was always hungry for gossip.

What if there was a sequel to the story that had already piqued everyone’s interest? People would flock to it. Galverd thought of his gossip-loving relative.

‘Just a whisper to that guy and the whole social circle will be in an uproar.’

My fiancée was actually cheating back, and her partner was none other than the only Duke of the Empire-.

What an amusing story that would be.

The gossip-hungry noblewomen would have a field day. Just like he had suffered because of her.

‘Why did she have to mess with someone who was minding his own business?’

He hadn’t intended to waste precious time on a mere baron’s daughter.

The problem was that being kicked out by his father had led to him losing his position to Kashner Paraton, his rival for the next Earl.

Galverd needed to show that he was more suited for the Earl’s position than Kashner through this incident.

So, he decided to blackmail Lena to get Earl Canabella to support his father’s business again.

And he wanted to humiliate the girl who had disgraced him. She had to pay for daring to mess with him.

Thinking of various plans, Galverd ground his teeth. It hurt his pride to have to use his brain because of a mere baron’s daughter.

‘It’s all because of that girl.’

Unable to contain his anger, Galverd ground his teeth and then took a deep breath to calm his crumpled expression.

Pretending to be pitiful, he lowered his eyebrows and slumped his shoulders.

“If you, Miss Leshuriel, could spare some time for me… I’ll just show my face and leave without saying much.”

Lena swallowed her rising anger with a sigh and moved to another spot.

She didn’t want to cause trouble for Alhendore because of her.

“Just one cup.”

“Of course, Miss Leshuriel.”

Could he really say they had nothing between them while shielding her like this?

Galverd hid his vile smile behind his steps.

***

“Ah, ugh…”

Lena, frowning from a throbbing headache, tried to lift herself up.

It was only when her movements were no more than the wriggling of a grub that she realized something was wrong.

‘What’s going on?’

Her arms were tied behind her back, and her ankles were tightly bound with ropes, leaving her unable to move.

An unpleasant headache filled her head, constantly interrupting her thoughts. She blinked several times and shook her head, barely recalling the events that led up to this.

The place Galverd had recommended was the tea house they always used for meet-ups.

When she glanced at Galverd suspiciously, he shrugged nonchalantly. It was absurd how he made her seem like the strange one for being suspicious.

There was nothing unusual about the nearby customers. They looked like ordinary women in their daily lives.

‘Men?’

Lena squinted her eyes and glared at the table where two men were sitting.

‘Do men come to tea houses together?’

Her suspicion was growing like a snowball when—

“This is chamomile tea.”

A new waiter, whom she had never seen before at the tea house, placed the tea with trembling hands.

She thought he was just inexperienced. But perhaps there was something off about him.

Lena stared at the waiter for a while until he shyly introduced himself, saying he had just started working there. He then expertly explained the benefits of the tea.

Chamomile has various effects, but it’s known for calming nerves and alleviating tension.

‘So, they’re telling me to calm down because I’m too excited?’

Galverd, seeing Lena trembling with rage, picked up the teapot and poured the tea gracefully.

She had considered the possibility that Galverd might have drugged the tea.

Perhaps conscious of her suspicion, he took a sip of the tea first after pouring it for both of them. Besides, who would have thought he would dare to drug and kidnap someone in the middle of the capital?

‘So the drug was on the teacup, not in the tea?’

He was meticulous in an odd way. It was wrong to dismiss her concerns as overthinking just because he drank the tea first.

No, no. It was her fault for gulping down the tea he offered in an attempt to soothe her boiling anger.

‘Ha, in the end, it’s all my fault. I was stupid.’

Looking around, she realized she was being transported somewhere, surrounded by baggage inside a carriage.

‘Isn’t this guy truly insane?’

In all her life, she had never encountered such a lunatic. She couldn’t decide whether to be impressed by his boldness or to curse him out.