Chapter 20

Catherine no longer felt any reluctance to let Hugo into the Catherine House, even without adding any extra remarks.

And they had a valid reason to offer and accept a cup of tea.

Hugo seemed to have completely forgotten.

‘We agreed to date, didn’t we?’

Though it was a lie.

Catherine swallowed a few more words and smiled.

“Come in, Hugo.”

Catherine and Hugo walked side by side towards the Catherine House.

“You’re here early. Because of the dress fitting ordered last time, Designer Ermei… Ah, Viscount Edward, you’re here.”

As soon as Catherine entered, Elbert, who had started talking about work, recognized Hugo and greeted him.

“Elbert, please proceed with the fitting as soon as possible according to my schedule. Also, please send a thank-you letter to Ermei for handling it quickly. And could you serve tea in the reception room?”

“Of course. Shall I bring some refreshments as well?”

At Elbert’s question, Catherine looked at Hugo. Hugo shook his head lightly.

“Refreshments are not necessary. And Elbert.”

Catherine sought Hugo’s understanding with her eyes and then pulled Elbert aside.

After putting some distance between them and Hugo, Catherine whispered to Elbert.

“He is no longer a Viscount but a Duke.”

“What?”

“Shh, shh.”

Catherine shook Elbert’s arm at his shocked reaction.

“I intended to stay quiet until Hugo mentioned it himself, but I can’t let you keep calling him Viscount.”

Elbert was not someone who made mistakes often, and when he did, he would dwell on them and lose sleep over it.

It wasn’t wrong to give Elbert a heads-up to prevent any mistakes.

“He has become a Duke. How did that happen…?”

“What do you mean, ‘how did that happen’? He must have deserved it to become one. Hugo is a remarkable person. The Queen must have appreciated his great achievements on the battlefield. He protected the country, after all.”

Elbert nodded.

Catherine, with a very satisfied face, disappeared into the reception room with Hugo.

“But why does the mistress look so proud?”

Elbert was nervous that Catherine might say “our Hugo” while explaining why Hugo deserved to become a Duke.

He hoped that Catherine would meet a good person. Hugo was not that person.

He was secretly rooting for a wonderful and romantic person who sent flowers to Catherine every month.

***

Catherine and Hugo sat with steaming cups of tea between them.

She sincerely congratulated him. Hugo smiled.

Until then, the atmosphere between them was quite harmonious.

Yes, it was genuinely harmonious.

Until Hugo made an absurd proposal.

“I’ve thought about the sponsor issue. I’ve decided to solve that problem. Catherine, how about becoming the Duchess?”

***

That man must be crazy.

After Hugo dropped his bombshell of a proposal and left, Catherine found herself trapped in the reception room.

No one physically locked her in, but she couldn’t leave.

Catherine repeatedly walked and stopped inside the reception room.

Whenever she stopped, her gaze lingered on the spot where Hugo had been sitting.

The image of the picturesque man sitting on that velvet sofa, said to be made by an Italian craftsman,

• …Catherine, how about becoming the Duchess?

followed by his nonsensical suggestion,

• W-what did you say?

Her dumbfounded reaction replayed.

“Ugh.”

Catherine shook her head vigorously to erase the thoughts.

At her strange noise, Elbert, who had come to find her, flinched.

“Madam? Designer Ermei has sent a reply.”

“Just a moment, I need to think.”

Catherine waved Elbert away.

Elbert noticed that something was seriously wrong with Catherine.

He wondered what had happened in this reception room, since she didn’t even see Hugo off when he left.

The experienced and perceptive butler stared intently at Catherine.

“Elbert, I want to be alone.”

As expected, the perceptive Catherine didn’t give Elbert a chance.

“What are your plans for this afternoon?”

“In an hour. I’ll work properly from then on, so can you please leave me alone for a while?”

“Understood.”

Elbert quietly closed the door and left.

He went to inform the residents of the Catherine House to gather in an hour.

Left alone in the reception room, Catherine revisited Hugo’s illogical proposal.

• Catherine, if you can’t become a sponsor, then you should create the qualifications to become one. They say you can’t be a sponsor for the residents of the Catherine House because you’re unmarried. So, you just need to get married.

• That’s true, but…

• Where will you find a man to marry right away? And you won’t be looking for a suitor in the social season along with the residents of the Catherine House, right?

Even thinking about it now, he wasn’t wrong.

• There’s no need for that. You have a suitor right in front of you.

• Hugo, why you?

At that moment, Hugo had clearly hesitated.

• I am now a Duke, Catherine. I came to the capital because of Brian, but regardless, I am here. Because of Brian, I will have to attend gatherings, but what will my situation be like then?

His future was clearly drawn.

Women desperate to connect their daughters with Hugo, and women flocking to his handsome face.

Hugo said he didn’t want to be bothered by that.

• And it would be better for Brian to have a stable home with a married brother and sister-in-law.

Hugo finally mentioned Catherine’s sore spot, Brian.

• I’m not asking for an immediate answer. I just thought that continuing with the relationship we agreed on, even if it leads to marriage, wouldn’t be bad to avoid an awkward situation for both of us.

Hugo, who had been persuading her with rather sharp eyes, finally took a step back.

His suggestion to continue their fake relationship, which they had agreed on anyway, to marriage seemed plausible at first glance…

“No, no! How can dating and marriage be the same? And dating can end easily, but marriage cannot.”

Marriage involves legal paperwork.

And there was a reason why they shouldn’t be connected.

A marriage that had already failed once. Even if a broken porcelain is put together, the mark will remain.

Wouldn’t it be the same for marriage and life?

‘I want Hugo to meet a good person and build a truly stable home.’

A person Hugo truly loves. A family that would warmly embrace the lonely Hugo.

Catherine, thinking of what she couldn’t give Hugo, made her decision.

‘I will refuse Hugo’s proposal.’

She decided to end the fake relationship that had somehow started to avoid a crisis.

So, she really made up her mind…

***

“What? The check is blocked?”

Catherine, who visited Ermei’s studio, asked back after hearing Ermei’s explanation with a troubled face.

“Yes, Catherine. I went to the bank to cash the check, but they said this check can’t be used. There must have been some mistake, Catherine.”

Ermei returned the check to Catherine.

Catherine had paid half the dress cost with a check when she visited the studio with the residents of the Catherine House last time.

Other designers receive payment upon completing the dress, but Ermei did not.

Because there were rude nobles who would take the dress and disappear, Ermei took advance payments.

Although Catherine was not such a person, Ermei applied her no-exception principle, and thus Catherine paid half the dress cost with a check last time.

It had always been done this way and had never been a problem until now.

“That can’t be. Ermei, I’m sorry. There must have been a mistake at the bank.”

Catherine put the blocked check in her wallet and took out another check to hand over.