Chapter 3 – Ladies Alighting from the Carriage (6)

From the moment they left Count Palatine’s residence until now, every moment was moving for him. Perhaps even the moment they held their private book club as usual… Demetrian barely managed to control his overwhelming emotions as he observed Chloe’s face.

Her graceful gestures as she cut the cod steak in front of her into small pieces and put them into her mouth, her plump lips chewing, and the slight furrowing of her brow as if to gauge the taste.

Demetrian, without realizing he hadn’t even touched his own dish, cautiously asked.

“Does it suit your taste?”

“Yes, seafood dishes being this good in Gotiue is rare.”

Following the tangy sea bass carpaccio appetizer, the main dish of cod steak seemed to perfectly satisfy her, as an unadulterated smile bloomed on Chloe’s face. The accompanying white wine was also enough to enhance the flavor.

Demetrian’s face relaxed in relief upon confirming Chloe’s overwhelmingly positive reaction.

“That’s a relief.”

Demetrian had wanted to come to this restaurant with Chloe ever since he learned of its existence. The Duke of Lazure, who owned Lazure, was Chloe’s maternal family. Listening to Chloe’s stories about her summer vacations in Lazure when they were young, Demetrian would find himself imagining playing with Chloe on the sunlit beaches of Lazure, a place he had never visited.

‘Look, I got this tan from playing in the sea every day. People from the southern regions must have been snakes in their past lives. My skin peels like this.’

‘At night, we had a seafood barbecue party in the garden of the beach villa! We grilled shrimp and lobster on the grill, and it tasted of the sea. In Lazure, you can even smell the sea in the night sky.’

‘I didn’t like sour food, remember? But in Lazure, we eat octopus, cuttlefish, shrimp, everything with a tangy flavor. It was so delicious. But Gotiue’s sour dishes are all not tasty.’

The seafood dishes, a pride of Lazure, were imprinted in Demetrian’s mind as Chloe’s vacation food. So no matter how skilled the chef in Gotiue or Crevelle’s domain was, it wasn’t true seafood cuisine to him.

Seafood, not frequently encountered inland, was something like that for Demetrian. Something he had never tasted, something he would never taste unless he was with Chloe.

So Demetrian had long imagined coming to this restaurant with Chloe. No matter how advanced the magic stone freezers were, ‘direct delivery from the source’ was impossible without using a portal, so there was no place to try ‘Chloe’s grandmother’s house food’ as good as here.

He had always thought it would be nice to come with Chloe, and now they were finally here together.

Even now…

“Is it as good as what you eat in Lazure?”

“Yes, they’ve done it elegantly. It’s not fishy. Lazure’s kitchen is the best for Lazure food, though.”

“I’d like to visit Lazure too.”

Demetrian murmured with vague hope.

“Come visit sometime. My grandfather would be delighted if you came.”

He loves spending time with young people. 

Chloe replied, unaware of the hope his words might lead to.

The noble consort, who married into a closed foreign country, never had the chance to introduce her husband to the food of her mother’s homeland.

Though Demetrian never had the opportunity to hear this story directly from Chloe, he, suspecting what might happen in the future, unknowingly broke into a cold sweat.

‘…It will never happen again.’

Unaware of Demetrian’s thoughts, Chloe’s heart, softened by the perfectly recreated Lazure dishes she hadn’t tasted in a long time, began to chatter warmly.

“Food in Lazure is on a whole different level. The food here is good enough, but when you cook with freshly caught seafood, there’s no worry about fishy smells, and you don’t even need sauce. Just seasoning with salt and pepper is amazing. Etienne also said that when he gets engaged, he’ll definitely go to Lazure to let his fiancée taste real Lazure food.”

Listening to Chloe’s story like enjoying a pleasant song, Demetrian suddenly remembered something he owed to his colleague at the mention of Etienne’s name.

“Do you think you’d be open to meeting someone?”

“Huh?”

At Chloe’s startled expression, her eyes wide like a rabbit’s, Demetrian once again wanted to bite his tongue. Not knowing that nervousness could make him say strange things, the words he uttered without much thought were indeed strange.

“Oh, no, I meant Etienne. There’s a young lady who wants to be introduced to him.”

“Oh… I thought you meant something else.”

Chloe, who had been startled thinking he was trying to introduce someone to her, felt her heart sink in relief.

“I haven’t heard anything, but… isn’t he considering it too? We don’t marry just because we want to.”

Like someone with a fiancé. Chloe’s heart, which had softened with the flavorful Lazure food, returned to its cold mode.

She was delighted to reunite with Demetrian after returning to being twenty, as much as she had missed him, but knowing their future, Chloe tried to manage her feelings every day. She didn’t want to place any expectations on his unfamiliar kindness.

‘Above all, Demetrian’s engagement is a promise.’

But when he spoke as if he would introduce someone to her, Chloe was surprised at how her heart sank. To be precise, it would be more accurate to say she was disappointed.

And being disappointed in herself, having emotions contrary to her resolve… it was all because of Demetrian’s unprecedented behavior.

Was he always this kind?

Did he always bring flowers when meeting me?

Did he always listen to everything I said as if I was entirely right?

Did he always keep a smile on his face?

Did he always cherish me so much that his heart fluttered to the point of being unable to speak?

Throughout the day together, Chloe couldn’t affirm any of these rising questions.

Why does he keep making me expect something? Even though our future is set, acting as if it isn’t.

‘Even though he wouldn’t abandon the duties he so devoutly believes in as an heir.’

Chloe recalled a day when he emphasized several times that the first Empress of the Empire was ‘irresponsible.’

“Why, are you full? Is it still not as good as what you eat in Lazure?”

Seeing Chloe’s suddenly subdued expression, Demetrian asked with a voice tinged with anxiety. Feeling bitterness even at his tone, Chloe shook her head slightly.

It was when she had silently finished the main dish with her gloomy heart.

“If you’ve finished, shall we prepare the dessert?”

“That, including the special request.”

“Yes.”

Seeing what the waiter brought after exchanging glances with Demetrian deepened Chloe’s turmoil.

“The dessert is apple compote tart and chocolate cake, and the specially ordered dessert is the cheesecake from Desserts.”

Desserts’ cheesecake. The one Chloe always claimed was the best cheesecake she’d ever tasted, from the high-end patisserie on Angela Boulevard. She had occasionally missed it while living in Scandar, where the food culture was quite different, and even after returning to being twenty, she hadn’t tasted it yet.

And, a special treat that must have required paying extra in advance for the restaurant staff to go to the middle of Angela Boulevard to buy it.

Seeing it, her feelings…

Chloe, with an unexpectedly trembling voice, reproachfully said.

“Why did you go to such lengths for something that’s not even a date?”

Indeed, this felt too much like a date. The thought that had lingered since she dressed up in evening attire for their night out, constantly making her heart restless.

Initially, she wanted to tease him a bit when she dressed up, but it felt like Demetrian was teasing her instead, making her words prickly.

It was certainly something that would become gossip in society. Even though they were sitting in a VIP section separated by walls like a room and with the entrance covered by curtains, among those they encountered coming and going or among the staff who received Young Duke Crevelle’s unusual order, words would surely spread.

‘And who was most afraid of that?’

Startled by Chloe’s resentful gaze, Demetrian softened his voice.

“So what if it were a date?”

“If being alone with you is a date, you’d have been abandoned long ago.”

But this isn’t right. 

The words she spat out as if gritting her teeth contained a hint of displeasure.

Demetrian silently gazed at Chloe’s face. With eyes that had once calmed down in previous moments.

“…Is it not okay?”

“What?”

“Is that not allowed?”

Before she knew it, Demetrian had clasped his hands on the table and was leaning heavily toward Chloe.

His face was filled with a kind of earnestness, desperation, and such emotions. Chloe was quite startled by the fact that such emotions could appear on his face.

But that wasn’t what mattered.

The time when it wasn’t allowed had been too long, and also…

“…I didn’t know Demetrian Crevelle could say something so irresponsible.”

The small hat’s feather and mesh decoration on Chloe’s low-tied hair cast a peculiar shadow over her face. In the shadow cast by her slightly lowered head, Chloe’s green eyes shone strangely.

Facing Chloe, dressed in the attire he had newly admired at the Count Palatine’s entrance today, Demetrian couldn’t say a word.