Since I Don't Know Anything About It, Shall We Break Up, Your Majesty? - Chapter 41

Isn’t that the man we played against in the finals earlier?

As soon as she recognized him, the situation quickly became clear.

‘Don’t tell me they’re fighting because that man lost in the billiards tournament?’

To be precise, two men were fighting, and one was trying to stop them.

No, why are they fighting over such a trivial billiards tournament?

Reading her bewildered expression, Karl added an explanation in a low voice near her ear.

“That man seems to have come in as a ‘partner’? Probably a man he brought in with extra pay for today’s billiards tournament.”

His voice tickled her ear.

Lumiere tried not to be conscious of it and asked back in a calm voice.

“Partner?”

“Yes, depending on the member, we allow them to bring a partner once or twice.”

‘Come to think of it, I’m here as a partner in that sense too…’

It was understandable enough.

But what she couldn’t understand was why they brought someone likely to win the billiards tournament, paying extra money.

In the end, it seemed like the same money either way.

“It probably wasn’t for the money, but they must have aimed for something else that fell through, which made them very upset.”

As if scratching an itch, Karl mentioned what she was curious about.

“Something else?”

Karl chuckled as if he had an idea.

“Not many people know this, but sometimes instead of gold, we temporarily upgrade them to platinum grade.”

Lumiere’s eyes widened at his words.

“There were grades in the membership here?”

Karl kindly added to Lumiere’s naive question.

“Because this is a place where people who hate equality gather.”

“Ah…”

I see.

It was a newfound realization.

Not only do they pay so much money to become members, but they’re also willing to be differentiated once more within.

“…So those people are fighting because they couldn’t get that, right?”

“Well, probably?”

At his nonchalant answer, Lumiere looked at the three men who were still fighting.

“…But is it okay to leave them fighting like that?”

“Leave them be. The guards will come soon.”

Saying that, he took her hand and left the lounge room.

The men who were fighting with bloodshot eyes stopped their actions and looked at them when the two suddenly appeared.

And as if recognizing that these two were the ones who had interfered with their victory, they pointed at them with trembling fingers.

“Y-You…!”

Karl gave a leisurely smile towards the three people who were glaring at them with reddened eyes.

And when he got a little closer to them, he tapped the badge attached to his lapel to show them.

“……!”

Their eyes changed beneath their masks.

Lumiere looked at the badge Karl had tapped, wondering what they had seen to react like that.

What was written on the triangular gold badge was simple.

P

It was just a single initial, but Lumiere could now understand what it meant.

‘This man, he’s worse than he looks.’

She glanced at Karl with newly appreciative eyes.

He, wearing the mask of a gentleman, smiled softly and whispered in her ear.

“Don’t those men look familiar?”

What does that mean?

Lumiere unconsciously glanced at the passing men and belatedly opened her eyes wide.

“…Huh? Oh, oh oh!”

She stopped in her tracks, turned around, and pointed at the men who were glaring at her and Karl.

“No way?”

As Lumiere pointed at them, the men all flinched in surprise and looked at each other.

Karl gently pulled Lumiere, who had stopped in surprise, and embraced her waist.

“You’ve just noticed? For a painter, you’re not very observant.”

Lumiere glared at his teasing words.

Now that she heard it, she could be sure.

This man had deliberately beaten those men!

“Unbelievable!”

Karl just shrugged without answering, but that already contained all the answers she wanted to hear.

‘Good heavens.’

That man, the noble man who was angry at the man he brought as a ‘partner’, Lumiere had met him before.

Right before entering the opera house!

‘The very man who pushed me at the waffle shop.’

And the man he had rushed out to greet, panting, while pushing her was the very man who had lost to the two of them in the billiards match.

“No, how is this…”

“Come on, don’t be like that. Just wave the cue stick you just received at them. So they can see it well.”

So they’ll get even more upset.

Lumiere looked at Karl with an incredulous face.

Then suddenly, she thought his words were quite appealing.

‘No, why not.’

She lifted the wooden case she was holding and waved it towards the men, saying,

“It was a good game, gentlemen. I hope we can play together again if we have the chance!”

As Lumiere greeted the men with a bright smile, the men momentarily looked dumbfounded.

‘…My lady is worse than I thought.’

Karl looked at Lumiere with loving eyes, and greeted the men along with her.

The two walked out of the corridor at a leisurely pace, and the men who had been staring blankly for a while finally burst out in anger, saying,

“What the hell is wrong with them?!”

The men’s curses full of bewilderment followed the backs of the two.

But neither Lumiere nor Karl paid any attention to it.

* * *

“You were excellent today too, Rosa!”

A middle-aged man with curly gray hair welcomed Rosa, who had just come off the stage, with open arms.

His voice was so loud that the eyes of the actors coming backstage all turned to him at once.

But the man seemed not to care about people’s gazes at all, his demeanor imposing.

“You were waiting, Marquis Evoque.”

Madam Rosa, wiping off her flowing sweat, kissed the cheek of the middle-aged man, Marquis Evoque, while embracing him.

“Thank you, Marquis. Thanks to your sponsorship, we finished another great performance today.”

“Hahaha! Loving art is the pride of Levanians!”

Marquis Evoque lifted his chin and laughed, wrapping his arm around Rosa’s shoulders.

Evoque, the most generous sponsor in the industry, walked around backstage as if it were his own home, puffing out his chest.

Of course, since the Cissus Opera House limited the amount of sponsorship, even the most generous sponsor didn’t have the right to come and go as if it were his own home.

But now he was Rosa’s personal sponsor and lover, and the right-hand man of this country’s most powerful figure.

There was no reason for him to lower his stiff neck in any place.

“Come, come, our lead actress should go in and rest. You’ll be the lead in tomorrow’s performance too, right?”

“I’ve undeservedly snatched the lead role for two days in a row. I’m so tired from all the work.”

Rosa entered her personal waiting room and carefully removed her makeup with cleansing water, complaining without really meaning it.

As the makeup came off and her clear face was revealed, a beautiful woman emerged, fair and full of life, completely unsuited to her actual age.

“That’s all because you’re too excellent. Here, I’ve prepared some warm tea. Cedars, quickly pour Rosa some tea, her throat must be very tired.”

Marquis Evoque’s loyal servant poured the tea, known to be good for the voice, and offered it to Rosa.

She habitually took the tea and slowly sipped it into her overworked throat.

A full 12 years.

It had been 12 years since Madam Rosa started receiving sponsorship from Marquis Evoque.

12 years ago, it was the Marquis who first clung to her, but now the story was different.

Now she desperately maintained her skills and smile to keep the Marquis’s interest from leaving.

‘Lovers? Well. Can this relationship really be called lovers?’

Marquis Evoque was a ‘necessary’ existence for Rosa.

Rosa maintained her smile and looked at Marquis Evoque talking with his servant over the warm tea.

Thanks to this great sponsor, Rosa was being treated with respect and called ‘Madam’.

But on the other hand, Marquis Evoque had also done quite a lot of bad things to ‘possess’ Rosa.

Not only to Rosa herself but to others as well.

When she was young, Marquis Evoque’s obsession was tiring and scary, but now it was different.

Now she needed his sponsorship.

Of course.

“I heard Karl Winger has returned, did you hear the news?”

…There were things she had to do accordingly.

“What?!”

Marquis Evoque, who was receiving a massage from his servant while sitting on a soft sofa, jumped up in surprise.

The curly hair that had fallen over his forehead trembled.

“When? Where did you see him?”

“Earlier, by chance. He was walking affectionately with his lover.”

“His lover, you don’t mean…?”

“Yes. That painter girl.”

At Rosa’s words, Marquis Evoque’s face twisted in complexity.