Turbin, flustered, opened and closed his mouth wordlessly as he studied Marquis Arcel. The Marquis’ expression hadn’t changed much since their first meeting in the drawing room. It wasn’t the reaction Turbin had expected. Just as he stumbled, caught off guard, the Marquis spoke.
“Did you think I would trust your words? And even if what you said were true, your guilt would still be considerable.”
The Marquis pressed his forehead with his index finger and let out a long sigh. The stale smell of his cigar lingered in his exhale.
“You had an agreement with me to marry Ciela.”
“…”
“If you had married Ciela and fulfilled my wishes, you would have repaid your debt and returned safely to Count Turtlik.”
The Marquis’s sharp eyes pierced him like daggers.
“But you, with your audacity in pursuing Lilia, are the one who started all this trouble.”
If he had only married Ciela and brought him what he wanted, he wouldn’t have cared if they got divorced. It did not matter to the Marquis. None of this would have happened if that useless fool had kept his wits about him.
“Did you really think that if I listened to you, I would simply wipe out your debt? Or did you expect me to blame Ciela instead of you? Pathetic. There’s a limit to stupidity.”
Turbin’s head hung low, not from guilt but from overwhelming frustration – so much so that he felt like beating his chest. It had been Lilia who had first approached him, and Ciela who had forced him. He saw himself as an unjustly wronged victim. Burning with indignation, Turbin raised his eyes sharply.
“What Ciela Arcel has told me is nothing but the absolute truth! Perhaps the Duke…”
The Marquis, who had been looking at him with disdain, abruptly cut him off.
“I will forget everything I have heard today, even if your damned mouth is telling the truth.”
“What?”
Turbin was speechless, forgetting what he wanted to say, his mouth hanging open as if his jaw had dropped. The Marquis Arcel stared at him indifferently. If it was true that Ciela had manipulated Turbin, it was enough to provoke a rage that made his blood boil. But while Ciela had once been the ugly duckling, she was now the goose that laid the golden eggs.
‘What is done is done.’
He pressed his fingers firmly against the bridge of his nose.
‘The real trouble with the current situation isn’t Ciela – it’s that damn fool.’
The union of the Icarus and Arcel families. The countless benefits that would flow from it. And the one indispensable piece was Ciela, the girl who had won the heart of Duke Calix Icarus.
‘If she married the Duke, it would be impossible to hide ‘that’ any longer.’
The moment Ciela discovered what he was hiding, it had to go smoothly. She had to remain the girl who longed for her father’s love and always sought his approval.
‘To achieve that, the first step is to eliminate any potential threats.’
His eyes darkened as his resolve hardened.
Marquis Arcel, remembering the deal he had made with Turbin, glared at the man whose expression now reeked of pathetic desperation.
“There is nothing more to hear, so you may leave now.”
“But…!”
“Or would you rather be thrown out in disgrace?”
Turbin clenched his fists, but finally he stood up. As a noble, he still had his pride. To be forcibly ejected by the servants would be an unbearable humiliation.
“I take my leave.”
The Marquis leaned back in his chair, indifferent to whether Turbin stayed or went. There was no point in exchanging further pleasantries with someone who was as good as dead. The only reason he didn’t deal with him more harshly was to avoid tarnishing his estate with unnecessary bloodshed.
With a gesture to the servant standing silently behind him, the Marquis gave his unspoken order. The servant bowed in acknowledgment and wordlessly carried out his orders.
* * *
Ciela tilted her head to follow the scent and leaned closer, her nose almost brushing against his body. She took a deep breath and certainty settled in her mind. The pleasant scent, like bedclothes dried in the sunlight – it was a scent she loved.
‘It smells like Titi’s scent.’
Could a person and a pet really have such an identical scent?
Ciela took another deep breath to confirm her suspicion and exhaled slowly. At that moment, Calix’s body gave a slight shudder.
Flinch.
The hands that had been holding her back began to loosen. As Calix took a few steps back, she caught sight of the blush creeping up his neck.
“Why… why are you doing this?”
“Ah.”
Realising what she had done, Ciela let out a small moan of embarrassment. Her ears were burning as hot as his neck.
“It’s nothing.”
She shook her head and pressed her lips tightly together.
‘To say he smells like my pet cat would be rude.’
People in this country generally didn’t like cats. Since the novel never mentioned whether Calix liked them or not, Ciela decided to keep quiet.
“Is that so?”
Calix pressed his hand firmly against his neck. The heat radiating from it felt like a volcano ready to erupt, and the pounding of his pulse was all too obvious.
She must have heard it as well.
At the moment he had saved her from the sudden approach of the coach, he hadn’t considered how much closer it would bring them. Now, belatedly aware, Calix rubbed his neck uncomfortably. Ciela offered a small smile, but the tension in the air filled her lungs and made her ears burn even hotter.
Searching for a way to break the awkward mood, her eyes suddenly lit up.
“I’ll get some more ice cream.”
She glanced at the two cones that had fallen to the floor and turned to leave.
“I’ll come with you.”
Calix started to follow her, but was stopped.
Ding-a-ling.
The clear sound of a bell rang out.
Ciela, who had been running ahead, also froze and turned her gaze back to him. Her blue eyes reflected Calix’s stiffened form. The situation was familiar and she could already predict what he would say next.
“I’ve just remembered an urgent matter I need to attend to, so I’ll have to leave now. I’ll leave the carriage for you; please use it to return.”
“You can hire another one later. Just take it – didn’t you say it was urgent?”
“Understood.”
Ding-a-ling. Ding-a-ling.
The bell kept ringing. There was no time to convince her any further. Calix hurried away, scanning his surroundings for a secluded spot.
“…”
Ciela watched him in silence as he moved further and further away.
When she had met Calix to keep up appearances as a couple, there had been a few occasions when he had disappeared after ringing a bell. So she had expected it to happen again. With a calm understanding, Ciela bought her ice cream and continued on her way alone.
‘Where was the carriage rental again?’
Remembering the road she’d seen vaguely earlier, she retraced her steps and hired a carriage for the day. As the rented carriage made its way to the Arcel estate, she habitually turned her eyes to the passing scenery outside the window. The ephemeral landscapes blurred by until a lingering question suddenly popped into her mind.
‘Could a human really have the same scent as a cat?’
She pressed her fingertip to her nose as if to confirm that the scent still lingered. The pleasant scent, reminiscent of bedding dried in the sunlight, seemed to hover at the edge of her senses.
‘There’s no way I could mistake Titi’s scent.’
She hadn’t just smelled it once or twice, so if she was wrong, she wasn’t fit to be a caretaker. Ciela looked away from the window and leaned her head back against the seat. The tiny fragments of questions continued to swirl in her head.
‘Is the bell some kind of magical tool that signals urgent matters?’
There was no such description in the original story. Questions swirled chaotically in her mind, and the more she thought about them, the more they seemed to pile up. Unable to come to any conclusion, Ciela let out a soft sigh and slowly raised her eyelashes.
‘Why am I even bothering with this?’
She put her hand to her forehead and shook her head in disbelief. The thought that Calix had the same scent as Titi must have driven her temporarily insane.
‘It’s not like Calix is Titi.’
Pouting at her own silly thoughts, Ciela buried the mental question marks and decided to focus on the present. Turning her gaze to the window, she noticed familiar buildings coming into view – it seemed they were approaching the Arcel estate.
And then it happened.
Clunk!
The carriage came to a sudden stop, jolting her forward. Almost toppling over, she caught herself by gripping the edge of the carriage, her eyes wide in surprise.
“I apologise for the sudden stop.”
A moment later, the coachman opened the door and poked his head in, his eyes lowered as he began to speak.
“A man suddenly blocked the carriage’s path, so I had no choice but to stop.”
“Blocked the path?”
Remembering the earlier moment when she had almost been run over by a carriage, Ciela frowned slightly. Who would do such a reckless thing?
“Yes, some young man, but…”
Before he could finish his sentence, someone suddenly pushed him, causing him to stumble and fall. Startled by the noise, Ciela started to get up, but then spotted Turbin and sank back into her seat. Turbin planted himself where the coachman had been and sneered.
“Who else but you would drive around without using your family’s carriage, Ciela?”
“Well, who else but you would recklessly put your life at risk by doing something crazy like this?”
“Ha, did you just call me you?”
“And why are you talking down to me? If you keep this up, you may find yourself in an unpleasant situation. Are you okay with that?”
Turbin’s eyebrows furrowed at her change in tone, clearly annoyed at her sudden lack of respect. The way she sat in the carriage looking down at him only added to his irritation.
‘Who do you think is responsible for me ending up like this?’
His chest heaved with anger, swelling and deflating repeatedly. Finally, he forced a sly, mocking smile and looked up at her.
“Go ahead, report me if you wish. That is, if you’re in a position to say so.”
Though his initial anger had driven him to approach the Marquis first, Turbin knew that the truth he possessed was a far more effective weapon against Ciela.
‘If Marquis Arcel is not asked directly, she will not know that I have already been there.’
If she heard what he was about to say, Turbin was sure she would have no choice but to grovel.
“You must have been involved with Duke Calix Icarus even before the engagement was broken off. And you were the one who made me ruin the birthday party. Have you thought what would happen if the Marquis found out?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Turbin smiled at her feigned ignorance.
“You don’t know what I’m talking about? That’s too bad. Then I have no choice but to go to Marquis Arcel and tell him myself.”
He was sure that fear would force her to stop him. Inside, Turbin was already savouring his victory, waiting for her to beg him to keep quiet.
“…”
But Ciela made no reply.
“Why don’t you say something?”
Unable to bear the silence any longer, Turbin finally snapped, his irritation spilling into his voice as he demanded an answer.
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VeeQuo
Normally I’d be sympathetic to most anyone’s struggles especially when they got played, but this man Turbin is as dumb as a sack of bricks, like why are you acting like the victim?? Marquis Arcel may be a coward and a scumbag, but he’s not wrong, this man was literally engaged and then cheated with her sister, Turbin is an entire as$