Chapter 71

Lord Jude apparently didn’t sense Edward’s hostility, simply nodding and remaining where he stood, as if he still had something to say.  

Diane seemed to hold goodwill toward Lord Jude, Lord Jude toward Edward, while Edward seemed hostile toward Lord Jude, and Lord Jude toward Diane—an oddly misaligned atmosphere in which each person’s feelings failed to meet the others’.

“The lady accompanying you was at the opera house with Duke Wale last time, but today she’s out with you, Marquis.”  

Finally, Lord Jude spoke again, surprisingly mentioning Diane, yet he didn’t spare her a glance.  

“Don’t concern yourself with who another man’s lady spends her time with.”  

Diane, shocked by Lord Jude’s cold attitude and Edward’s response, stared at Edward with her mouth agape and eyes wide.  

‘What was he saying now!’

‘Another man’s lady’?  

Not only was his tone rude, but the content was almost outrageous.  

As expected, Lord Jude’s face and even his muscular upper body seemed to tense at Edward’s words.  

An unstable silence hung between the three of them.  

“My sister asked me to send her regards. Please, do not hurt the hearts of the ladies.”  

At last, Lord Jude relaxed his expression and spoke again, but Diane couldn’t understand his words at all.  

Who was his sister, and what did he mean about not hurting the ladies’ hearts?  

Which ladies was he talking about?  

“Lord Jude, I have no interest in the hearts of the ladies at your house, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t concern yourself with the hearts of the ladies at mine. She and I are busy, so we’ll be going.”  

Edward, apparently understanding everything, replied in a voice dripping with hostility, and before he even finished speaking, he grabbed Diane’s wrist and started to pull her away.  

She looked at her wrist in Edward’s grasp with a startled expression, then turned to look at Lord Jude.  

His face was as hard as stone, and the look he gave her was as cold as frost on rock.  

She’d turned to say goodbye, but his icy gaze made her realize she couldn’t even offer a nod.  

Why did he seem so angry? Why did he seem to dislike her?  

She couldn’t explain why she felt drawn to Lord Jude, nor why he seemed to dislike her.  

They hardly knew each other, after all.  

Edward kept holding Diane’s wrist until they left the bookstore.  

“Let go of me.”  

He glanced quickly toward the back of the store before finally releasing her wrist, as if checking something.  

“Don’t come to this bookstore anymore.”  

“Why? This is the biggest bookstore in Rettrang. Most people from Center Shire use it.”  

“That’s exactly why you shouldn’t.”  

“…?”  

Diane frowned automatically.  

It wasn’t as if there was some epidemic; why shouldn’t she use the most popular bookstore in Rettrang?  

“Answer me, Miss Diane.”  

Though his form of address had become ambiguously polite, his tone was still commanding and harsh.  

“Yes.”  

Diane thought she was starting to figure out how to talk to Edward.  

Just say ‘yes’ and leave her soul out of it.  

“By the way, isn’t it too late to go to Central Park?”  

“What?”  

Sometimes, even if she knew the answer, she couldn’t help but respond with ‘What?’  

They’d come out to go to Central Park and stopped by the bookstore, but with such nonsense, she couldn’t just say ‘yes.’  

“My brother and Leon are having a nice father-son time together. Do you really want to intrude? Why don’t you and I go get something delicious instead? You like good food, don’t you?”  

“What?”  

Sometimes, there were moments when she simply couldn’t respond with ‘yes.’  

No one dislikes tasty food, but it was odd for him to act as if she especially liked it, and to suggest they go together.  

Would she go?  

“We promised to go to the park, so we should. The Duke and Young Master Leon may be enjoying themselves, but they might be waiting for me.”  

“Isn’t it just that you want to go, Miss Diane?”

“Yes. I want to go, too.”  

Truthfully, she didn’t care either way.  

But Edward’s question made her want to contradict him.  

“I don’t want to go.”  

“President, you don’t have to. It’s not far from here to the park, so I’ll hurry over myself.”  

“With the flower festival, everyone in Rettrang will be out. How will you find my brother and Leon?”  

Why was he so persistent?  

“You didn’t know? Young Master Leon likes the fountain, so we agreed to meet at the Central Park fountain.”  

“Ha!”  

Edward scoffed loudly and started walking toward Central Park.  

In the end, he’d given up on quitting halfway and decided to go to Central Park.  

And Edward’s concern wasn’t entirely unfounded.  

There were far more people in Central Park than usual.  

With the flower festival coinciding with the weekend, it seemed like everyone in Rettrang, noble and commoner alike, had come out.  

Some nobles rode horses, and carriages traveled the main boulevard, making the park incredibly crowded.  

“Dirty, noisy, and chaotic! What a taste!”  

Edward grumbled as he walked beside her.  

‘Just go away.’ 

Diane only said it to herself.  

Soon, they’d reach the Central Fountain where they were supposed to meet Leon, but she worried they’d been at the bookstore so long that Leon and the Duke might have left.  

“Teacher!”  

But contrary to her worries, as soon as they reached the spot where the Central Fountain was visible, Leon greeted her.  

Leon jumped up and grabbed her hand.  

“Why are you so late? We’ve been waiting forever!”  

“Sorry.”  

The Duke was soon close by as well.  

His eyes went to the book in Edward’s hand.  

“You took a long time to buy just one book.”  

“It took some time to choose something suitable for Miss Diane to read aloud.”

“Miss Diane?”  

“She said she liked politeness…”  

“Maybe it’s not the address but the attitude that matters?”  

“Mind your own business.”  

“And what do you mean by ‘read aloud’?”

“Oh, that? Miss Diane…”  

Seeing herself become the topic of their conversation, Diane clicked her tongue and quickly walked toward the fountain with Leon. She didn’t want to hear any more.  

It seemed even the Duke became childish when talking with the petty Edward Wale.  

“Teacher, why did you take so long with Uncle? We waited forever.”  

As they reached the fountain, Leon grumbled again.  

“Whew… sorry.”  

She felt drained by the three Wale men.  

If it weren’t for the money, if she had a place to stay, she wished she could leave the ducal family.  

As Edward said, Leon would soon have a mother.  

If only she had someone like Gale or Uncle Walt to live with…  

“Ann!”  

Just then, someone called her ‘Ann.’  

‘Ann’ was Gale’s nick name for her…  

Thinking of Gale, she even imagined hearing him call her.  

“Ann! Diane!”  

“…!”  

‘Gale?’  

Diane spun around in surprise.  

“Ann!”  

It wasn’t an illusion—Gale was really calling her.  

“Gale!”  

And beside Gale was Uncle Walt.  

Diane was so happy she ran to Gale, and he ran to her.  

“Diane!”  

Gale and Diane hugged each other.  

How long had it been?  

She was so happy she felt like crying.  

“Gale, how long has it been!”  

Finally pulling away, Diane looked up at him.  

“Diane, ah! I missed you so much. How did we meet here?”  

Gale cupped her cheeks in disbelief.  

“Uncle!”  

Still in Gale’s arms, Diane called out to Uncle Walt, who was watching them.  

“Yes, yes, Diane.”  

Uncle Walt nodded several times.  

“Let go!”  

Suddenly, a rough shout snapped her out of it like a bolt of lightning.  

“Let go, now!”  

Frozen, Diane slipped out of Gale’s arms and turned around.  

It was Edward Wale.  

Beside him stood the Duke, just as stiff-faced, and Leon, eyes wide as saucers.  

Their faces, cold and harsh as a bucket of ice water dumped on her head, reminded her of reality.  

Right.  

She’d come here with the Wale family…  

“Let go of her hand, too.”  

The Duke added, his tone polite but just as cold and firm.  

Only then did Diane realize Gale was still holding her fingertips.  

Strangely, Gale responded to the Duke’s words by gripping her entire palm even more firmly.  

“Gale?”  

Startled by the strong grip, Diane twisted her hand free.  

Luckily, Gale let go easily.  

But then Leon grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the Wale men.