The Creditor Is My Husband? - Chapter 31

“……Senioooor.”

Giselle glared at him with a bright red face. She called him while grinding her teeth, but Lucas calmly met her gaze and picked up his teacup again.

Flustered by the atmosphere, Bushin hurriedly changed the subject.

“Ahem, by the way! Did you enjoy the tour of the mansion?”

“Ah… yes, I enjoyed it very much. Thanks to ‘someone’ who scolded me for eating too much.”

Giselle answered, turning her glare away from Lucas. She understood the old butler’s intention to change the mood.

Of course, her tone became a bit sharp as she wanted to point out the annoying Lucas specifically.

“Ahaha… I see.”

Bushin nodded, wiping the beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead.

‘Sigh. Taking it out on an old person for no reason.’

She felt sorry for the butler who was flustered and didn’t know what to do. Giselle continued speaking to put his mind at ease.

“I also saw the ancestor portraits. Including the portraits of Senior’s parents. Especially his mother, who was quite a beauty. I wondered who Senior took after, but it seems he took after his mother.”

“…Ahem, yes.”

At that moment, Bushin’s face turned pale.

But Giselle, not noticing this, continued speaking. A bit playfully, adding a joke.

“But it seems he only inherited her looks, not her personality. You said your mother, as you remember her, was kind…”

“Cough!”

Just then, the butler suddenly coughed. Even the head maid was startled by his sudden cough and opened her eyes wide.

“Are you alright, Bushin?”

Lucas, who had been listening to Giselle’s sulky words with a relaxed smile, asked with furrowed brows. Unlike his usually cool demeanor, his voice was full of concern.

This showed how deep his trust and affection for Bushin was.

“Yes, Master Lucas. I apologize. I, cough…”

Bushin also bowed his head, seeming to understand his master’s feelings. But his coughing didn’t stop immediately and continued for a while.

“Would you like some water, Butler?”

Unable to stand by, Giselle poured water into an empty cup and handed it to him, but Bushin waved both hands in embarrassment, declining.

“Ah, no. Cough, how could I possibly…”

“Take it, Bushin. It’s better to drink some water and calm down first.”

It was Lucas who stopped Bushin’s repeated attempts to decline. Bushin, at a loss for what to do at his master’s words, approached Giselle and took the cup of water.

“Thank… cough, thank you, Miss.”

“Don’t mention it.”

The coughing should subside soon.

She was worried, considering that the butler was not a young person but an elderly man.

She watched with concerned eyes until Bushin finished drinking the water she had given him.

“…Thank you.”

Fortunately, his violent coughing stopped, perhaps calmed by drinking the water. Giselle smiled brightly in relief.

“I’m glad, Butler. I was worried…”

She trailed off without finishing her sentence.

“Giselle?”

Finding it strange that Giselle was staring blankly at the butler’s face, Lucas called out to her. She came to her senses at his voice and smiled again.

‘Why…’

Giselle wondered inwardly while appropriately responding to Lucas’s jokes and sometimes retorting.

‘He clearly had an expression of guilt…’

She glanced at the butler. Bushin had returned to Lucas’s side and was attending to him as if nothing had happened.

His gaze towards his master was warm.

As if the dark emotion of guilt she had seen just moments ago was just an illusion.

‘…Right. It doesn’t make sense. What guilt, all of a sudden? I must have seen wrong.’

No matter how she thought about it, it didn’t make sense. Giselle slightly frowned and shook her head.

They had successfully caught the cat, and she had enjoyed the house tour. Moreover, she had been treated to such a delicious dinner. She couldn’t understand why she had such strange thoughts.

‘When I’m full, I think of all sorts of weird things.’

She scratched her cheek with her fingertip, feeling embarrassed for no reason. But even after organizing her thoughts like this, Giselle’s gaze occasionally turned towards the butler.

Of course, as if to prove her misconception, she couldn’t find any suspicious signs from him afterward.

He was just the exemplary and loyal butler of the Taylor family.

This remained true until the moment Giselle stepped out of the first-floor entrance to return home.

* * *

“Thank you for everything today. I’ll be going now.”

Giselle briefly greeted the employees, including the butler and head maid, then turned to Lucas.

He nodded at her greeting and then extended his hand to the side. The butler promptly handed Lucas a coat, though it wasn’t clear when he had brought it.

“Senior, where are you going at this hour?”

It’s late at night. Giselle asked him with a puzzled expression. Lucas, who was in the middle of putting on his coat, chuckled at her additional comment and nodded.

“Let’s go. I’ll take you home.”

“What? No, it’s fine!”

Realizing that his purpose for putting on outerwear at this late hour was for her, Giselle hastily waved both hands, declining.

“I can take the omnibus. You don’t need to take me.”

“This late at night’?”

He finished putting on his coat, neatly arranging his attire, then returned her words with a hint of amus*ment.

“But the omnibus is still running…”

“I have no intention of letting a woman walk alone at night. Especially not the woman I’m going to marry.”

Lucas nodded again, as if urging her. But Giselle hesitated, looking uncomfortable.

“But if you come and go just to take me home, you’ll be wasting a lot of time. Senior, don’t you hate that? Wasting things unnecessarily. Whether it’s money or time.”

“Yes. So why don’t you start by cutting down on the time you’re wasting with this useless talk, for my sake? Come along.”

Lucas retorted firmly, as if he wouldn’t tolerate her dawdling and wasting more time, then turned and left.

“Ugh, that tyrant…”

Giselle pouted at Lucas’s retreating back, grumbling, then suddenly feeling eyes on her, she turned around.

The employees, including the butler and head maid, were looking at her with strange expressions. They seemed curious, and also as if they were trying to hold back laughter.

“Ah, hahaha…”

She laughed awkwardly at the employees and then quickly left the place.

Despite the cool night, her face felt warm with heat rising.

“Why did I do that? It’s so embarrassing, how will I… Ah!”

Giselle, cooling her bright red face, was muttering to herself when she suddenly stopped in her tracks, startled to see someone standing right next to the entrance.

His figure was revealed under the yellow light of the gas lamp.

It was Lucas, leaning slightly against the outer wall.

“Oh…”

She thought he would have gone far ahead since he had walked briskly, but it seemed he had been waiting right outside the door.

But instead of approaching him quickly, she hesitated, watching his reaction.

‘He didn’t hear me calling him a tyrant, did he?’

It felt like being caught secretly badmouthing a work superior. Well, it wasn’t exactly badmouthing, but…

‘That’s right! It’s not like I made up lies! I just called a tyrant a tyrant…’

Twitch.

“Come here.”

“Yes!”

Giselle, who had been muttering to herself, scurried over to Lucas as he beckoned with a twitch of his finger.

“You come right away when called? I thought you’d grumble, saying ‘Am I a dog? Why are you calling me like a dog?'”

“…Ah, hahaha. Why would I grumble?”

She laughed awkwardly, responding a beat late to his words. In truth, she had been grumbling exactly as he said, which made her feel like she got caught.

Lucas looked at Giselle quietly with his arms crossed, then shrugged.

“Well, you wouldn’t say it openly in front of a tyrant. Maybe just in your mind.”

“……!”

He heard, he definitely heard. What a petty man. Giselle laughed awkwardly again, “Ahaha,” and then opened her mouth for a belated excuse.

“No, who really called you a tyrant, Senior? It’s just, as I was talking, it came out a bit exaggerated.”

“Hmm… Really?”

“Th-that’s right.”

She nodded, as if convincing him to believe her. Seeing her small face turn into a fully ripe tomato, Lucas chuckled and was about to open his mouth again when–

“P-President!”

The driver who operated Lucas’s car came running, apparently having just noticed him.

“I’m sorry, President. I didn’t receive any notice of your going out, so I didn’t have the car ready.”

The driver apologized, bowing his head. Lucas turned his gaze from Giselle to the driver and shook his head.

“It’s my fault for coming out without prior notice. So there’s no need to apologize. Ah! I’ll drive myself, so don’t worry about it and go rest.”

“What? You’re going to drive yourself, President?”

The driver’s eyes widened as if he had heard something even more surprising. He was clearly shocked by the unexpected action of the president.

“Car keys.”

But Lucas calmly held out his hand towards the driver. The driver, though surprised, reflexively followed his order.

“That’s all, you can go now. It’s late.”

Lucas lightly patted the shoulder of the driver who was still looking at him with a dazed expression, then turned to Giselle. She was also looking at him with a similar expression.

“Shall we go?”

Only Lucas remained nonchalant.

* * *

Giselle smiled softly as she looked at Lucas in the driver’s seat. As he was about to start the car, he turned to her, hearing her soft laughter.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Just that… it’s a bit funny.”

“What’s funny?”

“Well, I guess it’s funny because I feel like a noble madam with a handsome black-haired chauffeur…”

Lucas listened to Giselle’s words and chuckled, then gestured with his chin towards the back.

“Shall I escort you to the back seat, Lady Anticia?”

“Oh, I’m just saying. I’ll sit here. When else would I get to sit in this seat?”

She waved her hands dismissively and looked around the passenger seat area with great interest.

As if just looking wasn’t enough to satisfy her curiosity, her hands kept twitching.

“If you’re curious, you can touch.”

“No. What if I touch something wrong and the car suddenly moves?”

Giselle was startled by Lucas’s words and quickly pulled her neck in, then shook her head repeatedly.

He glanced at her again and started the car.

“…Hmph, haa!”