The Creditor Is My Husband? - Chapter 42

Giselle finally came to her senses and awkwardly returned the morning greeting. He folded and put away his newspaper, then gestured towards the seat opposite him.

“Sit down.”

“…Yes.”

She hesitated at his words but then approached and sat in the seat opposite him. The cutlery was already set on the table.

As Giselle was endlessly staring at the silver utensils in front of her, unable to find a place to rest her gaze, Lucas’s voice was heard again.

“I sent a messenger to the Anticia house early this morning. I told them that due to the bad weather yesterday, you had to spend the night here. So you don’t need to worry.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Although her parents or siblings wouldn’t have worried, her nanny probably stayed up all night. Even if she had guessed the situation of why she wasn’t able to return home due to the heavy rain, she hadn’t confirmed it directly.

So she would have been relieved to hear through someone else this morning that Giselle was here.

Perhaps it was because he had considered something she hadn’t thought of, that the tension she felt, wondering how to face Lucas, dissipated instantly, making her previous nervousness seem pointless.

Giselle looked at him with a more relaxed expression, smiling brightly.

“Oh! By the way, senior, about work today…”

Just then, the chef himself approached the table, pushing a trolley. Giselle was about to speak to him comfortably but closed her mouth.

However, after seeing the food laid out on the table, she exclaimed with round eyes,

“My goodness, this seems a bit excessive for breakfast. Although everything looks delicious.”

Giselle added, smiling lightly towards the chef. The chef grinned and then bowed politely to her in respect.

“Thank you, Miss. The President doesn’t usually enjoy breakfast, so my hands were often idle, but thanks to you this morning, I was able to showcase my skills for once. Please give me the opportunity to serve you dinner next time as well.”

Giselle let out a small laugh at the chef’s witty boast mixed with self-praise.

But it wasn’t just empty words.

From the golden-brown sausages and bacon, poached eggs, to the soft bread served with marmalade, everything looked delicious.

“I’d be delighted to give you that opportunity. If breakfast is this wonderful, I can’t imagine how amazing dinner would be.”

Giselle responded to the chef’s words with a bright laugh. The butler and head maid watching this scene had peculiar expressions on their faces.

Although she was only a baron’s daughter in name, it was still surprising to see her conversing so comfortably with a mere chef.

“You’ll be tasting his cooking constantly after we’re married, so why don’t we stop the chatter and start eating?”

Lucas, who had been watching Giselle chat with the chef, smirked and spoke. The chef, realizing he had forgotten he was in front of his employer due to his excitement, hurriedly stepped back.

Giselle too ducked her head and then composed her expression as if nothing had happened.

Of course, she couldn’t hide her flushed cheeks.

He glanced at her reddened cheeks before averting his gaze. The butler, who had been watching them with a pleased expression, approached with a small cough to serve them.

The head maid, too, finally remembering her duties, approached Giselle’s side.

“What were you about to say earlier?”

Lucas took a sip of the tea Bushin had poured and asked Giselle. She took a bite of white bread with orange marmalade and shook her head.

“It was nothing. Just, I noticed you’re late for work today. I was wondering if that’s okay… Ah! Even yesterday you said you were too busy to go look at wedding dresses together. But are you free today?”

The corner of Lucas’s mouth turned up as he listened quietly to Giselle’s words. Somehow, it seemed like there was a hidden meaning in her words.

“Hmm… Are you perhaps complaining that I didn’t go with you yesterday?”

“Complaining? Who’s complaining… Do you think I’m a child?”

Giselle frowned, bristling at his words. She had spoken without any particular intention, but after Lucas’s comment, it really did seem like she was trying to complain to him.

“Well, you’d know that best yourself…”

Lucas chuckled and started to respond but trailed off. Somehow, he felt a sharp gaze on his face.

“Ahem, hem!”

The owners of that gaze were the butler and the head maid. They simultaneously shot disrespectful looks at him. Especially Bushin, who kept clearing his throat as if he wanted to say something to Lucas.

“Master Lucas, you must go together to look at wedding dresses, if nothing else! It’s the groom’s duty to help choose the bride’s wedding dress. You should go, even if you have to put aside all other matters!”

The butler’s nagging from yesterday, which had grated on his ears along with the head maid and the family doctor, suddenly echoed in his mind.

He probably wanted to say, ‘You see, that’s what I meant.’

And he likely wanted Lucas to apologize properly to her right now.

But even though Lucas guessed what Bushin wanted to say, he deliberately didn’t show it. Unable to bear the frustration, Bushin blurted out:

“Master Lucas, I know it’s presumptuous of me, but may I say something?”

“……?”

“How about spending the day with the young lady?”

“What?”

He turned to look at her with furrowed brows. Giselle too blinked, pausing as she was about to put a piece of sausage in her mouth with her fork.

With a puzzled expression, as if she didn’t understand the situation at all.

Bushin, who had been watching them with a pleased smile, opened his mouth once more.

“It’s also to apologize for yesterday. You couldn’t accompany her to choose her once-in-a-lifetime wedding dress, so now that you’ve made time today, why don’t you two go on a cozy date…”

“What? A date?”

“A, a date?”

Lucas and Giselle exclaimed simultaneously upon hearing Bushin’s words, then looked at each other without hesitation.

A date?

…Us?

It was something the butler could suggest because he didn’t know the hidden circumstances behind their marriage.

* * *

“Have a good time. I hope you enjoy your date.”

Lucas and Giselle couldn’t ignore the old butler’s earnest wish. More accurately, they couldn’t find an appropriate excuse to refuse his recommendation.

Especially Lucas, who felt guilty for making the bride go alone to see her wedding dress.

“Ah! Senior, please stop there!”

Giselle, who had been intently looking out the passenger window, suddenly pointed outside and shouted.

Lucas, turning the steering wheel, looked where she was pointing and asked in a puzzled tone,

“Here? It’s just a roadside.”

“If you go a little further, there’s a bus stop.”

“……?”

Despite her answer, Lucas’s confusion wasn’t resolved. Seeing his puzzled reaction, Giselle tilted her head.

“Why are you looking like that?”

“No, it’s just… I thought your taste was unique.”

“……?”

Taste? What taste?

This time, Giselle looked back at him with a puzzled expression.

Both of them had ended up in a situation where they couldn’t understand each other’s words.

“Alright. I’ll stop the car first as you said.”

Lucas followed her instruction and parked the car on the side of the road, then spoke again.

“I mean your dating taste. I’ve never seen or heard of anyone having a date at a bus stop. There’s not even a park nearby to take a walk.”

“Huh? What date?”

Giselle listened quietly to Lucas’s words and then asked with round eyes. Lucas too looked at her and furrowed his brow.

“Aren’t we out on a date right now?”

“Well… I suppose so?”

“‘I suppose’?”

Noticing her slightly trailing off at the end, Lucas raised an eyebrow and asked again. Giselle nodded with a nonchalant expression and answered.

“We can’t disappoint the butler, can we? So we just pretended to go out on a date.”

“…’Pretended’?”

A deeper wrinkle formed between his brows. But she shrugged her shoulders and replied, unperturbed.

“Neither you nor I need to force ourselves to go on a date we don’t want.”

“……”

“So I’ll get off here. You took time off, so you should think of it as taking a day to rest…”

While Giselle was speaking, Lucas, who had been keeping his mouth firmly shut, suddenly interrupted her.

“Why do you think it’s forced?”

“Pardon?”

“The date, I mean. Why did you think I came out to do it forcibly?”

Lucas asked, leaning his head sideways with his arm on the steering wheel. Giselle was taken aback by his words and blinked her round eyes, her mouth agape.

“Uh, well…”

Isn’t it obvious?

Just as she was about to ask him back, Lucas smirked and spoke first.

“Do I look so pitiful that I have to force myself to do things I don’t want to do?”

“Ah! No! That’s not it at all.”

Who in the world would dare call Lucas Taylor pitiful? Startled, Giselle waved her hands in denial of his words.

Come to think of it, just because the butler suggested it, Lucas had no obligation to follow his words.

If anything, it should be the opposite.

The idea of an employer forcing himself to do something he didn’t want to do just to please his employee was absurd.