Chapter 4 – The Skill Of Making A Move (Part 13)

Lorraine picked up the duster she had put down. Then, as she unconsciously dusted the bookshelf, she continued speaking.

“I let it slide last time, but why do you keep trying to link me with His Grace?”

He had no excuse for her pointed question.

Although Edwin had called it “the epitome of pathetic”, Philip decided to use his own romantic experience to think as hard as he could.

‘Because you two look good together?’

‘If she doesn’t throw the duster at me for not putting effort into my excuse, I’ll be lucky.’

A quick glance at Lorraine’s face showed she wasn’t going to let this go easily.

‘Because you’re a perfect match?’

‘She might retort that they’re a terrible match….’

Playing matchmaker, something he wasn’t suited for, was driving him crazy.

‘I’m going to cry, really.’

Lorraine, watching Philip’s face change every moment from below the ladder, sighed with her arms crossed. In the end, she was the one to extend an olive branch first.

“Anyway, just tone it down.”

‘I really didn’t want to have this conversation.’

Lorraine took off her glasses and rubbed her dry eyes a few times.

“Old classmates I haven’t contacted since graduation are suddenly coming around, asking about these rumors.”

Everyone took this opportunity.

She still couldn’t believe it as she mulled it over again.

***

Louise Arno seemed strange.

Lorraine, with a fork in her mouth, stared at Louise and asked,

“Is something wrong?”

Up until then, she thought Louise was troubled by the tax law revisions. The noble council and the merchants’ association had been clashing over the tax law revision for a long time.

“You… you’re not in any serious relationship with that Duke, right? I mean, have things gotten serious…?”

“Ouch, hot…!”

But to think it was because of her.

Caught off guard by the unexpected question, Lorraine hurriedly swallowed the tea she had just sipped. She cooled her tongue and fluttering heart with the ice water Marianna had tactfully handed her and let out a sigh.

‘I am at peace. I am at peace.’

“What are you talking about all of a sudden…?”

“Well, your name came up in the alumni community… You said you’ve been moving around together a lot lately. So I thought….”

For Lorraine, her entire network consisted of Louise, Marianna, and a few student council members. In contrast, Louise had been active in the alumni community for a while after graduation.

Thanks to her, Lorraine and Marianna, who didn’t participate at all, still remembered their old classmates.

At that moment, Marianna, spearing a cherry tomato from her salad with a fork, asked,

“You still hang around the community? Back then….”

“No, I just hear things occasionally now. Anyway. Lorraine, you… it’s not true, right?”

Lorraine felt a headache coming on.

‘I should’ve taken some of my sister’s hidden medicine before coming out.’ 

Suppressing a sigh that was about to escape, Lorraine firmly shook her head.

“…I don’t know who’s spreading such rumors, but it’s not true.”

The response came back immediately.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

Louise looked relieved, as if she had finally scratched an itch herself—

“Don’t you remember the bad things she said about him? Just gathering those would shatter any illusions, seriously.”

—while Marianna, with a nonchalant face, put a piece of bloody steak in her mouth.

“Should I be feeling offended right now?”

“Why? You said it’s not true. That’s all that matters.”

“Then why do I feel like I’ve been insulted?”

“It’s just your imagination.”

Marianna had already finished a plate of steak. Wiping her mouth and sipping her wine, she enjoyed a moment of leisure before asking Louise,

“By the way, who started those rumors? I had a rough idea when the topic came up….”

“Whoever it is, they must’ve spread it thinking it was a good opportunity. I’ve given up.”

Lorraine shrugged as she put down her teacup.

Honestly, thinking back to her academy days, she wanted to shake her head at her own sharpness. She had been so keen, as if filled with a determination to poke someone….

“-I lived a tiring life.”

Lorraine summed up her past self in one sentence. Four years might be a trivial time for some, but for her, it was a period of significant change.

“Yeah. They were at fault too, but you lived a tiring life.”

“Yeah, I’m guilty of a lot.”

Lorraine could now effortlessly respond to Louise’s jokes.

“Anyway, you should clear things up. If even Louise, who’s out of the community, knows, it means almost everyone knows.”

“True.”

“But don’t go overboard.”

‘Who do they think I am, a beast?’

Lorraine bit her teaspoon while glaring at Louise.

***

「I’m not kidding, okay? You have to resolve this.」

Louise’s voice, which had kept nagging until Lorraine got home, still echoed in her ears.

“Anyway, from now on, whatever the reason, there will be no more outings for just the two of us.”

“You sound pretty confident.”

The response came from an unexpected place.

“Your Grace, did you finish all the paperwork before coming out?”

Philip sounded like a tutor scolding a student for not doing their homework. Edwin pointed alternately at the two of them with his finger and said,

“Do you think you’re in a position to talk to me like this right now?”

“We were just chatting for a bit while organizing.”

“I was also taking a short break after working. I’m human too; I need some rest.”

He walked inside and plopped down on the sofa as if to show he had no intention of leaving the library.

“You used to stay up for days without showing any signs of fatigue… and now you’re talking about being human….”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing. I said, please rest well.”

Philip smiled and moved the ladder to the next bookshelf.

“So, Wiig.”

“…Yes?”

“You’re saying there will never be a reason for the two of us to go out together.”

Edwin had a habit of addressing issues they’d rather he ignored. For example-.

“We will go out. Together.”

—like now.

Lorraine shook her head as she sorted the books to be placed in the underground library.

“No, thank you.”

“If you refuse, at least look me in the face.”

“Looking at your face won’t change anything.”

Lorraine put down the book and clapped the dust off her hands.

“If I recall correctly, managing my estate is part of your duties.”

‘I’ll definitely get a raise this year.’ 

Lorraine blew away her stray thoughts and asked in a subdued voice,

“…What is it this time?”

As the anticipated response came, Edwin’s face subtly relaxed. Seeing this, Philip swallowed a sigh.

It was simply absurd.

Where was that usual indifferent face that never showed a crack?

“Make some time.”

“I think you’re already using enough of my time.”

“Additional pay.”

“Yes, let’s go. Even to hell.”

To Philip, who had grown up in the Ducal household and spent his childhood with Edwin, it looked like he was enjoying himself.

He couldn’t tell if he should be relieved that Edwin was happy or worried because he was already feeling exhausted. What was clear—

“—is that it would be a big problem if your relationship soured.”

“Pardon? What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

Philip smiled and shook his head, then resumed his work.

Hoping that everything would pass peacefully.