Chapter 14

Judith took a small mirror out of her bag and looked at herself. The makeup she had put on for the first time in a while felt awkward. Had she painted her lips too red? The housekeeper who had worked for the Loewe family for a long time had said she looked very pretty and should dress like this every day, but it made her feel embarrassingly self-conscious. It almost felt as though peace would only return if she went back to the lab immediately and put her round glasses back on her nose.

“Miss Judith Loewe?”

“Ah, yes. Are you perhaps Mr. Martin?”

“It’s a pleasure. My name is Chris Martin.”

The man with chestnut curls and green eyes was, at a glance, quite handsome in a classic way. He was tall and broad, yet his skin was clean and pale. The corners of his eyes folding softly as he smiled were alluring in a way that reminded her of Johannes. No. Why am I thinking of Johannes here? Judith stopped in the middle of examining his appearance and fanned herself.

“You must be hot?”

“No. I was just lost in thought for a moment. Shall we order drinks first?”

At some point a server had appeared at the side of the table holding out a menu.

“I’ll have sparkling water with lots of ice, please.”

“I’ll have hot coffee.”

Once the server bowed silently and disappeared, the man called Chris abruptly took off his jacket and draped it over the back of his chair. Beneath the tight shirt, his muscles bulged. Chris rolled up his sleeves, showing off forearms sharply lined with muscle, then clasped his hands and rested his elbows on the table.

“I naturally run hot, so I hardly ever wear clothes when I’m at home.”

“Ah, I see.”

With a subtle look in his eyes, Chris slowly and openly swept his gaze over Judith, starting from the top of her head to her forehead, nose, lips, nape, collarbone, and farther below. Feeling uncomfortable under the man’s stare, Judith let out a dry cough. Only then did Chris’s gaze settle into Judith’s pale blue eyes.

“I’m more on the side of Eros than Agape.”

More Eros than Agape? Now she understood why his gaze felt so unpleasant. She wanted to cut away the man’s gaze lingering around her chest with scissors. Ha. What kind of person is this? He was repulsive. Whether he knew how uncomfortable he was making her or not, Chris licked his red lips with the tip of his tongue and slowly closed and opened one eye in a seductive manner.

“Contrary to the rumors, Miss Loewe, you look quite delicious…… no, rather, quite impressive.”

“……?”

To look at a person and say they looked delicious. Truly vulgar. Ha. Judith openly frowned. Propping her forehead with one hand, she sighed several times. Chris, meanwhile, openly stared at Judith’s chest and smacked his lips.

“You’re not perhaps one of those people who believes in chastity before marriage, are you? I’m the type who believes bodies should be tested before marriage. If you’re going to spend your whole life together, shouldn’t your preferences in bed suit one another? It wouldn’t even be an exaggeration to say that the pleasure from that takes up the whole of life.”

“Ah. I see.”

The first man had only been obsessed with money, and now this one was clearly obsessed with bodies. Judith spotted the server coming from a distance carrying a tray and pulled an envelope from her handbag. The moment the server reached the table, Judith slid the envelope in front of the man and rose from her seat.

“I’m sorry, but I’m more Agape than Eros. And I also believe in chastity before marriage. I’m sorry, but I’ll be leaving first.”

She did not even know what she had said or how she had said it. The moment the server came to the table and set down the drinks, Judith grabbed her bag and fled. She did not care what happened afterward. She had been so startled that her heart would not calm. In trying to find a man, it felt as though she was going to lose her mind instead. No matter that they had come because of the newspaper ad, she could not understand people who were so far beyond common sense. Maybe she never should have placed the advertisement after all. After dealing with one strange man after another, she no longer felt like keeping the next appointment. But if she stopped here. Then what about King Pirap’s old book?

“Ha.”

Judith lowered her head and walked toward the place of her last appointment.

“I believe a human being ought to live according to proper principles. People these days are far too reckless. They do not even fulfill their duty toward the parents who gave birth to them, do they? What do you think, Miss Loewe?”

Ha. It seemed this one was a failure too. Judith looked at the square-faced man with a face full of weariness. The man moved his thin lips without pause, talking and talking. Most of what he said was about ‘proper duty.’

“I also…”

Whenever Judith tried to say even one word, the man opened his mouth again.

“By the way, I heard that both of your parents passed away. Then after we marry, I suppose we would only need to live with my parents.”

“What? No. My grandmother is still alive.”

“There must be plenty of people to care for your grandmother. Doesn’t she live in a grand mansion? Naturally there must be many servants too.”

“No. Isn’t that improper?”

“Our family is not wealthy like yours, Miss Loewe, so we are in a position where we must support my parents, whereas your family has money, so everything can simply be solved with money. I truly fail to understand what part of that you are calling improper.”

“Ah. So…”

“To be precise, I believe a grandmother ought rightly to be cared for by her own children.”

What kind of person even is this? Judith closed her mouth as she looked at the man who spoke only of his own position and his own opinions. Of the three men she had met, he was the worst, so bad that she could not even remember his name. Judith listened to the man’s muttering with one ear and let it out the other as she pulled out the envelope.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think you and I share the same views. I sincerely hope you meet a lady who thinks the same way you do.”

Though there absolutely would not be such a woman. Judith placed the envelope into the man’s still-muttering hand, opened the door of the shabby tavern, and stepped outside. It had been a tiring day. They said all kinds of people existed in the world, but the people she had met today felt as though they belonged to another world entirely.

Judith had been born into a good family under her grandmother’s protection and raised among people of noble blood. Since she had lived surrounded by people who at least knew how to maintain basic manners on the surface, she had no immunity to strange people. Well, not that everyone who was not of noble birth was strange. Even her assistant, with whom she worked, was a person of excellent character. Right. It was only the people she had met today who were unusually dreadful. She had no idea why such cruel meetings kept happening only to her.

Then again, perhaps it was only natural. A young lady of noble birth had placed a very public newspaper ad saying she was looking for a man. As Johannes had warned, perhaps she ought simply to be grateful that no outright swindler had taken the bait. She had not known advertisements could be this frightening. She had thought too shallowly. Her knowledge of life in the world was too narrow. Her body had grown, but she was still young and immature.

Regretting her own shortcomings, Judith trudged along the road. Once she left the dark, narrow alley, an open square came into view some distance away. The drops of water falling into the fountain were colored by the sunset and spread out in shades of orange. The laughter of the children circling the fountain sounded so bright. If she gave up on the old book, could she be as free as they are? No. It was not something she could abandon on the strength of momentary feelings. The old book was not only her promise with her grandfather, but also her parents’ dream. Judith clenched the locket around her neck and ground her teeth.

* * *

“You worked hard.”

Johannes dryly added the words as he placed an envelope into the hand of the man with the square jaw and slicked-back hair. The man accepted the thick envelope with both hands and bowed deeply to Johannes. By acting mad just once, he had ended up with two envelopes. And the envelope handed to him by the well-dressed man was even heavier than the one from the woman who had placed that crazy advertisement. The man hurriedly tucked the envelope into his inner pocket and crossed the street in quick steps. In case the other man changed his mind and demanded the envelope back.