Chapter 6 – Refastening the First Button (3)

Startled, Chloen opened her eyes. And when she saw the man standing before her, they widened even more.

“Lord Doherty, what brings you here? The ball is still in full swing……”

She was flustered. She had deliberately left even the ballroom to avoid him, so why was he standing right in front of her?

While Chloen was bewildered, Mac gave an even more disconcerting answer with a gentle smile on his face.

“I was looking for you, Lady Chloen.”

“For……me?”

“Yes. I heard earlier that my younger sister Helen behaved rudely toward you and Lady Rachel. As her older brother, I thought I should apologize in her place at the very least. So I’ve been looking for you this whole time.”

Chloen let out a low sigh inwardly. She had tried so hard to avoid him. And yet, just like in her previous life, she ended up facing him all the same. The one comfort was that Rachel was not by her side, but even so, it was just as disconcerting. Still, she calmly composed her expression.

‘It’s all right. I just need to stay calm. Then nothing will happen.’

Reassuring herself, Chloen answered as evenly and calmly as possible.

“I’m fine. Please tell Lady Helen as well not to worry. I know it wasn’t Helen’s fault. Then, please take care on your way back.”

Chloen gave him a slight bow of the head as if seeing him off. It was a gesture that clearly drew a line, yet for some reason Mac did not retreat. Instead, after clearing his throat once, he revealed the real reason he had come looking for her.

“Ahem, if you don’t mind, how about going back inside with me? In truth, I was planning to ask you for a dance as a gesture of apology.”

Mac held out his hand to Chloen. His expression was full of confidence. He had probably courted enough women to fill ten carriages. His face said that winning over one innocent young lady who had lived shut up at home would be no difficult task at all.

In truth, Mac was a notorious womanizer. A fairly decent appearance and the fact that he was the eldest son of an Earldom had played a part in building that reputation. But more than that, a larger part came from how hard he worked once he set his sights on a woman, showering her with affection and a barrage of gifts until he succeeded.

However, that effort never lasted very long. Once he had taken a woman’s body and heart, he withdrew all the effort he had invested in her and immediately poured it onto a new woman instead.

And the woman Mac had set his sights on now was Chloen.

In fact, the moment Mac saw Chloen at today’s ball, he was startled. Because she was far more beautiful than he had expected. Of course, even before this, the existence of the mysterious ducal lady, wrapped as if in a veil, had stirred Mac’s curiosity and desire to conquer. But to think her face was pretty too!

What was more, perhaps because she had never been in a man’s hands, she even gave off a sense of untouched innocence. So when his younger sister Helen tearfully poured out what had happened in the waiting room a little while ago, Mac had inwardly rejoiced. Because he judged that he could use it as an excuse to approach Chloen.

But somehow, no matter how long he waited, Chloen did not take his hand. Instead, she answered in a voice even firmer than before.

“Thank you for the offer, but I was just on my way home. Your apology has already been more than enough, so you truly don’t need to concern yourself any further. Then, I’ll be going now.”

Once again, a firm line was drawn. Chloen even gave a light nod and turned away as though she meant to leave. At that moment, Mac hurried after her and stepped in front of her to block her path.

“Just a moment. If you leave like this, I’ll be terribly disappointed.”

Chloen’s brow furrowed. But Mac paid it no mind and simply continued saying what he wanted to say.

“Ahem. I didn’t want to confess like this. Fine. Since it’s come to this, I’ll just speak plainly like a man.”

Mac took a breath once, then moved his lips again.

“The truth is, the moment I saw you earlier, Lady Chloen, I fell in love at first sight. That’s why I came looking for you under the excuse of apologizing in my sister’s place. But how can you be so unaware of my feelings and say you’ll leave so coldly……”

It was then.

“Do I absolutely have to acknowledge those feelings?”

At the calm yet firm question in return, Mac’s lips stopped moving. Toward Mac, Chloen coldly refuted him once more.

“Just because you have feelings for me doesn’t mean I am obligated to recognize them, Lord Doherty. Besides, as I understand it, Lord Doherty, you have already expressed your feelings to many other ladies as well. You must be busy enough to spend time with them. So I really don’t understand why you’re acting like this toward me too.”

Chloen’s voice was firm. It was a warning that she had already heard enough of the rumors about him, so he should stop casting flirtations her way, but shamelessly, Mac interpreted Chloen’s words differently.

“Wait a moment. Could it be……are you jealous right now? Haha, truly, women’s jealousy. But I understand those feelings. And I can promise you this. There’s no need for you to worry about that. Because as of today, I’ve clearly realized it. That the feelings I have for you, Lady Chloen, alone are my one true sincerity. So please, I ask that you recognize my sincerity……”

At that moment, pfft- a scoffing laugh escaped Chloen’s lips. At the unexpected reaction, Mac’s brow twisted deeply, and she spoke again.

“Lord Doherty. I’m sorry, but I have no intention of recognizing any man’s sincerity. Including yours, Lord Doherty, or anyone else’s. I have no intention of wasting my life relying on something so hollow and futile. So please just fold up that sincerity neatly and take it back with you. Though I’m not even sure how sincere it really is.”

At Chloen’s blunt declaration, Mac’s face turned red like red wine. But Chloen’s expression was resolute. In truth, when she decided to live a new life, she had set two goals for herself.

One was to protect her family from Zenon and take revenge on him for her previous life. The other was never again to expect love or sincerity from any man. Because Chloen had already experienced to the bone in her previous life just how foolish and pointless that was.

But Mac, who could not possibly know her resolve, glared at Chloen and shouted furiously.

“Honestly. You have no intention of recognizing any man’s sincerity? Then what, are you saying you’ll live alone your whole life and grow old to die an old maid?”

But Chloen’s expression remained calm. In a flat voice, she coldly rebuked him.

“You make it sound as though such a thing absolutely must never happen. But I don’t think living alone is a bad thing. No, I sincerely want to live that way. Especially……”

Chloen paused for a moment, then said with a faint furrow in her brow.

“All the more so rather than being with a man like you, Lord Doherty, who throws his sincerity around everywhere.”

“……”

“Well then, I believe I’ve said all I needed to say, so I’ll be going now.”

Looking at Mac with icy eyes, Chloen stepped forward again. And just as she was about to pass by Mac, who was blocking her way, it happened.

“W-wait a moment!”

Mac called out to Chloen urgently and reached his hand toward Chloen’s left arm as though to grab her.

At that moment, though it was only for a split second, Chloen remembered.

‘It’s the same as my previous life.’

Of course, she had not been able to say what she wanted as she had today, but in her previous life as well, Chloen had tried to avoid Mac when he flirted with her, and at that moment Mac had grabbed her left arm. To break free from him, Chloen had pulled her arm back, and because of that her glove had come off, exposing the scar she had tried so hard to hide. In the end, flustered and agitated, her eyes had turned red, and Rachel had discovered it.

As the string of events from her previous life flashed rapidly through her mind, Chloen reflexively twisted her body aside. At that instant.

“Aaagh!”

A sudden cry burst from Mac’s mouth. It could not have gone otherwise.

Because when Chloen suddenly twisted away, Mac missed what he meant to grab, lost his balance as he pitched forward, and fell flat onto the ground. As a result, crash, a loud noise rang out, and the gazes of several nobles standing at a distance turned toward Chloen and Mac. As people’s attention gathered, Mac’s dirt-covered face flushed red.

Looking embarrassed, he glanced around for a moment, then soon shouted at Chloen.

“Lady Chloen! What kind of rude behavior is this? To push someone over like this!”

In that instant, Chloen’s eyes widened as if they would pop out.

Pushed you? Me?

It was absurd, but as Mac brazenly raised his voice and shouted, the people who had only been glancing over began gathering around one by one. As more people gathered, Mac shouted even more theatrically.

“I only tried to apologize in place of the rudeness my sister committed, and without even listening to that apology, you got angry and shoved me over! What kind of rude conduct is this!”

At Mac’s complaint, the people who had gathered began murmuring. And their gazes soon focused on Chloen.

For a moment, Chloen’s eyes trembled faintly. The gazes of strangers pouring onto her. And the murmuring voices. It was just like that day. The day her true identity was exposed in the courtroom. That moment when her beloved brother grew cold before her eyes, and this situation now, were far too similar.

Of course, now that she had returned, what happened that day had become something that had never happened to her. But it seemed the shock of that day had left an indelible mark on Chloen’s heart.

As that cruel and dreadful moment came back to her, her breathing gradually grew ragged as if she had been returned to that day once again.

‘No. Chloen, don’t get agitated. You mustn’t get agitated here.’

Chloen lowered her head with effort and tried to steady herself. She could not be exposed here. Because of a mere wretch like Mac Doherty, she could not let her true identity be revealed in front of all these people……

It was at the very moment Chloen was trying so hard to soothe herself.

“It seems to me the rude one is someone else.”

A voice sunken like mist. But because too many people had gathered, it was impossible to tell who the owner of the voice was. Then the same voice was heard once more.

“To me, the one who tried to grab a lady’s hand of his own accord, tripped over himself, and then turned around and blamed the lady for his own fall seems far more rude.”

People rustled. At the same time, as the gazes that had been on Chloen shifted all at once in that direction, the flustered Mac shouted as loudly as he could toward where the voice had come from.

“Who is it? Who is hiding and spouting nonsense? Did you see it? Did you see whether I tried to grab this lady’s hand or not……”

But the lips that had been rattling on so boldly soon stopped moving. And then those lips, trembling violently, barely managed to part.

“Y-Your Highness the Crown Prince! H-how are you here……!”

At the unexpected name, Chloen quickly lifted her head. Even in the middle of that, she thought.

Surely not. It can’t be.

But Chloen’s wish was not granted. A man stood tall among the people parted like a divided Red Sea. That face, silently aiming a cold and contemptuous gaze at Mac, was unmistakably Zenon.

At that moment, Zenon strode forward. Startled by the Crown Prince’s sudden approach, Mac pressed his body even flatter to the ground.

“Y-Your Highness……! I spoke out of turn because I didn’t realize it was you, Your Highness! Please forgive me!”

But Zenon slowly shifted his gaze as though Mac’s pleas did not even reach his ears.

The destination of that gaze was Chloen. His murky eyes, like the dim dawn sky just before sunrise, quietly stared at Chloen.

As if they might pierce straight through her.

Chloen hurriedly lowered her head. His eyes felt as though they were seeing through all of her. She could not bear to keep receiving that gaze. But Chloen could feel it. Even though her own gaze had already dropped, his eyes were still resting on her.

It was then.

“Chloen!”

A familiar voice was heard. It was her Erbe. Behind Erbe, she could also see her mother running over with a startled face.

“Chloen. Are you all right?”

At her mother’s question, full of worry, Chloen silently nodded. Only then did relief appear on her mother’s face.

At that moment, one more person came running from afar, out of breath. It was Zenon’s attendant. He blankly looked around at the scene, which was impossible to make sense of, then soon turned pale and first checked on Zenon’s safety.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince! Are you all right? You’re not hurt anywhere, are you……?”

Seeing Mac sprawled on the ground, he seemed worried that Zenon too might have fallen over. But Zenon gave no answer at all. He only kept his gaze fixed on Chloen. But soon he withdrew even that. Instead, after glancing once at Mac lying prostrate on the floor, he answered in a low voice.

“Let’s go.”

He moved away. Toward Zenon, Mac bowed his head over and over, thanking him for forgiving him. Chloen too blankly watched Zenon’s retreating back. But he did not look back. He simply moved farther away in calm silence.

* * *

A week had passed since the debutante ball ended. During that time, Chloen had stayed at home the entire time. It was partly a choice made out of consideration for her mother, who must have been startled by the attention Chloen had received at the ball, but it was also because she needed time to sort out her thoughts.

‘Why did Zenon help me?’

In truth, she had some idea. Zenon had also despised men with loose ways around women in her previous life. That was all because of his father, Emperor Nexos. He was old now, but once, the Emperor had been a notorious womanizer with handsome looks. Of course, the story of a womanizing Emperor was a common enough tale, but the problem was that the late Empress, who had been Zenon’s biological mother, had truly loved such an Emperor.

However, the Emperor did not love the late Empress, who had been joined to him for political reasons. The only women who captured him were those young, wanton, and vulgar women who were entirely different from the late Empress. The late Empress tried getting angry and even clung to him in tears in an effort to turn the Emperor’s heart, but in the end, what she gained was not the Emperor’s love, but an illness of the heart. And that illness eventually drove the late Empress to her death.

‘That’s right. Looking at Mac made him think of the Emperor. That’s why he stepped in. It wasn’t to help me, but to punish Mac, who was exactly like the Emperor.’

Having reached her own conclusion, Chloen ran a hand over her face. When she lowered it, she saw the calendar hanging on the wall.

‘At last, it’s tomorrow.’

Tomorrow was the day of Zenon’s birthday celebration. In her previous life, he drank wine laced with the poison of a demonic beast on that day. It was probably something his stepmother, Empress Meizia, had arranged in order to kill her stepson. But he did not die.

All thanks to Chloen, herself. Thanks to Chloen’s special ability, he survived, and he proposed to Chloen because of it. Not because he loved Chloen, but because he knew he needed her ability for himself.

But in this life, Chloen had no intention of attending the ball at all. At a ball where I am not there, he will die in agony. And when I finally hear the news that he is truly dead, I will raise a toast. Because that will be the very moment the purpose of my return is finally fulfilled.

So don’t offer me some clumsy kindness for no reason. Even if you do, I will not forgive you.

But things always go against expectations. And the news that overturned expectation was delivered by the maid, Lily.

“Miss! Huff, huff. L-look at this!”

Without even knocking, Lily flung open Chloen’s bedroom door and held out a letter to her.

“What is it?”

When Chloen asked in puzzlement, Lily, finally catching her breath, answered.

“I-it’s an invitation from the Imperial Palace! His Highness the Crown Prince personally sent birthday celebration invitations to you, Miss, and to Duke Erbe!”