Chapter 5

The Long Gallery of the Marutia Dukedom was indeed splendid. It went without saying, given that their holdings were on par with the Imperial Palace’s publicly exhibited halls.

Since the direct line of Marutia Dukes were all famously beautiful, their portraits were a delight to view, and because they were painted by the era’s finest artists, they held great artistic value as well. The unpublished works—ones she had only ever heard of by name from master painters of past generations—each one inspired awe.

With every step, praise ought to have poured forth. Lachesis, too, wore an enraptured expression, her golden eyes glittering again and again.

But if someone asked whether she was appreciating the works properly, she would have to shake her head with a regretful sigh.

Lachesis glanced back over her shoulder at Kadenic, who followed behind her at leisure.

“…….”

“…….”

As expected. Their eyes met straightaway again.

The three instances of eye contact earlier had not been coincidences. With an awkward smile, Lachesis quickly faced forward.

Once again, she felt as though a small arrowhead had pricked—poke—the back of her head.

It had been like that for a while now. Kadenic’s sharp aura kept brushing against her without warning, then disappearing, over and over. It was likely wherever his gaze was resting.

‘Kadenic seems to be suppressing his presence in his own way…….’

The problem was that his effort wasn’t perfect.

Because of that, even though she knew better than anyone that Kadenic wasn’t a dangerous man, she couldn’t shake off the chilly tension. Naturally, her steps sped up as if someone were chasing her.

She had to content herself with masterworks at a single passing glance. Tears even pricked at her eyes—not only from the faintly felt threat to her life, but from the regret of leaving behind masterpieces she might never see again.

Works that wouldn’t be boring even if she were trapped here for a whole year…….

“Pieces that wouldn’t bore you even if you looked at them all year. Why not take a more leisurely look around?”

As if snatched by an intangible force, Lachesis’s quick steps stopped dead. She turned back with startled eyes.

The absurd thought, ‘Can Kadenic read minds, too?’ evaporated the moment she saw his nasty smile. It was a crooked smile she had never imagined the well-composed man would make.

Was this the feeling of coming face to face with an impious painting forbidden by a temple?

The rough thudding of her heart echoed through her blank, whitened mind. It suited Kadenic far too well, yet it felt like she had seen something she shouldn’t have.

“I can’t take up a busy person’s time for long over my private greed.”

Lachesis answered, barely managing to wrench her gaze away. Kadenic didn’t trail behind her as she moved; instead, he walked alongside her.

“Do I look busy to you, Miss Deate?”

“I only dared to consider your thoughtful consideration,  Your Grace. Am I mistaken?”

“An excessive worry. If you wish, Miss Deate, I can personally guide you through other spaces as well.”

“You’re too generous, Your Grace. Just seeing this much is enough to grasp the residence’s stature.”

“That sounds like you want to go back now. Is that correct?”

“Did it sound that way? If I stay longer, I do worry it might become discourteous to you, Your Grace…….”

“Discourteous?”

The thread of their taut conversation—like an unseen contest of strength—snapped. It was because of the deflating, airy sound of laughter that leaked from Kadenic’s crooked lips.

Once again, it was laughter that suited his elegant face terribly poorly.

“Please be comfortable, Miss Deate. Otherwise, that would instead become discourteous to me.”

“……Thank you for your kind words.”

She couldn’t tell whether it was a gentle threat or a rough insistence. Lachesis barely held back the urge to cry and offered a properly polite reply.

At least the fact that the Marutia house’s chief attendant—pleasant-looking—was standing by at the wide-open doorway was a great comfort.

Then, as if her earnest wish had reached him, the chief attendant smoothly inserted himself between them. Thanks to Lachesis’s busy pace, they had already completed a circuit of the spacious Long Gallery and arrived at the doorway.

“My, Your Grace. As a gentleman, you must first consider the position of a young lady of marriageable age. If a scandal were to spread through society, wouldn’t that put Earl Deate’s daughter in a difficult position?”

At a glance, it sounded like consideration for Lachesis, but the meaning beneath was different. He was wary of the lofty name of the Marutia Dukedom being soiled by the petty filth called Deate.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t understand his loyalty. It was the sort of feeling a faithful retainer would naturally have, so it didn’t even sting. Rather, she welcomed it.

Yet Kadenic’s reaction was indifferent. He looked at the chief attendant with an emotionless gaze and simply tossed out a remark.

“This is the first time you have said something like that, Chief Attendant.”

“That’s because it’s the first time you have brought a young lady, Your Grace. Then I shall see Earl Deate’s daughter out…….”

“No. More importantly, Walter. There’s something to tell you.”

Kadenic stepped forward as if to hide Lachesis from the chief attendant. Then, without giving the chief attendant even a moment to collect his surprise, he continued straight on.

“In a fortnight, I plan to hold a wedding, so make preparations.”

So startled was the chief attendant that he smacked his lips soundlessly for a long time before he finally managed to ask,

“Whose…… wedding are you referring to?”

“What a foolish question. Would I tell you to prepare for some other house’s wedding?”

“B-but Your Grace, you have no partner…….”

The chief attendant’s wavering eyes nearly landed on Lachesis—almost, but not quite. He had sensed it, yet he wanted to deny the reality he couldn’t believe.

But no matter how much he looked away, the truth existed clearly, and today, his lord was merciless.

“You said it yourself. Was there any other young lady I brought besides Miss Deate?”

Meaning, he was saying he would marry into the Deate family.

A family with a bogus genealogy that had bought its title six generations ago; a vulgar family with nothing but money; a family whose head had gone mad and couldn’t even keep a proper household—an unsavory family no one ought to associate with.

The chief attendant, Walter, finally turned his gaze to Lachesis, whom he had been forcing himself to ignore.

It wasn’t that he held ill feelings toward her. Lachesis Deate had a pretty face, and from overhearing the conversations she shared, she wasn’t an uncultured young lady either. If she had been born of a different house, he might have held a different opinion right now.

But she was unavoidably ‘Deate.’ Marriage was not a union of individuals, but a union of houses. No matter how one looked at it, Deate could not match the Marutia family’s standing in even the slightest.

Even if he was young, there was no way his sharp lord didn’t know that fact…….

The chief attendant’s shocked, wide-open eyes tightened with force. It was a bald stare, as if he were trying to pry from her the circumstances he couldn’t bring himself to ask Kadenic about.

But Lachesis couldn’t return even a single answer to him.

Because she, too, was hearing it for the first time.

Opening wide in shock, the chief attendant’s eyes and Lachesis’s were no different.

“It won’t become a scandal, so I’ve relieved you of your needless worry, Chief Attendant.”

Amid those plunged into consternation, Kadenic maintained a light attitude, speaking as if it were a joke. He didn’t forget to press the chief attendant, frozen in place.

“There won’t be much time, and there’s a lot to prepare. Do you have the leisure to linger here?”

“…….”

“I should be going.”

In his low voice, there dwelled an oppressive force that could not be defied. With a face full of things to say, the chief attendant’s lips parted and closed—then, in the end, he left.

Trudge, trudge—by the time the sound of his drained footsteps receded and vanished completely, Lachesis realized Kadenic was looking at her.

As if waiting for some reaction, he stared at her with a quiet gaze. But Lachesis couldn’t find any thread at all for what she should say, or how she should begin.

Should she get angry and say the joke had gone too far? Should she laugh as if it were delightful, saying the chief attendant had been completely fooled?

Or should she give a proper answer—refusing, or accepting?

But if this proposal clearly wasn’t sincere, was there any need?

Her thoughts tangled into a mess. Nothing felt like the right answer.

In the end, what Lachesis said was neither this nor that—an evasion.

“Um, I should go back now.”

Kadenic replied, unexpectedly unconcerned.

“Why not stay a day before you go?”

“Pardon? What do you mean……. I can’t do that. The Deate household will send a carriage soon, so I’ll return.”

“Well, Miss Deate.”

Trailing off, Kadenic turned his head toward the window. At the end of his far-off gaze stood one of the ducal residence’s servants, who had just arrived before the mansion’s main gate, and—

“It seems it’ll be difficult for you to return today.”

In his hands was a large travel bag.

Even from five floors up, it was clearly visible: a bag bearing the Deate crest.