Chapter 12

“Your Grace.”

Graham opened his mouth with a smile forced into place.

“How did you come to meet Lizette?”

At a glance, it seemed like an innocent question. But there was an emotion in it that was bluntly sharpened. It was a question everyone at this table was curious about, and yet one that no one had dared bring out. The air above the table visibly grew heavier.

At the unexpected question, silence came instead of an answer.

Lizette’s expression slowly hardened. Graham was, quite simply, the very embodiment of rudeness.

His attitude of barely touching his food throughout the meal with that displeased face, and even the question he had finally spoken. Graham was the rude one, and yet it was Lizette whose mouth had gone dry and stale.

Lizette stole a glance at Killian’s face from the corner of her eye. It should have been a bewildering question, and yet, for some reason, the smile at the corners of his lips remained unchanged.

“The first time was when we crossed paths in the bustling district.”

Killian’s voice was easy and composed. As though he were someone who did not wish to forget even that trivial day.

“I was passing by a bookstore when I moved to avoid a boy running around playing, and happened to collide with Lizzie, who was just coming out of the shop.”

“Oh my.”

Unable to tell what kind of reaction she should give and remaining silent, Marquis Aberdeen was spared because Lavinia softly exclaimed and responded to Killian’s words in his place.

“At that time, I scraped my arm against the wall and bled a little, and Lizzie silently held out her handkerchief to me.”

Graham scoffed inwardly, then asked Killian again.

“She was definitely wearing a veil. How did you know it was Lizette?”

It was an openly barbed question. Once more, Lizette turned her head slightly to check Killian’s expression. Whether he was frowning, whether there might be displeasure shadowing his face.

Lizette sensed it instinctively. What Graham wanted was not an answer, but an opening. There was no way Killian could fail to realize what even Lizette herself had noticed. Yet Killian went on speaking as though Graham’s obvious ploy was simply laughable.

“When the child burst into tears in fright, Lizzie showed her face, perhaps trying to reassure him.”

“……Is that so.”

“Though I was the one who had been hurt, she checked whether the child was alright, then turned away indifferently. By the time I followed after her, the carriage had already departed.”

There was not even a speck of such a lengthy story attached to Lizette’s handkerchief.

Of course, it was precious to Lizette, but in truth, it had been closer to a lost item. She had merely gripped it tightly, unable to do anything about the sweat forming in her hands from the tension of the proposal, and when she was rejected, she had left it behind in her fluster.

“It was fortunate that I saw the crest engraved on the carriage of the Trianne Marquisate.”

‘What a complete liar.’

Killian’s lie sounded so natural that for a moment Lizette felt she herself might almost be fooled. It was then that Graham tilted his head to one side, and the corner of his mouth twisted briefly.

“A man like you, Your Grace, would decide on marriage over nothing more than a passing encounter?”

A man like you, Your Grace.

There was no need to explain that those words did not carry a good meaning. What followed sounded close to mockery as well.

Lizette raised her head and looked at Graham. It was an action that came out without her realizing it. Every time Graham disturbed the people around her, she was frightened, yet at the same time it was impossible not to feel her insides twist. But the moment Graham sneered at Killian, an unfamiliar hot emotion surged up in her.

Yet regardless of Lizette’s feelings, Graham was staring only at Killian. Whether he did or not, Killian paid no heed at all.

“After that day, I found myself thinking of Lizzie from time to time. There was also something I had to return to her. Fortunately, I was acquainted with Madame Neris, so I sent several letters.”

Lizette felt an inexplicable certainty. Graham kept stubbornly hoping that Killian would show some flaw, but she was certain he never would.

Something about Killian, unmoved even by Graham’s crude provocations, reassured Lizette.

“Even though she refused several times, I was persistent, so she finally agreed to meet me.”

Anyone hearing only Killian’s words would think he had fallen in love with Lizette at first sight and passionately courted her.

“I heard that many young ladies say you do not easily give your heart, Your Grace, and yet it turned out that a mere handkerchief was all it took.”

“Graham!”

At Lavinia’s sharp voice, Lizette turned her head in surprise. Her stepmother was someone obsessed with noble dignity and restraint. As far as Lizette knew, she was not someone who would raise her voice over just anything……

“I apologize for the discourtesy, Your Grace.”

Lavinia, whose upper body had half-risen together with the voice that burst out of her without her meaning to, sat back down with her face reddening awkwardly as everyone’s gaze turned toward her.

“It’s alright, Marchioness. The young master must have many questions as an elder brother.”

As though everything until now had merely been jest, Killian’s eyes turned cold in an instant. Graham, crushed beneath that overwhelming force, no longer had the courage to answer Killian back. Gritting his teeth, Graham at last let out an unwilling apology.

“……If I was rude, I apologize, Your Grace.”

“That is alright, Young Master, and I believe there is a misunderstanding, so let me correct it.”

“A misunderstanding? What do you mean by that?”

Killian stopped speaking and looked at Lizette.

“Could it really have been only because of a single handkerchief.”

Lizette felt his gaze linger on her especially long.

“The world seemed to brighten at Lizzie’s smile hidden beneath that veil.”

“……”

“I doubt anyone could have resisted falling in love.”

“Ahem.”

“Oh my.”

At Killian’s wholly unexpected words, a strange sensation ran through Lizette’s entire body. She barely forced strength into herself and kept her back straight so as not to lose her posture.

Could a confession flowing from a low voice, a false love calmly explained, truly feel this warm. For some reason, the corners of her eyes seemed about to grow hot. Why did words containing not a grain of truth not feel like lies alone. Lizette did not know the reason.

In the sudden silence, Killian spoke again.

“Which is why.”

Killian stopped speaking and turned his head toward Marquis Aberdeen.

“After today’s meal, I intend to return to my residence together with Lizzie.”

The moment Killian finished speaking, everyone’s startled gaze turned toward him. The same was true for Lizette as well, but she quickly erased the agitation from her face.

As if she had already known, Lizette calmly moved her hand toward the salad on her plate. A faint smile brushed Killian’s lips when he noticed Lizette, who had strained to cover her stiffened face with calm.

“W-what do you mean by that……!”

Graham raised his voice, unable even to finish his words properly.

“Graham. Lower your voice.”

Marquis Aberdeen, who had grasped the situation quickly, firmly restrained Graham. Graham’s hidden hand beneath the table clenched tightly, but that was all.

Marquis Aberdeen thought. He had never been able to love the child whom the woman he loved had borne while prepared to die. And that heart would not change in the future either. If so, then it was better for Lizette to grow distant altogether.

“As for all procedures concerning the marriage, it is customary to follow the rules of House Cedric.”

With the word customary, Killian erased even the possible path of opposition before it could arise. The single word Cedric, coming from Killian’s lips, which had remained gentle all this time, reminded everyone once again of who he was.

Killian Cedric was the head of the Cedric Dukedom, one whom no one in the Luan Empire could oppose. He had stated his intention to marry, and Lizette too had agreed to it. At this point, to show opposition would be discourteous to House Cedric.

“Thanks to the Marquisate keeping Lizzie carefully hidden, she still has no experience in society. She must also learn the customs of House Cedric, and she needs time to acquire the qualities expected of a future master.”

The line of Marquis Aberdeen’s mouth hardened. It was because Killian’s use of the phrase carefully hidden, out of all the many things he could have said, did not sound merely casual.

“Of course, even if Lizzie has any awkward shortcomings, to me they are no problem at all.”

Killian neatly adjusted his collar once, then placed both hands tidily on the table and drove the final nail into this play.

“That is the formal reason.”

He tilted his head slightly toward Lizette. Then, as though it were nothing at all, he lightly tapped Lizette’s cheek with the tip of his finger.

“It’s simply that I want Lizzie to remain by my side even a little sooner.”

‘If you were going to say this much, you could at least have given me a hint.’

As Killian’s words, which he had not even warned her about, came one after another, her heart swayed wildly. Lizette had to make a constant effort not to let a flustered expression show.