Chapter 43
Vaileon gave a helpless smile.
Marienne, mistaking that gentle smile for a sign of hope, brightened for a moment—but what came next was a soft rejection.
“No.”
“But my digestive system’s perfectly fine! I feel like I could eat rocks!”
“No rocks, and no sherbet either. You just had your first proper meal. Something as cold as sherbet—maybe the day after tomorrow at the earliest…”
“Ugh.”
Marienne pulled the blanket up to her chin and gave him a pleading look.
The day after tomorrow? How cruel. Cloise said she’d give her some tomorrow, but her brother was being even stricter than his sister.
Sir Beers, you said you liked me, didn’t you? I still don’t understand why, but that’s beside the point.
If you truly like me, shouldn’t your heart melt when I look up at you like this, begging for ice cream?
Marienne blinked her big sky-blue eyes.
Like this—blink, blink—so cute, blink.
“Then tomorrow evening.”
Yes! He caved!
“Morning.”
Marienne immediately began to renegotiate.
“Tomorrow evening.”
Vaileon, however, was firm. She considered making her eyes a little more watery, staring at him with desperate puppy-like intensity.
“Sir Beers, what about after lunch…? I’ll take all my medicine properly. I’ll get better quickly. So please, just a little green grape sherbet…”
“…Fine.”
Vaileon sighed faintly.
“But let me warn you now—the medicine from the imperial physician tastes awful. You have to finish it all, no matter what.”
“Ugh.”
Marienne grimaced.
You’d think an imperial physician could at least make it taste like strawberries. Even if you’re emperor of the empire, when you catch a cold, you still have to drink disgusting syrup instead of something sweet and pink.
At that moment, Cloise quietly mouthed,
“It’s bearable if you push through.”
So, the brother says it’s terrible, the sister says it’s bearable. She’d find out soon enough which one was lying.
Marienne turned her gaze to Vaileon, who was approaching the bed.
Somehow, he looked… different today. Maybe it was because he was wearing a black shirt under his vest.
And the vest itself—also black, with silver embroidery, yes, but still dark.
Has Vaileon ever worn a black shirt before?
Sunlight from the tall glass windows poured in, bright and warm, yet somehow the air around Vaileon felt cool and crisp.
Marienne watched as he removed his black leather gloves.
Dangerous.
There was something newly magnetic about him—an allure he’d never had before.
Even the sigh he gave was almost too sensual. The dense brown lashes shadowing his eyes added a sharp, sensitive beauty that hadn’t been there before.
Wait… is this what they call the “darkened second male lead” phase?
Now she understood why people always said, “Cliché, cliché,” and yet devoured it anyway.
You crave the flavor you already know.
Having once opposed the whole “darkened sub-male” trope, Marienne now humbly retracted her stance.
I was wrong. This is great.
“Cloise, would you give us a moment alone?”
“Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m already closing the door.”
Indeed, she was.
Marienne blinked in surprise—the girl was already in the hallway. Did she teleport?
“Leave it open just a crack.”
Vaileon reminded her of propriety. Cloise agreed and left a sliver of a gap—barely enough to slip a pinky through.
“Seeing you awake with my own eyes finally puts me at ease. How are you feeling?”
Vaileon pulled up a chair beside the bed.
“Hungry.”
Marienne answered honestly, her voice still dripping with longing for grape sherbet.
Vaileon looked at her with pity.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not like you did anything wrong, Sir Beers…”
“You overexerted yourself in the rain and caught a cold. Eating something cold the moment you wake up would only make it worse, right?”
“Yeees.”
He’s attacking me with logic. Marienne surrendered meekly.
And thus, her hope of tasting sherbet before tomorrow’s lunch was completely crushed.
“Even if you feel fine now, take it easy for a while, Marienne.”
When he said that, his hands—resting on his knees—tensed slightly.
It looked like he wanted to reach out and touch her, but his reason was holding him back.
Am I overinterpreting this?
Even with her fever gone, her head still couldn’t quite wrap around it.
Why on earth did Vaileon like her?
It wasn’t self-deprecation—it was a logical question.
Could someone who’d loved Odette Rose for years suddenly fall for Marienne Didi?
I’m not saying he has to pine forever, but isn’t that a bit of a drastic change of direction?!
Marienne stared at him intently.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?”
“…You’re just… distractingly handsome.”
Why was his jawline so sharp today? Why were his features so defined, his lips so vividly red?
She couldn’t believe someone’s looks could deepen this much in a few days.
And this man says he likes me?
Even if he had no money, he could make a fortune just selling his face. But he was already rich—and the Imperial Chancellor, no less.
You sure you won’t regret this?
Honestly, she wanted to grab his shoulders and shake him.
Who’s blackmailing you into confessing to me? When exactly did you stop loving Odette and suddenly fall for your assistant instead?
“Handsome, you say…”
Vaileon repeated her words slowly.
“So, does that mean the attraction works on you too?”
Marienne rolled her eyes.
“If it doesn’t work on you, what’s the point?”
Vaileon hadn’t gone dark at all. It wasn’t darkness—just… something else. A different kind of shift. Marienne decided to change the topic.
“Um, Lady Cloise told me—you’ve been… looting—uh, confiscating the Duke of Blackwood’s assets?”
“Looting” wasn’t exactly the most elegant word, but she couldn’t think of a better one.
“You even drained his pond, I heard.”
“Yes.”
“What on earth did you say to the Fourth Princess? May I ask?”
Vaileon said of course.
“Marienne, remember how we couldn’t find the locket necklace even after searching the pond? That was because the Duke used his power to bury it deep in the mud.”
Even after draining the pond, the workers had to dig through mud as tall as a man.
Luckily, the spot where the necklace had sunk was visibly indented, so they didn’t waste time digging randomly.
“I brought the mud-caked necklace to the Fourth Princess myself.”
So in the end, it was Vaileon who retrieved it—different in method and timing, but the result was the same.
“It turned out Her Highness was already looking for it. I laid it before her and told her the Duke was responsible.”
The proof was the deep gouge in the pond bed—seen by the manager and ten laborers.
“After the earring theft she’d overlooked, now the necklace too—both the Duke’s doing. I told her this was internal sabotage. Whatever his motive, if it happened again…”
Vaileon’s tone grew measured.
“Our enemies wouldn’t stay silent. The Duke’s actions were hindering Her Highness’s grand cause.”
“Very logical…”
Marienne said in a faintly unimpressed tone. Vaileon smiled lightly.
“Naturally. Logic is why Her Highness keeps me close.”
“Well, that’s true.”
“Then what did you think I’d do?”
It was embarrassing to say, but Marienne did.
“I thought—since the person you like collapsed—you’d lose your temper and stop thinking straight…”
“Honestly, right now, I do want to grind the Duke’s face into the floor. Her Highness needs the Duke’s power, not his face.”
Vaileon said calmly.
“Something like that, perhaps?”
“Gasp—wait, you actually said that?”
“Yes, and angrier than I am now.”
He added that if the Duke had been in front of him, he might’ve really hit him—and wouldn’t have cared about the consequences.
Only then did Marienne realize why Odette had taken this matter so seriously.
It wasn’t just about logic—it was emotion.
Vaileon Beers was never supposed to lose his composure. The possibility that the bond between ruler and vassal could crack had spurred Odette into action.
“A ruler must understand the hearts of their vassals. It’s fine to favor someone, but if covering that person’s faults harms others, the ruler’s trust crumbles. Balance and mediation—that’s what I reminded Her Highness of. I told her this matter wounded me deeply, and if she wanted to appease her most loyal minister, the Duke would have to pay the price.”
His words confirmed her hunch.
Marienne suddenly wondered—how would Vaileon handle a lovers’ quarrel?
If she argued with him, she’d lose. No question. Total defeat for Marienne Didi.
When she said as much, Vaileon replied,
“I doubt we’d ever fight.”
Excuse me, Chancellor? That’s what everyone says before the fight.
“Usually… when someone you love begs you, don’t you get soft?”
“Generally, yes.”
“Then since you said you like me…”
Marienne glanced at him warily. If they ever argued, she wanted to warn him not to crush her with flawless logic.
She was no Odette.
If Vaileon started dismantling her arguments piece by piece, she’d just explode and faint.
“So, you’ll grant all my requests?”
“Let me ask one thing first.”
Vaileon laced his fingers together over his knee.
“Have you decided to accept my confession?”
“Uh… I’m still thinking about it.”
“Too soon, right? You only just woke up.”
“Y-yes.”
“I thought so.”
He smiled gently.
“Then we’re not lovers yet. Which means I can’t grant all your requests.”
Marienne blinked, trying to process that.
“But—but you like me.”
“Yes. Quite seriously, in fact.”
Not just “like”—seriously like? When had things escalated to that level?
Maybe she’d missed more signals than she thought.
“But about my request…”
“As I said—until you accept me, we’re not in a relationship. I intend to keep the proper boundaries.”
“Boundaries, huh.”
“If you’re curious what Vaileon Beers is like as a lover, just say the word. I’m prepared to devote myself completely—but only after you accept my confession.”
What was he, a fox in disguise?
Marienne suddenly wanted to ask him to turn around so she could check if he had a tail.
He had this kind of charm all along—so why had he wasted years on a one-sided crush?
As Vaileon gave her another of those soft, devastating smiles, he added, almost as an afterthought:
“Oh, right, Marienne. I’m not done looting that man yet.”
