Episode 11
Cullen waved a hand in front of her face.
“Lady Burndale? You there?”
“Of course! It’s you, Duke — I’ll drag my scattered mind back together if I have to!”
When Lana blinked hard and tried to focus, Cullen barely held back a laugh. He leaned back comfortably against the sofa, his arm resting along the backrest, and asked smoothly,
“You said you had something important to tell me. Can I hear it now?”
“Ah…”
Lana quickly straightened up. A sharp-eyed waiter hurried to clear the table and left the room. Now that they were alone, Lana took a deep breath and finally spoke up about the question that had been bugging her since the first time she met him.
“Um, haven’t we met before?”
Cullen froze for a second, looking like a lazy beast lounging after a meal. Then he blinked, a grin forming on his lips.
“Oh… so that’s your pick-up line? Bit old-fashioned, isn’t it?”
“No! That’s not what I meant!”
Lana flailed immediately, sweating as she rushed to explain.
“I just meant—have you ever been to the Buren region in the southeast? I feel like I saw you there when I was little.”
“Buren, huh? That’s Viscount Saint’s territory, I think…”
He looked thoughtful for a moment, then chuckled.
“Nice try. The specific location makes the flirting sound more convincing.”
“I told you, that’s not what I meant!”
Lana thumped her chest in frustration — too hard, apparently, because she started coughing.
Cullen politely pretended not to notice and handed her his pocket handkerchief.
“Lady Burndale. We don’t need to go through all that. We’re skipping straight to marriage, remember?”
“Ugh… fine. That was stupid of me.”
Deciding to give up on explaining herself, Lana resigned herself to being the idiot who tried (and failed) to seduce her fiancé. She gulped down her cold tea, trying to cool off her irritation.
Cullen watched her for a moment, then pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. With a cheerful click of the lid, he said,
“Well, since your outdated attempt is over, shall we get going?”
“Yes, yes. I’ll take my punishment for being hopelessly old-fashioned.”
She muttered as she stood up, putting on her bonnet and picking up her handbag and parasol. Cullen, all smiles, opened the door for her.
As they walked down the stairs, he said lightly,
“Since you were brave enough to confess something, I suppose I should make a confession too.”
“Oh? You sure you can top mine? It’s gonna be hard.”
Her look practically said, You think you can be cornier than me? Cullen rubbed his lower lip, clearly trying not to laugh. Lana glared and turned away sharply.
No matter how handsome he is, sometimes I just wanna punch him.
She picked up her pace toward the carriage — but suddenly, a hand shot out from a side alley and yanked her in.
Before she could even scream, Lana was dragged into the alley. She immediately raised both hands to break free and twisted her body to slip out of the man’s grasp. Scanning her surroundings quickly, she saw a group of rough-looking thugs.
The man lunged again, but Lana dodged easily and struck back — her fist slamming into another man’s face.
“Ugh!”
He went down before the next one even realized what was happening. Lana spun on her heel and kicked the third man straight in the gut.
“You little—!”
The first thug came charging again, but Lana calmly snapped her fingers.
He froze like he’d been electrocuted, twitching. She tripped him in that moment and sent him crashing to the ground.
“Ugh!”
Pinning him down, she twisted his arms behind his back and pressed a knee against his neck.
“Somebody call the police—!”
She shouted instinctively, then froze mid-sentence.
Wait a sec… who was I with again?
Suddenly, the image of the handsome duke flashed through her mind — along with Jake’s voice echoing in her head:
[Please, for once, don’t beat someone up in public. I’m tired of cleaning up after you! Just scream like a normal lady!]
Oh, crap…
Lana squeezed her eyes shut and slowly turned around, bracing herself to see the duke completely horrified.
But instead—
“I said I had a confession, didn’t I?”
There was Cullen, looking at her with the most adoring expression imaginable. He strode over, knelt down on one knee, and gazed up at her like she was the most amazing person in the world.
“Lady Burndale. You are… truly incredible.”
“Huh? Wait—what?”
Even she knew her reply sounded dumb, but Cullen didn’t care. He took her hand gently and kissed it, his intense eyes never leaving hers.
“I’m so lucky to be marrying you.”
“This must be the greatest blessing of my life.”
Lana just stared at him, completely stunned. He wasn’t even disgusted — if anything, he looked impressed.
After years of feeling like she had to hide herself, being admired like this was overwhelming.
And he wasn’t joking — she could feel how sincere he was.
Her face burned. Her heart thudded so hard it felt like it was trying to escape her chest. Overcome with embarrassment and nerves, she did the only thing her overheated brain could come up with:
“Should we… move up the wedding date?”
Meanwhile…
“What did you just say?”
Louise shot up from her chair in outrage when she heard the news from Harry — only to sway and collapse right back down.
“Lady Louise!”
Her maids rushed to catch her, nearly in tears.
Harry sighed as he watched her pale face.
Louise clenched her jaw and forced herself upright.
“I’m fine. Stop fussing and get out.”
“But, my lady—”
“Did I stutter?”
“…Yes, my lady.”
The maids, knowing her temper, quickly backed away. Left alone with Harry, Louise slumped back in her chair, trembling with anger.
Harry clicked his tongue and waved a document in the air, the paper fluttering — until he accidentally dropped his quill.
Louise scowled.
“Stop it. That’s not helping.”
“As you wish.”
Harry happily stopped fanning her and crouched down to pick up the quill.
Louise glared so hard her nose wrinkled. He ignored her and continued dutifully,
“As I said, milady, His Grace’s wedding date has been moved up.”
“What? Why? Shouldn’t it be postponed if anything? He can’t like that woman that much, right? There’s nothing special about her anyway!”
Words poured out of Louise like bullets. For the first time, a crack appeared in Harry’s calm expression, and the quill slipped from his hand again.
“‘Nothing special’? You’ve actually seen her, haven’t you?”
Louise bit her lip — too late. Harry sighed deeply, rubbing his face before saying in a firm voice,
“Please tell me you didn’t cause trouble.”
“How can you think that of me!”
But he was right. She had gone to that dessert shop with the duke’s knights, all out of petty jealousy toward Lady Burndale.
And though she’d bragged that she didn’t even like sweets, the scent of the cold tea had made her break out in hives and flee in embarrassment.
I didn’t even get a proper look at her that day…
Her weakness made her furious. How long would she have to live like this?
He must’ve heard about what happened. But Cullen hasn’t said a word to me since…
That silence only made her more anxious. She knew she was precious to him — but now he was rushing into marriage with some woman he’d barely met.
Why?
He doesn’t actually like her… does he?
But then she remembered what she’d overheard:
[We paid a lot of money for this, didn’t we?]
Those words from Cullen could only mean one thing — that the woman was marrying into the family for money.
Even so… it didn’t sit right with her.
Selling yourself for money? How could anyone actually do that?
