Chapter 8
“Theon.”
Arthur was smiling, but his voice was dry.
Theon being on guard was perfectly understandable from his position. But Arthur didn’t want to waste his precious time just to persuade someone like Theon Morris. He had so much work waiting for him back at the palace.
“I’ve only come to deliver something to Lady Marcella.”
“Why would Lord Digory have something for Marcella…?”
“Oh, that’s a misunderstanding. It’s not from me.”
“Huh? I’m sorry, I don’t understand. You came, but if you’re not the one giving it, then who…?”
Theon, who had been looking at Arthur with confused eyes, froze.
“How many people in the Western Empire can use Arthur Digory to deliver a single item?”
*So stop the nonsense and just call Marcella Morris.* Arthur looked at the frozen Theon with a smile that served as a warning.
At that moment, the closed inner door clicked and opened.
As Marcella Morris, with a tense face, revealed herself, Arthur gave her his most harmless, beaming smile.
“Lady Marcella!”
Arthur rose from his seat and strode purposefully toward Marcella, who had finally appeared.
Marcella flinched and took a step back, but soon composed herself and gave a slight curtsy.
“Lord Digory.”
She was better than Theon Morris, but how could this seemingly ordinary, timid-looking lady have thrown a shoe at Tamarin? Moreover, though it was hard to believe, didn’t she reportedly burn its mane too?
Both stories were hard to believe, but sometimes, the most ordinary-looking ones are the most frightening.
Arthur beamed and extended his hand to Marcella.
Marcella hesitated.
She didn’t want to give him her hand. But that would be impolite, and it could later escalate into a problem between their families.
“It’s our first proper introduction, I believe. I am Arthur Digory.”
Arthur Digory almost burst out laughing seeing Marcella finally, after hesitation, gently place her hand on his, but he restrained himself.
As he lightly kissed the back of her hand, he heard Marcella take a small, sharp breath.
“You came looking for me?”
Her hope that he would leave quickly was poorly hidden. On top of that, she didn’t seem to care about hiding the fact that she had been eavesdropping by the door.
Arthur, who had much work waiting for him back at the palace, also preferred things to proceed quickly.
“Yes, by His Majesty’s command.”
Arthur beamed and turned to glance at Theon.
Theon stared at them with a dumbfounded expression, unable to speak or even close his mouth. *He really has no sense.*
Arthur clicked his tongue internally and smiled at Theon.
“Theon, I have an urgent matter to discuss with Lady Marcella. Would you kindly give us the room?”
At that, Theon’s mouth fell open even wider.
“I am Marcella’s guardian. If you have something to say, please do so in my presence.”
*Oh, is that how it’s going to be?* Seeing the usually timid pacifist Theon Morris act so strongly, Arthur let out an unfeigned laugh.
“Aren’t you interfering too much with a lady who has just completed her debut yesterday?”
“Even if she has debuted in society, she hasn’t had her coming-of-age ceremony yet.”
“That’s coming up very soon.”
“Lord Digory, I swore to Count Morris that I would be Marcella’s guardian, and I intend to keep that vow.”
*He brings up serious oaths to the deceased just because I asked him to leave the room?*
Arthur found Theon ridiculous, but seeing his resolute face, he raised both hands in surrender. Having a guardian present was no issue, especially one like Theon Morris.
“If the guardian’s will is so strong, then I have no choice. It’s as if I’ve come to do something bad. Ah, rest assured. That’s not the case at all.”
Arthur picked up his teacup, pretending to drink while carefully observing Marcella.
“I was worried you might have been seriously injured, Lady Marcella, but you seem fine at least from the outside, so I’m relieved. Are you feeling unwell anywhere?”
“Thank you for your concern, Lord Digory. I am fine.”
“The concern wasn’t mine, but His Majesty’s.”
Marcella’s eyebrows twitched. She looked at Arthur with suspicious, wary eyes.
“Tamarin often plays such pranks on His Majesty. His Majesty thinks any prank Tamarin pulls is less than a kitten’s scratch, so it seems he was a bit slow in realizing how frightening it must have been for you.”
*Actually, he was very slow, to the point he still doesn’t understand why you were scared.*
Seeing Marcella’s stiff face gradually grow confused, Arthur let slip a slight smile.
He placed his teacup on the table, pushed it aside, and placed the box he had brought on the table.
“This is the item you left behind last night, Lady Marcella.”
Helpfully, Arthur even opened the box lid for her.
Marcella’s expression darkened as she looked down into the box, which had been beautifully wrapped with a red ribbon. The gaudy, hated green shoes contrasted sharply with the prettily wrapped, high-quality box.
“Did you come all this way just to return this? You could have sent someone.”
*Or not returned it at all.*
Marcella swallowed the last part. Seeing this, Arthur beamed.
“That’s precisely why His Majesty sent a ‘person,’” he said, emphasizing that he was merely the person Nell had sent.
Then he placed a second box on the table. This one was also tied with an identical red ribbon.
Marcella looked back and forth between the box and Arthur. This time, he pointedly did not open the lid, making it hard to see the contents at a glance.
“Did I leave something else behind?”
“You’ll know if you open it.”
*What a fuss. Maybe I dropped a hair ornament or something.*
Unable to understand why he was drawing this out, Marcella took hold of the ribbon’s knot. She had been indifferent, but upon touching the box with its unknown contents, her hand began to tremble involuntarily.
No matter how much she racked her memory, she hadn’t lost anything besides the shoes.
“His Majesty is sending this to Lady Marcella as an apology.”
Arthur, who had been waiting for the right moment, spoke up just before the box opened.
So, this wasn’t a forgotten item but a genuine gift.
Marcella paused and looked down at the gift box again. It was the same size as before, identically wrapped. It even gave off a faint floral scent, as if perfume had been sprinkled on it.
Unable to guess what could be inside, Marcella slowly opened the box with trembling hands.
“His Majesty was so concerned about Lady Marcella, who left barefoot…”
“…He didn’t need to go this far.”
Marcella found it hard to decide whether to prioritize her feeling of burden that the emperor had given this, or her feeling of happiness at receiving a gift anyway.
The gift was a pair of soft, green velvet shoes. The kind the ladies were wearing last night.
“You mean His Majesty gave this?”
Theon cut in, startled.
Arthur found it bothersome to answer him, but decided to use him. He could serve as a witness to explain just how unprecedented this event was.
“I was surprised too. His Majesty giving a gift to a lady… Such a thing has never happened before.”
Marcella thought Arthur Digory looked like a swindler. Or perhaps he was just the type of noble who excessively praised the emperor in an aristocratic manner to flaunt his loyalty.
*How could he be so sure the emperor has never secretly given a gift to another lady? To state it with such certainty made him seem like a swindler, or at the very least, a liar.*
“His Majesty…”
Theon’s mouth hung open, unable to continue. He saw the imperial crest stamped on the end of the ribbon and let out a long, astonished breath.
Arthur was almost grateful for Theon’s reaction, which played out so perfectly according to his plan.
“Do you mean His Majesty picked out these shoes for me himself?”
The fashionable shoes the ladies were wearing? Marcella couldn’t believe that the seemingly indifferent Nell had done such a thing.
As she suspected, Nell had not chosen these shoes. The ribbon color, the box color, even the perfume had all been excitedly chosen by Phoenix.
Bringing the shoes currently popular among young ladies and throwing them at the imperial shoemaker with an order to make a pair in this size by tomorrow was Arthur Digory’s doing. Stepping on the shoemaker’s foot as he was about to cry out in protest was Tamarin’s.
Throughout this, Nell had no idea what they were up to, simply lying on the sofa in his private chamber reading an old notebook.
But Arthur was genuinely confident. He had obtained permission to send it in Nell Hyiri’s name, and since it was given in Nell Hyiri’s name, this was, in name and reality, a gift from the emperor. Wasn’t the imperial crest stamped on it?
Yet the lady still looked suspicious even after seeing the imperial crest. *She seemed timid, but she’s just full of doubts.*
Hiding his true feelings, Arthur gave Marcella a bright smile.
“Oh, my lady. Unfortunately, His Majesty takes no interest in ladies’ shoes, fashion, or even the clothes he himself wears, so I did offer some assistance.”
Of course, he wanted to say the emperor chose it, but that was a lie with a high risk of exposure. It wasn’t a matter worth risking such a lie. The important thing was that the emperor had given a gift to the lady.
“So, it’s not a gift from His Majesty, but from you, Lord Digory.”
At Marcella’s firm conclusion, Arthur fell silent for a moment before beaming again. *Damn it. The lady just flipped the script in an instant.*
“I merely assisted,” he said.
*Same difference. If you’re the one who chose it…*
Mirroring Arthur’s smile, Marcella smiled back at him.
“Thank you, Lord Digory.”
*Haha, Marcella Morris.*
Arthur, who had thought giving her shoes and sweet-talking her would please Marcella, smiled while secretly gritting his teeth at the fact that things weren’t going smoothly. *Between the difficult-to-handle emperor and the divine beasts, my head is about to explode.*
