Chapter 16

“Yes?”

“Sorry to be rude, but I was watching you from afar while you were on your walk. The young duke was chasing after you very earnestly, wasn’t he?”

“Ah, that’s…”

“When a man likes a woman, his behavior becomes predictable. That’s just how men that age are.”

The countess, who had suddenly gotten close to Diana, chattered as if she knew all about it from experience.

“Looks like the Wellington family will have good news soon. I can already picture how happy Helena will be.”

“That seems a bit too soon, madam.”

“Not at all. Considering it’s a salon full of women, it must be uncomfortable, yet he insisted on resting here. That alone shows how he feels about you.”

It seemed like he stayed on purpose to get such a reaction…

“Today was an interesting sight. I’m glad I came to the salon. Uhuhu.”

Diana hesitated but ended up keeping silent.

It was better to be misunderstood as originally intended than to reveal the truth that she was keeping her distance from the villain.

‘Are salon ladies just easily fooled, or is that man just good at acting…’

One thing was certain: every guest at the salon was sure that there was something unusual about their relationship.

Just asking for a bouquet of flowers already brought more results than expected.

As the western sky turned red, the salon guests naturally began preparing to leave.

Diana finished saying goodbye to the dowager and the Countess Grey, then waited for the carriage at the entrance.

“Miss Diana, thank you for coming today.”

“Thank you for inviting me. Thanks to the Marchioness of Lancaster, I had a really good time after a long while.”

“That’s good to hear. I’ll send you another invitation, so please come again. Everyone will welcome you.”

Seeing the Marchioness of Lancaster’s smiling farewell, Diana felt her dopamine levels were well topped up for the day.

As guests greeted each other, Diana got into the carriage.

At that moment—

Just as the door was about to close, someone forcefully blocked it and climbed onto the Wellington family’s carriage.

“Phew, that was close. I almost missed you.”

“…L-Lord Ian?”

Diana wasn’t the only one surprised.

Seeing her nephew climb onto someone else’s carriage, the dowager was visibly shocked and hurried over.

“Ian!”

“I’m here to escort Miss Diana home.”

“What on earth do you mean? Get down immediately!”

“I’ll see you at the manor.”

“Ian Crawford!!”

Unlike the dowager shouting angrily, Ian’s face was fresh and calm.

The carriage started moving as soon as he closed the door.

Through the window, the noblewomen watching with flushed faces sparkled as if they wished they could pretend not to notice.

“I didn’t expect you wouldn’t even say goodbye.”

“…Lord Ian.”

“Are you doing this on purpose?”

“That’s what I want to ask you!”

Diana finally raised her voice and covered her face with her palm.

‘He’s really giving me some good gossip to talk about until the end.’

What on earth is he thinking?

Of course, she was the one who suggested pretending to be fake lovers, but this was supposed to be a relationship they would end without any trouble.

‘He must know there’s nothing good about acting so obviously!’

Even if she told him to jump off the carriage now, he wouldn’t listen…

Whether Diana’s heart was burning black or not, Ian sat across from her, comfortably crossing his legs.

“That’s good. If you keep glaring at me like that, you’ll have a hole in your eyes soon.”

“There’s no need to go that far. Are you enjoying the gossip?”

“Rather than unproductive arguments, let’s talk about something more interesting. Do you plan to visit the casino soon?”

He was a man who swung the topic as he pleased.

When Diana reluctantly nodded, his smile grew even wider.

“That’s good. No need to wait, so let’s go together.”

“Now?”

“Is there a reason not to?”

“It’s not that…”

“The casino is currently closed. If you go empty-handed, you’ll just see the outside walls with nothing to gain.”

After saying that, Ian pulled out a small case from his pocket.

The case, made of agate, was about the size of a matchbox, and inside was a key.

It looked like the key carried by the manager.

“I have something to tell you as well, so let’s go together. I’ll make sure to escort you back to the Wellington family in time.”

“Do you have more to say to me? You can say it now.”

“It’s faster to explain while showing you around the casino.”

With that, Diana had no reason to refuse.

Ian opened the partition and spoke to the coachman.

As the destination changed, the scenery on the way home suddenly became unfamiliar.

“As for the other request you mentioned earlier.”

“Yes?”

“The one about attending the royal banquet as my partner. Does it have to be the harvest festival?”

The royal family holds two big banquets a year—the New Year Festival and the Harvest Festival.

The New Year Festival had already passed this year, so only the Harvest Festival in autumn remained.

Diana shook her head at Ian’s question.

“No, it doesn’t have to be. There’s plenty of time until the Harvest Festival.”

“So the scale of the banquet doesn’t matter?”

“Yes. Even a banquet attended by one member of the royal family is enough.”

Originally, he asked her to attend as a partner to clear up rumors about them, but…

‘Looks like I really don’t have to go.’

Ian was surprisingly cooperative today, enough to shock Diana.

“Then let’s try to coordinate for the upcoming royal banquet.”

“The date’s already set? Who’s hosting this year?”

“It’s Princess Eleonora’s turn to host, but apart from the schedule, nothing else is decided yet.”

Diana looked at him with a curious expression at his straightforward answers.

“That’s… unexpected.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t think you’d be this cooperative.”

“Hmm?”

“I just thought you’d find this annoying. No reason, just a feeling. I thought you’d make excuses to avoid or ignore it, but maybe that was my prejudice.”

“Ha ha.”

Ian could have snapped back, asking why his image was so poor, but he just laughed it off.

Diana realized the true meaning behind his suspicious smile only after arriving at the casino.

“We’ve arrived.”

By the time the carriage stopped near the casino street, the sun had almost set.

Escorted by Ian, Diana got out of the carriage.

“Let’s go in.”

The casino was nearby.

Carefully entering the building to avoid being noticed by passersby, she smelled a strange musty odor inside.

Diana lit a lantern and looked around.

As her eyes adjusted to the dark, more things became visible.

“It’s too dark. I’ll draw the curtains for a moment.”

The interior was a mess, just as Countess Grey had said.

A glass chandelier, Gaetani-style canopy decorations, a tacky full-length mirror that was out of fashion long ago.

Even the Alpono-style hookah was barely in place.

It was such a mess that even an antique shop would look cleaner.

The decorations lacked any sense of unity and were unpleasantly jarring.

‘What is this?’

How could they call this a royal casino and have such a terrible interior?

It wasn’t just a matter of different tastes.

From the flooring and wall materials to the wooden window frames, everything looked so bad it was ugly.

“What do you think?”

“This isn’t a question. Don’t you feel anything seeing this, Lord Ian?”

“Of course I do. Unless one’s aesthetic sense is completely shattered, it’s hard to laugh off seeing this mess.”

At least he recognized the problem.

Diana shrugged at Ian and examined the place carefully.

‘This is worse than having nothing.’

Even if they covered the walls with new wallpaper like adding layer after layer for 30 years, it would still look old.

It was a consistent disaster.

“You said it’s closed, right? Before reopening, it should all be fixed. Who’s responsible? We need to call some workers… How much budget can be used?”

“Actually, about that.”

Ian, uncharacteristically hesitating, said,

“Unfortunately, there’s no budget allocated.”

“…What?”