Chapter 47
Because the lamp’s light was dimmed, only the silhouette of the other person was visible. But even so, Lucien had no trouble recognizing who it was.
“Benedict?”
“Yeah.”
He replied quietly, then strained his ears toward the hallway and let out a sigh of relief.
“Hah, I wasn’t caught.”
“What do you mean ‘wasn’t caught’?”
He was the master of this house. There was no reason for him to sneak around being wary of others.
“Well…”
Benedict brushed back his black hair and approached.
He was still wearing the outfit he had worn earlier that day. Although his hair was messy and his collar was loosely undone.
“Grandmother told me to stay quietly in my room today and think.”
“Oh, so you got scolded badly, huh?”
Lucien looked at him with sympathy.
“No? Not at all.”
“Huh?”
“To be honest, I thought I’d be scolded a lot too, but it wasn’t like that.”
Benedict flopped down onto Lucien’s bed without asking permission.
“But she listened to my story carefully.”
“Did you tell her why you started this game?”
“Yeah. She laughed a lot.”
“She laughed?”
Surprised by this unexpected reaction, Lucien moved closer right beside Benedict.
“Really?”
“Yeah, I was surprised too. Honestly, I thought I should accept whatever punishment comes humbly.”
It seemed Benedict had truly reflected on his actions.
After all, how could anyone not regret telling such a ridiculous lie?
“So what happened then?”
“She laughed for a long time, then finally calmed down and asked me again whether I would act the same way even if I went back to the past.”
I would never do such a foolish thing again!
Lucien thought so firmly and believed Benedict must have answered the same way. Surely he was genuinely remorseful now.
“So I told her I would act the same way.”
“What?”
Lucien was taken aback.
“B-But that’s all…”
That’s a lie.
Lucien felt stuck, unable to say the rest.
“Anyway, after I said that, she laughed even more.”
“She laughed?”
Lucien could not imagine Emma’s feelings at all. Her precious grandson was lying to nobles, so why would she just laugh like that?
Thinking about her serious personality made it even harder to understand.
“And then after talking about this and that, she told me to spend the day quietly in my room, thinking.”
“But you still came to my room?”
“Well, I couldn’t help it.”
Benedict immediately placed his hand on Lucien’s forehead, just as he had opened the door without permission earlier—completely on his own terms.
“You’re sick.”
“I’m not.”
“But your face feels hot.”
No, it doesn’t.
Lucien was healthy. He hadn’t felt anything uncomfortable since he came back home.
But since Benedict said his face was hot, he almost started to feel that way himself.
Lucien shook his head, dropped Benedict’s hand, and sat back a little.
“No, I’m not sick.”
“If you take your fever lightly, you’ll really regret it later.”
Because Benedict kept talking about the fever, Lucien quickly changed the subject.
“More importantly, did you meet the young lady?”
“The young lady?”
Benedict narrowed his eyes sharply, as if he didn’t understand what that meant.
“There was a very pretty young lady who came to the mansion.”
“Pretty…? I don’t know about that, but there was a young lady.”
So he did meet her.
“How was she?”
“There wasn’t anything to talk about. I said I was busy and sent her away.”
“What? That’s harsh.”
“Harsh? If you come to someone’s house without an appointment, you should expect that.”
“But Benedict refused every appointment. The young lady had no choice but to come like this.”
“You…”
Benedict turned his body and sat directly facing Lucien.
“Didn’t you say you’d like me?”
“…Huh?”
“You said last time, ‘I’ll pretend to treat Benedict specially in the capital.’”
Lucien just blinked his eyes.
“Am I wrong?”
“That’s true, but… I thought the game was over.”
Mumbling this, Lucien recalled the fact that Benedict wasn’t scolded much by Emma.
He was probably convinced that Emma had allowed this naughty game.
“Who says? From now on, the real game begins. At least until my birthday, you have to treat me specially. If you don’t save me, you’ll fall into the hell of the engagement!”
Unlike Benedict, who smiled playfully as he finished his words, Lucien couldn’t smile at all.
How could he nod along to continue something he had felt was so wrong?
“I, I…”
Lucien gripped the blanket tightly, gathering courage. Then spoke firmly:
“I think you should stop telling such lies, Benedict.”
“Why?”
“You’re blocking people you don’t even really know. Maybe among them there’s someone who genuinely wants to be friends…”
“There’s no way!”
He unusually interrupted Lucien’s words, then immediately regretted it and bowed his head, saying “Sorry.”
“Anyway, there’s no such pure person here.”
“How can you be so sure? Even the young lady who came today came with courage, despite knowing it was rude.”
“Those young ladies…”
Benedict tried to explain something but bit his lip, clearly unwilling to talk about it.
He got up, shoulders slumped weakly.
“The nobles’ image of the Winfield Dukes is very solid.”
“Be… Benedict?”
“If you say you’ll stop this game from now on, there’s nothing I can do. Do as you please.”
He glanced back at Lucien for a moment. Perhaps because of the heavy darkness around him, his expression looked especially gloomy.
“…I’ll think of you however I want too.”
Then he immediately left.
Lucien stared blankly at the place where Benedict had been sitting, even after the door closed.
Somehow a feeling of unease crept in his heart. Did “thinking of you however I want” mean he would hate her for breaking the game on her own terms?
If not, then perhaps…
Lucien shook his head and lay back down.
The royal court put all their effort into Benedict’s birthday banquet.
Even the venue was extraordinary. They transformed the royal art museum, the pride of Sheburn, into a magnificent banquet hall.
Built with the wisdom and time of top architects and artists, the place was grand and sacred enough to be called a temple of art.
The day before the birthday banquet, Benedict came to Lucien’s room. He asked if Lucien really wouldn’t come to the banquet tomorrow. Lucien said no.
Benedict seemed to want to argue more but just mumbled and slipped back to his own room.
Lucien felt like Benedict also regretted the “game.”
Wasn’t that natural?
If they hadn’t done that, Lucien could quietly attend the banquet and take some quiet corner.
But she had already been marked clearly by some nobles. Her ghostlike appearance wouldn’t mix easily with others, so surely someone would recognize her.
If she went there and stood dazed in a corner, strange misunderstandings like “The Duke has lost interest in the country girl” would arise, and Benedict would get into trouble quickly.
Maybe he knew this, too, and that was why he didn’t strongly push Lucien to come.
Finally, the morning of the birthday arrived.
Benedict was called by the royal court and left early for the palace, saying he had a lot to prepare for the afternoon banquet.
Most of the servants left at the townhouse were given a day off.
Normally, on the master’s birthday, they would be busier, but since everything was run by the royal court today, they had nothing to do.
Meanwhile, as afternoon approached, Lucien put on a large bonnet covering her hair and headed to Madame Emily’s dress shop with Juliet.
In fact, she had forgotten until now, but the moment she saw the dresses that arrived that morning, she realized something.
She needed to correct the excessive requests she had made while playing the protagonist.
How could she cancel the hat and brooch without upsetting Madame Emily?
While pondering this, as she arrived near the dress shop, Lucien got out of the carriage and looked around in surprise.
“Juliet, why are there so many people in front of the dress shop?”
In front of the shop, which looked like a quiet tea room, several fancy carriages were parked.
Every time a large box came out of the shop, the many messengers gathered outside stretched their necks, wondering who would have to take it.
“Ladies and young misses who haven’t received their dresses yet are panicking. The banquet is about to start soon.”
Lucien kept looking around, glancing here and there.
Some young ladies, tired of waiting, ran toward the shop directly. But the clerk guarding the door rarely let those customers in.
“I definitely paid extra! On condition it would be finished by this morning!”
“But didn’t the young lady leave in a hurry after leaving the cash unclaimed? We sent the amount back to the mansion today, so please check. Oh my, Miss Lucien? Please come in!”
The female clerk, skillfully handling customers in front of the shop, recognized Lucien and greeted her warmly.
Suddenly, all eyes turned to Lucien.
