CHAPTER 27…………………………..
“I’ve caught sight of Joyce Woodville, Luna Woodville’s younger sister, visiting Duke Seymour’s study.”
“What? Joyce Woodville?”
The unexpected name left her unsure of what question to ask. After collecting her thoughts, she finally asked,
“How long was she there?”
“She stayed for quite some time before leaving. But the strange thing is, she was wearing an unusual cape and tinted glasses.”
“A cape and tinted glasses?”
“Yes. Shall we assign someone to keep an eye on Joyce Woodville?”
The informant, thinking it might be a good chance to increase his pay, subtly asked her. He was internally anxious for her approval but showed no sign of it.
After a moment of thought, she showed an indifferent expression.
“No. That woman’s fine. She probably just went to stir up rumors about my sister. She really dislikes the Duke. And the Duke also yells at her a lot.”
“I see.”
The informant, disappointed at losing a potential assignment, responded half-heartedly.
“Keep more eyes on Luna Woodville. Who knows what she might be scheming behind the scenes while pretending not to?”
“Understood, Miss.”
Unaware that she was pursuing the wrong target, she leisurely continued her tea time.
“Good work today.”
Since the class had just started, today’s session focused on basic training.
“Basic practice isn’t too difficult, right?”
“It doesn’t seem that hard.”
“I plan to gradually increase the difficulty. After all, a strong foundation will help ease your tension. Enjoy it while it’s still easy.”
“Sure.”
By now, I was on friendly enough terms with Peredil to converse without bickering. He seemed quite satisfied, possibly thinking that my basic training lessons were of decent quality.
“From next time, it would be good to read the pieces written by the Duke with emotion.”
“That sounds pretty difficult.”
“It’s naturally difficult at first. I’ll prepare the lessons so that it’s easy to understand…”
rumble
My stomach growled, announcing the absence of food. Since I had been eating so well since coming to Woodville, I had reduced the portions slightly—only to get scolded immediately. Once you’ve expanded your stomach, it’s not easy to shrink it back.
Embarrassed, I froze, and Peredil cleared his throat.
“Hmm. You seem quite hungry. Shall we have dinner together?”
Peredil inviting me to dinner! I never imagined such progress. His calm expression while waiting for my reply was amusing.
“Will you take me somewhere nice?”
“Of course.”
We set off together. We sent the Woodville carriage back and planned to ride in Peredil’s carriage. Since everyone had already left work, it was fine for us to go together.
“Can I join you?”
A familiar voice made me turn—Teo waved at me.
“Teo!”
“It’s hard to see you, Joyce. If I don’t come first, we can’t meet?”
Teo, pretending to be nonchalant, had actually come at my request to pick me up.
My request to Teo was simple: provoke Peredil’s jealousy. Our relationship was set as colleagues who work well together and as friends who know each other well. In front of Peredil, Teo’s role was to act like he knew me well and to appear overly friendly.
As a veteran actor, Teo would immerse himself in the role of a friend secretly in love with me, wary of Peredil, who was a new figure in my life.
“What’s the occasion? Showing up suddenly without a word.”
“I thought we could have dinner together since it’s been a while.”
“Di…nner?”
My gaze naturally shifted toward Peredil.
“Have a good time together, then.”
“No! I already have plans to dine with the Duke.”
“You had prior plans? I would have told you not to follow a stranger for food.”
“Compared to a commoner like you, whose nerve exceeds their stomach, my social standing is much clearer.”
“Haha. I wouldn’t know about that, seeing as my nerve exceeds my stomach.”
Teo had been focusing solely on provoking Peredil until I signaled him to do it properly. He finally came closer and put an arm around my shoulder.
“Can’t be helped. I had some things to discuss about your father… no, Count Woodville, but I’ll do that next time.”
“Your father? Why him?”
“Well, last time I saw him… he was talking about you and me… never mind. Your group is waiting, so I can’t hold you any longer. We’ll meet another time…”
“Let’s go together.”
Peredil, metaphorically, bit the bait Teo had thrown.
“Together? You mean we all go to dinner together?”
“Duke, you don’t need to bring us along. Teo and I can meet anytime.”
“Adding one more mouth isn’t a burden.”
Teo shrugged mischievously at Peredil’s cold expression.
“For whatever reason, if you’re taking us, I’m fine with it. Joyce, then you ride with me…”
“Together. Let’s all go together. Send the Woodville carriage ahead to the estate first.”
With his firm tone, Teo and I climbed into Seymour’s carriage as planned.
After a tense silence, we arrived at a restaurant with a flashy exterior and matching interior.
“This restaurant looks really showy.”
“This is what people call high-class.”
Even before the food arrived, the tension between the two men was palpable.
Soon, plates with fragrant steaks were placed in front of each of us.
“Here, you like mushrooms, right?”
As soon as the steaks arrived, Teo transferred all the garnish mushrooms onto my plate.
“I’ll eat this. You don’t really like it.”
In exchange, he took the bell peppers from my plate.
Meanwhile, Peredil across from us silently cut his meat. His expression… was terrifying.
“Ah! Wait, Joyce!”
“Huh?”
Teo reached for my mouth with a napkin to wipe the sauce—a decisive move.
Bang!
Peredil slammed the table with his knife, startling me so much I thought my heart had dropped.
“What’s wrong, Duke?”
His face showed displeasure.
“I thought I saw a bug.”
“Even in this high-class restaurant?”
Radiating a dark, ominous aura, he ignored Teo’s comment.
“I hear you’re taking acting lessons from our Joyce?”
Teo, undeterred by Peredil’s disregard, spoke as if they were close. Peredil didn’t bother hiding his annoyance.
“Why’s that?”
“How about learning from me? I’m a theater actor, too. In Bria, I trained with Joyce directly, and we’ve synchronized for a long time. You won’t have to worry. We’ve aligned not just our timing but many other things too.”
“Align… what?”
Teo pouted at Peredil, then raised a finger pointing to his lips.
“Guess what?”
“So the one claiming it was some scheme was actually filling personal interests under the guise of acting.”
“Haha. Seems you remembered what I called a scheme last time.”
“I rarely hear nonsense, so when I do, I remember it.”
Not only were they competing over me, but they seemed desperate to one-up each other. I feared a physical fight could break out any second.
Seeing the tense atmosphere, I thought of a way to diffuse it. A waiter, understanding my signal, appeared shortly after with a bottle of wine.
“How about we have a drink?”
“Oh, I’m fine with that. Can you drink well?”
“I’m not going to keel over anywhere.”
Even if not exactly friendly, I expected them to sip together and converse—but a sense of a new battle beginning lingered.
“Everyone, drink slowly…”
