~Chapter 8~
Aveline shook her head as hard as she could.
“No! Never, never.”
Ares sighed in relief but still kept an eye on Duke Ribes.
While the twins were talking, Count Herald raised his voice.
“Are you saying Aveline stole your jewel, Duke? When would she ever even meet you…?”
“Yesterday.”
“What?”
Duke Ribes answered immediately. Count Herald stood there, shocked.
“I saw her yesterday. In front of Siena Restaurant.”
“Siena Restaurant… wasn’t that where you met Baron Bertha yesterday?”
“Y-Yes.”
Aveline answered in a small voice. Her mind was spinning.
‘What’s even happening right now?’
Duke Ribes suddenly showed up, and now he was saying she had his jewel.
Aveline was sure she didn’t take anything like a jewel from him.
‘…Wait.’
She suddenly remembered the dried-up jelly she saw in Duke Ribes’s carriage.
‘No way. Could he be here for that jelly?’
No matter how strange Duke Ribes was, it seemed impossible he would chase after her just for a jelly that fell in his carriage.
“I never stole your jewel, Duke. I’ve never even seen it.”
Aveline was confident. She was innocent.
“You heard her. She says so herself. This must be a misunderstanding, so please leave.”
Count Herald rubbed his face, tired.
“The young lady is correct.”
But Duke Ribes smiled as if he was about to correct a wrong answer.
“My jewel.”
A heavy silence filled the room.
Count Herald looked Aveline up and down, not believing what he was hearing. She looked nothing like a fancy noble girl—messy hair, old indoor clothes, and a blank face.
But when he saw Duke Ribes looking at Aveline with a gentle smile, he started to wonder.
‘Could he have fallen for her after meeting her yesterday?’
He never thought his daughter would attract someone like this.
‘Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing…’
Count Herald quickly covered his real thoughts and spoke up.
“Ahem. Duke, did I hear right? Did you call Aveline your jewel?”
“Yes.”
Duke Ribes answered right away. He didn’t even try to hide his feelings.
“Could this be a mistake? Are you sure Aveline is really your jewel?”
Duke Ribes looked totally certain.
“There’s no mistake. She shines so brightly.”
Everyone glanced at Aveline. Some pitied her for getting caught by such a weird person, but Aveline was the most troubled of all.
“Ahem! Aveline!”
Count Herald motioned for Aveline to come closer.
“Y-Yes?”
“Come here.”
Aveline walked to her father, doing her best to ignore the Duke’s eyes.
“Since the Duke has visited, why don’t you show him the garden?”
“What? Me?”
Aveline jumped at her father’s words.
“Father! It’s dangerous for my sister to go alone!”
Ares jumped in to help, and Aveline looked at him with thankful eyes.
“Don’t worry. I’m quite the gentleman.”
But with Duke Ribes’s words, Aveline wanted to cry for real.
In the end, Aveline had to walk in the garden with Duke Ribes—whose real name was Theron—all alone.
Count Herald wanted her to change clothes, but Theron said his jewel didn’t need fancy clothes, so Aveline went as she was, with messy hair.
I’ll be by the window, so if anything happens, clap three times, okay?
Ares’s words before she left gave Aveline some comfort. The twins exchanged serious looks and split up.
Walking through the garden, Theron stayed silent. Aveline finally broke the silence.
“Um, Duke.”
“…”
“If I made you upset yesterday, I’m really sorry.”
Theron stopped walking.
“Sorry?”
Aveline didn’t believe he was here because he liked her. She just wanted to properly apologize for her mistakes yesterday.
“Yes. I got into your carriage and cried, and I even… cursed at you…”
She realized she’d done a lot wrong.
“Is that all?”
Theron’s reply was unexpected.
“Huh?”
“Is that everything you did?”
Aveline was startled by his unhappy tone. It made her remember something she’d tried to forget.
“Is this about the jelly?”
“Jelly?”
Theron frowned. Not seeing his face, Aveline kept talking.
“I was just so hungry… If you were saving it, I’m sorry. But you shouldn’t eat it—it disappeared as soon as I touched it. Are you okay, Duke?”
Aveline caught Theron as he staggered, looking like he might fall.
“What did you just say?”
He looked at her, not believing his ears.
“The jelly was really old—”
“Before that.”
“You were right not to eat it—”
“Before that.”
Aveline struggled to remember what she said as she tried to support him.
“Uh… It disappeared when I touched it?”
“That’s it.”
Theron nodded, still leaning on her.
“So you touched something in my carriage?”
“Yes…”
Aveline was surprised. Was it really because of the jelly?
Still, she knew she shouldn’t have touched something that wasn’t hers.
“I didn’t know it was special. Tell me where you got it, and I’ll buy a new one for you.”
“It’s not a jelly.”
Theron looked closely at Aveline.
“What you made disappear was my jewel. It disappeared because you absorbed it.”
“Absorbed it? Ah!”
Aveline lost all her strength from shock, and both of them fell to the ground together.
“A-Are you okay?”
Aveline was shocked to see Theron had tried to protect her as they fell.
“Are you okay?”
But Theron checked on her first.
‘Wow.’
Aveline realized Theron’s face was really close to hers. He was even more handsome than the ex-husband from her dream.
She felt a little flutter in her heart as he genuinely worried about her.
“I’m fine—”
“No, I mean the jewel you absorbed. If it was damaged…”
Theron sat up and reached toward her stomach.
“Where do you think you’re touching!”
Aveline quickly pushed his hand away, but couldn’t stop him from speaking.
“Please be careful from now on. For the sake of my jewel inside you.”
Aveline wanted to argue, but at that moment, there was a loud noise nearby.
“Oh my!”
There was a basket on the ground, broken eggs everywhere, and a shocked maid standing nearby.
