Chapter 53
Clayton probably wouldn’t make it for lunch today.
So I’d already sent my attendant to tell him we’d just have dinner after his audience meeting.
Which was why—
I was now eating lunch with Francis.
“I want to feed you, too.”
“All right.”
“I want to cut it all up for you.”
“Sure.”
What’s the big deal about that?
But even though it was an easy favor, he looked ridiculously happy about it.
He took my plate and began slicing the meat.
Since he was used to handling blades, he was very good at it—neatly cutting the meat into perfect cubes, like a machine punching out identical squares.
“Your arm still hurts, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Then he lifted one of the neatly cut pieces to my lips.
Just as I was about to take a bite, a strand of my hair slipped forward, and he reached out with his left hand to tuck it gently behind my ear.
When I looked up at Francis holding the fork, his expression had gone strangely stiff.
“What’s wrong? Is my mask crooked again?”
“N-no… what’s crooked is… my heart, I think.”
“What? You don’t feel like feeding me anymore?”
He’d been smiling a moment ago, and now he’d suddenly gone serious again.
Why were his cheeks so red?
He shook his head and held out the fork again, so I opened my mouth and ate it slowly.
As expected, the palace meat was the best!
“Are you hot?”
“I’m always hot when I’m with Your Highness.”
“Hot from anger?”
“Yes. I suppose I’m… burning up.”
Whenever our eyes met, he looked away.
So I kept staring until he looked back—and when he finally did, he looked away again.
And when I waited for him, he did it all over.
I really couldn’t tell whether he wanted me to look at him or not.
“What do you even like about me?”
He froze mid-drink.
I kept staring, refusing to break eye contact, and he grew even redder before lowering his head.
“I don’t really know, either. But… when I’m with you, I can’t stop looking.
At first, it bothered me whenever you did something dangerous… but now I can’t take my eyes off you.
At first I thought it was just because I was your knight and had to keep watch.
But lately, even when I sleep, I see you.
And when I wake and you’re not there, I get anxious.”
“…”
“If I’m happy just working by your side… does that mean I’ve gone insane?”
For a moment, I could almost see his ears droop, like a scolded puppy.
“I like that you’re my knight, Sir Francis.
I don’t even have to doubt you anymore.
And… I didn’t think you’d actually—”
His lips touched mine.
I could’ve sworn he’d been sitting across from me, but somehow he’d crossed the table and stolen my breath.
His damp breath mingled with mine; the way he kissed—how had he gotten this good?
It was deep, insistent, entangling.
“S-sorry… I didn’t mean—ugh!”
The warm, shared breath suddenly turned icy cold.
When I opened my eyes, Francis was sprawled far across the room.
And the one who’d yanked him away was—
“Didn’t I say we’d have dinner?”
“You blew me off for lunch with him?”
Clayton.
Our eyes met, and I panicked.
Hey, I wasn’t the one who kissed first!
“Ugh—hey!”
He grabbed my arm and dragged me away.
Unfortunately, it was my left arm he grabbed—the only one I could still move freely, since my right arm weighed about thirty kilograms.
“Your Highness!”
“Do not follow us, Sir Francis.”
At those words, Francis stopped.
Yet somehow, the fact that he didn’t look back at me made me feel guilty, like I’d done something wrong.
Adrian was my fiancé.
Clayton was… nothing.
Even his feelings for me—those could change any day.
Maybe… maybe I could block his route to my sister too, like I had with Joshua?
“Here again?”
“…”
“I rejected you here once, remember? And you still like this place?”
It was that same garden—
The one where he’d given me a four-leaf clover and proposed, and I’d cruelly turned him down.
“I guess it’s because you haven’t gotten all your memories back yet.”
“Besides that?”
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
I expected him to be angry about the kiss.
But he wasn’t—he just looked like he was struggling not to cry.
His Adam’s apple bobbed.
His eyes were rimmed red, the blue making them look even brighter.
“You didn’t just reject me.”
“What? Then what else did I do to you?”
He gave a short, breathy laugh.
Oh no.
What kind of ghostly nonsense had I pulled this time?
I’d already humiliated him when he proposed, not to mention acting like some psychotic villainess around the others.
“Hold me.”
“If you let go of my left hand.”
He did.
Then hesitated before pulling me into his arms.
His heartbeat was loud enough to hear through his clothes—maybe because he knew what was underneath mine.
Ugh. Pervert.
Although… the real pervert was probably me.
“You actually accepted my proposal.”
“What? Liar!”
“It’s true!”
He hugged me tighter, like he was scared I’d vanish.
It felt like my ribs might crack, so I gasped, and he loosened his hold a little.
“Then why am I engaged to Adrian?”
“I don’t know.
Before I went off to war, you threw me away—coldly—and went to that fox, Russell.”
“You… just let it happen?”
“No. I refused deployment and came to find you.”
“You—ugh…”
He kissed me again.
That’s when I knew.
A quest was coming.
『Quest Triggered! — My Master I』
If you choose to hear the full story between Gracie Fletcher Gabriella Bastian and Clayton de Lebois, a post-payment quest will begin.
Option 1: Proceed. (Auto-execute)
Option 2: Do not proceed.
What the—auto-execute?!
Okay fine, maybe I was curious about him.
And sure, maybe I’d be sad if he ended up with my sister.
But auto-execute is terrifying!
Option 2!
『Invalid selection.』
Ha… ha… ha… fine then.
Not my fault—blame the status window.
Option 1 it is!
“You shouldn’t have refused deployment.”
“Yeah.”
His grip softened, and I thought he might finally let me go.
But instead, he brushed his hand along my cheek.
He’d been wearing gloves earlier—when did he take them off?
“That day, you told me… if I came back victorious, I’d finally be worth something.”
“Wh—!”
Right. I should’ve known better than to expect a normal answer.
“So when I did win, you were waiting for me—with roses, just like when I proposed.”
“Then why did you reject me?”
“Because you were engaged to Russell. I thought you were mocking me.”
“Then what changed?”
“When you started keeping your distance from him… I realized you meant it.”
Damn it.
Back then, I barely even knew about Adrian.
And if I broke that engagement, I was told I’d never become emperor.
So the only option left would be… to kill my sister.
Seventy billion won, G Corporation—
In the real world, I could just remake everything.
But honestly… when have I ever seen men this ridiculously good-looking?
“After that, everything became blurry.”
“Even if your memory’s blurry, it doesn’t matter. I can still tell.
When you look at me, I can see it.
I wish you could see it, too.”
That’s because of your damn seductive chest, idiot!
“H-how do I look at you, exactly?”
Probably like a horny pervert!
Still, I wanted to know.
What did he see that made him so sure?
“Whether your memories are whole or not, you can’t hide it—you love me.
Even when you said you loved Adrian Russell, I could see it then, too.”
“You’re imagining things.”
“I’m not.”
“You seem way too sure of yourself.”
His nose brushed mine.
His slightly swollen lips—probably from Francis earlier—caught my attention.
“You’re the one who made me a duke.”
“…”
“You turned someone who couldn’t even lift a training sword into a general.”
“What did I do?”
Every time I spoke, his lips brushed mine.
I tried to move back, but his arms tightened around me—like a snake coiling around its prey.
“I was a bastard son. Someone like me should’ve given up long ago. But you never let me.”
“…”
“You told me—if I became a duke, a general… then you’d let me have you.”
What?!
I’m not an object to be “had,” thank you very much!
And excuse me, Lady Gracie the First—why am I paying for your bad deals?!
“I worked hard for you—until you’d accept me.”
“…”
“Even when we were younger, it was the same. You claimed to hate me, but you always looked back.
You helped me, kept me from giving up.”
“…”
His throat moved again, swallowing hard.
“You wouldn’t have invested that much effort if you didn’t want me in the end.
So I don’t doubt your heart.”
“…”
“I can understand if you’re just being fickle right now.
Compared to what we’ve built, the other men are nothing.
If you tell me to wait, I’ll wait.
If you tell me to endure, I’ll endure.
Even if you push me away, I’ll stay right there.”
“Why?”
“Because I know you’ll come back.
Because I know I’m the only one you’ll end with.”
His voice trembled slightly.
Somehow, I got the feeling he already knew—
that I was weak against people who cried.
“So look at me, Gracie.”
