Chapter 10 (1/2)

Chapter 10

She wanted to ask why, but eventually decided against it. Instead, she looked at the exposed skin on his arms and forehead. The scar on top of his eyebrows and the long scar on his arms were obviously not there six years ago.

“Your words have gotten rougher.”

He burst out laughing, as if hearing something silly.

Deatrice stood still, not knowing what he found so amusing. There was this cheerful expression on his face when in a blink of an eye, he stopped laughing.

Then, she heard him say.

“Well, I’ve spent five years on the battlefield after all.” He squinted his eyes and looked her up and down, “But you seem to not have changed at all…”

For a woman who had never received such a critical glance, she could sense displeasure emanating from him for a fleeting second but she didn’t speak out. Instead, Deatrice pretended to be calm and waited for him to finish.

Lucius’ gaze, which had gone all the way down to her toes, finally came back up and stopped to stare at her eyes.

“You’ve gotten a bit boring too.”

He raised the corner of his lips, “Well, I guess what else could I have expected after you became engaged to a similarly boring man who’s just so full of himself.”

“Fredhi—” Deatrice stopped and looked away, quietly reproving him, “Don’t belittle him like that. He lost his life because of his father, and I don’t want to hear you criticize him.”

As she spoke, she clearly thought he would be mad or laugh at her.

Perhaps it would be because he was dissatisfied with her engagement to the second prince, and the sight of her engagement ring irritates him. He even called it a ‘damn ring’ before.

However, after a long silence, Lucius broke her expectations of him once more.

“You are right, I went overboard. Please pardon me.”

Although rather than a genuine apology, it seemed like he was just saying it for the sake of maintaining a good atmosphere between the two of them.

In any case, an apology was an apology anyways, so she decided to accept it.

“Alright.”

For a moment, he said nothing and fell silent. When Lucius closed his eyes, he seemed to be listening intently at the faint sound of music that could be heard playing from the hall.

The moonlight cast a soft luster upon his face, and the blonde colors of his hair became tinged with a bluish hue underneath the torpid glow of the night.

Lucius, who had been silent for a long time like he was truly enjoying this night, suddenly opened his mouth.

“Do you feel the same way towards me?”

Do you have the same sympathy and guilt towards me as you have towards your deceased fiancée? You even defend his name upon the scrutiny of others…

He was curious. But as her silence grew longer, he realized how stupid and childish his question was.

“Nevermind. Don’t say anything.”

He abruptly got up from his seat. After that, he smiled charmingly and asked some questions as if to diffuse the situation.

“Have you practiced your expressions yet?”

After a while, Deatrice barely answered with a crack in her voice.