DHMM 17

Chapter 17

“You’re going back to the mansion, right? Let’s go together in my carriage.”

“If I enter with the Duke, people will think it’s strange.”

“I can drop you off on the way.”

Roy reluctantly nodded and headed toward the carriage with him.

Children ran around the streets playing tag.

“Buy some flowers!”

Among them, a boy approached Vitor while holding up a neatly wrapped flower.

“The most fragrant flower in Clareville!”

It was an acacia.

The light cream-colored petals were gathered evenly together. A red ribbon was tied in a neat circle around the end of the stem.

Vitor took the flower and brought it close to his nose, breathing in its scent deeply.

As if he were facing a moment more fragrant than the flower itself.

His eyes softened gently.

“How much?”

“One coin!”

The boy held out his hand cutely. Vitor took out his wallet from his pocket.

After searching through it, he spoke awkwardly.

“Hmm, I only have bills. Can you give me change?”

“Uh…… I don’t have that much money to give you change.”

Seeing this, Roy let out a small sigh and searched through her pocket. She took out one of the few coins she had left and placed it in the boy’s hand.

“Thank you, Roy.”

“You won’t have much use for bills here. If you carry that much money around, you’ll just become an easy target for pickpockets.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Vitor smiled. It was his usual mischievous smile.

Sometimes, he really looked like a precious noble without even trying.

Vitor treated her so casually that she had become quite comfortable around him, but at times like this, Roy was reminded of his status.

‘If this weren’t a contract, there would be no way I could walk side by side with a duke like this.’

Normally, she would have been in a position where she had to walk a step behind him and only see the back of his head. She would never have had the chance to look at flowers together with him on such a peaceful street.

The closeness she had unknowingly developed toward him suddenly grew distant and returned to its proper place.

“Vitor?”

At that moment, someone called out to him from across the street.

“Vitor, is that you? It really is you!”

“Hey! Vitor is here!”

“Vitor? Where?”

Their fancy coats and buttons that sparkled under the sunlight stood out. The polished tips of their shoes caught the eyes of passersby.

Some of them were even carrying walking sticks. They were a group of young noblemen who often visited taverns.

“Why haven’t you been coming to the tavern? Allen said he called you.”

“I thought you had gone back to the capital because I hadn’t seen a single strand of your hair in Clareville. What are you doing here? Is there anything fun going on?”

“If there’s something fun, let us join too. I’m going crazy from boredom in this miserable countryside.”

“You’re meeting a woman, aren’t you? Is she pretty?”

“There’s no such thing.”

The moment they spotted Vitor, they gathered around him like a swarm of bees and bombarded him with questions. Vitor openly looked annoyed and pressed a hand against his forehead.

“But who is this person?”

One of them glanced at Roy. He openly looked her up and down from her shoulders to her feet.

“You don’t bring a servant when you’re going around alone because you find it annoying.”

Roy pulled her hunting cap down deeply in case they recognized her face.

I wish he would just make up something reasonable……

“My new lover. Her name is, um…… Louise.”

Roy’s eyes widened at Vitor’s words. Vitor only smiled as if it were nothing important.

‘Putting aside the fact that he suddenly made up a name for me, Louise……?’

Louise was Roy’s real name. It was the name written on the pendant that had been inside the basket when she was abandoned in front of the orphanage.

‘I couldn’t find it no matter how hard I looked. So he really did take the pendant that night?’

That night, when she had spent her first night with Vitor. Vitor definitely had Roy’s pendant.

“Ah. I almost mistook her for a man because of her short hair. I heard you were looking for a new lover. So this is the person playing that role?”

She wanted to ask for it back immediately, but with all these people around, the situation was not suitable. Besides, they seemed to know at least some of Vitor’s plan.

“Louise is a man.”

“What?”

Apparently, they did not know the whole plan, because all their eyes immediately turned toward Roy. She felt cold sweat running down her back under all those gazes.

“Hello, I’m Louise……”

Roy introduced herself, feeling as if she were sitting on a bed of thorns.

“I’m a man, and I’m an adult.”

She said it as if trying to prevent the misunderstanding that sometimes happened because of her youthful appearance. Every one of them looked shocked and clicked their tongues.

“Crazy bastard……”

“He really is crazy. I told you, he’s the biggest lunatic among us.”

I agree. Even if he hated marriage that much, this was not an idea that would normally come from a sane person’s mind.

Who among the nobles would think of getting a male lover just to avoid marriage?

“By the way, he looks a little like someone. Hey, could you raise your face? Let us have a look.”

“……”

One of them approached Roy and tapped the edge of her hunting cap. Roy only raised her chin slightly.

“Raise it more. Did you put gold on your face or something? You’re being ridiculously difficult.”

Her hat was suddenly snatched away. Sunlight poured directly onto her face.

Roy instinctively squinted, then opened her eyes. They were staring at her with their eyes wide open.

“……What? Isn’t this Natalie?”

“Come to think of it, yeah. What is this?”

“No, it isn’t. There’s no chest. Our Natalie had such a narrow waist and beautiful curves.”

Their gazes were openly fixed on Roy’s chest. There was nothing she could do to cover herself, but simply standing there was extremely embarrassing.

“Why are you staring at a man’s chest like that? You look like a pervert.”

Vitor wrapped one arm around Roy’s shoulder, hiding her in his embrace.

“Don’t you think he looks like her? Look. He’s practically identical to Natalie.”

Vitor lowered his eyes toward Roy for a moment. He quickly looked over her features, then spoke in a calm voice.

“He could look like her. Daniel, you look like your family’s French bulldog too.”

“Why are you bringing a dog into this?”

“Heh-heh, I do think of one when I look at Daniel’s face.”

“I saw him lying in bed with the dog once and thought he was lying there with his younger brother.”

The young noblemen added their comments one after another, laughing among themselves.

“Anyway, remember it that way and spread the rumor for me. I’m counting on you.”

“That’s easy. My mouth was already itching to tell someone.”

“But then it really was true that Vitor got eaten up by Natalie and was abandoned. They said he was so lovesick that he stopped eating and drinking, and now he finally found someone similar to her……”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

Vitor’s brows narrowed slightly.

“Allen said so. He said you were searching every corner of Clareville to find Natalie.”

“How does ‘searching for her’ turn into ‘he stopped eating and drinking’?”

Vitor gave a disbelieving laugh.

At that moment, someone suddenly ran out of a nearby restaurant.

“What? Vitor is with his male lover?”

The source of that ridiculous rumor was Allen.

“T-That’s the guy from the hunting ground, ugh! Mmph!”

Apparently, someone had already passed the news along. Allen had been eating when he heard what was happening, so he rushed outside. The moment he saw Roy’s face, he pointed at her, but Vitor easily restrained him.

“Allen, long time no see. Come to think of it, I have something important to discuss with you.”

Vitor covered Allen’s mouth in one swift movement and dragged him into the alley.

He gestured to Roy to wait for a moment.

“What? What on earth happened?”

Once they reached a quiet alley, Allen demanded an explanation.

“Just what you see.”

Vitor held up the flower he was carrying. It was a single acacia flower with a cheap red ribbon tied around it.

“What about that? Explain properly. Since when? And why did this happen?”

“You saw his face. He looks like Natalie.”

“You made a gamekeeper your lover just because of that?”

“That isn’t the only reason.”

Vitor lightly shrugged his shoulders.

“He looks like her, and when I thought about it, a man would be perfect for getting people to gossip without having to worry about all the other things. Since he’s employed by the mansion, he won’t be able to run away easily either. It works out nicely. The conditions aren’t bad, are they?”

“That’s true, but…… Can you really handle it? Grand Lady Leonora will definitely be furious.”

“Wasn’t this the method you told me about?”

“I never told you to get a male lover!”

Allen spoke as if he were having a fit.

Even when Vitor caused trouble, he did it without any plan at all. Allen had vaguely heard recently that Vitor had become involved with a man.

But there were so many different rumors about him that it was hard to believe any of them. More importantly, Vitor had been looking for another woman.

“Then you’re not looking for Natalie anymore?”

“I told you not to look for her.”

“Still, I was quietly asking around. You looked like you regretted losing her so much.”

Vitor’s face hardened for a moment. The complicated feelings he had not completely erased could be seen in his tightly closed lips.

See? He still can’t let go of her.