Chapter 2

The Male Lover of the Duke of Hermont

It had happened the night before.

Vitor was on his way to Claireville, the villa he had received as a reward for his victory.

Claireville was famous as a summer resort frequently visited by the nobles of Lostría, thanks to its cool breezes and lush, deep-green scenery.

As it happened, Vitor had heard that some young noblemen he knew had rented out the entire second floor of a tavern for several months and turned it into an arcade room, so he had stopped by briefly to show his face.

“Straight.”

The moment Vitor laid down his cards, disappointed groans erupted from all around the room.

“Did this bastard do nothing but play poker aboard the ship? He hasn’t lost even once.”

“Why play a game you’re supposed to lose on purpose? How boring. I’m leaving now, so play moderately and head home.”

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going, Hero of the Battle of Puralen? We can’t possibly let the Admiral of the Storm leave like this!”

Alan threw an arm around Vitor’s shoulder and pulled him back.

At the nickname that sent shivers down his spine just hearing it, Vitor’s face twisted unpleasantly.

“You’ve barely been here. This is a banquet celebrating your victory, and it would be a problem if the guest of honor left.”

“You fellows who have been camping out here since days before I even arrived in Claireville certainly have some nerve making excuses.”

“Even if you go to the villa, your grandmother will bring up marriage before anything else. You’ll probably feel better staying here instead.”

Annoying as it was, Alan was right.

The truth was, Vitor wasn’t particularly pleased about this vacation.

“Haah…”

“I knew it would end up like this. I told you—how long did you think you could keep this up?”

Seeing Vitor sigh faintly, the young noblemen who had been playing poker with him chimed in with snickers.

“Do you remember the Imperial Palace banquet two years ago? That was quite a sight.”

“You mean when Lady Delma and Lady Pline grabbed each other by the hair and started fighting?”

“Then when they found out neither of them had even managed to become Vitor’s lover, they demanded to know if he’d been playing with them, right?”

Just remembering that day was enough to make Vitor’s head throb.

His scandalous private life was already widely known. Therefore, the fact that two women had caused a commotion over him wasn’t itself a problem.

The real problem was what happened afterward.

Women who had been involved in scandals with Vitor began appearing from all over the place, openly declaring that they, too, had never amounted to anything special in his eyes.

Thanks to that, the reputation of Vitor Carl Hermont as “Lostría’s Playboy” had taken a serious hit, and it had eventually been revealed that he had deliberately cultivated his reputation as a womanizer in order to avoid the endless marriage proposals.

Fortunately, he had been able to escape into the military by participating in the Mandrang Bay Suppression Operation.

But now that he had returned as the hero of the Battle of Puralen…

Vitor’s value on the marriage market had soared even higher than before.

This time, his grandmother, Leonora Hermont, would surely drag him straight to the altar.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to get away with it with some ordinary scandal this time. Why don’t you create a real scandal, Vitor?”

Alan casually made the suggestion to the troubled Vitor.

“A real scandal?”

“Yeah. Get yourself an official mistress. Preferably a woman from such a lowly background that your reputation in high society plummets all the way to the gutter.”

A mistress of low birth…

Well, the idea wasn’t bad.

However—

“If she’s lowborn, she’d have to be attractive enough for it to look convincing. Where am I supposed to find a woman like that in the middle of this countryside?”

The situation was urgent.

Vitor already had several blind dates arranged for the following week.

He had already been caught once. Unless he played his part extremely carefully, people would become suspicious immediately.

“That’s why I called you here. There’s a girl who works here who is pretty good.”

Alan patted Vitor on the shoulder and winked.

What kind of scheme was he cooking up this time?

Just then, the door opened.

“You lose every time, so why’d you call me again?”

A woman entered, grumbling as she walked in.

Long, wavy silver hair framed her face, and she wore a linen blouse. Over it was a wine-colored bodice embroidered with delicate patterns and pulled tightly against her figure.

With every step she took, her purple long skirt swayed like a wave.

Beneath her slightly upturned eyes, mysterious violet irises gleamed seductively.

She was a rare beauty with striking, glamorous features.

“You called me even though I’m busy, so you’re paying me double, right?”

She leaned her elbows against the table and bent forward.

Her clothing had a fairly deep neckline, revealing her smooth collarbones and voluptuous figure without restraint.

But something was strange.

Normally, the men in the room would have been busy looking her over and whistling.

Instead, they were giving off an entirely different kind of heat.

“Natalie. I told you that was a mistake. I won’t go easy on you today, so prepare yourself!”

“I’m first. You’ve already won quite a lot. If I win, you’re giving back everything you won today, right?”

The men stared greedily at the leather pouch tied around Natalie’s waist.

The pouch was stretched so tightly from the tips she’d collected from customers that it looked as though it might burst at any moment.

“Win first, then start eyeing it. If you win, I’ll give you as much as you want.”

“That’s some confidence. But it won’t be easy today!”

The atmosphere in the room instantly grew heated.

Don’t tell me they’ve been betting on arm wrestling with that woman and losing all this time?

Vitor couldn’t understand it.

No matter how much these noblemen shut themselves away in their rooms and did nothing but breathe instead of exercise, they were still men.

And that server was a woman.

Vitor narrowed his eyes.

Moreover, despite her healthy complexion, the woman had a slender build, with a narrow waist and sharply defined collarbones.

Then a thought occurred to him.

Ah. Have they been deliberately letting her win?

They could always win in the end anyway, right?

Even so, it was pathetic.

Both the men who kept challenging a woman to arm wrestling and the woman who proudly strutted around without realizing they might be deliberately losing to her.

But then—

Thump.

Thump.

THUD!

“Damn it! What the hell does a woman eat to have this kind of monstrous strength?”

“Argh! Take it easy, Natalie! I surrender, I surrender! I’m going to be bruised!”

Three wrists were slammed down in succession.

Alan fussed over his hand, which had struck the table, blowing on the back of it with exaggerated distress.

They hadn’t been letting her win.

Veins stood out on their foreheads as they trembled with effort, only to be genuinely crushed by her strength.

As though she had expected this, Natalie pulled out another pouch from her pocket.

With a satisfied smile, she gathered the pouch full of gold coins from the defeated men.

“Thank you again today. I shall never forget the kindness you noble gentlemen have shown to a struggling commoner. Well then, I should get back to work.”

“Natalie! Wait!”

She had just bent her knees slightly and delivered her mocking words of gratitude before turning away when Alan called out to stop her.

“The main event hasn’t even appeared yet.”

“This time, it really won’t be easy. I guarantee it!”

With that, he pushed Vitor forward.

Vitor found himself standing directly in front of the woman and snapped at Alan incredulously.

“You want me to arm wrestle that woman?”

“She isn’t an ordinary woman! Didn’t you see us lose?”

“Forget it. I’m not doing it. You idiots can play your foolish games yourselves.”

“Vitor! Just once! You like betting too! If you win, all that money is yours!”

So he’d pretended to be helping Vitor because there was a good-looking woman here…

But this was his real motive.

They were simply furious because they couldn’t beat a single woman.

There was a limit to how much of a clown one could make of oneself.

“What am I supposed to do with money I won by showing off my strength against a woman?”

“Even if I win, it’ll only be embarrassing.”

Vitor had no desire to participate in this sort of game.

No matter how he looked at it, winning would leave a bad taste in his mouth, and losing would be just as unpleasant.

“Are you afraid you can’t do it?”

Natalie, who had quietly been listening to their conversation, spoke up.

“Do you think I’m afraid?”

Vitor’s voice sharpened.

“If you’re not, then never mind. But that’s what all the men who get scared and try to run away say. It’s not that I don’t believe my customers. It’s just… that’s how it is.”

Vitor’s forehead twitched.

“You’re saying I’m afraid of you?”

The woman shrugged.

Her vivid violet eyes were still overflowing with confidence.

Ha.

Vitor ran a hand through his beautiful platinum-blond hair.

He admitted it.

The woman certainly had a talent for provoking a man’s competitive spirit.

She must have made a fortune through this sort of thing.

“Fine. Let’s do it. If you can last even ten seconds, I’ll count that as your victory.”

Vitor knew perfectly well that something was probably going on, but he accepted the challenge.

Normally, even if his opponent were a woman, he would have gladly indulged in a lighthearted arm-wrestling match—or firmly refused to participate if he didn’t feel like it.

Yet, for some reason, his nerves were on edge.

Do I really have this foolish, masculine side that gets worked up over even the smallest competition?

Natalie, of course, had no idea about Vitor’s troubled thoughts.

With a slightly excited voice, she said,

“If you’re that confident, why don’t we raise the stakes?”

“How about four times the amount?”

“Fine.”

“Wow! We’re finally getting our revenge today!”

“Natalie, you picked the wrong man to mess with!”

The young noblemen shouted excitedly.

The spectators seemed even more excited than the actual participants.

They were already acting as though Vitor had victory in the bag.

“Do you know who that gentleman is? Undefeated in a hundred battles. The hero of the Empire! The Admiral of the Stor—”

“Shut up. Just officiate properly.”

Vitor silenced Alan’s noisy mouth and rolled up his sleeve.

His thick forearm muscles were revealed.

At a glance, they were incomparably more developed than those of the other young noblemen.

Natalie briefly glanced at his arm before clasping hands with him as though it made no difference who her opponent was.

“Ready… set… go!”