ITIF Chapter 89

I Seem to Be Losing My Sister to a Friend (3)

‘No matter how I think about it, it’s strange.’

Since she was a guest of the head of the household, Duke Kavelaseth Cardia, the servants had been consistently polite to Giselle Grante from the very beginning.

However, lately it was difficult to shake the feeling that they had gone beyond courtesy to something approaching awe.

Of course, it was better than believing the strange rumors surrounding her and criticizing her, but their gazes were admittedly somewhat burdensome.

Nevertheless, she greeted the gardeners first.

“The weather is quite hot, you must be working hard.”

The gardeners looked flustered, as if they were overwhelmed with gratitude.

“Th-this level of heat doesn’t faze us at all, right?”

“Y-yes, that’s right!”

Giselle Grante gave the energetically responding gardeners a nod of acknowledgment and continued walking.

‘What on earth could it be?’

After pondering for a while as she strolled, Giselle Grante soon realized.

‘Ah… is that it?’

Currently, she was staying at this mansion as Duke Cardia’s fiancée.

The real reason was to avoid falling into the Crown Prince and Empress’s schemes, but Kavelaseth probably hadn’t shared such intimate details with the servants.

Which meant that to the Duke Cardia household’s employees, Giselle Grante was essentially the future Duchess.

‘Now I understand.’

Giselle Grante nodded her head as she continued her walk, looking at the garden trees trimmed as precisely as if measured with a ruler.

In fact, this speculation of hers was half right and half wrong, but there was no way for Giselle Grante to know.

****

“Have you seen Lady Amaterasu? It seems she went this way.”

A maid who was cleaning the corridor answered the butler’s question.

“The Lady passed through this corridor just a moment ago and went that way.”

“Thank you. Keep up the good work.”

The butler nodded and turned toward the direction Giselle Grante had gone.

Only after he had gotten quite far away did he hear the maids’ chatter from behind.

The butler perked up his ears and slowed his pace.

“Did you see? She was so incredibly beautiful again today…”

“I know, to think such a person will become the Duchess…”

The butler nodded with satisfaction and left the mansion.

Then, on the path leading to the garden, he asked the gardeners who were tending to the trees.

“Did you see which way the Lady went?”

“The Lady went toward this garden.”

The butler walked toward the garden visible in the distance. Once again, he had his ears perked up without fail.

“The Lady isn’t just beautiful, she seems to have such a kind heart too.”

“I thought so too. For a noble Duke’s daughter to speak to people of humble status like us…”

The butler’s lips curved up with satisfaction at the voices he heard.

Thinking that it had been the right decision to do as the Duke instructed.

A while ago, after Young Duke Amaterasu had barged into the Duke’s mansion and caused a commotion, various talk had been circulating among the Duke Cardia household’s employees.

Since Young Duke Amaterasu was their employer Duke Cardia’s close friend, everyone was being careful with their words.

The butler had subtly informed Kavelaseth that there was such an atmosphere.

Worried that the employees might become afraid of Lady Amaterasu because of Young Duke Amaterasu’s commotion.

Then Kavelaseth, who had been thinking for a moment, advised as follows.

[Spread the word that even Mikhail, who goes crazy enough to not see anything when angry, is nothing more than a docile dog in front of Giselle.]

The butler immediately dropped a hint to the head maid.

The head maid passed this fact on to the other maids, and soon all the employees in the mansion knew.

Afterward, some rather peculiar talk circulated, such as Lady Amaterasu easily subdues even mad dogs, or that she’s actually hiding tremendous strength, but the butler didn’t bother to correct it.

Even if she was approachable, the employees needed a mistress with a certain dignity and charisma.

And she was fitting into the Duke Cardia household far better than the butler had expected.

****

Giselle Grante, who had been continuing her walk with a light heart, came face to face with Kavelaseth as he was getting out of his carriage.

Wherever he had been, he was dressed impeccably.

“Were you going out?”

“I thought I’d walk around the garden a bit.”

“I’ll join you.”

Though Giselle Grante was puzzled by Kavelaseth saying he would accompany her, she didn’t refuse.

The two walked along the path, looking at the well-trimmed lawn and garden trees that seemed level, and the colorfully blooming flowers.

‘Didn’t he have something to say to me?’

As she walked, Giselle Grante glanced at Kavelaseth.

Just then, Kavelaseth also turned his gaze toward her.

Their eyes met.

Kavelaseth stared intently at her face without saying anything in particular.

Under his steady gaze, she somehow felt thirsty.

Gulp. Dry saliva went down her parched throat.

It was because she had unfortunately recalled his naked body in this awkward situation when they were alone.

“Is there anything uncomfortable about your stay?”

Just as her tension was rising, fortunately Kavelaseth spoke first.

“…No. Everyone has been treating me very well.”

She answered the question Kavelaseth posed after a slight pause.

Because she remembered the somewhat peculiar gazes of the Duke’s household employees.

And Kavelaseth didn’t miss this and said,

“Has someone in the mansion made you uncomfortable?”

A faint crack appeared in Kavelaseth’s handsome brow.

It seemed as if he wouldn’t let anyone go, whoever it was, if they had treated her poorly.

Giselle Grante quickly shook her head.

“Rather, I was just a bit perplexed by the excessive kindness. It must be because of the misunderstanding that I’ll become the mistress of the Duke Cardia household.”

When she smiled slightly, Kavelaseth immediately asked back.

“…What do you mean by that?”

“Well, you see. My acting as your fiancée is nothing more than a performance to deceive the Crown Prince and Empress.”

With those words, Giselle Grante took a step forward.

But before she had taken many steps, she heard Kavelaseth’s voice, now a tone lower, from behind.

“Wait.”

When she turned around with an expression asking what was wrong, Kavelaseth strode toward her.

As much as he approached, she stepped back hesitantly.

But Kavelaseth’s pace toward her was a bit faster.

“You seem to be misunderstanding something, so let me make it clear now.”

Giselle Grante blinked rapidly as she looked at Kavelaseth. Wondering what on earth he was trying to say with this behavior.

But it was completely unpredictable.

Kavelaseth, who had closed his mouth for a moment as if choosing his words, suddenly furrowed his brow and said,

“No, before that… are you being petulant with me?”

Naturally, Giselle Grante’s eyes widened slightly.

‘Being petulant?’

Giselle Grante tilted her head slightly and asked back.

“Pardon? What do you…”

“Are you doing this because I didn’t properly propose?”

At that moment, Giselle Grante’s thinking stopped. Next came the turn to doubt her ears.

‘Pro…posal?’

It was certainly a word she had never imagined hearing from Kavelaseth’s mouth.

“Duke Cardia, did you… propose to me?”

“Ha…”

A hollow laugh escaped through the gaps of Kavelaseth’s stubbornly pressed lips.

An awkward and heavy atmosphere flowed.

She desperately wanted to remedy this atmosphere. But her mouth wouldn’t easily open.

‘…A proposal?’

Even thinking about it again, it was definitely a word that didn’t suit him.

Then Kavelaseth took a step toward her.

“Listen carefully. Giselle.”

Suddenly, with a serious expression, Kavelaseth stared directly into her eyes.

“Y-yes…”

Perhaps because their distance was closer than ever before, she felt somewhat nervous.

“Giselle, we’re in the same boat now.”

Her head nodded naturally at that part.

It was actually a welcome point. If she was in the same boat with him, at least she and her family wouldn’t die like in the diary.

When she lived as Trinity, she had never felt the warmth of family. Even that hadn’t actually been her real blood relations.

In any case, to such a person, Mikhail and Duke Amaterasu had shown her what a family that truly cared for each other was like.

She didn’t want to lose that warmth.

Although what was in this body wasn’t the real Giselle Grante they knew, this situation was undoubtedly something the real Giselle Grante would be quite happy about.

Wasn’t it the future the original Giselle Grante had desperately wished for? To be in the same boat with Kavelaseth.

Giselle Grante looked straight into Kavelaseth’s sun-like red eyes.

Anticipating somewhat what Kavelaseth would say next.

“From the moment you learned my secret.”

But it was the moment she thought his eyes were somehow different from usual.

Kavelaseth’s large hands gently cupped both of her cheeks.

‘What is he trying to…’

Just as she was thinking that, Kavelaseth’s face slowly tilted toward hers.

Then his soft, moist lips lightly touched her lips and pulled away.

“Don’t forget that and remember it well.”

As she looked at Kavelaseth’s narrowing eyes that curved slightly, Giselle Grante swallowed her dry saliva.

****

Only the sound of turning parchment echoed in the quiet office of the Empress.

Having written her signature on the last document, the Empress gently pressed her tired eyes, closed them, and opened them again.

Then she rolled her eyes slightly to look at the ladies-in-waiting.

The Empress’s gaze, which had swept over the ladies-in-waiting absorbed in their duties, stopped at Marchioness Latse.

As if not noticing the Empress’s gaze, Marchioness Latse was diligently looking at the parchment.

The Empress’s eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at such a Marchioness Latse.