IDIBC Chapter 55

Walter, the Gentleman Sent from Heaven 

My lips felt parched dry.

“My feet hurt so I took off my shoe for a moment, and it flew off over there. Just then Young Duke Chaplin entered the lounge and was about to pick up my shoe.”

I quickly summarized the commotion that had just occurred in one sentence. Although there were some strange parts, at least there would be no falsehood mixed into my eyes.

Somehow feeling self-conscious, I watched his pupils carefully, but they were gray and calm, showing no signs of anger.

“Your feet… hurt?”

‘Huh?’

“…Yes, a little. I wore higher heels than usual.”

As Ricardo, who had been leaning against the door, moved, the door slowly closed and silence settled over the lounge again. He walked with long strides toward Walter and smiled.

“Walter, if these coincidences keep piling up, won’t I start to misunderstand?”

“…Misunderstanding from the heir of Rochester. I don’t think I’ve ever heard words more unsuitable than that.”

Walter, who had just been looking at me with eyes full of resentment and self-reproach, fortunately answered Ricardo with a firm expression.

When Ricardo extended his hand, Walter obediently handed over the shoes.

“Yes, a gentleman like you wouldn’t create a situation that would make me misunderstand. The problem would arise when it’s not a misunderstanding. Isn’t that right?”

I shook my head at the somewhat embarrassing situation unfolding before my eyes. If someone who didn’t know the situation at all saw this, it would certainly be open to misunderstanding. A man holding his fiancée’s shoe in an enclosed space.

But our engagement wasn’t based on affection, and Walter knew that too. In fact, he had experienced unpleasant things being involved with me, so such words were rude to Walter.

Of course, I had no intention of getting between the two of them now. I didn’t want to create unnecessary trouble.

“From now on, don’t touch my woman’s belongings. Rochester doesn’t like it when others covet what’s theirs. You know that well.”

Ah, should I create some trouble after all? My face turned bright red with embarrassment.

Walter fortunately only looked at Ricardo without making any particular response. After a moment, he simply bowed his head slightly toward me in courtesy and left.

After Walter left, I relaxed and plopped down on the sofa.

“Young Duke, why did you say such things? Coveting, you say. While it’s true our first meeting wasn’t that pleasant, today Young Duke Chaplin was only trying to help me.”

“……”

“You know that.”

Ricardo still stood with his back to me, holding my shoe in his hand.

“Even I don’t know everything.”

At the words that suddenly reached me, I froze and stiffened. Ricardo slowly turned toward me and approached. I wanted to say something, but my mind was blank and no words came to me.

“If I could know everything, I wouldn’t need to feel this way right now.”

With a soft laugh, he knelt before me without giving me time to stop him.

Why does this man keep kneeling before me at the drop of a hat? My abdomen automatically tensed and my back straightened.

“G-give it to me. I’ll put it on myself.”

As if he couldn’t hear my urgent refusal, Ricardo gently grasped my ankle. His large, hot hand completely enveloped my foot and heel. Only my foot was touched, but it felt like my entire body was turning bright red.

“Don’t do this.”

“Stay still.”

His actions were gentle yet firm, leaving me unable to move.

Even though he was a man who had unavoidably shown his face only a few weeks after the engagement ceremony, and had barely appeared even then, my heart raced, leaving no room for resentment to form.

You hopeless case with no pride, Lienne. You’re the biggest fool in this world.

“As expected.”

“What is?”

“Your feet are as small as I thought. As small as your hands.”

“They’re the same size as other women’s.”

My words came out bluntly out of embarrassment. Instead of putting the shoe on my foot, he removed the shoe from my other foot.

“What are you doing?”

“This one’s red too.”

Feet. Yes, my feet are red. What else could be red?

“They’re completely swollen. They must have hurt a lot.”

“Yes. Ah, they hurt. It’s embarrassing, so please don’t look.”

The more I spoke, the more I felt like I was sinking into a quagmire.

“Stay still. It’ll feel better if I massage them.”

After seeing my foot disappear in his large hand, I couldn’t bear to watch and turned my head. I felt him chuckle at that action, but I couldn’t say anything.

It was certain that falling in love was the same as becoming a fool.

“But Lienne.”

Called by my name in a low voice, I was so breathless that it was difficult to answer properly. His hands continued to warmly massage my red, swollen feet.

“What exactly do you have to do to make Walter make that expression?”

“What?”

The moment I suddenly looked up and our eyes met directly, Ricardo’s thumb pressed down on my big toe as if in punishment, then pulled it out.

“Ah, ah!”

At the moan that escaped without my knowing, Ricardo’s touch hesitated. I bit my lower lip hard with my teeth, but it was already too late.

Over the past few days, memories of him had come attacking like an assault, shaking my daily life. My heart remained calm as long as our eyes didn’t meet, but certain moments would suddenly come to mind and stop me in my tracks. Things like his jet-black hair that resembled that night when he knelt and proposed, or his gaze at the temple that persistently pursued me.

This moment too would surely appear suddenly throughout my life, never forgotten, disturbing my daily routine.

Things like his hot touch massaging my feet, or his straight forehead glimpsed beneath his well-combed hair. A sigh escaped me involuntarily.

The more memories I accumulated with him, the more it felt like heavy weights were being hung one by one on my heart. The moments when I was terrified of being trapped in the terrible punishment called memory kept increasing.

“Won’t you… answer?”

“What answer…?”

Ah, was he talking about Young Duke Chaplin’s expression? The expression he was making toward me was probably…

“Resentment.”

“What?”

“And self-reproach too.”

Right. What he was doing to me. Resentment and self-reproach.

“Actually… I asked him not to touch my belongings because I didn’t want to fly somewhere again using my shoe as a medium. He seemed to resent those words. He said I was thinking of him as an incompetent person who couldn’t even properly use his family’s powers.”

He chuckled, and somehow relief washed over me.

“I’ll have to buy all new shoes.”

“There’s no need to go that far. I won’t be taking all of them anyway.”

Perhaps feeling frustrated, Ricardo slightly frowned and pulled down his cravat. Feeling heated for some reason at that sight, I raised my voice a bit to dispel the suddenly heavy atmosphere.

“But surely you’re not going to ask the Duchess for permission even for shoes this time?”

“Would that be wrong?”

Ricardo, who asked a question that I couldn’t tell if it was a joke or serious question, gazed at me for a moment. As if he was about to say something significant.

“Have you been well? You ran far away.”

“I didn’t run away, I just wanted to stay where my family was.”

“I see.”

After carefully massaging my feet a few more times, he stretched out his long arm and grabbed a cushion placed beside me. After placing it on the floor and setting my feet on it, he stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to post someone outside. I don’t want anyone to see my fiancée’s bare feet.”

Just say you like me instead. That would make my heart flutter less.

“Where are you going?”

“To get shoes.”

I jumped up and grabbed the hand of him who had turned to leave. Having stepped down from my shoes, I had to crane my neck all the way back to see his face. Even such trivial moments made my heart crumble.

“It’s okay. I can endure this much.”

“No.”

“Yes, I can. These shoes match this dress best. It’s a very important matter for women. Besides, we’re already very late. At this rate, we’ll enter after His Majesty the Emperor has already entered.”

“……”

“I’m bound to feel intimidated standing next to you as it is, and I don’t want to look short either.”

“……”

“Yes?”

Whether my persuasion worked, he nodded. I returned to the sofa, sat down, hurriedly put on my shoes, and stood beside him.

“Let’s go now.” After speaking resolutely, I straightened my chest. This was the first official event where I would stand in Dermeier Empire’s high society as Rochester’s fiancée.

“Young Duke Ricardo Gardarelli Rochester and his fiancée, Miss Lienne Rowe Fennel, are entering.”

With the grand announcement, the door opened and dozens, no, easily over a hundred pairs of eyes poured out all at once.

I inadvertently stepped back, but it wasn’t easy to retreat because of the hand supporting my back. When I glanced up, he was standing there with his usual composed and arrogant face.

Somehow, that sight made me feel a little more at ease.

Ricardo’s eyes, which had been hovering in the air for a moment, seemed to move toward my feet, then he immediately leaned down and whispered. At this very moment when everyone in the hall was watching.

“If it hurts, lean on me. If you can’t bear it, squeeze my arm tight.”

“I understand. I understand, so let’s go in quickly.”