Give Me Back My Glass Shoe - Chapter 4

Hello everyone! there are changes in the chapter numbering, I had edited it to the correct arrangement as there was confusion in the chapter count. Apologies and enjoy the translation!

“If I wait, one will come. Thank you for your concern.”
It wasn’t likely that he was actually worried about her getting home, but she thanked him anyway. Paiki tilted his head and asked.
“You seem hurt. Are you going to wait on that leg?”
Aniella couldn’t understand what he wanted or why he was asking such questions. Of course, she had to wait until another carriage came, what else could she do?
Of course, there was one carriage she didn’t have to wait for, but she couldn’t possibly ask Duke Paiki to let her ride in his carriage…
“There happens to be an empty seat in my carriage.”
“No!”
Startled, she ended up shouting. Oops. Aniella waved her hands and made excuses.
“Ah, I’m sorry! It’s not that I’m refusing. It’s just that if I receive such a great favor from you, Duke, I have no way to repay it, so…!”
“You don’t need to worry about how to repay the favor. I’ll collect it myself.”
His voice was too soft. Aniella didn’t catch what he said except for the part about not worrying, and she blinked. Paiki gently lifted the corner of his mouth, walked past her, and opened the carriage door.
“I’d prefer if you didn’t feel burdened. Helping a lady in distress is a gentleman’s duty.”

Paiki extended a hand clad in a black glove. He seemed like a broad-minded person. His expression and voice were very gentle too. If he had been anyone else, she might have gratefully climbed into the carriage right away. If he were an unmarried man, it would have been a perfect opportunity to get closer, using this incident as a starting point.

Paiki was both wealthy and unmarried. He met the criteria Aniella was looking for. However, he was also the subject of too many ominous rumors to call it a good opportunity, and he was the very person that Marius, who claimed to know Duke Paiki best in the empire, gnashed his teeth about.

It felt somewhat uneasy to blindly trust in a gentleman’s duty and hop into his carriage. The smile on his lips also looked somehow twisted, which was strange.

“No, I’m really fine……”

She was about to regretfully decline, but Aniella couldn’t finish her sentence. Because he had gotten into the carriage alone, still holding her shoe.

Should she muster her courage and ask for the shoe back again? Or should she just apologize to Marius? As she was pondering, Paiki, seated in the carriage, smiled brightly through the open carriage door.

“If you intend to refuse my offer, that’s fine. I have no intention of making you feel burdened. Although, of course, my feelings will be a little hurt by the rejection.”

“Um……”

Paiki stared intently at the hesitating Aniella. His expression was closer to that of someone scolding a subordinate who wouldn’t listen, rather than someone who was hurt.

Don’t keep me waiting any longer. Get in.

His deep blue eyes seemed to say that. Aniella eventually felt she had no choice but to reluctantly say thank you and try to board the carriage.

“Ah!”

She had momentarily forgotten about her injured ankle. The moment she placed her right foot on the carriage, a sharp pain shot through her ankle. But she couldn’t keep the Duke waiting just because it hurt. She gritted her teeth, trying to endure the pain, when suddenly a man’s hand slid under her armpits.

In the blink of an eye, Aniella was seated in the carriage. While she blinked rapidly, trying to comprehend what had just happened to her, the Duke placed the shoe, which he had held hostage, onto her lap and closed the carriage door.

Soon, the carriage began to move smoothly. Aniella was frozen, only her eyes darting around.

“See something interesting?”

“Pardon?”

When she asked back, flustered, Paiki’s eyes narrowed. He made a strange expression, somewhere between blank and smiling.

“I wondered if you were looking around because you found something interesting. Or, perhaps you’re scared?”