Chapter 19
After taking a hot bath, Felice put on the dress she had worn at dinner again.
“Please let me know when he’s ready for the lesson.”
She relayed this to the butler waiting downstairs, who quickly replied,
“When you’re ready, you are to come up to the study.”
Hearing the word “study”, Felice clenched her dress tightly.
It seemed the lesson wouldn’t be in the bedroom after all. Probably a preference of his.
“…Understood.”
* * *
Felice went up to Claude’s study and took a seat, looking around.
Like the first lesson, the study was softly lit by gas lamps, curtains drawn tight despite the late hour.
“The lesson being what it is, I told the maid not to enter. There’s no tea, but plenty of whiskey if you want.”
Claude smiled lightly, pointing to the whiskey glass on the table.
“No, thank you.”
Felice declined with a short smile, recalling a phrase she once taught to ladies long ago when Claude offered the whiskey:
“Madam, as long as there is alcohol and night, there is no eternal bond between man and woman.”
And now, she was seated in this study that mirrored the mysterious atmosphere of the night.
Claude sat back comfortably, one leg crossed over the other, holding his whiskey glass. The ice inside clinked softly as it moved.
“…Claude.”
Felice hesitated before starting.
Claude turned his head at her voice, his blue eyes shimmering in the gaslight, reflecting multiple colors as they met hers.
“May I open the curtains?”
Claude’s gaze shifted to the curtains at her request.
An unusual silence fell.
Felice chose to wait patiently, sitting upright. There was no need to rush. She tried to steady the sadness rising in her heart.
This was… a lesson. A lesson.
He chuckled softly and rose from his seat.
“I will open them for you.”
Just before walking to the window, Claude glanced back at Felice briefly.
“…Thank you.”
Felice’s thanks came half a beat late as she watched his retreating figure.
With a gentle sliding sound, the curtains parted, and moonlight flooded the study. The cool blue glow contrasted sharply with the daytime, settling softly over Felice’s face and form.
She looked out the window at the garden for a moment, then turned her eyes toward Claude as he set down his glass on the table.
He was quietly sipping the whiskey.
“Claude, it would be better if you didn’t drink.”
Felice said, watching the whiskey glass in his hand.
“Oh, because it’s a lesson?”
“Yes.”
“Hah. Very well. I understand.”
Claude’s smirk showed that he wasn’t exactly serious about the lesson.
Though it wasn’t a new realization, Felice found herself disappointed in Claude—for all his talk, he was no better than that despicable group led by the Duke Vanessa that he had called trash.
Her mind briefly flashed back to the past.
When she first became a tutor at Duke Vanessa’s estate, all the men there had tried to flirt and reach out to her. They wasted time and money trying to tempt her with absurd whispers. Rumor had it they even made bets.
But Felice had always tried to stay loyal to her employers, the ladies.
Eventually, they laughed exaggeratedly at her resistance—just like Claude now, holding his whiskey glass.
“Claude, come here. You should sit beside me.”
Felice softly gestured to the seat next to her, and he raised an eyebrow.
“Must I?”
“Because Claude will be trying to seduce a woman.”
“If a woman is assertive, wouldn’t she make the first move?”
Felice slowly lowered her eyelids.
“Well… even assertive women among the nobility likely wouldn’t be the first to stand.”
Perhaps because of her growing disappointment and coldness, Felice thought she could teach him with a distinctly professional attitude.
“Hmm, I see.”
He nodded obediently and took the seat beside her.
“Even if she’s assertive, don’t forget she’s still a noblewoman.”
Felice reached out her hand to him.
“So you must win her heart first to allow her to show that assertiveness.”
Claude’s eyebrow twitched.
“Here, give me your hand.”
Felice smiled gently and took his hand, drawing it to her cheek.
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