Chapter 60
“I see. By the way, about that painting from the other day. It turns out it was a forgery.”
“Really? Oh, how terrible… Who would do something so awful?”
Of course, there was no way that artist would do such a thing. Felice, indignant at the news of a forgery, glanced at Claude and swallowed hard.
“Well… At least we found out before it was hung up in the house.”
Felice avoided Claude’s gaze with an awkward laugh, pressing her lips together.
She’d nearly forgotten about it, since Claude had been away lately—and this was actually their first real conversation since she’d accidentally hit him in the face with her bag. She’d avoided him out of sheer embarrassment right after, but then he’d gotten busy, and the incident had just faded away.
“It’s all thanks to you for noticing.”
Claude said, giving her a gentle smile.
Felice twisted her skirt, debating how to bring up what happened. Should she admit she’d run away out of sheer mortification after falling down? Maybe she should just pretend she had no idea about hitting him at all…
Suddenly, Claude got up from his seat. Felice looked up at him in surprise, uncertain what he’d do next.
“Uh… Claude?”
She watched in disbelief as he picked up his chair and set it right beside her, then sat down as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Resting his arm on the chair back, he gave her a casual, easy smile.
“Don’t mind me. I just heard something interesting from Elise’s former partner and thought it might be helpful—especially since today is our fourth lesson.”
He brushed off the painting as if it were nothing.
Felice blinked in surprise, but before she could speak, Claude cocked his head, giving her an amused smile.
“Ah… That day, Miss Felice, you—”
“Right! The story about Lady Elise’s former partner is really important for our fourth lesson, isn’t it? Please, tell me about that first, Claude.”
Felice cut him off with a bright smile.
* * *
“Achoo!”
Elise suddenly sneezed as she was reading. The maid by her side jumped, quickly offering her a handkerchief.
“Are you all right, Miss? There must be some pollen lingering in the room from that bouquet you received the other day. I’ll clean up more thoroughly.”
“It’s fine. Really.”
Elise dabbed at her nose, then frowned.
“Hm? My ears feel a bit itchy too. There must be a lot of pollen in here. I think I’ll step out for a bit, so give the room another cleaning, will you?”
“Yes, Miss. I’ll also replace the flowers.”
The maid said, bowing.
As Elise stood to leave, her maid was just picking out a parasol for her when a knock came at the door, announcing a letter’s arrival.
“A reply from Baron Racliffe already?”
Elise’s lips curled in a satisfied smile. The reply had arrived sooner than expected, confirming her suspicion that he was no different from all those other suitors shuttled around by matchmakers.
“Well, he’s thirty after all. No wonder he’s in a rush.”
Elise said, though in truth, Claude had left quite an impression on her.
The more dazzling the flower, the less she liked its scent—but he had an unexpectedly appealing air about him. Now she understood why all the women in Trouville were so desperate to catch his eye.
“He claimed he’d never been in love before, right?”
She narrowed one eye, thinking back to meeting him at the Golden Hotel. If he really had no experience with women, how could he be so at ease? Sure, he’d met plenty of people in business, but every gesture, every word with her was so naturally skilled.
Even when she tried to tease him, he handled it with surprising maturity, and when he returned her ‘favor’, he did so with the freshness of a much younger man.
Elise almost believed the rumors that he’d never been in love.
She grabbed a paper knife from the drawer and sliced open the letter.
“Baron Racliffe must be smitten—he replied so quickly! I bet he fell for you at first sight, Miss.”
Her maid said excitedly. Elise gave a noncommittal nod, but as she read further, her expression grew steadily colder.
“Ha… Got a little money and now he’s full of himself, huh?”
She let out a dry laugh and crushed the letter in her fist.
“So what that lady said a few months ago was actually true.”
Elise bit her lower lip.
<‘He was so rude!’>
The voice of that lady echoed in her ears.
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