Chapter 32
4. Resentment
Duke Dieter Conrad was a beautiful, strange person.
“I apologize for the impolite behavior carried out at such an early hour. The situation is not good enough to prioritize etiquette, so I was forced to enter where the guest was staying without permission.”
“No. It’s alright. But I…….”
“First, how about we move locations? I will wait in the corridor.”
After pouring out an eloquent yet excessive apology, he left without even giving her time to reply. Elena only came to her senses upon hearing the door close and prepared to leave.
When she quickly washed her face and changed out of the maid’s uniform into the clothes she had brought, the Duke was waiting for her in the corridor. She tried to offer an apology for being late, but the Duke turned his back without even looking at her.
“Please come this way.”
Elena was so flustered she couldn’t even compose her involuntarily parted lips. Such cold treatment. This was the first person to treat her this way since she became an exorcist. Wasn’t it routine for people, regardless of who they were, to either admire her face or be desperate to get on her good side?
‘What did I do to deserve this treatment?’
However, her animosity toward the Duke dissipated futilely soon after she started observing him.
His great height, requiring her to crane her neck to see his face, his back—a pure expanse of sharply defined muscle visible beneath the ivory-colored shirt—the broad shoulders that almost seemed excessive, balanced by his sleek waist and firm-looking lower body.
It was a body that perfectly suited the face that naturally drew florid phrases like ‘breathtakingly beautiful.’
‘His status was even that of Crown Prince. If he hadn’t been pushed out by his uncle, he would have become Emperor three years ago.’
Yet why would such a remarkable man come to get her alone and guide her like a servant?
“This is the place. Please enter first.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
The place she entered, after receiving such gracious consideration, was a small reception room. It seemed to have been used for readings or concerts, with one side left spacious and a sofa placed in the center.
“Please sit.”
The seat the Duke offered was clearly the place of honor. Although it was natural for her to be offered the place of honor since her status as Saintess was higher than that of the Deposed Crown Prince, Elena eyed the man suspiciously, doubting even this.
‘Is he testing me?’
There were sometimes people like that. Those who deliberately induced etiquette mistakes and enjoyed the reaction, all in the name of personally confirming the Saintess’s humble birth. The Duke might actually be one of them.
Elena decided to test him in return and bowed at the waist.
“I apologize for the rudeness of offering a belated greeting. I am Elena of Wellington.”
As she demonstrated the aristocratic greeting she had learned while being whipped by the etiquette tutor the Pope had assigned, the Duke’s eyes widened slightly. However, what he said next was a bit odd.
“Are you the daughter of the Viscount of Wellington?”
“……No. I am merely a commoner raised in Wellington. Therefore, there is no need to bestow favors not permitted to the humble.”
“Ah. Dear me. I see.”
The way Elena introduced herself was the greeting style commoners without a family name used to strangers from other regions, and it was also proof that she had vanquished the Devil of ‘Wellington.’ In other words, she had indirectly conveyed that she was the Saintess who had stirred up the Empire.
Yet, to misunderstand her as the daughter of a Viscount and then wear such a bewildered expression…….
‘He still doesn’t know who I am even after explaining it like this?’
This, well, this was the first time. She didn’t just meet him on the street, and he clearly knew she had come for an exorcism, yet he didn’t recognize her. It was beyond absurd—it was humiliating.
“Please raise your head, Miss Elena.”
The Duke, interpreting her expression differently, insisted she sit even more firmly.
“I have no intention of arguing over etiquette in a situation like this. Was your rest uncomfortable last night? Please sit in a comfortable spot, even for a moment, and compose yourself. Or am I making you uncomfortable?”
“Pardon?”
“If that is the case, I will move seats.”
“No, no. I will follow your will, Duke. Thank you.”
It had just been a moment ago that she told him she was a commoner. Yet, the Duke’s attitude of still observing such formality was utterly incomprehensible. However, since the Duke looked like he was genuinely about to stand up, Elena sat down in the place of honor as if she were being chased.
The sofa was certainly comfortable. Though her heart was truly uneasy.
‘A strange person.’
Could it be that madness ran in the Imperial Family? If so, and this man was also insane, offering such lavish courtesy to a commoner, it might partially explain this absurdity.
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