Chapter 43
Hitaon chuckled softly. The clever Luirene, instead of risking a visit herself, had used the tactless coachman to deliver the name she had personally chosen.
Ebony. A word meaning deep, dark black.
The moment he heard it, the sound clung pleasingly to his ear—he liked it immensely. If only the messenger had been Luirene herself rather than that scoundrel, it would have been perfect. He could have praised her by breathing endlessly into those lips.
“Hita! Everyone’s been looking for you. Why are you always holed up in corners like this?”
A playful hand touched his shoulder. Broil Pesche stood there, smoothing his styled light brown hair. Hitaon glanced in the direction he had come from. A swarm of colorful heads clustered together—just looking at it drained his energy.
“Why are you looking for me? Things seem to be running fine without me.”
“This event was organized to celebrate our glorious return to the capital, so of course you should be here.”
“You’re filling the seats well enough.”
“Don’t be like that. That bastard Sice is obviously not coming, so at least don’t leave me lonely.”
Hitaon shook his head and turned his eyes back to Ebony. His attitude made it clear he saw no point in further conversation.
“If you’re free, why not go greet the young ladies you fancy? Did the Countess of Philais arrive today?”
“There’s no way she’d miss it if Sice isn’t coming. Oh, I ran into Sice by the other day. She was going on about wanting to see you.”
“We live under the same sky. We’ll run into each other eventually.”
“So you have no intention of meeting her. This… Sice will cry her eyes out if she finds out, won’t she?”
Hitaon ignored his fussing with practiced ease and adjusted his gloves.
Standing there with the black horse, he looked like part of a famous painting hanging in the royal palace art gallery.
His neatly pressed riding clothes, silver buttons lined up in a row on his chest. The epaulets draped over his shoulders and the belt were intricately engraved with his family crest, lending an authority beyond mere competition attire. His gloves, covering even the backs of his hands, and his gleaming boots were pitch-black, as if matching the horse.
Broil, who had been stubbornly eyeing him up and down as if appraising him, grinned slyly.
“What a waste.”
“What are you talking about?”
“A flower boy like you just squatting here! Go wave your hand at the young ladies or something. They’d all drop dead on the spot.”
“I must finally be used to your blathering. I don’t even feel like forcing a laugh anymore.”
“Don’t be like that, man. At this point, I’m starting to get curious about the ‘sugar’ you’ve got hidden away in your mansion.”
Hitaon stopped adjusting the saddle and turned to look at Broil. Broil quickly stepped back and raised both hands in a placating gesture.
“Whoa, easy. You’re still just as touchy when it comes to that woman, I see.”
“Watch your mouth.”
“Do you really need to be that guarded? Unless someone’s from the Academy, they wouldn’t even know what ‘sugar’ means.”
Back in their Academy days, after a scandal involving students’ secret love affairs came to light, a trend had emerged of calling a secret lover ‘sugar.’ Broil was teasing him by bringing up that trend. Hitaon, showing his irritation plainly, snapped.
“Broil, I didn’t confide in you for this.”
“Say that and I feel hurt, don’t I? I was so proud, thinking we’d finally become friends who could share our true feelings!”
“Fine. Stop pestering me here and go play over there.”
“Don’t be like that, let’s go together. I have a solemn duty to drag you into that social gathering.”
“Who put you up to this?”
“Not a who. All the young ladies attending today are curious about you, every single one.”
“I’m not interested.”
Just as he was responding indifferently, the social gathering Broil had mentioned grew noisy.
“Someone’s arrived?”
“The flower of all flowers must be here.”
“Who’s that?”
“Lady Panae Tourso of the Tourso Duchy. She’s the highest-valued lady in high society these days.”
Hearing ‘Tourso,’ he understood all the attention. It was a family that had held the seat of the Noble Assembly for generations, established to check the imperial family’s abuses. In short, the core of the upper class and a powerful house.
“Wow, her beauty is as sky-high as they say.”
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