Chapter 1.14
She kept feeling like a fool, but she had no choice but to ask back.
“Because Miss Hardick is smarter than anyone else in this room.”
“…….”
“I heard Miss Hardick speaking with Sir Edward.”
Caitlyn licked her lips. It was probably before Edward’s health deteriorated significantly, so it was two years ago at the earliest. This meant Leslie had been watching her since then.
“You stopped Sir Edward’s business, didn’t you? Of course, everyone, including myself, said Miss Hardick was talking nonsense, but in the end, Miss Hardick was right. I’ve admired Miss Hardick ever since then.”
Leslie added in a slightly sad tone.
“I’m very slow-witted, you see. So I wanted to make a smart friend like Miss Hardick.”
Caitlyn shook her head.
“Lady Sufferd is not at all…….”
It was then. Leslie’s tone changed drastically.
“You’d be surprised if you heard how stupid I am. Even my tutor said he’s never seen a hopeless case like me.”
“La-Lady Sufferd.”
Startled by the sudden confession, Caitlyn tried to stop her, but it didn’t work at all.
“But if nothing stays in my head, what can I do?”
She suddenly approached Caitlyn and continued, blinking her eyes piteously.
“Kate, please. Be my friend!”
Caitlyn swallowed a sigh. Apparently, she was weak to this kind of pushy type.
“I understand, so…… don’t call me Kate.”
“But we’re friends, so I should call you by a nickname!”
Caitlyn hesitated for a moment.
“……Call me Cathy.”
Leslie smiled broadly.
“Yes, Cathy!”
As she returned the smile awkwardly, Caitlyn thought to herself. Since Edward no longer wanted to speak with her, the only person who called her ‘Cathy’ now was Archduke Akbar. So, wouldn’t it be alright for the one friend she had managed to make to call her that?
It was with that complacent mindset that Caitlyn was headed toward a corner with Leslie. The main doors swung wide open, and a man walked inside.
Roxias Akbar…… he was her past, present, and future.
“His Grace the Archduke of Akbar, Lord Roxias!”
The servant’s voice announcing the Archduke Akbar’s arrival echoed throughout the banquet hall. The Archduke entered the hall with a leisurely but not slow pace, then walked toward the right corner without a moment’s hesitation.
The nobles who had attended the banquet solely in hopes of catching the Archduke’s eye hurried toward him but couldn’t easily strike up a conversation. It was common for ordinary nobles to be overwhelmed by his sharp aura and withdraw without even being able to give a proper greeting, but today was a bit different.
A languid smile played on his lips, which were usually fixed in an expressionless line, and his golden eyes, which had chilled onlookers to the bone, sparkled with a strange radiance today. People felt an instinctive wariness at the human side revealed by this normally inhuman being.
They also had an intuition. Roxias Akbar’s change surely stemmed from a certain baronet’s daughter whose name was on everyone’s lips.
“Oh my, he’s finding Miss Hardick right away!”
Leslie marveled from the side, but it didn’t reach Caitlyn’s ears at all. She stepped back, panting for breath. The air she had been breathing and exhaling without hesitation just moments ago now felt stifling.
Now it was truly certain. This man…… was not human. No matter how much he fashioned a human form and hid among them.
The naive Leslie didn’t seem to notice at all, but Caitlyn knew. From the Archduke Akbar’s position, it would be normal for not even a single hair of hers to be visible.
But he had headed straight for her even before looking around and had already reached her before she could hide. A deep shadow was cast over Caitlyn, but she did not dare to raise her head. If she did, she felt those bright yellow pupils, no different from those of a beast, would be looking down at her as if pinning her down. The Archduke reached out a hand toward her.
“I’d like a dance, Miss Hardick.”
Caitlyn hesitated, but Leslie smiled brightly and pushed her back.
“Surely you don’t intend to keep His Grace waiting, Cathy?”
“…….”
Caitlyn swallowed hard. Was there anyone here who didn’t know what the first dance with Roxias Akbar meant?
‘If I take this hand now, everyone will think I’m the Archduke’s prospective mistress.’
But the Archduke would never make her his mistress.
‘If it were a mistress, it would actually be a relief.’
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