EWOWMAIBTYPF Chapter 165

Chapter 165

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I kept watching Lucio, who was smiling inappropriately, and thought to myself.

‘Who do I think he had a secret rendezvous with?’

Was he worried I wouldn’t be able to answer if asked that? Not at all.

I glanced at the unconscious Kenneth and replied lightly.

“Prince Nicholas.”

“…”

At that moment, the smile disappeared from Lucio’s face.

His expression stiffened, and I was a bit taken aback.

‘Was I not supposed to act like I knew?’

But I had already hinted at it when I sent a message to Darel.

‘Hm.’

Come to think of it, it’s a sensitive issue for someone preparing for a big move. I might’ve brought it up too carelessly.

“Um, Lord Elard…”

I was about to quietly apologize, gauging his reaction, when Lucio spoke first.

“Why do you call him by his name, but call me ‘Lord Elard’?”

“What?”

“Call me by my name too.”

“…”

I was momentarily speechless.

‘Call him by his name…?’

It sounded far too meaningful.

Looking at Lucio in confusion, I suddenly remembered when he once asked me to call him by his name in the past.

‘…Back then, I had knelt down and begged, swearing I’d never call him by name again.’

That person from that day had long disappeared, and yet I alone seemed to remember it so vividly—it felt unfair, especially today.

At the same time, an old suspicion resurfaced in my mind.

I had been wondering if Lucio was the one who commissioned Terencium on Diana’s birthday.

‘And maybe… he was the one looking for me.’

But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand why.

Could it be that he knew I was the grand princess? That seemed nearly impossible.

It’s not like he could see my true self like Diana could, and unlike Dad, he wouldn’t have been told anything about my hair color from Raizel either.

If it were after the birthday party, it might’ve made sense, maybe Diana got suspicious and told Lucio after seeing me, but the timeline didn’t fit.

‘Why on earth…’

“Is it really that hard to say my name?”

Lucio sighed, watching me stay silent.

Though I’d gotten lost in thought, calling him by name still felt awkward.

But something about his slightly hurt expression made me uncomfortable.

“Um… Don’t I seem unfamiliar to you?”

Trying to change the mood, I quickly blurted out something random.

“It’s been a while since we met… and my hair color changed. Other people were surprised and said I felt unfamiliar.”

Truth be told, like Allen and Jack, Lucio had never seen my original appearance either.

Now that I brought it up, I found myself curious and looked up at him. I could feel Lucio’s gaze slowly move from my forehead to my eyes, nose, lips, and chin.

After a moment, he tilted his head and said,

“Why would you feel unfamiliar? You just grew up exactly like how you looked as a child, except with a different hair color.”

“…”

“I recognized you instantly.”

At his answer, I muttered without thinking,

“No way…”

Lucio responded firmly,

“Really. You’re exactly the same. Especially the way you look at people with those wide eyes, like a dummy.”

“D-Dummy?!”

I froze for a moment, then glared at him. Lucio reached out and lightly poked the wrinkle between my brows.

“That expression too. You smile so sweetly in front of others, but you’re always sulky with me.”

“…”

Despite his complaints, Lucio looked oddly happy, and it made me feel weird.

Now that I thought about it, everything about him was strange.

His words, actions, expressions…

Lost in confusion, I nervously fidgeted with my fingers and suddenly blurted out,

“Hey. If I still had brown hair and brown eyes, would you have recognized me?”

I knew it was a ridiculous question, but for some reason, my throat tightened as I waited for his answer.

“Yes.”

His reply was immediate and simple.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I would’ve recognized you for sure.”

Maybe it was the conviction in Lucio’s gaze.

I couldn’t bring myself to ask how he was so sure.

‘Maybe… he remembered me even back then…’

“But seriously, if it wasn’t a secret rendezvous—”

It happened then.

Lucio’s eyes turned cold as he looked at my reddened wrist, and in an instant, he grabbed Kenneth’s wrist and twisted it with a cracking sound.

“No!”

I shouted too late—Kenneth’s wrist was already completely bent backward.

Even unconscious, Kenneth groaned in pain, and I let out a pitying sigh.

“He’s just paying the price for laying hands on you.”

Lucio added that like an excuse after seeing my reaction, but my sigh only deepened.

“…Was I too harsh?”

“That’s not it…”

I shook my head at Lucio, who looked like he was trying to read my mood.

“I just wanted to handle it myself. It’s a shame I missed the chance.”

Lucio let out a chuckle at my words, and I shrugged.

“So what do we do with him now?”

Looking at Kenneth Petier sprawled on the floor, I sighed again.

I had tried to hold back to avoid a mess, but now it was a hassle.

As I stood there looking troubled, Lucio pulled out a communicator from his coat. Not long after, a man dressed in black appeared out of thin air.

“Bert, take care of it.”

At Lucio’s short command, the man called Bert nodded and effortlessly hoisted Kenneth onto his back.

Seeing that, I quickly cast a minor silencing spell on Kenneth and handed a bottle of alcohol from the terrace table to Bert.

Then, smiling at the confused man, I said,

“Pour this on his pants before you go.”

Understanding dawned on Bert’s face. He immediately clamped his mouth shut, suppressing a laugh as his lips twitched.

“Pfft… Yes. Understood.”

“No need to be so formal. Thanks.”

I gave him a brief word of encouragement, remembering how tough it must be to shadow Lucio day and night.

Bert, already polite, seemed to shine even brighter at my gesture and gave me a deep bow.

“Someone might think I’m his boss.”

Watching Bert leap gracefully from the third-floor terrace and vanish quickly, I shook my head in disbelief. Then I paused and suddenly shouted,

“Oh right, Darel!”

“Darel?”

“Yes! I meant to tell you earlier!”

At my raised voice, Lucio’s expression turned serious.

“Come to think of it, she said you looked mad. I thought it was because of the bracelet…”

“Bracelet?”

“No, more importantly, did my men do something to upset you?”

“No, they didn’t do anything wrong. Though I did think their acting was a bit lacking… But the real problem is customer info management!”

“Customer info management?”

At Lucio’s confused look, I snapped in frustration.

“How could someone who knows better reveal that the grand princess is a VIP of the guild?! Do you know how awkward that makes things for me?!”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb. The moment I showed the invitation, they immediately checked my hair color. They clearly knew I was the grand princess.”

“Well, of course they did.”

“What?”

When I looked at him with a confused face full of question marks, Lucio muttered as if he realized something.

“So that’s why the reply…”

“…?”

“It was definitely something that could be misunderstood, but that invitation wasn’t for a VIP—it was for the grand princess of Belus. I wrote it myself, too.”

Then, as if to reassure me, he added,

“Contrary to what you’re worried about, I’m the only one who knows that the guild’s VIP is actually the grand princess. Not even my own men, not even Bert, who was present during one of your previous dealings, knows.”

“B-but that can’t be. Then how do you explain that reaction…?”

“Reaction?”

Lucio tilted his head slightly.

I replied with a frustrated look.

“They treated me too well. Like, embarrassingly well.”

“Well, you’re my guest. And they knew your identity, so of course they should treat you well.”

The way Lucio brushed it off like everything had been my misunderstanding only made me more irritated.

Yes, assuming the invitation was meant for a VIP was my mistake.

But the way the staff acted when I visited Le Réje was just too much, no matter how I look at it.

“Information guild informants are people who know all the dirty secrets of nobles. And yet, they acted that way just because of my identity?”

I narrowed my eyes and said,

“It doesn’t make sense for the informants to treat status the same way as household servants would, just because their guild leader is a noble.”

Since informants deal in secrets, they value the hierarchy within the guild and the source of information more than status or rank.

‘In that world, they’d be kinder to an orphan who brings them precious information than to a high-ranking noble just trying to buy it. Was it really just my misunderstanding?’

To me, the way the employee acted that day could only be explained by the fact that I was Darel’s VIP.

“…I see.”

At that moment, Lucio nodded, as if he finally understood what I meant.

I lifted my chin a bit, feeling validated that I had good reason to be mistaken.

And then…

“Seems like everyone assumed you were my lover.”

Lucio suddenly dropped a bombshell.

“M-my lover?!”

What the hell was he talking about?

“Wha—What?! Why would they think that?!”

Still reeling, I jumped in place and shouted.

But Lucio just chuckled, as if finding my reaction lovable.

‘…Yeah. Adorable, even.’

At that moment, an utterly ridiculous thought flashed through my mind.

‘No way… does Lucio… like me?’

No. No way!

I shook my head vigorously and muttered,

“We haven’t even exchanged a single message until now. Why would anyone think that…”

“Just like you said—informants aren’t like household servants.”

“…!”

“They don’t judge based on surface-level information. And well, even if I used Ascart as an excuse, I was pretty over-the-top with the gifts I sent you. They must’ve figured it was a secret romance. Although,” he added with a slight smirk, “the one person I actually wanted to notice didn’t pick up on it at all.”

Lucio smiled, as if to say that, in the end, his subordinates weren’t wrong in their assumptions. ¹Kyaaaa!