Ian tapped the heel of the shoe that wasn’t on his foot against the floor and said.
“They say giving someone shoes as a gift means you want them to go to a good place.”
After a brief pause, Ian asked
“What place would that be?”
“Oh, a good job, a good home, a good person… in a broad sense.”
Isn’t that why in old movies, the male protagonist sometimes gives shoes to a lover when they part ways? I shrugged lightly, thinking of the sayings associated with shoes and flowers.
“I’ve never heard that before.”
“Where I used to live, there was a superstition that good shoes would lead their owner to a good place.”
“I believe you’re from the capital.”
“…Ah.”
Right.
“I lived somewhere else for a short time when I was younger!”
“I see.”
Despite my awkward excuse, Ian nodded easily, as if he had no intention of questioning further.
It wasn’t that he genuinely believed me, but more like, “Here we go with the nonsense again.”
‘Thank goodness he’s so good at ignoring me.’
It seems he dismisses about half of what I say as nonsense. I secretly patted my chest, relieved.
After a moment of silence, he spoke again, “So, are you planning to go to a ‘good place’ now that you’ve received these shoes?”
Huh?
I shifted my gaze from aimlessly wandering the room to look at Ian.
He had been staring down, but now he was looking directly at me, holding one hand on a pair of yellow shoes and the other on my ankle.
“I didn’t hear you. What did you just say…?”
“I asked if you plan to go to a good place, whether that be a good home or a good person.”
‘…What kind of question is that all of a sudden?’
I was the one who had spoken without thinking, yet it was I who was now flustered by the return question.
Ian, on the other hand, continued to look at me with a rather persistent gaze, as if he genuinely wanted an answer.
His deep blue eyes, illuminated by the indoor lighting, shone particularly brightly.
A ‘good place,’ huh?
‘Of course, when Diana returns, I plan to shake off this position as duchess and leave to find my own happiness.’
But that’s probably not the answer Ian is looking for.
As I wrestled with the question, Ian’s hand on my ankle remained firmly in place, making me all the more conscious of his touch. My body stiffened involuntarily.
…No, seriously, is this a normal situation? Grabbing someone’s ankle and staring at them while asking this?
My face grew hot without me realizing it, and I hastily averted my gaze.
“Um… No, I haven’t really thought about it.”
I forced myself to answer calmly, though the end of my voice trembled.
Even though I had turned my head completely away, my mouth felt dry.
‘Why does he have to be so good-looking!’
“…Could you please let go of me now?”
I finally made a request that was almost a plea.
“……”
After a brief pause, Ian averted his gaze without hesitation, put on the other shoe, and stood up.
“All done. You can stand now.”
He offered me his hand, his demeanor as composed as if he had forgotten the question he had just asked.
I was left feeling baffled.
‘What was that about? Is this the end?’
If he was going to respond so indifferently, why did he even ask that question in the first place?
I stared at him in disbelief, then took his hand and stood up.
‘Oh right, Ian Cloud has always been like this.’
Once he was sure I was standing, Ian let go of my hand and called the clerk to pay.
After a few minutes, he finished the transaction, glanced over at me, and said
“That’s a relief.”
Was he relieved that the shoes suited me? Eloise is pretty cute, even if she’s not as stunning as Diana.
“What do you mean?”
I asked sharply, irritated, but of course, he didn’t bother to answer.
Instead, Ian mechanically escorted me out of the shoe store just as he had escorted me in.
“The carriage is nearby.”
He walked briskly towards the carriage, not sparing me a glance.
So it wasn’t until later that I realized that his remark had been an answer to what I had said earlier.
❖ ❖ ❖
At dusk, when Ian returned to the duchy, he headed straight to his office.
As was his habit, he removed his jacket and leaned back into his chair, but then he paused.
He rummaged through his breast pocket and pulled out a rhinestone that had fallen from Eloise’s Mary Jane shoes earlier. He raised an eyebrow slightly.
‘Did I keep this the whole time?’
He had picked up the ornament that had fallen off while he was removing Eloise’s shoes.
“……”
Leaning back in his chair, Ian held up the finely crafted rhinestone and gazed at it quietly.
The light from the chandelier streamed through the gem, creating a rainbow-colored shimmer.
For the past two years, Eloise had always been excessively meticulous about her appearance.
Not just Ian, but even the servants who attended to her closely had never seen her looking disheveled.
And yet, today, the duchess had been wandering around the bustling streets without noticing the rhinestone dangling from her shoe.
On top of that, she had brazenly asked Ian, the Duke, to carry her things and even put his arm around her waist.
‘I really don’t understand.’
Ian naturally recalled Eloise’s appearance at the shoe store a little while ago.
“…Would you mind letting go now?”
Her face had turned red, and she had averted her gaze—such a reaction was definitely unfamiliar.
Lately, Ian found it surprising to see the various expressions that Eloise displayed.
The Eloise who once resembled a well-crafted porcelain doll was now frowning, smiling, crying, or even…
“Your Grace, did you enjoy your outing… Huh? What on earth happened?”
At that moment, Kyle, who had just entered the office, rushed over in a panic.
Ian, who had been gazing at the rhinestone all this time, looked at Kyle indifferently.
“What’s the matter?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
Kyle looked at Ian seriously, inspecting him from head to toe.
“You were just smiling…!”
“…Was I?”
At Ian’s cold question, Kyle exaggeratedly flinched.
“Do you have to get so serious right away after that?”
Pouting, Kyle shifted his gaze to the rhinestone in Ian’s hand.
“By the way, what’s that you’re holding?”
Only then did Ian lower his hand, which had been suspended in midair, and set the rhinestone down.
“…It’s nothing.”
But Kyle wasn’t the type to let such things go. His sharp red eyes narrowed.
“It doesn’t seem like nothing.”
“……”
“You were just staring at a rhinestone and smiling by yourself—this must be some sort of cursed object. Let me take it and check with magic right away…!”
“Your tongue is long.”
“Eep.”
Kyle clamped his hands over his mouth. But even that didn’t last long.
Kyle, taking a quick look at Ian, removed his hands and raised one eyebrow.
“You know, you’ve been acting a bit strange lately, right? I’m starting to get worried about you.”
“In what way?”
“Well, you, who never used to do this, suddenly get all serious by yourself, and then just now you were smiling while staring at a rhinestone….”
Kyle shot a quick glance at Ian, then grinned mischievously.
“Ahem, it’s like you’re acting like a girl who’s fallen in love.”
At Kyle’s impudent and borderline insubordinate remark, Ian’s expression twisted menacingly.
“When do you plan to stop spouting such nonsense?”
“Nonsense, you say. You know you only call it nonsense when it puts you at a disadvantage, right?”
Snorting, Kyle laid a stack of documents on the desk.
“Anyway, take a look at this. It’s the quarterly report from the estate.”
“Is this everything?”
“Yes. There weren’t any major incidents this quarter. The weather’s been good, so the people in the estate are doing quite well.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Yes, it is. I’ve just delivered the same report to the capital as well. Oh, and it seems His Majesty will be requesting an audience with the two of you soon.”
♧♧♧
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