Maybe Awning was jealous. That’s a good thing. She knew that there were many aristocrats who thought it’s clumsy for a married couple to have romantic feelings for each other, but she still thought it’s better for a couple to have feelings for each other rationally.
“Did Awning come today?”
That evening, thanks to Oliver who came home early after a long time, the three family members were having dinner together. He was always invited to dinner to another house, or Oliver ate at a club, so it had been a long time since the three of them had dinner together.
“Did my brother tell him?”
She asked not to eat the bread. Judging from the flamboyantly asking if Awning came, it seemed that Oliver was the one who told Awning what happened to her.
As always, Oliver said smugly.
“He’s your fiancé. He should know.”
Still, Awning said he heard it at the club. He said he heard from Lord Grander. He didn’t say that Oliver rushed over and said it. It’s nice to have a better fiance than a brother.
She said positively about the situation.
“You should have let me tell him.”
“When were you going to speak?
‘When’ did he say? She answered while cutting the meat.
“I was going to tell him when I met Awning.”
“Ha.”
Oliver sneered before she finished her answer. Oliver was cautioned by their mother, who was eating quietly at his rude behavior.
“Oliver.”
“Sorry.”
Oliver readily admitted his fault. And he leaned over to her again.
“These days, you’ve been with Awning, but you didn’t talk. When were you going to tell him?”
She had been with Awning these days? She opened her eyes wide in surprise at Oliver’s words. It was two days ago that she attended the banquet of the Duke of Germarot. It was dinner then and today was the first time she had met Awning since then. She didn’t know why Oliver thought so, so she asked.
“Haven’t you been with Awning all these days?”
“Haven’t you been with Awning lately?”
It’s not. She asked Oliver with a fork and knife.
“Did Awning be with me?”
Oliver’s face hardened. What? Why was he making that face? Turning her head, their mother was also looking at Oliver, wondering what was going on. Her brother said with a thoughtful expression.
“No, come to think of it, he didn’t say he was with you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oliver?”
Her mother didn’t seem to know what her brother was talking about either. Oliver looked at her and his mother and said.
“Renshid doesn’t come to the club often. I thought he was doing it because he was hanging out with you.”
‘Oh, what…’
Oliver’s story was less than nervous. She thought all the men in Balcian were like Oliver. She was dumbfounded and leaned against the back of the chair, and her mother said pitifully.
“Oliver, not all men are hanging out in the club.”
“Oh, I know. And I’m not trying to say…”
“Coordination practice?” *
She asked sarcastically. Immediately, her mother’s point came flying.
“Eugenie.”
Brothers and sisters should not be rude to each other at the table. Even if her brother was rude first. She immediately apologized and her mother raised the teacup with a satisfied expression. Oliver gave her an annoyed look, then opened his mouth again.
“Anyway, I didn’t see him at the club, so I knew he was with you.”
“I guess he was with a friend.”
She said that and popped the salad into my mouth. Come to think of it, she saw Awning going into an alley with his friend a while ago.
“Sure.”
Oliver immediately acknowledged it and started eating. She signaled the servant for more tea and told Oliver.
“I saw Awning on Masher Street.”
“Masher Street?”
It was on the way to Sir Albert’s house. Count Burns said it wouldn’t be Awnings, but she saw it clearly. It was Awning.
“On the way from Masher Street to Lindell Street, next to the park.”
Oliver’s confused face hardened. He thought for a moment, then he said, breaking the bread hard.
“You must have looked at it wrong.”
He sounded like Count Burns. She thanked the servant for pouring the tea and told Oliver.
“No. I’m certain it was Awning. I couldn’t see the person he went with, but I think it was Marcel.”
Sir Marcel Hudson has hung out a few times. He’s a bit of a moody guy, so he didn’t really want to hang out, but he couldn’t help it because he’s Awning’s best friend. Come to think of it, she should have told Awning not to be too close with Marcel. She remembered how he had asked her not to be too friendly with Count Burns.
“You saw it wrong.”
Oliver spoke harshly to her while he was eating. No, even though she saw it clearly, was it like this? She tried to say that she saw it once again. But when she opened her mouth, her mother said.
“Oliver, invite Count Burns soon.”
“Count Burns?”
“I heard he helped our Eugenie. I need to treat him to a meal.”
Uh, that’s right. She hadn’t even thought of him helping her out of the clutter. At the banquet of the Duke of Germarot, Count Burns fought on her behalf against the Duke and Viscount who were attacking her. Although she fought for him too… Oliver nodded his head at his mother’s words and said he would ask him when he went to the club tomorrow.
“Is Count Burns going to the club?”
That’s kind of surprising. She couldn’t imagine Count Burns hanging out with other men at a club. But it could be. Oliver was there too, but he really liked going to clubs and chatting, and read the whispers of the current without missing each time.
“Uh, I’ll just write a letter.”
Oliver’s eyebrows wrinkled at her question, and he said, what? As Ishe frowned, Oliver shrugged his shoulders.
“He comes sometimes. I don’t know when he’ll come, so I’d rather just write a letter.”
“Is he still living in the palace?”
She didn’t hear that he was looking for a house. So what she was saying was that she hadn’t heard it from Count Burns’ mouth. She was always late to rumors, and by the time it’s in the newspaper, about half the population of Current knew about it.
“Hmm. It looks like he is moving soon.”
“I heard he was looking for a house, do you know where he got it?”
This time, their mother also intervened. She sipped tea and watched the conversation between her mother and brother. Count Burns found a house. Come to think of it, since he had a title and a fiefdom, she thought that living in the palace would not have been so desperate. If you live in the palace, you would have more chances to meet the royal family and get information, so nobles without lands wanted to live in the palace. Among them, the most popular was serving the royal family to do so. It’s not that they were doing difficult things, it’s just that they were staying by their side. It was a long time ago, but there was a family that was caught up in treason. As usual, everyone in the family was executed, but only a few were exiled. That was because the wife of the family was the queen’s companion. Because she could directly appeal to the queen for her grievances, her influence was enormous.
“There are several houses that have been sold, but I don’t know which of them Count Burns bought.”
Oliver and his mother were still talking about which house Count Burns had bought. Were there so many mansions on the market? She finished her meal, but she thought about asking for another cup of tea to keep her seat. She heard that the Lingard Mansion was also empty. And did Sir Albert put the house up for sale? It occurred to her that now that Lady Devon had broken off her engagement, her mansion, where she had planned to start a family after her marriage, would also be on the market.
As she thought of Lady Devon, Lauren came into her mind. Lauren Leeds was Julia’s friend.
‘Oh, my God. I completely forgot.’
She waited for the conversation between her mother and Oliver to stop before asking.
“Oliver, do you know Lord Sekei?”
“Lord Sekei?”
She could see that her brother and mother hesitated at her question. The two of them looked at her with expressions asking why she asked, and she thanked the servant who poured the tea for her.
“Someone asked. What kind of person is him?”
“Who asked?”
Since when did he answer questions with questions? She made a disapproving look, but when she saw that her mother had the same expression as Oliver, I answered,
“Julia’s friend.”
“Julia’s friend? Are we talking about an academy student?”
“Julia didn’t ask, did Julia’s friend ask?”
Her mother and Oliver each started asking her questions. Why were they doing that? She saw her mother checking to make sure it wasn’t Julia who asked the question, and Oliver checking the age of the questioner, and she shut her mouth. Looking at the reaction of those two, she thought they knew a little bit. She added as she wrapped her hand around the teacup.
“He must be a very bad person.”
Oliver’s and her mother’s eyes collided. Soon after, her mother asked her.
“Isn’t she Julia?”
“Yes.”
That’s it. Her mother had such a reaction. But she added anxiously.
“Tell her not to get entangled.”
“What kind of person is he?”
Her mother took the attitude that she used when she did not wish to speak any more. What kind of problem did that man mean? There were quite a few things that mothers didn’t want to put into their mouths. It was the same reaction when Count Burns was Lord Burns for the first time. That attitude softened a lot after Count Burns came to their house and asked Oliver for help.
“Well, I’m not a bad person.”
Oliver spoke cautiously as their mother got up first. She was not a bad person, but she wanted to ask if her mother was like that, but they had a precedent with Count Burns.
“I’ll decide if he’s a bad person or not.”
At her urging, Oliver said with a look that he couldn’t help it.
“He likes women very much.”
“Isn’t that a bad thing?”
At her question, Oliver put on a hesitant expression. What’s wrong with liking a girl? Even if he liked men. She didn’t know why Oliver was making that face.
She put on a face telling him to continue, and Oliver sighed reluctantly.
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
* Eugene meant Awning was with a prostitute. In the past it wasn’t uncommon for nobles to learn how to do it before marriage with the help of a prostitute; so she doesn’t mean he wasn’t been loyal to her, even so it was something women didn’t like to talk about in society since it was a kind of couple-traison even if society did not critize it, that’s why her mother reprimanded her.
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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Next post will be released on March, 28.
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