Chapter 8

People (7)

Translator: Kimmy

Editor: Ship

⋅⋅⋅⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅⋅⋅⋅

“Uh, it’s a cheap tea leaf so……..Here. If you don’t like it you can leave it………”

“There are people I know who drink tea like this.”

It was better than the terribly bitter tea the Chancellor enjoyed anyway. The Chancellor enjoyed drinking inexpensive tea and using cheap cups. Maximillien lifted the cup. 

There was a strange burnt stain on the ceiling which he could not figure out the cause. It happened often when something exploded while he was experimenting but there was no way a woman who had no detectable magical powers would experiment magic. 

“Where does my lily sleep?”

“Ah, upstairs……Are you going to say you want to see it?”

“It’s not right to peek into someone else’s room.”

She felt this earlier too but this mage was oddly respectful. He was reckless but at some points he was logical. Eva wondered who he is and how Brigitta wound up with him. 

There was growing sympathy for Brigitta inside Eva. 

“Then why……”

“It’s a place my love will stay so I must check if it’s habitable right? Tch, The state of this house is poor. It’ll need some investment. Be thankful hay hair. I remodel your house for free.”

“What? No. I don’t need it! Plus, I don’t think Brigitta will like it!”

“Even so, doing it is love.”

“No! I am a romance novel author! You have to trust me. That’s not it!”

Eva sold out her job to save her precious home. 

But the spoiled Duke didn’t even bother. 

“Hey, don’t you know novels and reality are different?”

“I, I know that! But at least consider the words coming from a common fellow woman!”

“My lily isn’t common!”

“I know! A swordmaster! I still can’t believe it!”

She once heard the baroness say when Eva used to work for her. 

She mentioned that mages are people who were in charge of security or something and that they were usually rude and bad-tempered. When the baroness said that, naturally, Eva linked mages negatively in her head and at the moment this mage seemed to fit that negative image. 

Eva tried her best to calm her trembling pupils. 

“Uh….So you are a noble class?”

“Well, you consider it that.”

He was one of the highest members of the noble class that counting down from the top of the list was faster than counting from the bottom. But Maximillien spared those words. 

“D, Do you talk often with her? Like a date…..or a meet-up…….”

“I went to see her at least once every two months no matter how busy I was. With gifts too.”

It was him that was desperately proposing and getting rejected every time but Maximillien spared those words too. 

Even if he is known for not caring about others, it didn’t mean he always didn’t care. 

Thinking of it, it was also his first time talking about his love life to others. 

There were only the Chancellor and the Emperor that he could talk to but one of them would tell him to work if he has time to date and the other was single all his life. So, Maximillien never spoke to them about his love life.

“W, Won’t that be a bit……..too much?”

Eva wiped her sweat and turned her eyes bewilderedly. It was Autumn so the air was cool but she still sweated. She expected it but the fact that he really is a noble class scared her. 

She spoke and wrote as if she was some expert but she had no experience in love. 

‘Am I doing okay. Am I just blabbering nonsense? Is he angry?’

Thoughts filled Eva’s head and made her dizzy. 

“Uh….So…I mean. If she only receives…? She would be uncomfortable…..and it seems like she doesn’t like that…….S, so please just leave the house as it is. It’s not good to force your emotions on her. Plot-wise.”

“Plot?”

“Y,yea something like that.”

Eva glossed over. 

“Then what do you suggest I do? I want to do everything for my lily! I can even rip out my heart for her!”

“That’s so uncomfo…………M, maybe give her something not so flashy after finding out what she likes naturally?”

“The thing is, I don’t know what she likes! Ah, I do know that she likes to win!”

“Woa! She’s so cool!”

“Right!”

When they both realized that the story side-tracked, a moment of silence filled the living room. Maximillien cleared his voice and coughed loudly. 

“………..Anyway, that’s the case. Darn it, this tea is horrible. That’s why I have to try everything. Maybe she’ll like one of the things I give.”

“Uh, I think the things you do to find what she likes is a minus……”

They just met yesterday but Brigitta seemed like any other woman of the Kingdom to Eva. So Eva thought she would undoubtedly despise a clingy man.

She could feel that this man who was ruffling his beautiful hair right now wanted to do something for Brigitta but she wondered if Brigitta could feel that. 

She didn’t want to ask more about it but she could guess that the type of person like him, who randomly shows up and says he will remodel a stranger’s house, would cause a lot of trouble. 

“A,and……I don’t think she’ll be happy…….If she finds out you came here…… when she wasn’t present……”

His body stiffened. She could tell from his widened eyes that he did not think of that. 

Moments like this confused Eva: at one moment he seemed like a well-educated person and at moments like this he seemed like a recklessly grown person. 

“………It’s a secret that I came. If you snitch, I will chop you at night.”

“O, okay.”

He imitated a sword chopping a head. His glare felt like it could pierce her face. If glares did have physical force, Eva’s face would definitely have been pierced. 

He scoffed grumpily. He didn’t like anything about her. This small woman kept talking back.

“Uh, don’t you…..have plans to approach her normally…?”

“Define normal.”

The cup Maximillien put down made a loud noise. Eva looked at the cup but she was relieved that the cup was intact. 

“H, how you normally treat women……”

“I never dated anyone before.”

…….The Emperor was a good shield for that news to not circulate but Maimillien too, was single all his life. 

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

The Chancellor had a bad feeling.

‘I feel like something bad will happen….’

Then Informant A ran in and said.

“Chancellor! The Duke contacted with the author!”

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

“Don’t you think the Duke should find a bride too?”

Informant B looked pitiably at the Chancellor pulling his hair after hearing the news Informant A brought. 

Young, ignorant nobles often complained that the Chancellor bribed his way to his position as a commoner and that the Chancellor mocked them–who succeeded the positions they had after their brother/father died. But Informant B thought otherwise. He knew that the Chancellor couldn’t care less to mock them. 

Plus, the Chancellor position was a place with piles of work not a highly privileged position like those empty-headed nobles regarded as.

Of course, Glenn Holtzman’s responsibility partly had cause in that. 

“He is obsessed with Lord Emmerich and how do you expect he would wed someone else? And who would bear his personality? If she does, I would go to heaven to name her an angel!”

“Yes, of course. How did the Duke even fall for Lord Emmerich?”

Informant A asked.

This was what Informant A and Informant B both wondered about. Brigitta Emmerich was a woman who would be more intimidating then charming in the Kingdom’s standards. It could be expected that the Duke would have freaky taste in women but they could not understand his obsession with his “fragile lily.”

“He said she was the first woman to defeat him 1 on 1.”

Informant A started coughing loudly. 

“See didn’t I tell you all. I still believe the Duke is a masochist.”

Informant B laughed awkwardly and patted Informant A’s back. 

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

There was no way a good solution could be thought between two single-all-their-lives. 

Also, it’s been 3 years that Brigitta has been persistently rejecting this handsome mad Duke. Eva wanted to take no part in this personal and seemly messed up thing but she couldn’t say it because of the Duke’s glares.

“I want my lily to know how overwhelmingly I love her!”

“If you keep acting like a kid how will she know! Stop being stupid! That’s why Brigitta hates you!”

“You are hurting me now!”

By the time Eva’s words were becoming harsh from this hour-long and fruitless conversation, Maximillien was also getting tired. 

He never wanted to have long conversations with anyone except Brigitta. The conversation he had with Eva was far more than the conversation he had with Carlos this whole month. 

“Ah, then you can tell me what my lily likes!”

“Ah.”

Eva clapped her hands. She stupidly didn’t think of that.

She had no intention to help him initially but now she just wanted this handsome madman to go. 

“That will do, mr. mage!”