Chapter 15
Orange Blossoms
Morning arrived beneath a haze of anxiety.
The moment she woke, Ariel reached for the gossip papers first, her eyes rapidly scanning for her own name and Leonardo’s.
Had anyone seen them?
Had word of last night already spread?
After spending the entire night sleepless with worry, her bloodshot eyes darted across column after column. Finally, Ariel pressed a hand to her chest in relief.
Fortunately, there was nothing new beyond the usual gossip surrounding incidents that had already happened.
“My lady, what happened yesterday?”
Mary asked while pouring tea into a porcelain cup decorated with roses.
She had been utterly shocked when she returned to Praterns University at ten o’clock sharp, just as instructed. The campus had been dark and deserted.
The instant she realized something was wrong, Mary had nearly lost her mind running around calling, “My lady! My lady!”
Then the Rosenberg family coachman had appeared before her.
Why was the man she had already dismissed with instructions to return home waiting there?
Mary had barely recovered from her confusion before receiving even stranger news: apparently Ariel had already returned home and had sent him to escort Mary instead.
“…I simply got bored.”
“You looked ready to bury yourself in books for several days.”
“I don’t know.”
Answering vaguely, Ariel poured milk into her tea.
The hand stirring the spoon through the cup carried an uneasiness she could not conceal.
There had been no witnesses.
No rumors.
So she should have been able to relax now.
And yet—
“Haah…”
“Did something happen?”
“No.”
Though she denied it without hesitation, her thoughts remained filled with the moment she had leapt straight into Leonardo’s arms the night before.
Wide.
Firm.
Warm.
She hated admitting that such comfort had come from a man so arrogant and insufferably full of himself.
But she could not stop thinking about it.
It had lasted only a moment, yet it had been the embrace of a man who knew how to hold a woman gently.
“What are you thinking about so deeply?”
Mary tilted her head curiously when Ariel continued stirring her tea without drinking it.
But Ariel had no room to satisfy her curiosity.
What expression had he worn afterward?
Even as she stormed away without looking back, she kept wondering about the face Leonardo had made after being left behind.
Had he laughed bitterly at himself for helping her?
Had he frowned at the way she shouted at him?
“What do you mean her debut was a success?!”
The sudden commotion outside the room shattered her thoughts.
Startled, Ariel looked up and exchanged glances with Mary.
The atmosphere inside the household had been tense lately, but voices had never risen quite like this before.
As though she already knew the reason, Mary made an awkward expression.
“Um… I think the Count suffered some humiliation outside today…”
“Humiliation?”
As though that was anything new.
Ariel immediately assumed he must have crossed swords with Leonardo again somewhere.
But when she stepped anxiously into the hallway, she froze the instant her eyes met Heinz’s bloodshot glare.
“What sort of disgraceful conduct have you displayed for even Viscount Harrington to reject you?!”
Her heart dropped.
Watching her father whirl around furiously toward her mother again, Ariel suddenly felt unable to breathe.
She understood the situation immediately.
A daughter who had not received a single proposal had become a stain upon the family’s reputation.
And so Heinz had personally stepped in, attempting to arrange a marriage before it was too late—
Only to be rejected.
“How is that Ariel’s fault?!”
As though her own shame had been exposed, Margarete fiercely snapped back.
“If your relationship with Duke Devonshire weren’t so terrible, none of this would have happened! I raised my daughter perfectly! I raised her into the flower of society!”
“And all her marriage prospects vanished because of it?”
“This is entirely your—!”
“No!”
Unable to contain his fury, Heinz cut her off and pointed sharply toward Ariel standing frozen near the doorway.
“The benefits of joining with the Rosenbergs are beyond measure! Yet men now consider all that worthless simply because they refuse to marry Ariel! And why wouldn’t they? What sane gentleman would willingly tie himself to a woman who has become society’s clown and make himself a laughingstock as well?!”
Silence crashed down after the storm of his shouting.
Ariel stood rigidly frozen, unable to move even a single step.
Tears threatened to spill over.
And in the midst of it all, memories of the previous night with Leonardo suddenly surfaced again, squeezing painfully around her heart.
You awful man.
If he had done all this intentionally, then he truly was horrible.
Rumors were always more fatal to women.
Leonardo would have no difficulty finding marriage prospects no matter what happened. Even after his broken engagement last year, his rise through society had continued flawlessly.
Rustle.
A faint sound drifted up from downstairs.
In the ruins of the shattered atmosphere, all three family members turned simultaneously toward the noise.
The butler, previously hidden by the staircase, stepped carefully into view and cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Ahem… Sir Valentin von Cayenne has arrived.”
Having been announced, Valentin stepped past the butler and ascended several stairs.
A complicated expression crossed his face as he looked at the family.
In his hands rested a large bouquet of flowers.
What could possibly have put him in such a good mood?
Even while reading reports, Leonardo kept letting out quiet laughs.
Even during meetings, he would smirk to himself for no reason.
Watching him with growing concern, Daniel handed over another stack of documents.
“These are the materials for the next meeting.”
Without slowing his stride, Leonardo accepted them casually.
In truth, however, his mind was elsewhere entirely.
She had looked utterly exhausted and hungry, yet she had still walked away so spiritedly.
The memory of Ariel storming off in indignation drew another helpless laugh from him.
“Looks good.”
Definitely strange.
He had not even opened the documents before praising them.
Seeing such uncharacteristic behavior from the Duke of Devonshire only deepened Daniel’s worries.
Yesterday Leonardo had suddenly disappeared without explanation, alarming everyone.
And today he looked cheerful enough to pierce the heavens.
There was no way nothing had happened while he had been unreachable.
“The meeting canceled yesterday has been rescheduled for today. It was too important to postpone.”
“That must have been troublesome. Good work.”
For someone responsible for causing the entire disaster, Leonardo sounded absurdly graceful.
Daniel, who had spent hours apologizing repeatedly to the board members abandoned by the missing duke, felt all the strength drain from his body.
Since becoming Leonardo’s secretary, never once had he seen the duke fail to appear for a meeting.
Perhaps I should ask what happened—
The thought crossed Daniel’s mind, but he wisely swallowed it back down.
One look at Leonardo leisurely flipping through documents while crossing the lobby reminded him exactly where he stood.
A servant should pretend not to notice his master’s private affairs.
That was the wisest approach.
Except lately, there was one particular matter hovering dangerously close to that forbidden line.
“I’m telling you, they must be panicking now that she hasn’t received a single proposal.”
Right then, someone passing nearby brought up the very topic in question.
Lady Rosenberg—the woman the entire city seemed to enjoy mocking lately.
“Haha. To think Viscount Harrington rejected them.”
“Honestly, I’d hesitate over that marriage too.”
“Same here. They can’t marry her off to just anyone, but families of equal standing wouldn’t risk becoming a joke themselves either. The Rosenbergs are cornered now.”
Leonardo stopped walking abruptly.
His blue eyes no longer looked at the documents in his hands.
After silently observing him for a moment, Daniel carefully spoke before another furious letter from Lady Trie arrived demanding action.
“Your Grace… Lady Rosenberg’s reputation is worsening rapidly. Perhaps offering even a small apology for the sake of repairing relations with the Count would be wise—”
The cold stare directed toward him made Daniel swallow hard.
He really does hate Heinz that much.
When Leonardo resumed walking, not a trace of warmth remained in him.
Valentin had heard everything.
The humiliation of that fact turned Ariel’s face bright red.
No matter how much the city laughed at her through gossip columns, she had never wanted him to witness something this painfully raw.
Margarete and Heinz tactfully withdrew, leaving only Ariel and Valentin alone in the room.
“Valentin…”
Lost and overwhelmed, Ariel lowered her gaze toward the white bouquet in his hands.
Orange blossoms.
Long ago, Emperor Adelhardt II had worn them as wedding ornaments, sparking a trend throughout society. The flowers symbolized abundance and fertility.
Over time, they had also become the symbol of a marriage proposal.
“Ariel.”
Gentle sympathy lingered in Valentin’s voice.
The misery of being pitied made Ariel want to scream at him to stop.
But at the same time, the confession he had once made in Senton Park echoed confusingly through her mind.
“No… Lady Rosenberg.”
The solemn atmosphere pressed heavily against her heart.
Slowly, painfully slowly, she watched Valentin kneel before her while holding out the bouquet of white flowers.
No.
This isn’t right.
Not between us.
Pretending not to notice her tiny shake of refusal, Valentin lifted her hand and pressed a kiss against the back of it.
The kiss lingered longer than proper etiquette allowed.
“I have admired you for a very long time.”
When he finally raised his head again, irreversible words fell from his lips.
“I will spend my life making you happy. Please… marry me.”
