Chapter 6
“Ah… hi?”
I awkwardly raised my hand and waved.
“Haha. So the Carnarvon young lady is here too. Hello…”
I also greeted Agnes, who was standing next to Aiden with a surprised expression.
“You were here! We must have missed each other on the way. I actually had something important to say today…”
“Hi?”
Aiden cut off Agnes’s words and asked in a sharp voice.
“You skip the appointment without saying anything, hide from me in a weird outfit, and now you casually say ‘hi’?”
“I’m not being casual. As you can see, I’m also very confused right now.”
I tried to lighten the mood with a nervous laugh, but Aiden looked seriously angry.
“I was thinking about a thousand things on the way here. Maybe you got into some trouble, or maybe you were sick….”
Aiden let out a deep sigh, then suddenly his eyes stopped on my neck.
“Wait.”
Aiden frowned.
“What is that?”
It seemed he noticed my neck, which was red and swollen from Felix’s rough grip.
I quickly covered my neck with my hand and looked away.
“This? Ah, it’s nothing. Just… something happened.”
“Leticia. Move your hand.”
His voice was firm enough to make me flinch.
I rolled my eyes and carefully looked at his face.
If I honestly said I got grabbed by the collar and choked by Felix, it felt like a full-on violent incident would break out immediately.
Aiden was the type who lost control when he got angry. He wouldn’t care if it was a marquis or anyone else—he would definitely throw a punch.
Ha. I need to act normal and change the topic.
“It really is nothing. Anyway, I’m really sorry for breaking the promise. And I’m sorry to you as well, Lady Carnarvon. I’ve been a bit forgetful lately. I accidentally ended up scheduling things at the same time.”
“You….”
“Excuse me for suddenly joining the conversation,”
Before Aiden could say more, Felix, who was standing behind us, stepped in.
“I couldn’t just stay silent since Lady Aster seems to be in a difficult situation because of me.”
I was grateful he stepped in, but… what is with this guy?
Completely different from before, Felix politely bowed to Aiden and Agnes.
“Felix Gray.”
“W-What?! You mean… the Marquis Gray?”
Agnes blinked in surprise, and Felix bowed politely toward her as well.
“Yes. I am Felix Gray. You must be Lady Carnarvon. As I heard, you are a rare beauty.”
“T-Thank you…”
Felix’s surprisingly perfect acting made Agnes blush.
Then he turned his gaze to Aiden.
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
I looked back and forth between them in confusion.
They knew each other?
I didn’t remember anything like that from the original story.
From Felix’s completely different personality than expected, to the fact that he and Aiden already knew each other before getting involved with Agnes—today was full of surprises.
“…Yes.”
Aiden answered coldly, then turned his gaze back to me.
His icy eyes made me tense up.
“Leticia, explain.”
“Explain what…?”
“Why you were hiding like that. Why your neck is injured. And why you are with that man—no, Marquis Gray.”
“Lady Aster seems confused, so I will explain instead. We were—”
“Not you.”
Before Felix could continue, Aiden cut him off sharply.
“I’m asking Leticia.”
The two men stared at each other in silence. No—it was more like they were glaring.
I had planned a sweet, romantic library meeting between Aiden and Agnes… so how did it turn into this?
Instead of a romantic atmosphere, everything was going in the worst possible direction.
“Um, so… the reason we ended up hiding together is—”
Just as I was about to explain everything under pressure,
“A-Aiden…?”
Suddenly, Aiden grabbed my wrist.
“Sorry, but we’ll be leaving first.”
“Huh? Wait, Aiden—!”
Before I could even say goodbye properly, Aiden pulled me out of the library.
“Lady Carnarvon, Marquis, I’m sorry! I’ll explain next time!”
When I looked back, I saw Felix smirking slightly, amused, and Agnes standing there completely stunned.
“…This isn’t how it was supposed to go…”
Dragged away helplessly by Aiden, I let out a dry laugh.
Haha. Today’s plan was a complete failure.
Inside the carriage, an awkward silence filled the space.
Only the sound of the driver’s calls and the rattling wheels could be heard.
While nervously fidgeting with her nails, Leticia finally spoke.
“Um….”
Aiden, resting his chin by the window, glanced at her.
Her shoulders were slumped more than usual.
“Aiden?”
He didn’t answer and looked back out the window.
“….”
“You’re angry?”
“Who knows.”
He deliberately avoided her gaze.
If he looked at her eyes now, he would definitely lose his anger completely.
That kind of watery, puppy-like gaze was unfair.
“Sorry. I made the appointment without thinking and broke it without thinking too.”
“….”
“I really am sorry, okay?”
“Haah….”
In the end, Aiden gave up.
The one who likes more always loses.
Seeing her look at him with pure, childlike eyes asking for forgiveness, he had no choice but to surrender.
“So why did you do this?”
With a slightly softened expression, he asked.
Leticia quickly replied.
“Because of the book. I thought seeing a handsome man and woman together would give me inspiration…”
“By handsome man and woman, you don’t mean me and that Agnes girl, do you?”
“Umm…”
Leticia blinked, then slowly nodded.
“Yes.”
“…Ha.”
Aiden sighed deeply.
Seeing him like that, Leticia also sighed in frustration.
“But I really don’t understand. Lady Carnarvon—everyone else is desperate just to talk to her once. And yet you refuse even when I set up a private meeting for you. Why?”
Aiden clicked his tongue.
The one who didn’t understand was him.
Leticia constantly talked about Agnes—how beautiful she was, how kind she was, how perfect she was as a bride. He had even started wondering if Agnes had blackmailed her.
“I told you. I’m not interested in that woman.”
To be precise, it should have been: I’m only interested in you, Leticia.
“Still, think about it. When you see her, don’t you feel your heart tickle a little? Don’t you think about her before sleeping at night?”
“No, I said I’m not interested.”
“Then what kind of woman are you interested in?”
“That would be….”
The answer was simple.
“You.”
“…Never mind. It’s pointless telling you.”
The words reached his lips, but he only gave a self-deprecating smile and swallowed them back.
She would just laugh it off as a joke.
“So anyway, what happened with that marquis?”
Leticia scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“Well… we just met by chance. Accidentally.”
Just by chance?
The two he saw in the library didn’t look like people who had “just met by chance.” They looked too familiar.
Whispering secrets right next to each other like that?
Aiden frowned.
There was no way Leticia had unknown men around her.
After all, every man who approached her had always been carefully watched by him.
