Chapter 15
****
His black pupils was clear in the center of the shimmering golden eyes.
Finally, Louise drew in a short breath and continued.
"I'll pay you back, any way I can."
From what she had seen, he was a typical nobleman, oblivious to the frog being killed by the stone he'd casually thrown. But there was a difference between ignorance and malice.
She didn't think he was being malicious, so she repeated her promise.
"Somehow..................."
The man hesitated, even with her promise.
Louise chewed on her lower lip as she glanced at the loan card that had returned to his grasp.
Feeling the stare, the man closed his palm over the half-folded note. Covered by his large hand, the document with her name on it seemed to disappear.
She felt a twinge of fear in the back of her mind.
If he didn't return it, where would she go to vent her injustice?
She had only borrowed it for three crowns, and the police hadn't batted an eye when she lost it.
If she told them that the Margrave had taken it, they would have laughed in her face, calling her a fool.
Caius looked at Louise's pleading face and spoke slowly.
"Actually, there's something I'd like to ask you to do. It may not be easy."
Louise curled her lips inward.
Perhaps now was the time to get to the point. The man had called her in to talk about this from the beginning.
She could guess that much, but the rest was difficult: what could he ask her to do that wouldn't be easy?
For a man of his position and power, what she had was too little. So she didn't even take the time to say she would return the favor.
Of course, he did take care of his younger sister, who was retarded, but as far as she's concerned, he's already been rewarded with so much that he didn’t need anything else.
"What kind of.................. work? Anything I can do."
Louise was careful to leave it at that, but then she remembered something and added.
"And as long as it's not illegal, of course."
Caius suddenly grinned. His eyes twinkled, and his hard, cold features melted into sweetness.
The beauty was disconcerting. It was as if the secret he was trying to conceal was laid bare.
No, it was a trap. The man was setting a trap now.
The fleshy lips parted, and the hideous trap finally gaped.
"Marry me."
The bait within exhaled a full, sweet scent.
"What?"
Louise stiffened, unable to muster even a false smile.
Caius smirked.
"You don't want to marry me?"
Louise forced a smile, her cheeks finally relaxing.
"I wouldn't dare, but I thought maybe I.................. misheard you."
The sly man slid the concealed loan note back to the center of the table. Still folded in half, Louise's name was nowhere to be seen.
"It's not as difficult and complicated as you might think, Miss tutor.”
For a man who had just proposed to her, his tone was very dry.
"Look at me," he said, "my father is ill, and I have only one sister, who is the only blood relation I have left. Don't you have any idea how much pressure I'll be under to marry and produce an heir?"
"...."
It made sense. Except for the part where he asked her to marry him.
She was just a penniless orphan. She had never spent a single day in my life as an aristocrat, much less a noble.
But why, how, why her? If someone else had been his tutor, if his old tutor hadn't fallen ill and never returned home, would he have proposed to her too ?
Caius looked into her emerald eyes, which were filled with confusion, and explained simply.
"All I asked was that you help me not to suffer from my father's anger any longer. If you thought I was confessing my feelings to you, I'm sorry, but I'm not, I'm not that kind of romantic."
There was a strange heat in the bright golden eyes that met hers, like a predator facing its prey, or a hustler in a marketplace.
But it was so hard to see through the lies and danger in them. Louise could not be sure of anything.
And so, like a frail deer, like a copper coin worthless in the marketplace, like an anak, she would cower and retreat. Thank goodness he wasn't brazen enough to speak of love falsely.
"Even if .................. you say so, there's no way your father would approve of your marriage to such a commoner."
"It's my job to get my father's permission, so it's none of your business, but before I can get his permission, I need to get your agreement, don't you think?"
All the while, the man's puns and ramblings were going around in circles. The story went from bad to worse.
"Do you have a lover? I don't mind, as long as you're not going to marry him, you can keep seeing him."
Louise shook her head in disbelief. No matter how high and mighty a nobleman or employer he was, there were limits to what he could do.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear............... and you'll regret it come tomorrow anyway." (Louise)
Caius didn't back down.
"If I don't regret it tomorrow, I’ll propose again, and will you accept?" (Caius)
She knew the proposal he was talking about was as far away as another planet from the one she had been thinking about, and yet every time she heard it, she was surprised and frightened, as if her heart was on fire.
Louise pursed her lips again, then shook her head a little more clearly.
"Your jokes.................. are going too far. It's so far removed from any nobleman's manners I know, and it's also.........."
Haha, he laughed out loud.
Louise couldn't take it anymore. It was uncomfortable to face this man who was laughing in her face.
So, forgetting the rhyme of noble manners she had just spoken, she pushed her chair back with such force that it made a loud noise and stood up.
"I'll leave you to it."
She bowed her head in the deepest bow she had ever made. She hoped that by doing so, the man would realize the despicable pressure he was using his position to exert on the weak.
If he had any common sense, he wouldn't have called her in the first place.
***
"Hmph, hmph..................."
Louise woke up in a cold sweat, dreaming of the day she cremated her mother. It had been three weeks since she had done so, but she had never dreamed of that day before.
The next thing she saw, of course, was a piece of paper. Her name was written on it, but the image of her mother burning in the flames in the clutches of the Margrave, and her dainty hand holding out a single pearl, lingered in her mind.
The loan certificate.
"Marry me."
Her stomach lurched at the memory of his voice.
After that ridiculous proposal, he told her that if she was seeing someone else, she could keep seeing him?
It was a terribly bad joke.
She wanted to pretend that he was selfish, overbearing behavior was just ignorance and indifference.
He was her employer, so she had to put up with him anyway. She had been trying her best to do that since the moment she stepped into this place.
It was all for nothing.
Caius von Burg.
She sensed a malice in the man that went beyond ignorance and indifference.
Louise could not fathom the source of this malice.
If he was in such a hurry to marry, why didn't he propose to the other tutor before she fell ill?
Louise couldn't understand the whole situation.
****
The day began early.
Another day, another day where she had to meet his sister, laugh, and read, even if she felt like she was stuck in the mud after Caius’s unexpected proposal.
She was almost done with her morning grooming when she heard a knock on the door.
→knock.
Pauline's cheeks were uncharacteristically upturned as she stuck her head quickly through the crack in the door. She didn't step inside, but stood outside the door and asked in a low voice,
"You're up early.................. ?"
Louise shrugged, tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Somehow I woke up early. Did you sleep well, Pauline?"
Pauline's soft lips curled in an odd way, and then, unable to contain herself, they opened wide, revealing what she'd hidden behind her back in a giggle.
"Ha, look at this, Miss!"
The maid proudly held out a basket of flowers so large she could barely hold it with her arms.
The rattan basket, which must have been carefully wrapped by someone, was filled with flowers so colorful and fresh that it belied the fact that it was late fall. To top it all off, a luxurious fox's fur was wrapped around the basket.
Pauline exclaimed excitedly.
"My master sent it!"
***
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Write a comment
Seayon (Wednesday, 17 July 2024 20:08)
I'm glad that Miriam has Louise now ��