Chapter 17
***
As she put the urn back up by the window, Louise noticed the fox fur hanging from the back of a chair. Pauline had untangled it from the basket.
Gingerly, she reached out and ran her palm over the silvery fur. The fox pelt was so soft that she didn't even realize she’d touched it, and it was indeed worthless.
But she knew the look on the man's face if she dared to return it. When she tried to decline the undeserved favor, he said.
"It wouldn't hurt to be a lady worthy of my manor, would it?"
The arrogant man's response would be no different this time.
The dismissal was swift. Louise picked up her mother's old shawl, leaving the fur where it was.
If she couldn't change the man's mind, she would show him with every fiber of her being how unfit she was for Burg.
****
"You don't like the gift?"
The man couldn't swallow his displeasure about the fur even as he ate. Then again, he'd never been one for making predictions.
Louise also put down her fork. Following the advice to look the other person in the eye when speaking, she straightened and looked at him.
"Of course not. It’s a precious thing, but I just don't think it's worthy of being worn indoors."
One corner of the man's mouth quirked upward in a crooked smile. The light from the yellow lamp flickered dangerously in his pale gold eyes.
"Oh, was it because you didn't want to be a lady worthy of my manor?"
He'd hit the nail on the head.
Uncomfortable, Louise picked up her spoon and stirred the soup. She should have been careful not to make a sound, but in her panic, she let out a small clink.
The small noise actually cleared her head. Her presence was as out of place in this room as the alien noise.
"I don't even have to try."
The man retorted, picking at the bread nonchalantly with long fingers.
"You don't suit me?"
He didn't seem to mind that he was comparing Louise to himself instead of the Burg mansion.
But Louise heard differently. Now that he was being compared to a man, the sentence sounded even more condescending.
"I'm sure you know better than anyone, Your Excellency," she said, "so please accept my offer.........................
"A relic of your mother's, I suppose you're not too eager to get it back."
Louise had to put her spoon down again.
"..................But it's mine!"
Her voice sounded so uncharacteristically high, but she didn't hesitate any longer.
"You mean to tell me you're going to intercept something that's been stolen and claim it as yours, especially from a poor person like me?"
"Oh, Louise."
The man's voice was low and soothing. Something in the pit of her stomach rattled uncomfortably at the first sound of her name from his lips.
"Do you really not know what's important right now, do you think I need that much of a pawn certificate? I'll buy you a few of those pawn certificates if you want."
"..................Why, I don't understand why you'd feel the need to do that."
Caius sighed. He slightly leaned forward, a few strands of hair falling over his dark brow.
"I'm of marriageable age, and I don't really want to get married, so I want to marry someone, at least formally, so I can pull the wool over my father's eyes. Is that so hard to understand?"
Louise vented her frustration in a pleading voice.
"I understand that part, but I don't see why it has to be me. There are plenty of ............... others, or does it really matter who? If Lady Miriam's old teacher hadn't returned home, would you have asked her to marry you too?"
It was hard to spit out the question that had been on her mind, but when she did, Caius burst out laughing.
"You know, sometimes you can be a bit of a wacky, and of course I wouldn't propose to the full-time teacher, because she's..."
He barely stopped his hollow laughter, but the corners of his eyes twitched.
"Because she was married."
Louise's face flushed furiously.
Many married women were tutors, but she hadn't thought of that in her preoccupation with her own situation. Caius looked at Louise's reddened cheeks at the reminder and continued in a laughing voice.
"But that doesn't mean I should marry a maid, and I don't think a woman of low birth can impersonate a countess."
He straightened his posture slightly, relaxing his shoulders a little.
"I don't like the idea of marrying a retarded high nobleman because of the financial interests involved. Otherwise, where would I go and buy a performer? But you before me are Ermoli and beautiful to behold, so why should I go to the trouble of traveling a long way?"
Being called beautiful was no different than being called a fancy ornament.
So instead of being shy, Louise asked a question.
"But does it mean anything to your Excellency that I............... am Ermoli, a name that has long since disappeared, and that you..............?"
The man waited patiently as she chose her words carefully.
"Go on."
His tone implied that he would forgive her for bringing up a rather sensitive topic.
Louise swallowed dryly and continued.
"My brief thought was that since Burg is the official family of the current Emperor, Your Excellency might not be comfortable with my name being known as a traitor."
"What's wrong with that, it's a sign of unity, and aside from the early years of his reign, his majesty has never had any qualms about recognizing the nobility of the former emperor’s people.”
Louise blinked. You're not kidding, then, and you've actually thought about the meaning of my name.
Only ten days since she entered this house? Was this the kind of thing that a man can decide to marry in a matter of days?
Emerald eyes still filled with confusion, but Caius offered a simple conclusion.
"Of course it means something to me that you are Ermoli. If you were just Louise Muller, you wouldn't be as charming as you are, would you?"
He was no longer smiling, his tightly pressed lips were serious, his posture as straight as ever. Only then did she realize he wasn't joking.
Was he just telling her he found her attractive?
Louise's cheeks tinged with a belated pale pink.
Caius picked up his fork again, as if he'd had enough.
"You don't have to make up your mind right away, though my father would be pleased if you did, and you'd be happy to have the loan certificate."
When Louise didn't answer, he shrugged invisibly.
"I didn't expect you to burst into tears of joy, but I didn't expect you to show so much dislike. Do you hate me so much?"
"Not ..................dislike, I dare say."
The dangerously handsome man closed and opened his eyes slowly, seductively, and a shade of black slipped out from under his dense lashes.
It seemed like an eternity before his golden eyes peeked out from beneath his eyelids.
“If you don’t like it, I don’t mind getting divorced after my father’s death. He’s an old man, how much longer will he live?”
How could he speak so harshly, even to his ailing father?
When Louise looked up in disbelief, he pulled his glossy lips into a smile.
"Think about it, Louise, there's no harm done to you."
No harm done.................
As it should be. She had nothing to lose since she never had anything in the first place.
But if this wasn’t a joke, it's too much luck for her to handle.
With one nod of her head, she could reclaim her mother's belongings and become a Countess, restoring her to the status she dreamed of as a young woman her entire life.
She wondered if her parents would be pleased to know, but somehow she didn't think they would, no matter how many times she thought about it.
***
"Well, there's one thing I'd like to ask you to do for me...... No, two things."
Caius raised one eyebrow at Louise's words.
"You don't want to grant my one favor, but you have two?"
Louise's small red lips curled into a small smile.
Caius was always surprised to find such fragile traces of girlhood in her.
Research revealed that the former Marquis of Ermoli had died young, his wife had fallen ill, and his daughter had been raised by her since she was a minor.
Still, the eyes, which widened and thinned according to her mood, and the lips, which moved, were full of emotion, as if they had been carefully crafted by someone's love.
Not so good. It was the kind of thing that kept stirring up his twisted temper.
***
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