Chapter 15
#15
“Is there some urgent matter?”
I came without prior notice, and I was worried Ricardo might not be at the Duke's residence, but thankfully, he was home.
“No. It’s not particularly urgent.”
“Not urgent, yet you came to see me without any notice?”
Ricardo seemed a bit taken aback by the unexpected visit.
Well, I suppose I would be too. If Ricardo suddenly came to see me without warning, I would feel the same.
We weren’t close enough to visit each other so casually.
It was ironic.
We were promised to spend our lives together, yet we had to be careful not to cross each other's boundaries.
“I just had a thought and wanted to make a suggestion to you.”
I spoke lightly, as if it were nothing.
“I happened to be passing by, so I stopped in.”
“Is that so?”
He looked a bit skeptical, but Ricardo simply nodded.
“What is this suggestion?”
He asked, leisurely lifting his teacup.
“I was hoping you would spend Saint George's Day with me.”
Ricardo’s hand froze at my words, and I could feel his gaze piercing through me from across the teacup.
“Saint George's Day?”
“Yes.”
“I already have plans for that day.”
Ricardo trailed off, setting down his teacup. It didn’t seem like he had even taken a sip.
“Plans?”
I frowned slightly at the mention of prior plans.
Plans? With whom? Could he already be planning to meet Maria…?
No, on second thought, that couldn’t be it. Since their fateful meeting was supposed to happen on Saint George's Day, he wouldn’t have met Maria beforehand.
“With whom?”
“With whom, what?”
“Who do you have plans with that day?”
“Are you curious?”
“Yes.”
I answered very firmly.
He had to be with me that day, to prevent him from meeting Maria.
“I have plans with the children from the orphanage. We were going to go see the festival together.”
“Ah, I see.”
I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly at the mention of the orphanage children.
“Then, would it be alright if I joined you?”
“You?”
“Yes.”
In truth, what I wanted to do was tie Ricardo to the house from morning till night so he couldn’t go anywhere, but that was impossible.
So, the only option was to stay with him and block any chance of him meeting Maria.
“You want to go to the Saint George's festival?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever been?”
“Unless there’s something special, I usually go to the temple to participate in commemorating Saint George.”
“No, not the temple.”
Ricardo shook his head.
“The children aren’t interested in the temple. What they’re interested in is the festival. Especially the market. There are lots of things to eat and see, and they can play games.”
“I’ve never been.”
The book said that Maria was pickpocketed in the crowded market, and Ricardo found it for her, leading to their meeting.
That must have been their meeting at the festival market.
Thinking that, I felt even more determined to go.
“But can’t I just go?”
“It doesn’t seem like that place would suit you very well?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
I said as if it were nothing, but Ricardo had a slightly subtle expression.
A complex, subtle face that was a bit troubled, yet also seemed a bit pleased.
“The children will be happy if I go with you. At least Lara will.”
I said, thinking of Lara’s lovely brown eyes.
She would surely be happy to go with a princess.
“Yes. The kids will definitely like it.”
Ricardo nodded as if agreeing with my opinion.
“Then, it’s no problem if I join you on Saint George's Day, right?”
A smile naturally crept onto my face at the thought of finally being able to monitor Ricardo with my own eyes that day.
“Are you happy?”
“Pardon?”
“Just now, you smiled. I was wondering if you were happy to be able to spend Saint George's Day with me.”
Ricardo said hesitantly. It was as if he was carefully asking, hoping his guess was correct.
“Yes, I’m happy.”
I honestly told him my feelings. It was a pretty satisfactory outcome for a sudden visit.
“Is that so….”
Ricardo seemed to be thinking about something after hearing my answer, then looked straight at me.
“I didn’t know you would want to spend Saint George's Day with me. It’s something I’ve never… never considered before.”
Ricardo said with a slight smile.
It wasn’t a smile of disbelief or exasperation.
If I had to say, it was a slightly shy smile.
…Ricardo and shyness. Those were completely incompatible words. I must have been mistaken because I was in a good mood.
“And I had something I wanted to say to you when I saw you.”
“What is it?”
“What you said at the ball hosted by Lord Wendsbury.”
Ricardo’s sudden mention of something from a few days ago made me flinch involuntarily.
I had lashed out at him that day because I was emotionally charged, but looking back, it wasn’t the right thing to do.
It was even less the behavior of an elegant lady.
“What you said about me treating you like a pebble in my pocket.”
I clenched my fist tightly, involuntarily, as Ricardo brought up something I had hoped he would just forget.
“I want to apologize.”
Apologize…?
The word that came out of Ricardo’s mouth was so unexpected that I lifted my head sharply and looked at him.
“You’re right. I didn’t realize it before.”
What was Ricardo saying right now?
“That there was a sapphire in my pocket.”
“A sapphire?”
“Yes. A very beautiful sapphire at that.”
Knowing what literature and metaphors were, I immediately realized that he was calling me a sapphire, alluding to the color of my eyes.
However, what I couldn’t understand, what I couldn’t believe even with my own eyes, was that Ricardo was the one who said it.
“Thank you for making me realize something I hadn’t realized before.”
“Y-you’re welcome.”
I didn’t know what was going on, but I responded politely and humbly for now.
“Then, I’ll see you at the orphanage that day.”
“I will.”
Ricardo smiled and got up from his seat to see me off.
He took my hand to help me up from the sofa and ordered the carriage to be brought to the entrance.
Ricardo’s escort to the entrance was perfect, and his manners were perfect as he waited with me until the carriage arrived.
But I got into the carriage with a strange, unexplainable feeling.
“Something’s strange….”
Panya, hearing my muttering, examined my face.
Whether she did or not, I was deep in thought.
He certainly seemed a bit taken aback when I first came to see him, but it wasn’t that subtle of an atmosphere.
Ricardo’s atmosphere changed after I said I wanted to meet him on Saint George's Day.
Of course, I hadn’t often asked him to meet on a specific day, but it wasn’t as if it never happened.
Asking him to escort me to an invited ball or something like that had happened before.
Even if it was Saint George's Day, I could naturally make such a request, right?
“Ah!”
Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind.
“Panya.”
“Yes, Young lady.”
“Saint George's Day.”
“Yes.”
“They say it’s also called Lovers’ Day among the common people, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Panya nodded at my question.
“Saint George used to hold weddings for lovers in difficult circumstances for free and share words of blessing.”
That’s right. It was definitely written in the book.
It was written like a praise that Ricardo and Maria, who first met on Saint George's Day, the Saint of Lovers, were destined to be lovers.
And I had told Ricardo that I definitely, absolutely, wanted to spend such a Saint George's Day with him.
I, who had been in an almost formal engagement and was going to be a formal wife in the future, had suddenly said that I wanted to spend Lovers’ Day together, so it was perhaps natural that he was flustered.
He even smiled and said he was happy when it was decided that we would be together.
“That’s not what I meant….”
I muttered to myself, looking at the Wincaiser mansion that was now moving away, but it was already too late.
I even had the thought that Ricardo might think I had asked him out on a date.
“No way….”
For Bianca Crofort to ask a man out on a date first, that was impossible.
I had heard that these days, bold young ladies would ask men to start a relationship or ask them to dance at a ball.
But I was someone who had no intention of doing that, nor did I need to.
When I attended a ball, the men there were desperate to dance with me.
Also, since I was Ricardo’s official fiancée, everyone couldn’t dare to ask me for a relationship, but if I was a free lady…….
No.
There was no way a woman like me could be a free lady without a fiancé.
The suitors, the prestigious families of Splendor, wouldn’t leave me alone.
So, instead of me asking for a date first, the other person should naturally ask first. So, not me, but Ricardo should ask me out on a date…….
‘Wait a minute.’
I cut off the stream of thoughts that were spreading in my head, feeling that something was wrong.
A date?
Had I ever been on a date with Ricardo?
Could having tea together at the Wincaiser or Croford Family, like a monthly meeting, be called a date?
It was a tea time for the purpose of briefly informing each other about the current situation of the Empire or the family events or changes that needed to be memorized, right?
Or could going to mandatory gatherings as partners be called a date? It wasn’t enjoyable at all, and the purpose was to show others rather than each other, right?
No.
We had never been on a date.
“Oh my god.”
So, even though it wasn’t me, if Ricardo arbitrarily considered it a date request, then Saint George's Day would be our first date.
Ten years after the engagement ceremony.
