Chapter 17
17.
“The festival? With you, Your Highness?”
Lobelyn blinked at the sudden proposal.
Come to think of it, the Spring Festival was just around the corner.
“Right. We’ve already established ourselves as a fiancé couple from Newerie. Wouldn’t it be fun to keep up the act a few more times?”
“C-Couple?! That’s not fun at all.”
“Is that so? I find it quite entertaining. But if you hate it, there’s nothing I can do.”
Lobelyn took a moment to consider.
To be honest, constantly being entangled with Ian wasn’t exactly comfortable.
If she kept running into him, it was bound to invite unnecessary suspicion.
‘But if I can prevent the destined fire…’
Then she could delay Ian and Cornelia’s engagement and buy some time.
Even if the fire didn’t happen, she had nothing to lose.
‘If going to one festival can buy me a few months, it’s a bargain.’
Having made up her mind, Lobelyn nodded with a look of grim determination.
“Fine! But I have three conditions.”
“Three? Let’s hear them first.”
“First, ensure that the security personnel are always prepared for a fire.”
“Very well. I’ll have them positioned along the routes centered around the waterways. And?”
“And I’d like to stop pretending to be a couple. It’s embarrassing in many ways.”
Unlike his prompt agreement to the first condition, Ian seemed less than pleased with the second.
However, Lobelyn had no intention of backing down.
“What will it be? If you don’t like it, go to the festival with someone else.”
“Fine. Then what should our relationship be? If a man and a woman walk around together, people will assume they’re lovers—”
“Let’s just go as cousins. It’s simple.”
Cousins? Ian liked Lobelyn’s suggestion even less.
But seeing the look in her eyes, which suggested she wouldn’t budge, he eventually decided to give in.
“……Fine. And the last one?”
“Lastly, I want you to stop asking me to say that, uh, ‘son of a…’ thing.”
“Why can’t you just say ‘son of a bitch’?”
“No, if I say it now……!”
I’d be caught by you!
Lobelyn barely managed to swallow the words that almost burst out.
“……I told you, it’s an insult to the Imperial Family. Every time you do that, it puts me in a very difficult position.”
Lobelyn offered a cautious excuse.
Watching her, Ian wore an amused expression.
“So, I’m supposed to trust your word alone and spend the Crown Prince’s Palace’s massive budget to prepare for a fire that may or may not happen?”
“……T-That’s right.”
“And while doing that, I have to pretend to be your cousin instead of your husband. Plus, I can’t even ask for the one thing I actually want?”
What kind of unfair trade was this?
Watching Ian grumble as he folded his long fingers one by one, Lobelyn felt a prick of guilt.
She had tried to negotiate because he looked somewhat desperate when asking her to the festival.
But thinking back, the conditions were entirely in her favor.
She couldn’t complain even if Ian turned her down.
Unless the man had an incredibly good personality…
“Well, whatever. I’ll accept.”
“Eh, really?”
What? Ian Heriet might be a better person than I thought?
“In exchange, I have one more condition of my own. If a fire doesn’t break out within a week, Lobelyn Dines becomes my servant for life.”
……The thought of him being a good person was retracted within ten seconds.
“How is that fair?!”
“If a fire doesn’t break out, I’ll have to suffer the stigma of wasting the Crown Prince’s Palace’s labor costs.”
“S-Still, a servant is too much! Forget it. I’ll take care of it myself, so let’s act like this conversation never—”
“Wait, wait.”
Lobelyn turned to leave, but Ian caught her arm to stop her.
“If you don’t want to, there’s nothing I can do. I guess I’ll just have to send the bills from Daphne Boutique and Prom Sabina to the Dines Viscounty.”
“But the bills were already—”
“What’s the problem with the person who paid changing them?”
“…….”
“Or you could cancel everything and pay the cancellation fees yourself. Just like I did not long ago.”
This petty man, threatening me with money!
Lobelyn trembled as she looked at the smirking Ian.
Ian Heriet really was trash!
But she couldn’t just ignore his threat.
The dresses and items would be delivered to her house regardless.
All Ian had to do was feign ignorance.
In the end, she had no choice.
“……I-I’ll do it.”
“Good, then it’s a deal.”
Ultimately, Lobelyn had no choice but to succumb to Ian’s threat disguised as a deal.
Unlike Ian, who wore a broad grin, Lobelyn’s face was a picture of misery.
‘I can’t exactly pray for a fire to happen. What am I supposed to do?’
Brian was spending a rare, leisurely day at Duke Raven’s Residence.
As usual, he was passing the time reading in his study.
“…….”
A dried four-leaf clover was tucked between the pages he had just opened.
Many years must have passed, as the four-leaf clover had turned a brownish hue.
Seeing it, Brian’s dark eyes momentarily deepened.
Brian reached out and carefully touched the four-leaf clover.
At the dry, brittle sensation, a memory from his childhood, when he first received it, came flooding back.
‘Hi? You’re the kid who lives in that mansion, right? What’s your name?’
‘Ah, y-yes. I’m Brian Raven.’
‘Brian, nice to meet you! I’m Lobelyn Dines. Here, take this to celebrate our first meeting!’
‘W-What is this? It looks like a clover…….’
‘You don’t even know what a four-leaf clover is? It’s a plant that brings good luck!’
As the image of young Lobelyn with her brown hair, green eyes, and rosy cheeks flashed before him, Brian smiled in spite of himself.
From the day she first approached him, Brian’s gaze had always followed Lobelyn.
If it hadn’t been for Lobelyn, Brian and Cornelia, who were both introverted and quiet children, would never have become friends.
Just like the four-leaf clover she gave him at their first meeting, Lobelyn was like a stroke of good luck for Brian.
“…….”
But soon, Brian’s expression darkened.
It was because of a story he had heard from Ian’s nanny, Paula, not long ago.
‘It seems His Highness is pursuing a romance lately.’
‘Romance? No way.’
‘He’s been in a noticeably good mood, often humming to himself. Yesterday, he even bought a whole lot of things at a dress shop.’
‘……His Highness bought dresses?’
Even then, a sense of unease had stirred in his heart, but he tried to suppress it, thinking it was just Paula’s misunderstanding.
It wasn’t long after that he discovered a portrait of Lobelyn’s family inside Ian’s drawer.
‘Why on earth is this here…….’
Recalling the young Lobelyn with chubby cheeks smiling in the frame, Brian felt troubled.
Brian closed the book and leaned back in his chair with a sigh.
‘If His Highness truly has Bell in his heart, what should I do?’
Ian was his liege, to whom he had sworn lifelong loyalty.
Brian was prepared to carry out even the most life-threatening missions if Ian ordered them.
That was why he had steadfastly trusted and followed Ian through dangerous incidents like the conflict with the Empress or the poisonous herb case.
‘But I don’t know about this. I’m not sure if I can follow His Highness’s will in this matter…….’
Coldly speaking, the possibility of Lobelyn, the daughter of a humble viscount, becoming Ian’s partner was remarkably slim.
However, he couldn’t allow Ian to treat Lobelyn as a mere passing amusement either.
Lobelyn was so precious to Brian that he was content just staying by her side as a friend.
“Sigh……”
Ultimately unable to find a clear direction, Brian let out a long sigh, rubbing his face with his hands.
A few days later, on Centerfield 4th Avenue.
Guards from the Crown Prince’s Palace were loitering around.
At first glance, they looked like idlers, but they were strictly on duty under special orders from the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince’s order was simple.
Keep a close watch to ensure that no fire ever breaks out on 4th Avenue.
“ Yawn .”
However, to the point of making the special mission seem meaningless, there was absolutely nothing for them to do.
To begin with, 4th Avenue was the busiest place in the capital, Centerfield.
Since it was a place lined with shops and filled with rare goods collected from all over the world by various merchant guilds, it was naturally a place with thorough accident prevention measures.
“Ugh, I’m bored to death.”
On the first day, they had cleared away a pile of hay stacked in front of a building, but that was the only time they had performed anything resembling a real task.
After that, it was just a repetition of nominal patrols.
At first, they thought it was an easy job, but gradually, the boredom caused the morale of all the guards to drop.
The damp wind, which felt like it would bring rain soon, also contributed significantly to their lack of motivation.
“What’s the point of all this? There’s no sign of a fire anywhere. Can’t we just withdraw?”
“Tell me about it. The City Guard could handle this kind of thing.”
“I wonder how much longer we have to keep this up. Unless a bolt of lightning falls from the sky—”
BOOM!
But the guard who was grumbling couldn’t finish his sentence at the sudden roar and flashing light.
At the ominous, unusual sound, the guards froze in their tracks.
“W-What was that sound?”
The murmurs around them gradually began to turn into screams.
The shouts of people in shock echoed through the air.
“Lightning! It’s a lightning strike! Lightning hit the Elden Merchant Guild building!”
“It’s on fire! Everyone, get out of the way!”
It was literally a bolt from the blue.
At the sudden roar, people who were finishing their day all rushed out into the street.
The gathered crowd all looked toward the rising smoke in unison.
It was the building of the Elden Merchant Guild, which had taken a direct hit from the lightning strike.
