Chapter 28
28
“That person is a high-ranking noble. Stop being rude.”
“What?”
My aunt and uncle, who had lived in the countryside, had no way of knowing Dante's face. The two of them looked very surprised, especially my uncle, who had been spouting rude remarks.
He quickly took off his bowler hat.
“Th-that is… Why didn’t you say so sooner? Something about your speech and behavior did seem noble, but…”
Dante replied in an indifferent tone to my uncle's quick change of attitude, typical of a fallen lower noble.
“I wanted to see how far you’d go. If I revealed my status, I wouldn’t be able to see your true colors, and I don’t really care about status anyway.”
Dante was an egalitarian, just like the revolutionary male lead. That meant he beat people up equally, regardless of their status. In the original story, he even beat up the Emperor.
Maybe he was letting my uncle, pretending to be a rude servant, accumulate bad karma.
My uncle looked at me with an incredulous expression and asked, “Mia, why is a high-ranking noble wearing an apron in your house? Or, is he wearing one?”
In noble culture, it was rude to ask about someone's title before they mentioned it, so he couldn't bring himself to ask and was just fidgeting.
Now that things had come to this, this was the only way to get rid of them.
I didn't panic at all and raised my nose as shamelessly as possible.
“He’s taking husband lessons before the wedding. A man who’s good at housework is my type, you know? Please respect my preferences.”
My aunt scanned Dante up and down with suspicious eyes. It seemed to take her a while because of Dante's height.
“Why would someone like that…”
She seemed confused because he was different from other nobles who were arrogant and had deeply ingrained discrimination and elitism.
“If you’re a noble, you must have been invited to the Imperial Palace ball for the National Foundation Day next week. All the nobles of the Empire are invited that day. That’s why we came to the capital.”
Dante nodded with a blank face at my aunt's probing tone.
“I’ve received an invitation every year. But I’ve never gone.”
Then she raised the corners of her lips and gave a conceited smile.
“Then, of course, you’ll take our Mia as your partner and attend, right? If you’re thinking of getting married, you should introduce her to Londinium society.”
Roughly translated, the question was, ‘If you’re a real high-ranking noble, can you come to the ball and declare a commoner as your fiancée?’ For some reason, my uncle's red face turned completely blue.
“Gertrude, that’s…”
“Honey, it’s for Mia’s sake, you know?”
While the two were having a staring contest, Dante looked at me as if asking for my opinion. Thinking that I only had to get through this once, I blinked twice as a request.
Dante, understanding the silent signal, nodded to my aunt.
“Of course, that’s what I intend to do.”
“How considerate.”
My aunt gave a fake smile and came to me, starting to whisper like a devil.
“Mia, that man might be deceiving you. You have to be careful of men who promise marriage and only take your body. Karl, the assemblyman’s eldest son, will also be there that day. He’s already received the title of Baron and will soon inherit the title of Count. Even so, he sent you a formal proposal. When that day comes, you’ll be sure who to choose.”
As always, that woman was a master of gaslighting and had a really long tongue. I wish she could summarize it in three lines.
I vaguely listened to her long story, picked my ear, and said indifferently, “I just hope I don’t have to see you after today. Please go back now, unless you want to be showered with fertilizer.”
“You…!”
When my aunt raised her voice, Dante strode in front of my aunt and uncle and gave a chilling smile that only his lips were smiling.
“This is as far as I’ll go in treating you with respect as my fiancée’s relatives. The same goes for your dim-witted son. Tell him that next time, it won’t end with just that.”
Was the word ‘fiancée’ always this ticklish and unfamiliar? I rolled my eyes with an awkward expression.
My aunt still seemed confused by Dante's scary warning.
On the other hand, my uncle, even though he was a lower noble, seemed to have noticed that the other party was not ordinary. He paid his respects to Dante and took my aunt away.
Watching my uncle's old car drive away outside the gate, I let out a sigh I had been holding in.
“Let’s go in,” Dante said, leading the way.
I followed him and didn't open my mouth for a long time. He walked silently, not saying anything until I spoke.
As we passed the fountain spouting sparkling water and the cat-shaped topiary, I said, “Thank you for helping me. You don’t have to go to the ball. I don’t want you to be in trouble.”
He didn't have a very good relationship with the Imperial Family, after all.
I didn't want to force him to do something he didn't like.
Although, if he didn't, the marriage-obsessed people who thought Dante wasn't a noble would come and knock on the door again, shouting, ‘Just meet him once! Or give back the necklace! Or put this house in joint ownership!’ and stage a sit-in in front of the house.
But that was something I had to endure. I could just throw Toto's manure at them or not open the door.
At my words, his dark head tilted slightly.
“It wouldn’t be a problem.”
“You said you’ve never gone before. Don’t you hate going?”
“I didn’t go because I didn’t have anyone to go with.”
That man was the Empire's most popular man, with a constant stream of admirers, regardless of gender? He was a dangerous man with a fatal charm. The closer something seemed to be forbidden, the more desirable it became.
I had even rationally suspected that he had chosen this mansion as if leaving the secular world because the life of a popular person was tiring.
“Come on, you could have a line of partners if you wanted.”
He stopped walking for a moment and slowly turned to me.
“I’ve only just started wanting to. And I have someone to go with now.”
I had always thought that I would never go to such a place in my life. To me, who had lived an ordinary life, that place was like another world. All I knew about dancing and etiquette was what I had learned at school.
I made an insecure expression, but he didn't seem to care much.
“Then you can have your first time with me.”
It was a way to cut off my leech-like aunt and uncle for good, but the rumor that we were getting married would spread throughout the Empire. Could I clean up the mess?
“That was just a way to send the demons back, but you’re really going?”
“Don’t you like me as a partner? Don’t worry, I won’t wear an apron.”
If I sold ‘Tickets to the ball with Dante Van Dyke in a shirt and apron,’ pre-orders would be on fire, and all the systems would be paralyzed due to the frantic clicks of a huge number of simultaneous users.
“That’s not it, only nobles can go there. Even if you can bring your fiancée, we’re not really engaged.”
Then Dante's blue eyes turned to me with a firm will.
“Then we can get engaged for real.”
I could only blink in embarrassment.
Why was he so simple? Was he someone who lived without tomorrow?
Maybe the reason he had been so focused on housework and hadn't shown any signs of rebellion was because of his personality. He might impulsively start a rebellion, saying, ‘Then I’ll rebel for real.’
“In the first place, we’re nothing to each other. I’m just worried about your marriage prospects.”
“As I said before, marriage is a choice, not a necessity. Right now, it’s more important to get rid of those who are bothering me with marriage issues.”
But did he really have to go that far for me?
“Dante, you don’t have to do that for me. I feel burdened. I feel like I’ll have to worry every day about how to make things more fun for you?”
I might even have to install escape rooms or Home Alone-style traps.
At that, Dante swept back his dark hair.
“It’s also to take care of my own annoying problems. Similar to your situation, the Imperial Family has started talking about marriage with royalty from neighboring countries.”
Nobles and royals had high pride and wouldn't want to see him doing housework, so it was understandable that he wouldn't want to get married.
So, for each other's convenience, we were going to have a strategic contract engagement?
True to his nature of using any means to achieve his goals, he must have thought of engagement that way too.
As I continued to worry, he added with a rare, wistful smile, “You can refuse if this request is difficult. I can save it for later.”
I remembered that I had said that if I did a good job, I would ask him to grant me a favor as a reward. He was saying that he would use the wish ticket he had saved now?
When I thought about it carefully, worrying about the marriage of that popular man was the most useless worry in the world. It was good for me because I could get out of my aunt and uncle's interference.
I nodded in agreement.
“Okay, then let’s pretend to be engaged and act like we’re in a fateful love. If either of us really wants to get married, we can break off the engagement then, so there shouldn’t be any problems. Divorce is worse than breaking off an engagement.”
“Yes, I’ll also get rid of your marriage prospects.”
Did I hear wrong? I wasn't going to be stuck in an engagement with that man for the rest of my life, messing up the house?
“Excuse me? What are you going to get rid of?”
I asked him several times about the intention behind his scary words, but he never answered.
I Hired a Black Ops Agent as a Housekeeper
