Chapter 35
“……”
“……”
While Rebecca fixed her disguise in the carriage, silence filled the spacious interior.
‘I’m glad I brought my makeup kit, just in case.’
Rebecca felt a little uncomfortable with Julian, who had been staring at her silently since earlier.
Whenever their eyes met, Julian would feign disinterest.
But as soon as Rebecca looked away, he would look at her again.
“Do you have something to say?”
“No.”
“Instead of staring so frustratingly, why don’t you just say what you want to say, Duke?”
“It’s nothing. Continue what you were doing.”
Julian turned his gaze back out the window.
Rebecca’s questioning eyes lingered on his face for a moment.
Julian couldn’t bring himself to say what he wanted to say to Rebecca.
‘Why am I like this……’
At first, he just intended to quietly follow her.
He wondered what was going on in that woman’s head.
Her first destination was, as expected, Tanisha Merchant Guild.
As she led Rebecca inside, Tanisha glared in the direction of Julian and Croa, who were hiding.
It seemed she had noticed them despite their efforts to conceal their presence.
He had heard that she had been furious about being made a figurehead CEO, and Julian felt a subtle worry.
He was concerned that Rebecca might be hurt by Tanisha’s aggressive tone.
But that was an unnecessary worry.
When the doors of the guild reopened, Tanisha wore the face of a perfect loyalist, one that she had never shown even to Julian.
It was as if he had seen a hallucination of Tanisha’s tail wagging furiously.
Rebecca was looking at such Tanisha as if she found her adorable.
“There’s no way she, she would make that kind of face? What on earth did you do?”
Croa, who knew his sister’s violent temper better than anyone, stared at the scene with his mouth agape.
Julian was equally surprised.
He had already finished investigating Rebecca’s past.
The information in the reports submitted by his attendants was no different from what Julian already knew about Rebecca.
What had changed her? Or was this her true self?
Questions piled up one after another.
While he was lost in thought, Rebecca had already headed to her second destination.
The place she went to was a bakery with a rickety old sign.
‘Is it a place she likes?’
Julian made sure to remember the name of the bakery.
And later, he planned to go into the store and find out what she had bought.
How long had he waited?
Rebecca came out of the store with her arms full of bread bags.
Rebecca’s steps looked so light that Julian couldn’t help but chuckle.
He was mindlessly staring at the cream bread she was biting into when he suddenly felt an ominous aura.
And that’s when the trouble happened.
Just thinking about it made him furious.
Julian had already been tearing that man apart in his mind from the moment he grabbed Rebecca’s wrist.
But he hesitated, not immediately intervening.
Watching Rebecca confront the man without even blinking, he felt that it would be presumptuous of him to step in.
He was also ashamed to reveal that he had been following her.
When he thought about it, both he and the man were the same, secretly tailing her.
Besides, how would he explain why he was following her? He didn’t even know the exact reason himself.
But when the man pushed Rebecca, such reason was paralyzed, and his body moved first.
The moment he knocked the man down, he noticed the long hairpin that Rebecca was holding tightly and realized his mistake.
He had heard that more and more women were using hairpins with sharp ends for self-defense these days.
It seemed that Rebecca had been about to subdue the man herself.
‘I messed up.’
The look in Rebecca’s eyes as she looked at him still held murderous intent.
Julian intuitively knew that Rebecca would have overcome that scoundrel even without his intervention.
That fact was both disconcerting and amusing, and it made him think about Rebecca even more.
Just what was it about this woman that made him whine like a lost puppy?
And the thoughts that came to him one after another from the moment he met her soft, curving blue eyes also made him feel troubled.
‘I want to be praised.’
What kind of offer he had made to the Emperor to secure Zeppelin, how he had dealt with that man without any repercussions, how wonderfully he had carried out the tasks that Rebecca had entrusted to him.
He wanted to tell her everything.
So, he was secretly hoping that she would stroke his head and thank him, just like last night.
He wanted to feel that tingling sensation, which was like pain, one more time.
It hurt, it hurt so much, but he didn’t dislike the heart pain that came with Rebecca.
Julian let out a hollow laugh, finding it difficult to admit that fact.
‘At this rate, I’m no different from a dog.’
That was a great insult to the Johannes family, who worshiped cats.
* * *
“Thank you. You saved me.”
Rebecca, who had finished dressing up, said as she returned the mirror.
Julian’s eyes flickered at those words, but he soon lowered his gaze with a disappointed expression.
‘Is there something she doesn’t like?’
Rebecca was finding it hard to adapt to Julian, who was already not normal but acting even stranger today.
Just then, Croa’s voice was heard from outside the carriage.
“Duke, I’ve brought the things you asked for.”
“Ah, let them in.”
At Julian’s reply, the carriage door swung open, and the coachman and Croa began to neatly arrange various foods on a large table.
Rebecca stared at the scene with wide eyes.
Julian’s carriage looked no different from the carriages that ordinary nobles rode in.
In fact, it had more rustic decorations and was smaller in size than the average carriage.
But when the door was opened, a space completely different from its exterior unfolded.
It was as spacious as combining three or four carriages.
The plush seats were wide enough for a man of Julian’s build to lie down comfortably, and there was a large table in the center.
From the embroidery on the cushions to the boxes for storing luggage, the inside of the carriage was filled with items that were clearly high-end at a glance.
However, the array of food being placed on the table, which bore the touch of a master craftsman, was unexpected.
“This is…… food sold in the market.”
Rebecca’s parents didn’t discriminate between commoner food and noble food.
Thanks to that, Rebecca had often encountered foods with strong local flavors since she was young.
But after becoming the Countess, she couldn’t even touch them because Zeppelin disliked commoner food.
Rebecca’s eyes lit up at the sight of the nostalgic food she hadn’t seen in a long time.
Julian smiled brightly as she showed interest.
“I bought it because I was curious about what the food here would be like, but since it’s come to this, why don’t you join me? It’s not tasty to eat alone. And there’s a lot of it.”
Rebecca hesitated for a moment but declined.
“Unfortunately, I have to go back soon. Let’s eat together next time.”
“At least have a bite…….”
Grumble-
A clear sound was heard, making it obvious whose stomach it came from.
Rebecca’s face flushed red.
Of all times, why did it have to make a sound now?
Julian chuckled and held out a skewer with chicken and vegetables alternating.
“I don’t think your stomach thinks so? Just eat this one and go. This one seems to smell the best.”
Rebecca glared at Julian, who was smiling mischievously, and accepted the chicken skewer he offered.
The chicken, thoroughly marinated in a glossy sauce, had a familiar scent.
As she inhaled the scent, an irresistible appetite surged within her.
“Then just one bite…….”
And Rebecca briefly lost her mind.
Only after tasting dozens of dishes on the table did Rebecca put down her spoon.
And she wiped her mouth with an embarrassed expression.
‘The taste I know is scary……’
She was so full that she couldn’t breathe.
She hadn’t even eaten that much, but she was already this uncomfortable.
It was because she had been accustomed to the Count’s diet for so long.
Julian looked at her with a serious expression.
“Does the Count starve you or something? You’re saying you’re full after eating only that much?”
“He’s never starved me. Well, he only lets me eat enough to not die. It’s not easy to maintain this slender waist.”
At those words, Julian made an expression that he couldn’t understand at all.
“I’m already amazed that all your organs fit inside that waist. What’s the reason for trying to maintain it?”
“Organs…… you really don’t mince your words. Well, the standards of beauty are different for everyone. Anyway, I really have to go now.”
“I’ll give you a ride.”
“No, it’ll ruin my plans if I’m caught getting out of a carriage like this.”
“Then, transfer to another carriage midway. I’ll drop you off in a secluded place so you can get on right away. Let me use my abilities at times like this.”
“If you’re going to go that far, I won’t refuse.”
In fact, Rebecca had wanted to ride in a carriage that moved with Magic Stone at least once.
Danae had been so impressed that she had been secretly curious.
As Rebecca nodded slightly, the carriage soon departed.
Julian looked at Rebecca, who was sparkling with curiosity, with a satisfied gaze.
He whispered to Croa to drive the carriage slowly.
Croa looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.
Julian ignored him and continued to steal glances at Rebecca, who was excited.
* * *
“I hope the dress still fits.”
Rebecca, who got out of the carriage, sighed as she looked at her swollen stomach.
She had to move quickly from now on. It had already been a long time since she had promised Canna.
Susan must be pacing back and forth in the room.
So, she had to cross the garden and return to her room as quickly as possible.
During that time, she shouldn’t run into anyone or have a conversation.
As Rebecca was estimating the shortest route, a white carriage decorated with gold passed by her with a loud noise.
Rebecca’s face turned pale as she recognized the carriage.
Zeppelin had returned.
* * *
“Where’s Rebecca?”
“The Countess is resting in her room. Shall I tell her you’ve arrived?”
“No, that’s alright. I’ll go up myself.”
As soon as he entered the mansion, Zeppelin looked for Rebecca. It seemed he wouldn’t be able to return home for about a month after today.
‘You said you were loyal to me.’
Zeppelin gritted his teeth. He couldn’t figure out who had done what to make the Emperor insist on him so much.
‘That aside, a painting that insults the temple……’
It was a reckless gamble.
He instinctively knew that if the temple found out about this, the Emperor would cut his tail and put all the blame on him.
But it wasn’t that he was afraid.
He was confident in carrying out the work secretly, but somehow, he felt uneasy.
Thud-
Zeppelin, who was lost in thought as he climbed the stairs, raised his head at the sound of a door closing.
It was coming from Rebecca’s room.
