The Trash Lady Who Stole the Duke's First Night
Chapter 30
“Do I need a reason?”
“……Well. Not necessarily.”
Elio shrugged, nodding as if tonight’s dinner was nothing out of the ordinary. Straightening her back as though entirely unfazed, she finished a whole glass of water before finally opening her hesitant mouth.
“Um, about me.”
“Yeah.”
Barely managing to squeeze out that single word, she drank some more water.
“The day I first saw you, Sir… about my father hitting me.”
Carlos lifted his head.
“Did you tell… Sir Grita? That I was being beaten?”
“No. Why would I mention that?”
Carlos raised an eyebrow, as if wondering where such a random thought had come from.
He looked so confident and unbothered that Elio blinked in bewilderment before nodding.
“Aren’t you cold?”
The man narrowed his eyes at her sleeveless dress.
“Put on a cardigan. It gets chilly at night.”
‘Then how is Sir Grita so sure I grew up getting beaten?’
Muttering gloomily to herself, Elio swallowed her thoughts, having no desire to dwell on or talk in detail about growing up abused.
“I’m not cold. I’m warm.”
The man silently watched her for a moment, then poured her some warm tea.
Elio glanced at the man—his neat, striking features made even handsomer by his swept-back bangs—and poked at the medium-cooked beef steak.
…Why did he put on his dress uniform?
The stiffly pressed collar of his black shirt and the tight muslin fabric stretched taut over his broad chest suited him exceptionally well.
“Why aren’t you eating the carrots? Don’t just eat what you like.”
“…It’s not like I like it that much.”
“I had everything prepared with what you like. Eat some salad and fish, too. You have to eat the things you dislike to stay healthy.”
Elio blinked her large eyes, looking over the table filled with her favorites—sweet pumpkin soup, beef, mushroom risotto, green grapes, and peaches.
“…Do you know what I like?”
“Soft things. …Which must be why you always glare at me, while you look at a soft peach so affectionately.”
Elio bit the inside of her lip to keep from letting out a deflated laugh.
“You need to eat a balanced diet to grow well. Your heart needs to be strong to channel mana properly, and carrots and blue-backed fish—”
“Am I a child? Please stop telling me to grow up. Because you act like that, Sir Grita keeps treating me like a kid too.”
Elio said firmly, her face flushing red.
Carlos lifted his gaze as he reached for the salad plate. He gazed steadily at the woman, whose face had flushed red like a strawberry again.
“Grita is five years older than you. Of course she treats you like a kid.”
“I’m a lady. Sir Grita and I are both ladies on equal footing.”
“Right. Then what, would you be a man? You look like a woman to me.”
Carlos tugged loose the tightly tied knot of his cuffs and rolled his sleeves up over his thick forearms.
“I’ll hire you a tutor, so stop reading those books. Or I could get you Marchioness Elliot’s etiquette manual—”
“…Y-You don’t need to get me one. I know everything I need to know. Really, I’m fine.”
“What could you possibly know just from reading that book?”
“……If there’s something I don’t know, my husband will lead the way. …I’ll trust my husband.”
“…….”
Without a word, he placed another beef steak onto Elio’s empty plate.
“…I’ve already eaten a lot. I’m fine. You eat it, Sir.”
“…You said you wanted meat. Eat more.”
Elio stared at the finely cut pieces of steak before quietly picking up her fork again. Honestly, she could eat one more.
Her churning stomach seemed to suddenly be overwhelmed by a wave of hunger. Earlier, she hadn’t wanted to eat a single bite of meat.
“……It really is delicious, though. The chef at the Duke’s Castle must be truly talented.”
He gave a small nod. At the quiet table, even the faint sound of her chewing felt loud. As Elio curled her toes in awkwardness, the rustle of the linen curtain brushing against something reached her ears.
“……I need to hang the curtain again. I just pinned it up with thumbtacks.”
“I’ll hang it for you.”
Elio nodded.
“…….”
“…….”
Elio felt uncomfortable with how the conversation kept trailing off at the table, but not knowing what else to say, she chewed each small piece of steak far longer than necessary.
Even their trivial exchanges felt stiff and awkward. This was no time for this. Retracing the words she had practiced, she let out a sigh.
…I already asked him this afternoon whether he really has no interest in the imperial throne… And I already asked him if he used me to avoid marrying the Imperial Princess, too…
The man, who had answered yes to everything and assured her she wouldn’t lose anything, seemed so impassive that his inner thoughts remained entirely inscrutable. Does he have no emotions at all except when he’s angry? Frustrated, she bit her lip.
“Have another steak—”
“You know, Sir, I understand you.”
Carlos looked up at their simultaneous words.
“Y-You go first.”
“No. I was just telling you to eat more. Go ahead.”
“I just… mean that I understand you, Sir.”
Elio clenched her fists tightly. She rapidly poured out the words she had organized and rehearsed countless times in her head while cleaning the house waiting for Carlos.
“I wasn’t angry because I didn’t understand. If we correct the scandal that I seduced and jumped you first, it would mean you broke the engagement with the Imperial Princess by your own will. So I do understand why you can’t rectify it right away.”
Carlos’s pitch-black eyes stared quietly at her.
“You’d probably be dragged off on charges of defying imperial orders. I heard you’re on bad terms with Her Majesty the Empress and the Papal Faction, too. Well, even if we did clear it up, just as you said, I might end up being used and torn apart in Parliament’s political fights.”
Pausing briefly, Elio swallowed dryly and steadied her voice. Though she tried her best to calm her racing heart, she couldn’t hide her flushed face.
“The scandal that I was so greedy for your wealth, power, and everything you had that I even fed you forbidden moonshine and ruined your marriage to Her Highness the Imperial Princess.”
“…….”
“I’ll accept it. For the remaining two months.”
Elio clenched her fists until the backs of her hands turned white.
She resolved not to just let herself be pushed around by this brazen man. If it was inevitable, she would face it with composure.
“I won’t expect you to actively clear my name and defend me. In return, please pretend to like me during the remaining time. Shouldn’t you play the Young Duke who genuinely fell in love with a trashy noble lady so that things are fair between us?”
Elio barely managed to pull up the corners of her mouth at the man, who wore a calm expression as if listening to someone else’s story.
“Even if I’m a shameless, trashy lady who lusted after the body of a man about to marry Her Highness the Imperial Princess… please make it so that you ended up falling for me too.”
“…….”
Chirp, chirp. The crickets cried in the grass. When had they started? Did they really need to chirp so loudly? While waiting for his answer, Elio’s fingers twitched against her will.
“That I fell for you?”
Carlos repeated her words, never taking his eyes off her reddened face. Elio felt even warmer at the absurdity of her own proposal. Stung by her own guilty conscience, she retorted sarcastically.
“Yes. Let’s make it so that we got sick of each other and broke up after two months. That it was a mistake born of attraction at first sight with a fallen noble lady, but spending time together made you tire of me. As long as you clear up the rumor that I attacked you while you were unconscious from moonshine, I don’t care what you say you got tired of.”
“…….”
She wished he would at least look appalled or curse at her demand. But he said nothing. Elio couldn’t tell when this man, who could be fiercely terrifying at times, actually got angry or showed any emotion.
“…I’m just asking you to respect and cherish me in front of others during our engagement period. …Though pretending to love me must be endlessly bothersome to you, Sir.”
Elio hid her slightly trembling hands beneath the table again.
“If one doesn’t take pity on a child who couldn’t protect herself and grew up getting beaten… one can hardly be called a knight, right?”
The vivid image of Grita’s polite smile flashed through her mind, and she forced her frozen lips to pull upward once more.
“Please cooperate so it looks like a normal romance, rather than making me look like a woman who acted out of sheer greed, only to be pitied and scorned by you. I think you owe me at least that much, Sir.”
Watching her calmly as she spoke clearly despite her faintly trembling voice, the man reached his arm toward the corner of her mouth.
Just as Elio flinched and tried to pull away, his long fingers reached her first.
With his finger wrapped in a handkerchief, he brushed past the corner of her mouth and gently rubbed her lips. Elio held her breath and furrowed her brow at the strange sensation of her lips squishing softly.
A tiny bit of sweet steak sauce stained the white handkerchief.
Just a tiny trace.
She whipped her head away and rubbed her hot lips vigorously.
He didn’t even need to wipe it, so why were his hands so quick to touch? Just how much experience did he have with women? Had the habit of being tender with a lover become second nature to him?
“…Don’t touch my face so casually. I hate that habit of yours, Sir.”
In the quiet, humid night where only summer insects could be heard, he pulled his hand back without a word and resumed cutting his steak.
“Isn’t this what pretending to be in love looks like?”
“……Are you saying you’ll try pretending to love me?”
“Yes.”
His expression didn’t shift in the slightest, making him look like an iron statue. Answering without a moment’s hesitation left her dumbfounded.
“You’re agreeing to what I said? Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Love. …You said it was a hassle.”
“I’ll give it a try.”
Carlos answered nonchalantly, as if he had already been pretending to love her even now.
Letting out a warm breath, Elio narrowed her eyes. The man’s unexpected attitude—treating her long, impassioned speech as if it were nothing—left her feeling deflated, drained, and sullen.
“Is pretending to love and cherish someone that easy to you?”
“What’s so hard about it? I’ll just treat it like I ended up with a three-year-old kid.”
Elio let out a hollow laugh at his absurd answer. Heat rising to the crown of her head, Elio glared straight at him.
He twitched an eyebrow as if asking what her problem was.