Episode 13. I Really Hate Stuff Like This
Gray smiled slyly.
"Still, isn't Adel's plan really fresh? How about bringing it up with His Highness even now?"
"Gray!"
The duke bellowed like thunder. But Gray's face remained refreshingly innocent.
"I'm kidding. Still, a black-and-white spotted bear? A cuddly tree-eating bear! Aren't you curious? If His Highness and the other nobles had heard Adel's expo plan first like I did, they would've given the rights to us. Who wants to see those same old gears and dyes anyway? That sly Cloi Count."
As he spoke, he casually brushed off the puffed shoulders of his dress shirt. No dust in sight, yet it felt like deliberate mockery.
"He must've used his sister's seductive voice to fool His Highness. If he was going to do that, the count should've shaken his own ass. That would've been more entertaining."
Cloi Count's younger sister was the king's infamous mistress.
Adel ground her teeth watching Gray's flippant words and actions. She wanted to do something about that brightly smiling face even more than the sly count who had snatched the expo rights first.
But the duke saw it differently. He had no intention of just glaring at his wayward youngest son.
"Gray! Watch your mouth. And you—if you're just going to slack off and play around like this, I'll send you to your fief."
Only then did Gray's languid eyes turn slightly serious.
"Ah, Father. That's a bit much. What am I supposed to do in that backwater?"
"Backwater? It's your fief."
"'Your fief'? Come on, Father. Be precise. You've only allocated me the Balond region, which is barely a tenth of it. Everything else is my brother's, so Adel and I have no place there."
It was nonsense.
The Valoneck fief spanned 150,000 hectares. Even a tenth was 15,000 hectares. No matter how long Gray's fingers were, that wasn't the length of 300 castles lined up.
"Gray!"
As expected, the duke couldn't hold back and shouted. Gray smiled innocently.
"Of course, if you gave it all to me, I could go down and behave properly. I'm very confident in being obedient."
Adel inwardly thought, You? You? And the duke, with fury in his eyes, glared as if to kill him, thinking the same: You? You?
Of course, Gray pretended not to notice either question.
The duke growled.
"Do you even have the ability? The ability to make your fief's people live prosperously and safely, like your brother does."
At that, Gray sidled up to Adel.
He draped his long arm over her shoulders and neck. Wrapping around her like a pillar, he stood in a delinquent pose, tapping the floor with his crossed-leg toes.
"I don't, but my aide here does. That ability."
His beautiful smiling face exuded trustworthiness, irritating Adel. She knew he was praising her like this to gloss over his mistakes.
This sly little youngest young master.
The duke's sharp gaze now flew to Adel. She lowered her eyes and pushed Gray away.
"My apologies, Your Grace."
Gray, who had been leaning loosely on purpose, playfully shrugged as if bewildered. Unable to stand the sight, the duke finally roared low and ominously.
"Out! If you act like this one more time, I'll really chase you away!"
Gray replied with a prompt "Yes," as if he'd been waiting, and gathered the documents from the conference table.
Adel took a deep breath to suppress her sigh. She bowed as politely as possible to the duke.
"I hope you enjoy your lunch."
The duke looked up at her steadily. His eyes clearly said, Enjoy? How?
This was beyond Adel's control. This brat is your son, not mine, right?
But today, the duke's eyes seemed especially cold.
The duke's irises were a slightly deeper blue than Gray's. Unlike Gray's light, chaotic yet kind eyes, the duke's often felt stern and cold.
Adel readily admitted the duke had reason to look at her that way. With his noble son keeping a lowly woman as an aide and acting so casually, it was understandable to worry.
So Adel acted even more detached and polite before the duke. She didn't want any strange misunderstandings.
The duke gestured toward the door with his chin, as if telling her to get out too. The imperious motion was intimidating.
Adel bowed once more and quietly left the room, following Gray who had already strode to the door.
Another tiring day.
After exiting the duke's office, Adel walked straight down the corridor. Gray, who had come out first and was waiting, smirked as she passed by briskly.
Her heels stepping several paces ahead on the carpet were calm yet angry. It might seem impossible to tell, but at some point, Gray just knew.
The mockery, indignation, disappointment, delight, amusement, and embarrassment hidden behind that icy composure.
And no matter how she walked like that, Gray could catch up in a few long strides. This time too, he quickly blocked her path and shook the documents he held.
"No matter how angry you are, how could you leave such important documents behind?"
They were Adel's documents, signed and approved by the duke.
Standing close, he could see inside the black glasses clearly. Adel looked up at Gray sharply. It was closer to a glare.
"Young master. As I've said many times, please relay every single instruction from the duke without omission."
"Sorry. The old man's got such a long tongue. Who knew I'd forget about Cloi Count."
His tone held not a shred of apology. The nerve.
Adel glared at Gray, who had ruined a week's worth of her efforts in an instant, then ground her teeth to calm down.
First, she needed to take the documents from his hand—approval for the estate's food budget under his jurisdiction—so she reached out.
"Hand them over."
But the documents shaking before her eyes suddenly shot up. Gray had raised them high. Adel's eyes sharpened again.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm upset because you won't accept my apology. I already said sorry."
Adel was dumbfounded watching the documents out of reach.
"It's not that simple."
She couldn't accept the apology so easily. This time, she resolved to firmly show her irritation.
This happened all too often.
Gray clearly enjoyed teasing Adel. At some point, she had realized it. Otherwise, even a delinquent like him wouldn't act this way.
"What's not simple? I made a mistake, apologized sincerely, and magnanimous Adel accepts."
"Hand over the documents first."
"No."
"Are you trying to make me angrier?"
"No. I'm apologizing, aren't Iii?"
His words trailed sweetly. His affectionately curved eyes were coquettish.
He knew his strengths too well.
Feeling her anger subside, Adel swallowed a sigh inwardly.
She never imagined she'd end up like this. At first, she'd scoffed seeing men and women alike melt under Gray's eye smile.
But when that angelic face gazed innocently at her up close, even the eternal snow high up melted. She couldn't resist. And lately, she experienced it daily.
Of course, she knew that face wasn't sincere. She knew very well. Yet the momentary sensation of believing it was terrifying.
The only one immune to Gray's deliberate affection was his father, the duke.
Adel pulled herself together and reached higher. She even raised her heels fully.
Finally, as her fingertips brushed the documents, Gray annoyingly lifted his hand higher.
"Young master!"
"Oh? Almost got it. Try harder."
Adel clamped her mouth shut and stretched further. Her fingertips kept grazing but never grasping.
Ah, seriously.
Adel finally bounced off her knees in a jump.
"Ooh. Touching, touching. You got it, Adel."
Using Gray's chest as support, she jumped higher. The moment she could finally grab the documents, Gray lifted them even higher.
Unable to hold back her anger, Adel glared at him as she landed. But he was closer than expected. Realizing their noses nearly touched, she startled and pushed him.
But Gray didn't budge an inch, and Adel stumbled back from the recoil. As her body tilted to fall, Gray wrapped his arm around her waist lightning-fast and pulled her in.
It happened so quickly that Adel ended up in his arms without understanding.
Startled, Adel blinked. Red lips stretched long near her forehead.
"Failed. Miss Adel Nora. Go get it signed again."
The nerve. Really.
Adel shoved Gray away outright. He smiled innocently again.
Adel truly couldn't understand.
Even if Gray was always like that, why did she become so childish?
I hate stuff like this. I really hate it.
Adel tried to glare resentfully at Gray but hardened her face, displeased even with herself for expressing resentment so lightly.
Seeing her face stiffen, Gray approached grumbling.
"What? Upset again?"
"No."
"You are. You look like you bit shit."
"I said no. And don't grab my body carelessly."
"Ah, that condition."
"Please stick to the contract from now on."
"Mm, should I just let you fall then?"
As he spoke, Gray casually grabbed her arm again.
"Leave you to kiss the floor passionately?"
He always phrased things so annoyingly.
Adel finally glared at him poutingly again. Then footsteps echoed from the corridor's end.
Adel quickly returned to her usual cold, composed demeanor. She confirmed the person emerging from that end.
Winter—no, Knox. Adel's body stiffened.
Knox spotted Adel and Gray but walked straight ahead as if uninterested in whatever they were doing. Adel's gaze slowly followed his steps.
Gray, who had been tracking the direction of her shifting pupils with his eyes, smiled bitterly.
The angelic innocence evaporated in an instant.
