“Your acting has improved in the meantime?”
“Is that so?”
Nobert naturally sat in front of Ariella. Watching him smile faintly, Ariella thought again that he seemed to be smiling quite often these days.
“Yes. Even though I knew it was acting, it seemed like Nobert was really angry. When he heard that there were marriage talks between me and Duke Turner.”
“Ah, that wasn’t acting.”
“Yes?”
“It wasn’t acting, it was genuine. I knew the situation when I came, but when I saw the Duke sitting in front of you, I got annoyed.”
He was also joking around more often.
Ariella bit her innocent lips for no reason and held back the laughter that was about to come out.
“Hmm, hmm… Anyway, thank you. Thanks to you, I won’t be getting any marriage proposals for a while. Even if it’s because they’re aware of your presence, mediocre people won’t dare to approach me.”
There was no way that the loose-lipped Duke Turner would let this go quietly after suffering this.
He would definitely tell the nobles what he had experienced, and all sorts of rumors would spread quickly.
Since everyone’s attention was already focused on them because they had danced the first dance together at the debutante ball, it was only a matter of time before everyone in society knew about today’s events.
“That’s a relief. I won’t have to see some pathetic guy hitting on you without knowing his place.”
Ariella suddenly became curious.
What did he want from her, he who said he didn’t have any unreasonable expectations?
If it wasn’t a mediocre man like Duke Turner, but a man who was quite decent by anyone’s standards, showed interest in her. What kind of reaction would Nobert have then?
Would he leave her alone because he didn’t have such expectations, or would he be jealous like now?
She wanted to ask, but she swallowed the question and the fluttering feeling down her throat.
Either way, it would never happen, so it would be better to abandon unnecessary curiosity. Ariella thought this and continued the conversation.
“Thank you, so I’ll pay for dinner today. Order a lot. What kind of food do you like?”
“I eat everything well. So Ariella, tell me what you like.”
“I eat everything well too. If you knew what kind of food I’ve eaten at the poorhouse, you’d be surprised. You’d think, ‘Wow, there’s someone who eats that kind of thing.'”
“I am also confident that I am second to none in that field. But I won’t bother explaining it to you, as you may be too surprised and lose your appetite.”
“I’ve eaten grasshoppers too. Just grilled without any spices.”
“They’re quite savory. I thought that was a classic ingredient.”
“Then have you eaten rats? Not the ones raised for food, but the ones running around on the street.”
“……”
“See, I won, right?”
She had no idea that in the not-too-distant future, he would even bleed as he envied the man next to her.
“Nobert Royster…! That damn bastard!”
When Ariella returned to the Duke’s residence and reported what had happened today, Duke Astoria immediately became angry.
The money that he was supposed to receive from Duke Turner as the price of the marriage had vanished in an instant, so it was only natural that he was upset.
“I’m sorry, Father. Last time, he said he wasn’t interested in marrying me, so I thought it was over… It seems that the Grand Duke still wants me, even if he doesn’t want to take me as his wife.”
“So, that bastard offered you a position as his mistress, is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes. I’m sorry to say this… but I think it happened because he was conscious of Aaron. As you know, the relationship between the Grand Duke and Aaron is very bad, and recently there have been unsavory rumors between Aaron and me, so I think the Grand Duke is trying to make me his mistress in any way possible? To mock Aaron.”
There was some truth in Ariella’s words. However, the Duke suspected that the Grand Duke’s interest was not just for that reason.
The daughter he had raised with all his heart and soul had excellent looks and dignity to the point where it was suspicious that she was a fake. The Grand Duke, who was said to have no interest in women, would have noticed that fact as well.
‘Raising her too well is also a problem.’
Duke Astoria clicked his tongue in annoyance.
He had worked hard to package her up to sell her for a good price, but he didn’t expect to attract the attention of a useless bastard. It seemed that things were going wrong in all sorts of ways.
Now that things had come to this, there was only one way.
“…Ask Grand Duke Royster. Ask him what he can pay in exchange for taking Princess Astoria as his mistress.”
“Father…!”
Ariella was shocked and raised her head sharply.
“Surely, you’re not saying you’re going to send me to that man as his mistress?”
It was a more insulting statement to a noble lady than being told to enter the remarriage position of a Duke.
There was no way that the more aristocratic Duke Astoria wouldn’t know this. But he answered confidently.
