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“Catherine.”
Catherine’s shoulders trembled at the low call. She couldn’t bear to face Cesare, so her head was shaking.
“Catherine, raise your head.”
She didn’t raise her head, she just rolled her eyes and stared. Cesare stood next to her, with his characteristic smirk and brazen smile.
This man was the first person in her life to be more brazen and more shameless than her half-sister Anne. But in the end, isn’t he helping Catherine?
In fact, the relationship between the two cannot be defined as such. To put it bluntly, it was nothing more, nothing less than shameless with the landlord. The problem is that they’re together near midnight.
After digging into it, it seems that Cesare’s measures are not so absurd. Catherine quickly rationalized herself that way.
“Certainly— it doesn’t feel good to be interrupted on a hot night.”
Catherine made a more serious and stiff expression on purpose, hoping to catch a lie. At the same time, she moved one leg and pushed the sprawled shovel into the corner.
“It was a night where I could do a great deal.”
The knight quickly came to his senses and closed the open jaw. It was a face that still couldn’t believe her existence.
“Please forgive us.”
“Most of all, military boots are muddy.”
“Please forgive us.”
“It’s hard to clean because it doesn’t stop raining.”
“Please forgive us.”
How hurtful would it be to apologize to a woman who is not from the royal family.
“But the only thing you can say is sorry?”
“We ap— No, we’ll be careful.”
She asked this because she was really curious, but when she saw the knight’s pale face, she felt that the crime was actually committed by this side.
She raised her head and looked at Cesare, wondering what to do next. He had a happy expression on his face, as if he had found a fun toy. Her neck was hot for no reason. He unwrapped his arms and opened his mouth to the knight after a while.
“Do you have anything else to say, Sir Damian?”
“I have nothing to say.”
“No? Aha, you’re still out of your mind. Sir, come to me before you return home.”
The knight let out a silent scream. His pale face and eyes that had lost focus were saying that.
‘I feel sorry for you.’
Cesare raised his eyebrows as he looked at the frustrated knights at the door.
“Why are you standing so far away? When you’re done, get out of here. I have to light the fire again on a night when you guys have put cold water on it.”
Let’s think of it as a fire in the fireplace.
She seemed less ashamed now, perhaps as a result of his hard self-hypnosis. Isn’t it wonderful to have been able to drive out the Imperial Knights by selling so cheaply? Despite this, she couldn’t bear smiling at Cesare.
Click. The door opened, and the knights’ faded away in an instant.
Only the sound of rain stayed in the hall where only Catherine and Cesare remained. Is it because the number of people is decreasing? Even so, the dark interior felt darker.
“I think I’ve paid off all the debts from saving me from freezing to death.” Cesare’s voice and tone were indifferent. “Or I’ll pay you more than that. In any case, you’d better refrain from using a shovel without knowledge. Even if you look at the Knights as water, it’s an oil fountain.”
Then he slowly turned and headed to the drawing room on the first floor. Catherine, who looked at Cesare’s back without saying a word, hurriedly followed. As the fire died and went back into the cold drawing room, Catherine opened her mouth awkwardly.
“Thank you.”
The chess board was gone. Cesare approached the table and picked up a book that had been turned upside down. The cover, which looked blurry in the dark, was familiar to her, but she couldn’t remember exactly what kind of book it was.
“This book—”
Cesare walked to Catherine’s side at the entrance to the drawing room. What lover, he looked so calm contrary to his previous misbehavior.
“It was pretty fun. I’ll borrow it for a few days. Don’t say no. I’m going to borrow it even if it doesn’t work.”
She thinks she should take back what she just said. Now with no more surprising nerve, Cesare passed Catherine. When she turned her head, the hall leading to the hall, where the man’s back should be visible, was empty.
“—Cesare?”
The answer from the bleak mansion is all about the heavy rain.
Catherine, who was left alone, soon moved slowly and headed for the sofa. There was only a person going back, but there was no more space and stillness. It is often a pity that there are no people in a large house. The sudden wave of loneliness sweeps the body and mind.
It was time to clean up the blanket and leave the drawing room.
“I almost forgot. How long is the book being rented?”
Cesare reappeared. A light shirt and vest, as well as a few strands of clean silver hair that fell from the forehead, were all the same.
Catherine, with her bent back straight, stiffened in that position. At the very least, she almost ran in front of him.
“Miss Phanya.”
A gentle call drew her out of her mind. Catherine quickly raised her bent body.
“3 days.”
It felt like time stopped for a moment. Cesare’s eyes, which stood still, were unsure but seemed to be fixed on her.
After a while, he turned and disappeared from view. Knowing that it had disappeared, Catherine ran outside and checked the empty hallway for no reason.
*****
Unlike Catherine, who tossed and turned last night, Rose had a good expression since early morning.
It had been a long time since she had slept deeply, so her expression was lively and her voice was loud. She would be a flagship if she knew what had happened while she was sleeping.
“By the way, did you hear the news, Lady?”
Rose was so excited when she came from somewhere with some pretty interesting news.
“Probably, no.”
But today she looked especially excited. It wasn’t because she slept well, but something else seemed to have worked.
“What have you heard?”
When she said that Sir Mel’s real age was well over seventy, or when she told the story of the florist’s legs, she didn’t seem so excited. Catherine wanted to know how great news was that Rose couldn’t even talk about it, she wanted to know.
“Well, Sir Percyville is passing through town!”
“
Percyville?”
“Yes, Sir Percyville! Don’t tell me you don’t know Sir Percyville, do you?”
Rose, who sat across from her, hurriedly opened the newspaper she had brought. There must have been an article about Percyville in it. Catherine, who was staring at the scene, replied in a small voice as if she could hear or not.
“There’s no way I wouldn’t know.”
For those who go out and engage in social activities, there’s no one who doesn’t know the name.
Percyville Benedicto Fahenrichin.
A favorite of the Vatican’s boundless trust and love, the paladin of the lily, the handsome mad dog—his nicknames were as varied as Archduke Cesare.
He was a perfect person, a descendant of the House of Fahenrichin, with nothing missing in background or ability. When he went out to subjugate the monsters, he was also known as the Vatican’s hero since the sacrifices of the Knights he led were so small that they could be counted in one hand.
‘Yes, it’s definitely known to the public.’
But the truth is different. No, it is more correct to say that there is a clear difference rather than a difference. Percyville wasn’t a handsome mad dog. She doesn’t know if it’s a real mad dog (characteristic, good-looking).
“It seems that Christopher is caught on the way back from subjugating the monster. Did you hear the story? I heard that they subjugated a very great monster this time
”
She did remember hearing it somewhere.
“Well, that’s what it is. People like me don’t really know. But I hear Sir Percyville is so cool?”
“He wasn’t cool— he was handsome.”
“You must have seen it!”
Rose looked at Catherine with sparkling eyes.
“When did you see all those famous people? Please tell me in detail. How about the Paladin of the Lily?”
Wow. Catherine struggled to endure the nausea that almost poured out in the passage of ‘The Paladin of the Lily’.
What kind of man is Percyville? She’ll stay up all night explaining one by one. First of all, it was a problem from the fact that he was a very shy man with the nickname of Lily’s Paladin.
“He’s just manly and handsome.”
“I heard his hair is soft like warm chocolate?”
“I don’t know about chocolate, but it’s dark brown.”
“I heard he has strong rose-colored eyes?”
“His eyes were red.”
“And the pure and glossy lips do you want to take away?”
She wasn’t sure what Rose was talking about at this point. Catherine seemed to have lost her mind as a result of the horrifying and disgusting description.
“Where the hell do you hear that, Rose?”
As if she had been waiting, she spread the newspaper that Rose was looking at on the table.
“It’s written here. He is a man as elegant and pure as a lilies, with warm chocolate-like soft hair and strong rose-colored eyes—”
That was a mistake. She’ll probably just give a ridiculous description of Percyville as it is.
The speaker was Rose, so she listened quietly, but Catherine felt like her ears were half rotted. Of course, it wasn’t that she didn’t feel any new emotions welling up at all.
Percyville.
‘It’s Percyville.’
How many years has it been since she heard that name?
She was so busy with getting her share from her stepmother in Orléans that she completely forgot about it. What kind of relationship she had with him, what kind of interactions she had with him, and where she actually ended up. What is she going to do now that she has given it some thought?
At that time, she was younger than she is now, and it was a time when she was living her own life. She lived in Orléans holding her breath as the eldest daughter, but not outside. She was busy letting out the emotions boiling inside.
Percyville was a bond tied to such immature times. There were times when she did, as much as she can recall. Even in his memory, as she is, Catherine would be as blurry as the lakeside after the rain.
No, maybe it wasn’t even that common memory. Because it never had a good ending.
“Then can I go to see the parade?”
Catherine, who had regained her composure, fixed her gaze on Rose. Rose’s black eyes glistened with excitement.
She’ll never be able to say no to that face. Why is the paladins’ parade she’ll be seeing so exciting? Catherine’s mind couldn’t understand what was going on.
“You can do it.”
“Haa. Thank you, Lady! I heard that the Paladins of the Knight are painted as white as the Imperial Knights— I’m going to do a little bit of eye candy in a little while.”
Oh, was that the purpose? The face of Rose, who dreams of a handsome man, was happiness and excitement itself.
‘Well, it’s okay with the face— Just the face.’
It’s not like they’re meeting and having a conversation anyway. It was at that moment that she realized the true meaning of the phrase ignorance is a medicine.