/
‘What is this…?’
While Diana was pondering for a moment, Cayden held his breath while stiff.
He couldn’t lift a single finger as the little hand that was in my hand was like a snare.
Then a memory flashed through his mind.
[So I grabbed it and then…!]
[Was it a tingling feeling? A sting?]
[Yes! No matter how much I think about it, I’ve never felt this kind of sense before. Isn’t there a saying like that? It’s not nonsense. It’s real. I can only explain this to you. That’s what I’m saying]
[Whatever. I don’t get paid any congratulatory money just because you have a stomach ache and think you need to get treatment.]
[What?]
Words he remembered while passing in front of the guard’s training ground when he was a child.
Why is it that it comes and fills his mind right now?
“Hey, are you okay?”
Kayden, who was looking at Diana’s hand with a new look, stopped and raised his head.
Then he suddenly saw the blue-violet eyes looking at him anxiously.
“It’s nothing… Just go.”
The look in his eyes flashed a thought that he might have been imagining rudeness.
Cayden moved his steps away, wiping his dry face with a hand that wasn’t touched by Diana.
The distance Diana walked into wasn’t that long. The two quickly reached the edge of the crowded square.
Cayden paused for a moment, holding Diana’s hand.
She had reached her destination and it was time that she should let go, but she didn’t want to let go of his hand. She felt as if she had become a child robbed of the gift she had been given.
‘…It sounds ridiculous.’
Cayden gave a small self-help and slowly removed his fingers.
Even so, the warmth that escaped through the cracks in her hands flinched for a moment and almost grabbed Diana.
Cayden hurriedly removed his hand so as not to be swept away by disrespect.
He opened his mouth hastily as Diana tried to turn around without remorse.
“The road is rough, so be careful.”
“What?”
Diana opened her eyes wide at those words and looked up.
Due to Rebecca’s policy to win the public opinion, the square was even more polished.
“…”
“…”
He wiped his face once more.
“I meant… to go in with caution.”
“Ah.”
“And from now on, if you have a chance to come to a place like this, it would be better to bring an escort.”
After speaking, Cayden disappeared into the alley without looking back.
Diana tilted her head and saw that the nape of his neck, which had been reflected under his hood, seemed to have turned red and she returned to the Susfield mansion.
~*~
“You crawled out without permission, and you’re only here now.”
“Lady.”
After Diana confirmed that Rebecca had left, she went to go back to her room, but ran into the Viscountess instead and hurriedly bowed.
‘Why not?’
She poked her tongue in a position where her face was hidden from the Viscountess’s view.
The reason was unknown, but she seemed very uncomfortable, so Diana might get a slap in the cheek.
‘It’ll probably hurt because it has been a long time since I’ve been hit.’
Since she went under Rebecca, no one dared to touch her, so it has been a while since she’s been like this.
Diana rolled her eyes and swallowed a sigh while foreseeing her torment to come.
The Viscountess, with a dissatisfied look on her face and folded her fan, turned her head.
“…The Lord is looking for you. Hurry up and go.”
“Yes?”
At those words, Diana raised her head involuntarily.
Then the Viscountess opened her eyes and shouted.
“Don’t make me say it twice!”
“Yes…”
“You’re acting like an idiot.”
Diana, who stood still until the sound of her footsteps faded away, instructed Hillasa to make her trip over her skirt on her way back, and then she went upstairs.
‘Why are you calling me all of a sudden? Are there more reasons?’
According to the Viscount’s nature, he should have been having a toast with Millard, rejoicing that he was engaged to Rebecca by now. Indeed, it has been so in the past.
However, he suddenly summons Diana, who had been living as if she had forgotten.
‘It must not be a good thing…’
~pls read only at pink muffin tl~
Diana almost frowned on her brow, but managed to straighten her expression.
Eventually, when she came in front of the Viscount’s room, she raised her hand and knocked.
“This is Diana.”
“Come in.”
When Diana got her answer back, she quietly opened her door and went inside.
Then the rainbow-colored diamonds that filled the room were the first to catch her eye.
‘How much is that?’
It was a very childish yet effective way to show off.
Diana shook her head while she bowed her head calmly on the outside.
“I heard you found it, my lord.”
It was then that she heard a voice completely unexpected in her ear.
“What is it with the lord? You should call me father.”
“…Yes?”
Was there something wrong with her ears? Has it ever been that way?
She almost spat the questions out loud.
Diana hurriedly bit her lips before her questions ran wild.
The Viscount, who had neglected Diana, coughed a couple of times, perhaps embarrassed.
With that, he looked at her with a serious face.
“Diana Susfield.”
It was the first time that Diana’s name was followed by Susfield’s surname. Twice as ominous.
Viscount Susfield opened his mouth with an inappropriately very friendly smile.
“A marriage offer has come to you.”
~*~
‘Who am I and where am I?’
There were no words that better expressed Diana’s feelings for her now than this.
‘I have no energy.’
The next day, she heard the story of her marriage.
They weren’t from the Viscount’s family, but a group of people came to the mansion at the Viscount’s orders.
[Oh my God, I can’t seem to keep my eyes open. I’ll have to trim the hair first. Melly! I need some help here!]
The woman, who introduced herself as Madame de Sue, clapped her hands at her assistant, despite Diana’s embarrassment.
With that sound as a starting point, the eyes of Madame de Sue and her assistants turned into combative enemies.
After that…
Trembling among scissors, many oils and perfumes, laces and tape measures…
Madame de Sue finally smiled as if the masterpiece of her life had been born, and the door to the carriage Diana was rushed in began to close.
[Lord, wait a minute. You didn’t even tell me who the other person was…]
[Uh-uh, call me father. You’ll find out all about it. You don’t have to come back tonight, so you have to do well.]
The Viscount, pretending to wipe tears on his handkerchief, locked the door of the carriage with his own hands.
Diana almost forgot to imitate herself from five years ago and spat out swear words.
In the past, she was quite confused by the sudden talk of marriage that she had not even noticed.
‘But what? Is it okay if I don’t come back tonight?’
No matter how pretentious it was, how would it come out of the mouth of a father?
‘Should I break it…?’
Diana stared at the wall of her carriage with her slender eyes.
But soon her eyes relaxed and she let out a sigh of relief with her young face in her resignation.
In fact, she was only this far, she was able to destroy it at once borrowing a little power from the higher spirits, but…
[Witch!]
As she recalled the gaze of contempt and hatred toward her in her previous life, her heart sank in an instant.
‘…Well, it’s true that it doesn’t look good. There is no record.’
Before her return, even Rebecca, who had wealth and power in her hands, could not find accurate data on the history of the dark spirits.
She knew that the dark spirits may resemble monsters, but they were not monsters, but they were also not people.
She was highly likely to be misunderstood as a special power again if Diana had used her powers openly in such a situation.
So she has no choice but to spare her body, at least for the time being, by pretending to be an illegitimate child with no power.
‘Plants without roots are nothing more than strange.’
Diana thought about it subconsciously, trying to erase the voices from her mind.
As she stared blankly out the window of her carriage for a while, her mind calmed a little.
‘…By the way, this has never happened in the past.’
Diana, who had regained her composure in time, frowned lightly at her regression.
If someone has really put her in a marriage, he’s probably trying to get something from the Viscount.
A huge dowry, or other financial stuff.
‘But the Viscount can’t pay a dowry for me. Who the hell are you to be so welcoming?’
In the end, the only way to know what happened was to meet the person and find out who he is.
Diana sighed as she thought so, and heard the voice of her coachman.
“We’re here.”
With the help of one of her maids, Diana got off the carriage and looked around her. She immediately turned her head to her puzzlement.
“Let’s go, miss.”
The carriage stopped at the entrance to the central garden of the Imperial Palace.