Chapter 4: Is this cohabitation really okay?
Part 5
“What?”
Lila’s eyes widened in surprise and her mouth dropped open. That meant that the Duke was not yet an adult.
‘He’s a year younger?’
Lila guessed he was at least two years older than her, if not more, which wasn’t to say he didn’t look young.
He was so mature and calm in his speech and demeanor.
But she was so startled that she felt she had been rude in front of the other party, and Lila hastened to apologize.
“I apologize, Duke. I was mistaken and surprised.”
“I’m curious to know… what mistake you had.”
Looking at Lucas, who was sipping his tea with a calm expression that made it impossible to tell if he was offended or not, Lila apologized again.
“I thought you were older than me, with how you’re so polite in your tone and behavior…”
Embarrassed, Lila hurriedly picked up her teacup. As she quickly sipped the tea, she was surprised to find that it was hotter than she expected.
“Ah, hot!”
Unable to finish her sentence, Lila quickly put the teacup down, covered her mouth with her hands, and bowed her head.
Lucas quickly held out a handkerchief.
“Let me put this on you.”
“Take this.”
Meanwhile, Vincent brought a pitcher of cold water and set it down in front of Lila.
Lila hurriedly took the cold water into her mouth. She didn’t drink much, but it was so hot it made her mouth tingle.
“Are you okay?”
Seeing the concerned look on his face from across the room, Lila smiled shyly.
“I’m sorry. I misunderstood.”
Lucas shook his head, recognizing that this was an extension of what she had just said.
“I never told you, so, of course, you don’t know, and I hope you don’t mind.”
“Yes…”
“I don’t know why my prospective wife would want a new identity, but all I need to do is get married. After all, His Majesty has made my marriage conditional.”
The slightly irritated tone made Lila wonder.
Why would a ducal title be conditioned on marriage, much less the Duchess of Montefeltra, a member of the royal family?
Lila’s curiosity about Lucas was briefly piqued, as he was a character she hadn’t seen in the original story, but she pushed it aside.
There was no point in paying too much attention to a man who would be her husband for three years at most, two and a half at the most.
“My nephew will be entering the academy this coming summer, and I’ll only need your attention when he returns to the duchy during vacations.”
His words reminded Lila of the brat she had met in the garden.
He had a sharp tongue that belied his gentle and cute appearance.
Nodding, Lila replied.
“Of course, don’t worry about it, but isn’t the academy only starting in spring?”
Lila was familiar with the academy, which housed the imperial family and nobility of the empire.
Most of the time, only male nobles were admitted, and she knew that they were admitted in the spring.
It was a place that occasionally appeared in the original.
“My nephew is nine years old, so he won’t be able to officially enter the academy until next year, but he’s quite bright… he took the entrance exam last year, and the principal will send him there to get a feel for the school’s atmosphere and faculty.”
“Oh.”
As an academy where nobles gather, the standards are very high. It would not be common for someone to be admitted in advance with a recommendation from such a place.
“Congratulations, Duke.”
“Well, there’s no advantage to going early, but I’m sending him because he wants to. You might be disappointed to know that it’s not a very good place.”
Lucas’s expression was very cold as he spoke. He’d been there, so he knew what it was like.
“So, would you mind signing the papers?”
“Ah, yes.”
Lucas sent Vincent to fetch some special ink and pulled a quill pen with a fancy green feather from under the table.
Lila’s eyes widened at the unfamiliar object. The nib was of a high-grade magic stone.
The colors of the stones varied by rank.
Lower grades were red, intermediate grades were blue, higher grades were green, and finally, the rarest grade was transparent.
When the green nib was used to sign with the special ink, a glow would appear and disappear.
When she had finished signing, Lucas rolled up the two papers, dipped them in the water Vincent had prepared, and pulled them out.
“Huh?”
The ink and pen were not the only specialty products, and the paper dried quickly.
When Lucas unfolded the rolled paper, the contract was gone, including the signature she had just written.
“That’s how we do it in my family. We only use it for papers with confidentiality clauses.”
“Ah…”
Lila exclaimed as if it were something out of a novel.
“You seem like a mage.”
Both Lucas and Vincent stiffened at her words. But Lila didn’t notice.
She was too busy examining the pure white paper in front of her.
“Well, then, I must be off, Duke.”
“Yes, as you wish, wife.”
Lucas replied with a soft smile as if his rigidity were a lie.
Lila was embarrassed to hear him address her as his wife, after calling her his prospective wife.
Even though it was a contract, the thought of being married to him made her shudder.
“Yes… I will take good care of you in the future.”
“Yes, and I will do the same as your husband while you are in the duchy.”
“Yes, yes.”
“Well, then, I wish you a good day.”
“Yes, then…”
Smiling broadly, Lucas looked like a mischievous young man.
Partly because he had freckles, and partly because she heard he hadn’t had his coming of age yet.
Lila stood up, covering her spontaneously reddening cheeks with her handkerchief.
“Oops, I’ll give you your handkerchief back.”
On a whim, she held out the handkerchief, but Lucas slowly waved it away.
“I have more than enough handkerchiefs for my lady.”
“Very well, then… Have a good day, Duke.”
Lila lifted the hem of her skirt and bowed gracefully. Then she slipped out of the office, escorted by Vincent.
Lucas rolled his eyes as if searching for any trace of her exit. Then he took a deep breath.
“Hmm… Like a mage?”
The only people in the Empire who knew about mages were the royal family.
But the young lady of a minor barony knew about mages?
“I don’t know how to take this…”
Her appearance is so different from his childhood. A different look in her eyes.
And a look and tone that suggested she didn’t recognize him at all, even though she had met him briefly as a child.
Lucas felt like he was being poked with a needle.
“Do all women have wrists like that?”
Unlike her round body, her wrists and ankles, which he glimpsed at when she greeted him, were slender, and her exposed neck and jawline were no different.
Also, when he offered to return the handkerchief, he was most disturbed by the dirt on it.
“I wonder what it is. What’s so annoying?”
And finally, it was her scent that bothered him the most.
It was a sweet, spicy scent that filled his nostrils, spilling out like a burst of juice whenever she moved.
It reminded Lucas of young Lila, with those eyes that looked at him like he was an unpleasant, unclean object.
Scents seem to hold memories, and when he smelled a nostalgic scent, it brought back memories.
Of course, it’s not so much a memory as nostalgia.
“It’s useless.”
Lucas muttered in a low voice, his mind racing. It was efficient to work at times like this.
Getting up from the couch and returning to his desk, Lucas went through his usual routine of work and reviewing the papers on top.
He had a large stack of papers to hand over to his aide when he returns.
His fingers flicked through them slowly, then faster and faster as he concentrated. Before long, the scent that had been cluttering his head seemed to have evaporated completely.
