Chapter 40

The Beauty and the Troublemaker (5)

“Who are you referring to?”

“That woman.”

“She’s doing what to me?”

“That she likes you.”

Aaron literally froze at Gissley’s words. It was a moment when his past indifference, due to their arrangement being a mutual exchange of needs, now caught him by the ankle.

“She has feelings for you, so to that woman, you must be an incredibly precious person, and because she loves you, she must have felt she needed you. And ‘become stronger’ isn’t that just a roundabout way of saying she’s worried? Since you often go to the battlefield, after all.”

Aaron, who once took it for granted that a new woman would appear and confess to him with every step he took, now found Gissley’s observation unsettling as Gissley continued speaking.

“But no matter which family she’s from, that woman is quite something. A noble of the capital would surely have heard the rumors about Her Highness Legina and you, yet she had such courage. Well, regardless of the outcome, did she just want to convey her feelings?”

He didn’t hear the rest of the words. Aaron stared blankly at Gissley’s face, who was speaking casually with a smile, and began to mull over his words. He wanted to think it wasn’t true. Gissley didn’t know the person who said it was Legina, so he must have misunderstood. He wanted to believe that. However, Legina’s face, which immediately came to mind, created a crack of doubt in that belief.

She did show me much consideration.

From Legina’s perspective, it was a natural act of kindness, born from her desire for him, who had died prematurely in her past, to be safe, and her ambition to make him her ally. However, for Aaron, it was an unfamiliar consideration he had never received from anyone else. He had dealt with many people who approached him, expressing their affection with both body and mind, but this was the first time someone hid their affection and simply stayed by his side, making sure he didn’t notice. And to think this person intended to spend time with him under the grand title of a ‘contract relationship’!

If that were true, I would be doing something I shouldn’t to Her Highness.

He truly hoped such a thing wasn’t happening, but if Legina truly liked him and approached him under the pretense of a contract relationship, this arrangement would clearly cause her much pain. Yet he hadn’t even realized it and had merely seen it as an opportunity to fend off other bothersome women. Aaron, gritting his teeth at his own thoughtlessness and selfish decision, slammed his fist into his thigh.

“Aaron?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Really? Well, if you say it’s nothing, then it is. But… so you definitely refused, right?”

“No. I missed the timing to reply.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“Yes.”

“Then refuse her as quickly as possible. That way, she can move on quickly too. If you delay your answer, it creates hope. Other times it might be fine, but in this situation, that hope is particularly cruel.”

He still didn’t know for sure whether Legina truly liked him or not. However, he couldn’t simply ignore and bury the possibility he had just realized.

“I will come to a conclusion as soon as possible.”

Aaron, having made up his mind, replied, and Gissley looked at him as if he were proud. To briefly digress here, the greatest mystery of the Elliasian high society, the love story of Duke and Duchess Vestein, was actually a romance initiated by the Duchess, Barbara Vestein. If not for her efforts, the miracle of Duke Vestein marrying her would not have occurred. Furthermore, in the case of Egil Vestein, who believed in fated love, he was a grandiloquent oaf who dreamed of romantic love but was utterly incapable of utilizing his handsome looks and high status. As for Gissley, the eldest son of the Vestein family, whose situation was slightly better, if he hadn’t had the immense luck of falling in love at first sight with his fiancée Charlotte, who was arranged for him in childhood, he would have continued a desolate marital relationship like other nobles’ political marriages.

…The explanation has gotten long, but to summarize briefly, the men of the Vestein family were fools who didn’t even know the first letter of ‘love.’ No, what good was it to possess immense military power and a status that made others crane their necks to look up? Manly, cheerful personalities and striking looks? Those were merely their traits; despite being advantages, they were useless because they couldn’t be utilized. The problem here was that no one in the Vestein family realized this fact. Duke Vestein believed the woman he valued more than his own life was already his wife, Egil consoled himself by thinking he hadn’t yet met his fated love, and Gissley was confident he would be a decent lover and husband after hearing his parents’ love story. Aaron, who at least recognized that his personality wasn’t suited for romance, was a tiny bit better than them, but no matter how beautiful his face, the fact that he was a Vestein remained unchanged.

Two such men gathered, pondered a woman problem, and came to a conclusion. Was it truly the right answer? Martin, his friend and adjutant, who was waiting for Aaron to return from the border, if he had seen this scene, would have nagged him to stop spouting nonsense with his pretty face and instead swing his sword one more time. However, fortunately or unfortunately, Martin was far away at the eastern border, observing the movements of the barbarians, and it would still take a long time for the capital’s rumors to reach his ears. This meant that Aaron was slated to make a colossal blunder in the near future.

Legina, unaware that Aaron was heading towards such a black mark in his history, was stroking Riga’s head, who nestled into her arms, utterly deflated from Selma’s nagging that had continued late into the night. Selma’s nagging about not putting animals on the bed was heard again, but Legina couldn’t ignore the small ball of fur that clung to her side, refusing to give up no matter how much she pushed it away. Furthermore, as if sensing Legina’s dejection, even Leon, who usually wouldn’t come no matter how much she called him, lay with his bottom pressed against her thigh, pricking up his ears.

“If not for you two, tonight would have been truly sad and lonely.”

“Your Highness, I’m here too?”

“Hmm, I don’t hear the voice of a certain Una, who secretly ran away when I was getting scolded by scary Selma.”

“Are you sulking?”

“Riga, you adorable rascal. Should we sleep together tonight? Leon, let’s all sleep together.”

“Your Highness~ Please stop sulking now! Please? I even brought you a piece of incredibly helpful information!”

“…Whether it’s helpful or not, I’ll judge after I hear it.”

Una, realizing Legina wasn’t truly sulking, cautiously approached with a playful smile on her face and whispered in her ear.

“Sir Aaron’s birthday is coming soon!”

“Birthday?”

“Yes!”

“Did you find that out especially for me?”

“No.”

“Hmm?”

She had thought Una went to great lengths to find it out, as she whispered as if sharing a secret, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. Una gave a triumphant smile towards Legina, who tilted her head, then proudly announced, with both hands on her hips, “I didn’t know either, but Sir Aaron’s birthday is apparently a schedule shared among some young ladies as if it were a national holiday or anniversary!”

…You, too, are a young lady of a noble family, you know. Legina shook her head, looking at Una, who was acting as if she had forgotten she was the eldest daughter of Count Imar’s family. She resolved to give Una a vacation soon so she could visit her ducal family, and then fell into thought.

Aaron’s birthday, huh… What kind of gift should I give someone I’m smitten with? If I had known this, I would have ended today’s shopping at a reasonable point…

Legina had decided to splurge today, visiting all sorts of shops and ateliers in the capital, sweeping up gifts for Aaron. For a birthday, she needed to prepare something grander than today’s gifts… To be honest, she wasn’t confident.

“Your Highness? Was that information not very helpful? Or did you already know?”

“No, no. It was very good information, Una.”

“Then why do you look so gloomy?”

“Actually, today I… gave Sir Aaron some gifts.”

“What?”

“And a lot of them. So there are no more suitable gifts left for Sir Aaron in this capital.”

“How much did you spend…?”

“Hmm… Quite a lot? Roughly, enough gold coins to equal the flower petals a tyrant who ruined a country scattered to impress his concubine?”

She mumbled her answer, pretending not to notice Una’s gaze, fearing that if she revealed the specific amount, Una would cause a fuss and summon Selma. However, Una, true to her nature as Legina’s personal maid who had served her for a long time, understood the analogy and her face turned pale. The gold coins allotted and paid to Legina each month were by no means a small amount. Since it included the costs for the princess’s basic upkeep, it was an amount that could easily surpass a small territory’s budget for several months. Before, Legina would purposely save some of her allowance and return it to the imperial vault, or use those gold coins for charity in the slums on special occasions. In short, she had lived a life very far from overspending.

“Yo-Your Highness? That much money… in one day?!”

And now, she had apparently scattered money on the street. Not just scattered it, but had acted as a personal shopper, giving Aaron an incredible number of custom gifts. How was she to process this? Una’s pupils subtly trembled.

“Understand, Una. The problem was Sir Aaron, who could pull off anything, as if it were his from the start. Nothing looked bad on him.”

However, Legina, unaware of Una’s predicament, merely spoke with an expression of helplessness.

“I couldn’t help it. Everything suited him, and I’m not lacking in money, so I couldn’t just stingily tell him to pick only one, could I? So, since I was giving gifts anyway, I just ordered everything.”

“…If Madam Signy finds out…”

“You know, Una?”

“Yes?”

“A troublemaker doesn’t normally think about consequences. Isn’t that splendid?”

“Ah, yes… A troublemaker… Yes…”

Legina had, once again, given not only Selma but also Una a severe case of heartburn with the word ‘troublemaker.’

– Mochinuna.