Rejected by Daughter’s Second Male Lead Chapter 73

And so, Gillen had a late lunch at Yuan’s mansion, enjoyed tea time, and then returned to the Blake estate in an instant via Yuan’s teleportation magic. There was a small incident where a passing maid shrieked in terror when Gillen suddenly appeared in the first-floor lobby, but other than that, everything was fine.

‘It’s surprisingly not bad…’

The meal, which the robot chef had supposedly prepared since dawn, was indeed full of care and delicious. Throughout the meal, Yuan didn’t get on Gillen’s nerves even once, and instead showed the surprising side of taking care of him in various ways.

And how excellent was the tea served during tea time. When he had visited before, he had been inwardly surprised by the terribly bad tea, but it seemed Yuan had purchased new tea leaves since then.

During tea time, two servants he had never seen before appeared and massaged Gillen’s shoulders and feet—Gillen gave them names as well.

The journey home was also comfortable. It was only natural, as he had arrived in one second. All the experiences he had at that house since yesterday had been quite good.

‘The sex… honestly, I barely remember the end… but it was fucking amazing.’

Just reminiscing about it was enough to make his lower abdomen ache. Gillen felt like he was finally beginning to understand why so many people were so crazy about sex.

‘I must ask him to cast a healing spell next time, too.’

Gillen was naturally anticipating their next sexual encounter while catching up on his work.

“Dad! You’re back?”

Cecilia, who had just returned home, burst through the door and called for Gillen. Her voice, like rolling jade beads, echoed from downstairs and was utterly lovely.

“Oh, Cecil! Dad’s coming down! My daughter.”

Gillen, who was in the study, shot up from his seat. For a moment, he remembered how Yuan had swiftly caught and supported him when he had gotten up like this from Yuan’s bed. Yuan’s hands and arms were firm, and the scent of his pheromones that wafted close was sweet and sour, tingling his nose.

But why am I thinking about that bastard?

“Ahem!”

Gillen shook his head to clear the image of Yuan. He hadn’t realized that he had been replaying his time with Yuan in his mind until now.

He energetically left the study and ran down to the first floor.

“Cecil! My daughter, did you have a good time? I missed you.”

“We saw each other last night, what do you mean you missed me? I heard you were drinking with Yuan yesterday. You two must get along pretty well. Did you have fun?”

Cecilia didn’t seem to have any particular thoughts about Gillen staying out all night. Rather, she seemed to think it was a good thing that Gillen had made a new friend. Gillen was slightly surprised by her breezy and bright question.

“Uh, yeah, I guess so. He’s not a bad friend, once you talk to him.”

“He and I don’t get along very well, though.”

“Mhm, right. Who in this world could get along with that friend? Ha! Ha! Ha!”

Gillen, who had just had amazing sexual chemistry with him yesterday, laughed loudly, feeling a pang of guilt.

“Anyway, Dad. I had a talk with Hexion today.”

“You, you didn’t happen to spend the night with His Highness the Crown Prince, did you?”

A murderous glint flashed in Gillen’s eyes. Cecilia frowned.

“Why would I spend the night out? I came home after the party ended at dawn yesterday. Anyway, Dad! It seems His Majesty the Emperor looked upon you and Yuan quite favorably yesterday. He seems to believe you’re really dating him.”

“R-really?”

“So he gave Hexion a little hint. That if you want to gain momentum for the budget proposal, you’ll need to amplify the voices of the people.”

“Oho.”

If that was true, it was as good as the emperor sending Gillen a message through his children. A message that said, ‘I’ll back you up, so you cooperate too.’

It meant that a great cause like public sentiment was needed to prevent the temple and the nobles from joining forces. It seemed the emperor had decided to side with Gillen for now.

“So Hexion and I came up with an idea. It was effective when you danced with Yuan and pretended to be close at the party yesterday. How about touring the major cities and promoting your relationship as lovers in the same way?”

“Promoting?”

“Yes. You and Yuan would go on a trip that’s part-travel, part-promotion. You’d ride in a carriage with large windows, so people can see inside. Sometimes you’d ride horses, too. Like, ‘We’re dating,’ ‘We get along well,’ ‘I definitely didn’t bully Yuan!’”

“Wait a minute. So, Cecil… are you telling your dad to go on a national concert tour with Yuan?”

“Oh my, hahaha! You could put it that way! Dad, you’re so witty.”

No, my daughter… I don’t think this is the time to be laughing.

“Hexion decided to send a letter to Yuan. Since it was something His Majesty the Emperor mentioned directly, we thought he’d listen if it were delivered formally. There’s a high chance he wouldn’t listen and be stubborn if you told him, right?”

Cecilia said, indirectly criticizing Yuan’s personality. Gillen gave a faint smile. I feel like he would listen to me now… For some reason, he had that thought.

But it could have just been Gillen’s delusion, and the probability of refusal would decrease if the Crown Prince was the one asking, so in many ways, Cecilia was right.

After that, Cecilia gave him a lot of advice, such as, ‘No teleportation magic. You have to show them in person.’, ‘Stay away from teleportation stations if possible.’, ‘Bring a map. I’ll point out the places you need to go.’

And so, just as Cecilia had said, a few days later, Gillen set off on a national concert tour with Yuan.

The rules of the concert tour were quite strict.

First, visit eight cities in the Moore Empire.

Second, always use a horse or carriage for travel.

Third, frequent crowded places and stay at public inns.

Fourth, always show the image of lovers in love.

Normally, nobles’ travels in this world involved short travel times thanks to teleportation stations. But this time, they couldn’t use magic, so it took a long time. Besides, although it was the tail end, the Harvest Thanksgiving Festival was still being held, so there were many people everywhere they went. This meant that travel would not be easy.

It was expected to be even more troublesome because they were not going alone, but in the style of a honeymoon trip, taking the Blake family’s servants and knights with them—it was decided that the Hampton family’s robots would be excluded from this procession.

“It would have been nice if we could use teleportation.”

As Gillen, sitting side by side with Yuan in the carriage, muttered this, Yuan next to him let out a hollow laugh.

“Even if we could use it, I’d be the one using it, and even if someone’s disappointed, it should be me. Why is Gillen making a fuss?”

He was consistently addressing him as ‘Gillen,’ and every time he did, Gillen wanted to burst out laughing at how cute he was, but at the same time, he felt a strange sense of pity and would purse his lips. Gillen calmed his heart and replied nonchalantly.

“You’re right. Why would I be disappointed? Have I become too accustomed to your teleportation magic? Ha! Ha! Ha!”

He added a little joke.

Yuan didn’t say much in response, but he pouted his lips as if he liked the joke. He was trying hard to hold back his laughter.

Cute bastard. So transparent, so transparent.

“Still, a trip like this is nice sometimes. This is how we used to travel in the old days.”

Of course, the ‘old days’ Gillen was referring to was before he was transmigrated, but Yuan took it to mean before the teleportation stations were created.

“What era are you talking about?”

“Hahaha!”

The start of the trip was surprisingly fine. After completing the approximately two-month-long national concert tour, the time for the budget proposal would approach. By then, the entire empire would perceive Duke Blake as a ‘good-natured man in true love,’ and the false accusation Gillen had borne would fade away and disappear.

At that time, he could once again prove his relationship with Yuan, announce that public opinion had turned, and conduct a large-scale promotion for the charity work Gillen was promoting.

“Wait, I could even promote the Marian Orphanage and the Blake Foundation while traveling. That’s killing two birds with one stone, isn’t it?”

“Do as you please. It doesn’t really matter to me. My role is just to stick by Gillen’s side, isn’t it?”

“That’s right, you don’t need to worry about it. I’ll take care of everything. This trip could really be a golden opportunity. Could it be that His Majesty the Emperor foresaw this and suggested it?”

As Gillen marveled, Yuan cut in bluntly.

“There’s no way. Didn’t Cecil suggest this trip first? The Emperor just said the words, but it was Cecil who foresaw the promotional effect for the charity.”

“Hoh, right! It was my Cecil who foresaw it! Isn’t she amazing? How can she be so smart? She’s my daughter, but really… By the way, Yuan, I told you to always use honorifics when we’re outside!”

“Alright, alright.”

Having successfully diverted Gillen’s attention from the emperor to Cecilia, Yuan didn’t get very angry even when he was nagged. He still felt a fireball surge in his stomach whenever he recalled the emperor’s smooth and passably handsome face.

‘This must be because of my characteristic nature of resisting authority.’

Yuan slowly nodded his head. He never considered that this feeling might be petty jealousy. There was no way he was the kind of narrow-minded person who would bring up even the daughter just because he disliked Gillen mentioning another man!

Yuan, a self-proclaimed born resistor, glanced at Gillen sitting next to him and smiled faintly. Then he paused.