With an expression as if he were looking at an insect, Marquis Berto spoke more forcefully. “Come here, Giselle. Handsome and wild as I am, I’m graciously offering to hold your insignificant hand.”
When he said this, Giselle would usually extend her hand. But…
“Wow, what on earth are you saying right now?”
As soon as she finished speaking, the door opened a little wider… Crash! No, the whole door was actually smashed apart.
“I’m sorry, Giselle. I’ll compensate for it.”
“Oh, it’s nothing.” Giselle smiled sweetly, but Marquis Berto was flustered.
Duke Kalinos? Why are those two together?
Marquis Berto tried to mask his discomfort with a forced smile as he spoke. “…So, um, Duke Kalinos. Why are you with Giselle?” As if handling his own possession, he reached out roughly and carelessly to intimidate Giselle. “Giselle Florette, I commanded you to come here.”
Hearing this, Giselle let out a mocking laugh. At this unfamiliar laugh from her, Marquis Berto was so taken aback that his eyes widened.
Duke Kalinos, who had been watching him intently, whispered softly. “Marquis Berto.”
Though annoyed by Duke Kalinos’s intrusion between him and Giselle, Marquis Berto swallowed his anger and forced a gentle smile. “Yes, Duke Kalinos.”
“Get lost.”
“…Pardon? I didn’t quite catch that.”
“It’s two words. Why can’t you understand?”
“Well…”
“Stop interfering with my date and get lost immediately.”
Marquis Berto stammered in a trembling voice, clearly flustered. “…That, I didn’t catch the first part, but get lost? How could you say that to a fellow noble?”
“Marquis Berto, I’ve never considered you to be a noble like me.”
Giselle squeezed Duke Kalinos’s hand and flashed a grin at Marquis Berto. “That’s what he said~”
Marquis Berto’s lips quivered with rage. “Giselle, I need to talk to you. Come outside and let’s have a conversation.”
“Are you hard of hearing? What’s so important that you need to see her?”
Unable to admit he came just to hold her hand, Marquis Berto rubbed his face and made excuses. “I came looking for Giselle. She likes me so much, after all.”
“But I totally dis~like you? I hope that clears up any misunderstanding!”
As Giselle continued with her irritating tone, he clenched his teeth in frustration.
“If she doesn’t like you, why are you clinging so desperately? It’s nothing like the rumors said.”
It was a counterpunch delivered right in front of someone who made him feel inferior. As he shot a furious glare at Duke Kalinos, he lost control of his emotions and roughly reached out toward Giselle.
“Giselle is the one obsessed with me. Look at th―!”
But at that very moment, Giselle snapped her fingers with a lively motion, and suddenly, Marquis Berto’s hair caught fire.
“W-What is this?! Uaaah!”
Marquis Berto flailed wildly, trying to extinguish the fire. But Giselle, with a mischievous grin, replied without any intention of putting out the fire.
“Playing with fire?”
It lasted only about three seconds. By the time his bangs were singed and curly, Giselle chuckled and stomped her foot lightly. As the flames subsided, Marquis Berto stared at Giselle with a bewildered expression.
“You, know how to use ma-magic?”
“You know how to wield a sword, so why wouldn’t I know how to use magic? Your fa~ce is quite burnt, isn’t it?”
Thanks to Giselle’s fiery display, his face was covered in soot, but she smirked mockingly, pressing her advantage.
“Well, if I’m in a really good mood, I might just do you a favor.”
“What do you mean by that―!”
Now, let the feedback hell begin.
“Why did you come looking for me? What’s the exact reason? Why do you delude yourself into thinking I like you? Do you usually have delusions like this?”
Marquis Berto stiffened as Giselle’s rapid-fire questions continued without pause.
“―Do you hit on other women in such a dumb way too? Is your choice of words always this poor? Are you planning to continue living so pathetically? Do you usually not think things through? Just a simple bit of feedback, please!”
The more he apologized and answered, the deeper he sank into the mire.
Duke Kalinos was ready to press the sharpened blade closer to Marquis Berto’s neck. He once again poked the tip of Marquis Berto’s neck with the tip of his sword. It was a vital spot, causing Marquis Berto to stagger backward in haste.
“Why? Do you think I’m a naive puppy just because I’m staying quiet?”
As Marquis Berto endured the pain in his head, neck, and wrist, Giselle added a mocking remark.
“Aha! I think the duke means, stop being so pathetic and get lost!”
People often have no countermeasures for sudden attacks. And Marquis Berto couldn’t say a word and just fumed.
Giselle grinned and waved her hand at him with a light gesture. “Next time we meet, make sure you have answers to my questions. Oh, and take care of yourself. Don’t act ‘vulgar.’ Was your journey so tough that you had no time to care for your appearance?” Delivering a strong retort as she always did, Giselle looked at Duke Kalinos.
Duke Kalinos, perceptive as ever, firmly grasped Giselle’s hand. Giselle rummaged in her pocket and cheerfully tore a teleport scroll.
Marquis Berto watched helplessly as Giselle vanished beyond the teleport, grinding his teeth and shouting. “Giselle Florette, how dare you!”
But the person to hear his cries was already gone. Only his pitiful voice echoed in the empty air.
* * *
Just after Giselle used teleportation magic to leave, Marquis Berto stood alone, dazed, in front of a house that looked like a ruin. The latch had fallen off the door, leaving it swaying on its hinges.
“What on earth…?”
That foolish Giselle had really left like that. Daring to hold Duke Kalinos’s hand instead of his. A woman who had been used countless times by him, and by Duke Reshaniel, yet still foolishly swayed by any man she sees.
But compared to your usual foolishness, this was quite a blow, Giselle.
To dare leave him and go to Duke Kalinos, who had humiliated him greatly. Her jealousy-inducing tactic worked, didn’t it? The thought of Duke Kalinos, that arrogant man’s gaze, twisted his stomach with inferiority.
Does Duke Kalinos also know about Giselle’s power and intend to use her?
Giselle had a mysterious ability to soothe his headaches. It was likely that Duke Kalinos had noticed her unique constitution and intended to use her as a test subject. Thinking of it that way, Giselle seemed all the more foolish.
I’ll make sure she pays for daring to betray me, and then I’ll pick her up as if picking up trash. He sincerely, with all his heart, wished for Giselle to come on the Feast of Saint Gladius.
“I should summon Lady Shabel.”
* * *
Inside a small restaurant, Lady Shabel, who aspired to be Marquis Berto’s beloved fiancée and the flower of the social scene, looked at the marquis with a charming smile.
“First, let me thank you, Marquis! I received the painting you drew, <The Weeping Woman>! I hear it’s being exhibited at the gallery?”
“Yes, that’s correct. It’s just a simple hobby of mine.”
Upon returning from his voyage, he had displayed a painting he had done in the past under a pseudonym at the gallery, and he was quite pleased with the unexpectedly positive response.
Then, Shabel lightly changed the subject. “Hehe, still, I’m most looking for~ward to the Feast of Saint Gladius!”
“Ah, yes. Indeed.”
Shabel stole a glance at Marquis Berto’s handsome face and suddenly thought of Giselle. She knew that Giselle often visited Marquis Berto’s mansion. “Ah, by the way, Marquis. Will that woman be coming too? The one who keeps following you around.”
“Ah, you mean Giselle Florette.”
“Yesss.” Shabel playfully stretched her words before delivering a pointed remark. “It bothers me. Every time people talk about Marquis Berto, they only mention that woman.”
“Ha, that woman is utterly worthless. Her conduct is vulgar, and she’s foolish. She’s not even worth mentioning by someone as lovely as Lady Shabel.”
“But that woman keeps clinging to you, even though you have a fiancée.”
“Of course, Lady Shabel. You are my only lady. And the one who will receive the victor’s flower at the Feast of Saint Gladius is none other than Lady Shabel.”
The victor’s flower. It is the flower given to the winner of the swordsmanship competition held on the first day of the Feast of Saint Gladius. The winner receives the flower and presents it to their lady, and the lady…
“Shall we toast to the beauty of Lady Shabel, who will become the flower of the social scene?”
“Yes, I’d love that!”
Seeing Shabel’s radiant smile made his worries melt away like snow.
Indeed, Shabel was the only woman suitable for him. Not someone vulgar, lowly, and incompetent like Giselle.
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Aham sei 😏