Chapter 10

I barely suppressed the fierce curiosity urging me to dig into his past, then gently comforted Linus.

“If you don’t have your memories, so what? You’re living as the Duke of Piction now, aren’t you? All you need is to live well from here on.”

He had forgotten his past, and I had to hide mine, but either way, what mattered was the future we would live.

I lightly patted the back of Linus’s hand, which was clenched into a fist.

At the cautious comfort, he slowly lifted his red eyes and stared at me for a long moment before asking:

“Why are you kind to me?”

Because you look like someone a person would want to be kind to.

That would’ve been the correct answer, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it aloud, so I gave another answer.

“Well, because we’re friends.”

“Were Ayrbet and I friends?”

Linus asked, looking straight at me with jewel-like eyes.

Wait, didn’t we agree to be friends?

No… did we ever actually say that?

As I retraced our conversations, I remembered that I had unilaterally decided to make him my walking companion.

But even so… come on. We walked together, he agreed to keep my secret, I comforted him… shouldn’t that be more than enough to count as friends?

Even our fathers were close friends; wouldn’t continuing that friendship into the next generation be nice?

This was starting to hurt my feelings.

“You don’t want to be friends with me?”

“No.”

I asked directly, sure that no one could refuse when asked so plainly, but he flat-out rejected me.

Wow. That stung.

Then why did he smile at me like honey melting in the sun?

Feeling both hurt and embarrassed, I asked sharply:

“Why? Do you dislike me?”

“Of course not. I like you.”

With his answer, Linus smiled brighter than spring flowers in full bloom.

His smile grew even deeper as I blinked at the unexpected reply.

Oh my, look at this boy.

He likes me, but doesn’t want to be friends.

Honestly. Seriously.

Did I accidentally steal the heart of this tragic, amnesiac handsome duke?

Father told me not to grow close to him, but now what am I supposed to do?

I was so troubled that my lips couldn’t help but droop.

* * *

I couldn’t give any kind of answer to Linus’s confession.

I did quite like his honey-sweet face, but thinking beyond that was too complicated given my situation.

A world impurity daring to date? Even a cat would laugh at that.

I was worried he might ask me to start a relationship, but as if reading my thoughts, Linus didn’t say anything else.

We chatted lightly after that and parted ways, and until today, there’s been no word from him.

In a way, it was good not to meet him often, for Father’s sake, but having seen that sweet face three days in a row and then suddenly not seeing it made me feel oddly disappointed.

Surely I’d see him today.

A duke wouldn’t possibly be uninvited.

Thinking that I should talk to him when we met, I stepped into the imperial banquet hall.

Today was the long-awaited day when the engagement of this world’s male protagonist, Heide, and female protagonist, Larienne, would be announced.

At last, The Butterfly Garden’s Secret Affair was officially beginning.

To see the scene in person rather than words on a page.

My heart fluttered as I walked deeper into the hall beside my father.

“Please let nothing happen today…”

Muttering while recalling the nightmare of last week’s gate, I heard Father beside me speak.

“What did you say?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“If you’re feeling unwell, don’t hold back, tell me immediately.”

“It’s nothing like that, Father. I’m fine.”

“If you feel tired, return early. Understand?”

“Yes. Don’t worry.”

When I replied with a smile, the wrinkle between his brows finally eased.

Ruby and Father both still couldn’t quite believe that I was healthy now.

Should I swing a sword in front of him to reassure him?

Leaving behind a string of casual yet deeply caring instructions, Father went toward the group of pro-imperial nobles.

And I scanned the hall for familiar young ladies.

I spotted Rene and Christine in the distance and started toward them, then I saw Linus.

For a moment, I thought a statue was standing against the wall, but when I looked again, it was him.

In this bustling banquet hall where everyone gathered in groups and chatted, he stood alone.

With looks that could dominate a whole room, how had Linus never appeared in the novel?

Maybe he’d been left out because he was a loner.

Still… he was a duke. How could not a single person be speaking to him?

I changed direction and walked toward the solitary Linus.

“Linus, fancy seeing you again.”

When I spoke, a flowerlike smile bloomed on Linus’s previously expressionless face.

“It seems Ayrbet is the only one in Arendel who welcomes me.”

He smiled brightly and offered his hand, and I naturally placed mine atop his.

I thought he wanted a handshake, but Linus bent down and kissed the back of my hand.

“I heard this is how one greets a lady.”

He lifted his head and said proudly.

It seemed he had taken a crash course in Dioretta Empire noble etiquette in the last few days.

The problem was that I, the lady, wasn’t familiar with the etiquette at all.

A sudden hand-kiss startled me.

In my previous life, as a mere dungeon slave, the only things that had ever touched the back of my hand were monsters.

Well, more like slammed their jaws into my fist, but still.

Anyway, I was so shocked that I forgot what I was going to say.

As I stood there mumbling nonsense, Linus let go of my hand with an awkward smile.

Then he glanced around and spoke with a lonely expression.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have done that.”

When I looked behind me, I saw every noble nearby watching us.

More precisely, they were watching the scene of a sheltered duke’s daughter who’d awakened after ten years greeting a man of questionable origins with a hand-kiss.

Seeing their reaction, I began to feel annoyed.

Linus wasn’t even a monster, was a simple hand-kiss really something to whisper about?

I was about to take him out of the hall when Rene and Christine spotted me and hurriedly called out.

“Lady Titanoa. There you are. We’ve been looking everywhere.”

“You were? For a while?”

“We needed to speak with you. Please, come talk with us for a moment.”

“Excuse me? Wait, but I was talking with…”

I tried to say I had been speaking with him, but Rene and Christine each hooked their arms through mine.

Before I could protest, they were already dragging me away.

As they pulled me along, I glanced back at Linus.

“I’ll meet you in the Butterfly Garden later.”

I mouthed the words softly, unsure if he understood.

Rene and Christine set me down in a quiet corner and lowered their voices as if sharing a secret.

“Lady Ayrbet. Please don’t get close to him.”

It was absurd. They wore faces full of worry, kind even, yet told me not to associate with Linus.

Truly unbelievable.

Rene and Christine had been the only old friends who visited me while I was unconscious.

So I’d wanted to grow close again, but if they were the sort of people who ostracized someone innocent, perhaps I needed to reconsider.

Loosening Rene’s arm from mine, I asked in a firm voice:

“Why? Did the Duke of Piction do something wrong?”

“Oh my, Lady Ayrbet. You knew he was the Duke of Piction?”

“Yes. And I’m aware of the rumors about him too.”

They must’ve assumed I didn’t know anything and had greeted him out of ignorance.

But I’d just made it clear that I didn’t care about those rumors, leaving them visibly flustered.

Exchanging a glance with Christine, Rene leaned closer and whispered so softly I almost missed it.

“You even know about the rumor that he killed someone?”

“Linus killed someone?”

This time, I couldn’t help reacting.

I raised my voice without meaning to.

Christine opened her mouth to answer, but just then, the herald’s booming voice echoed across the hall, announcing the entrance of the Emperor and Crown Prince.