* * *
“The Duke, long time no see.”
“Ah, the Marquis of Verdandi. Long time no see.”
He drove the horse and pretended to know the Duke, who came next to him.
“Isn’t it your first hunting contest in nearly a year? Come out more often. I’m going to forget your face.”
“Haha, hunting doesn’t suit my aptitude.”
“You’ll get better as you go on.”
The Duke liked the polite young Marquis.
He lost his father and became the head of the family, but he was a talented man who was able to lead the latter even at a young age.
‘Now He’ll be perfectly seated with a woman who can stand by him…..’
There were some aristocrats who treated the young Marquis as a favorite because he had not yet married.
The Duke, who had been close to the latter from the previous generation, was troubled by the inability to sit next to the vacant branch even after the year passed.
“Did you get any presents from the ladies?”
“Maybe it’s been so long since I’ve been out, but unfortunately, I don’t think I have a share to come back to me.”
Vuinter replied with an awkward smile.
It was a sound that would make the maids burst into anger when they heard it, which had been swarming since the morning into the late writer’s campground.
Not knowing that he had refused all the gifts with a single stroke, the Duke kicked his tongue with grief.
“Well, you’re just like my sons. You should get married and start a family.”
“The Duke must have received a gift wishing at this hunting competition..”
Vuinter added, glaring at the Duke’s left chest.
“The amulet you’re wearing on your chest stood out from afar. I think it was made by a great craftsman.”
“Hmm! Is that so?”
As expected, the Duke’s face lit up at once to see if it was a topic that was brought up for nothing.
He stretched his shoulders so that the amulet attached to his chest could be seen better.
“My sons don’t know if they have their eyes on the back of their heads. You have a good eye, sir.”
“No, it’s a decoration worthy of the duke’s dignity, so everyone but me would have noticed it.”
“Haha! This guy, abudo!”
The Duke grinned and bragged as if it weren’t.
“Ehm. My youngest daughter has a rather high standards.”
At that moment, Vuinter’s hand, holding the reins, flinched.
It was such a slight disturbance that no one would notice.
“…is this a gift from the princess?”
“Well, even if you don’t need this, you’re forced to take care of it. Who in the Inca Empire can touch me? Something expensive with teleport orders on it, you know!”
In a subtle tone that does not know he is boasting or angry when hearing it, the Duke repeated that it had been engraved with “expensive teleport orders” several times.
With a loud voice, the surrounding nobles glanced at such duke and his chest.
“The Princess really have an eye.”
As if he had been agitated when, Vuinter suddenly drew a polite smile that seemed to have turned his mask upside down.
“It’s a meaningful gift from the princess.”
“You think so too, don’t you?”
The middle-aged man’s mouth immediately opened wide, overshadowing his anger for giving it to him.
“Yes, of course.”
Vinter gave an answer that he might want.
The Duke, who was smiling happily after showing off his daughter’s gift, looked at him belatedly to return his praise.
Just in time, I noticed a sparkle on the sleeve of the latter piece of clothing.
“Your cuffs look pretty good, too. The color suits you very well.”
It was a cuff with a dark blue turquoise, which resembles the eye color of a vacant lot.
This time, Vuinter’s face brightened up.
“Really? I got it as a gift, and I’m glad the Duke recognized it.”
“You didn’t get any share from the ladies, I think You’ve got a partner in the meantime?”
The Duke asked back with astonished eyes, and soon asked with joy.
“What family’s is she from? Come on, be a man and speak it out. Now it’s time for me to see as your father!”
“……we’re not in that relationship.”
Vuinter replied with a vague expression. It was true.
However, the Duke seemed to have no faith at all.
“You’re not in that relationship! Seeing that you’re wearing it all the way here, it seems like we’re not on a normal relationship. Give me a hint about who it is.”
The Duke’s eyes glistened with curiosity like young lady, who had heard rumors of scandal.
The assumption that she might be the youngest daughter of her own did not seem to be at all.
With a perplexed face, Vuinter wondered how to avoid the situation.
It was that moment.
Suddenly, He could feel a glance on his face.
There were countless glances here.
The eyes of the nobles, who were curious about the actions of the only Duke of the Empire, and the young children who looked at The Marquis with a look of envy, were drawn.
By the way, it was strange.
As soon as He casually raised his head, He could find it immediately.
She has dark pink hair and blue-green eyes that stand out among many people, and is staring at him.
“……she’s a girl with a bad smile.”
Unconsciously, a tip came out asking for a Duke.
“Hmm? She has bad smile?”
“Whenever she run into me, she always keep her distance and say no.”
It really was.
‘Maybe it’s because she don’t like the impression of the second meeting..’
Winter recalled the end of the meeting not long ago.
—Well. Is there anything else we can meet again.
Her voice, which left little room for him, calmly said goodbye.
But she doesn’t know who he is, the magician wearing a rabbit mask.
— No, it’s okay.
— I told the informations guild that I wouldn’t get an answer for his return.
So as yesterday, even in the later meeting, the reason for drawing the line coldly was not explained.
People were always easily attracted to his polite appearance.
Young ladies, in particular, were bound to blush and laugh shyly at the slightest courtesy.
It wasn’t that different when it covered its face with a rabbit mask.
‘But that woman….’
It was only then that Vuinter realized that he was quite concerned about Penelope’s attitude.
‘She never smiled.’
The princess, who was driving a lush rumor, was much colder, sharper, and more beautiful than the rumour.
“So…”
Again today, with a sullen look, a faint smile stood around his mouth.
“Sometimes that smile, it seems, is precious to me.”
* * *
It was around the time when my eyes met with Vuinter’s
[Favorability 32%]
I opened my eyes to his sudden glittering favorability.
I blinked my eyelids several times because I thought I was mistaken, but it was the same.
‘What? 6% because we made eye contact?’
It’s not even normal mode, and this damn game couldn’t have been so generous in hard mode.
I looked at the two men in turn, dumbfounded.
The Duke, who was listening to what Vuinter said with a serious face, suddenly smiled broadly and tapped the shoulder of the Vuinter vigorously.
“…Ju…Hee…You’re into it!”
He seemed to speak in a loud voice, but the surroundings were so noisy that I heard it cut off and off.
‘What the hell are you two talking about?’
At the Duke’s words, Vuinter just smiled a knowing smile.
It was when I was tilting my head at the favorable impression that he had risen for no reason.
“Oh, look over there! It’s the Little Duke of Eckart and the second duke!”
One of the women right next to him exclaimed and pointed somewhere.
Turning my head unconsciously after them, I found two men heading toward the Duke.
‘I guess ML is a real ML..’
Riding on black and white horses, they were more imposing and dignified than any other nobleman.
A low sigh came as I see their appearance.
“Oh, my God, how can you be so dashing?”
“If I give Derek a embroidered handkerchief, will he accept it?”
“I prepared a guardian bracelet for Leonard!”
The ladies around made a sick sound as they looked at them.
The girls, who had been making a fuss at that age, soon approached them carefully.
Looking around, there were many women rushing out of their seats as if it was time to deliver gifts.
Most of them were headed toward Derek and Leonard.
‘Even after learning how dog-like their temper is, will they be able to make a dashing sound?’
I laughed coldly at the figures.
Then I thought it was “oh-oh” and wrote it down in my pocket.
It was a small velvet box that came out of my hand.
I looked down at it and thought it over.
‘Who should I give it to?.’
Previously, there were a total of three amulets bought from the top of the weapon. Emily’s and the Duke’s.
And the other was the extra for a possible situation.
If I didn’t attend the hunting competition, I was going to give it to Eckliss, and if I did, I thought I would have something to use as a part of my life.
However, I also thought it would be better to give it to one of the MLs.
I kept thinking about who I’d give it to, but Derek was dropped out of the game because of his bad talk in the morning.
‘I was just going to give it to him right away because I was a little touched yesterday..’
But when I saw the branch next to the Duke, I was worried again.
[Favorability 32%] and [Favorability 31%].
Vuinter and Leonard’s favorability was a slight 1 percent difference.
The plan to give gifts to Vuinter here, no longer be involved, was scrapped.
Do you think about taking risks and using them as insurance once again? Or do you hear more often of Leonard’s mocking medley…
It was then.
“Is it my gift?”
The hand that suddenly came out of the back and snatched the velvet box like an eagle, who snatched the prey.
