CH 64

<CHAPTER 64

“Hmm, a party.”

“It’s pretty big this time. Lucia, are you sure you want to come?”

Lucia looked at the invitation Christine had given her and smiled.

“Of course. It’s the official launch of your business. I’ll come with Bern. Is that okay?”

“Of course! Of course, I’ll have to send another invitation to the Marquis of Casper!”

“Ho-ho, I’ll see a lot of beautiful women there, won’t I?”

Hearing Brian’s words, Christine pouted and looked at him.

“You still have nothing but women in your head, when are you going to grow up?”

“I can’t help it, pretty girls can’t get enough of me, that’s why handsome men are sinners.”

“Well, I pity anyone who would marry you.”

Lucia giggled at the sight of Christine and Brian still bickering.

Lucia visited Christine’s house after a long time. He and Brian were the only visitors to see if only close people were invited.

“Brian, don’t you think you should settle down a bit? You can’t live like that forever.”

“Lucia, are you even saying that?”

“Take it from her. Lucia would have said the same thing.”

Christine poured herself another drink, and Brian leaned back in his chair with an approving look on his face.

“I’m going to be living with the woman my father chose for me anyway, so a little deviation is a good thing.”

Brian replied, his handsome face set in a grim line.

There was a sense of pressure in his voice.

“Is your father still pushing you around?”

Christine frowned, sensing something was wrong, and Brian glanced at her.

“He always has, thank goodness I’m the second oldest, so I have a little more freedom than you do, though I’m such an asshole it doesn’t matter.”

Brian was the second son of the Earl of Chersis, a knight for generations. Naturally free-spirited, he grew up oppressed under a stern father and had many grievances against his father and family.

Perhaps that’s why he always wanted to be the opposite of what his father wanted him to be.

‘Is that where his attraction to women comes from?’

He likes women and changes his girlfriends frequently, but he’s not a scandalous or debauched person.

He tends to live by his own rules and certain lines.

On the contrary, they heard that people who approached the appearance of being free often fall out because it was different from what they thought.

“Still, as you say, I should end this kind of life soon…….”

“Yes, you better do, what if your future fiancée misunderstands you?”

“Of course, he should get along well with his fiance. It’s the man’s fault because there’s nothing wrong with his fiancee.”

As expected, Lucia showed her straight face and smiled lightly.

“Come on, why don’t we get engaged? Our parents know each other, so we can talk about it…….”

Brian whispered to Christine with a smirk that was almost too good to be true.

Christine glared at him, unable to contain her disdain.

“That’s horrible to think about, and you shouldn’t say that, even in jest.”

“I’m not kidding, I’m serious, and it makes me so sad that you don’t know how I feel.”

Christine shook her head as Brian looked like he was crying on purpose. Still, she glanced over at him.

Lucia, who had been watching their usual conversation from afar, scratched her head.

‘Does Brian like Christine?’

Now that she thought about it, she remembered Brian saying something like that to Christine every once in a while.

He wasn’t asking her out, so why was he asking her to get engaged?

‘Brian doesn’t like me, and I want to marry him, but he avoids me at the drop of a hat.’

This is what Brian’s ex said to her once when she ran into her in tears.

She knows, he never seems to bring up the subject of engagement or marriage with his lovers.

Lucia squinted and stared at Brian, and Brian, who was playing with Christine, turned his head.

“What, did I get something on my face?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing.”

Snapping out of her thoughts, Lucia scratched her cheek absently.

“Oh, that’s right. Brian, you said you had business at the Phoenaeus mansion tomorrow, didn’t you?”

Lucia’s hand twitched as Christine mentioned Phoenaeus to her lips.

“I wanted to give him an invitation in person, but I couldn’t reach him, so would you please deliver this invitation tomorrow?”

“Of course. Okay. I’ll give it to Herwin.”

Brian took another invitation and tucked it into his pocket.

“I was going to come myself since I haven’t heard from him either. What’s going on with him that I haven’t heard from him?”

“I don’t know, it’s not like it’s been going well, but… maybe something’s been going on?”

“I don’t think he’d be busy at this time of year…….”

As Lucia listened to their conversation, she thought about Herwin.

She hadn’t written to him or spoken to him since the day she decided to give up on him.

‘……I think we were fine last time.’

He’d seemed fine until he’d driven her home.

‘Of course, I was in a bad mood when we parted ways.’

Lucia gave a self-deprecating laugh, though she briefly wondered if it was because of the conversation she’d had with him.

‘Of course not.’

Too much self-consciousness. Lucia shook her head, her imagination running wild.

* * *

“What? Where are you going?”

“I told you, Christine’s having a party tonight.”

Lucia, who was getting dressed for the party, frowned at Lucas’ sudden entrance.

He hadn’t been home for days and now he was making a scene.

‘No, is it that surprising that I’m attending a party?’

“If you want to go, you can go.”

“That’s not it, you’re going with the Marquis!”

Was that the point of his anger?

Lucia was fed up with Lucas’ apparent emotions.

“Well, I’m going with Bern, who else would I go with?”

“Not him! Stop it now! You’d rather go with me!”

“No. Bern will be here in a few minutes, so get out of my way.”

Lucia threw her hands up in annoyance and looked at her accessories.

Lucas tapped his chest in frustration at her nonchalance.

“Forget it, listen to me. You can’t be a marquise.”

When Lucas said the same thing again, Lucia sighed heavily and looked back at him.

“Why no, if you’re going to tell me you don’t like Bern……”

“He had a girlfriend he was almost married to!”

Lucas’ words made Lucia pause. The maids noticed the strange air between the siblings.

“Wait, everyone out.”

Once the maids were out, Lucia stood up and looked at Lucas.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I meant to tell you right away, but something came up and I didn’t.”

He had meant to tell Lucia the day Becky told him what had happened in Bern, but a mountain of work had caught up with him and he hadn’t been able to get back to the mansion.

“The Marquis of Casper has been in a relationship with a girl from his school days, and although their families are of different origins, they love each other enough to not care about that, and have even promised to marry.”

Lucas’ words suddenly reminded Lucia of Celine Romario.

“Right after he broke up with her, the Marquis de Casper never left the house for a year, and I’m sure it was because of his heartbreak!”

“So, what does that have to do with anything?”

“What does it matter, if she comes back, he’ll be shaken!”

Lucia’s hands twitched.

“Is there any law that says the Marquis of Casper can’t be shaken if she comes back when he’s engaged to you as it is and has promised to marry you?”

He had a point. If what he said was true, Bern would be shaken.

Compared to his madly in-love ex, she was nothing more than an emotionless, arranged marriage. But-

“Is that it?”

“Lucia, that’s all. What a big deal this is!”

“Brother. There is no one without a first love in their life, everyone falls in and out of love, and that’s the same for you. How many lovers are you with now?”

“Not like me! I loved my lovers too, but not to the extent of Marquis Casper.”

“Well, it certainly sounds like Bern is very attached to his previous relationship. But if that’s the case, I’m the same.”

“Why would you be the same…….”

Lucas trailed off, his eyes slowly widening.

“I’ve been in love with Herwin for a long time, even if we weren’t dating, and I still haven’t gotten over it, and if he asked me to marry him now, I’d be shaken, because I’m no different than Bern.”

Lucas puffed his mouth. Even if he wanted to say that she could never do that, he couldn’t bring himself to say it when he saw the sadness in those walls.

“And it’s not going to happen the way you think, because Bern’s ex is already married.”

“What?!”

“I guess you didn’t realize that.”

Lucia began to gather her things.

“No, no, no. Did you know this?”

“Not exactly, but sort of. I’ve seen her a few times at tea parties.”

“And you knew about it, and yet…….”

“Isn’t that what arranged marriages are all about?”

Lucia gave a bitter laugh.

“And Bern wouldn’t do anything to cheat on me, and that goes for me too.”

She’d made up her mind when she’d decided she was going to be engaged to Bern. She hadn’t been able to ask Bern, but she suspected he felt the same way.

“My lady, the Marquis has arrived.”

Hearing the maid’s voice, Lucia opened the door.

“Now that he’s here, I must be going. There are more invitations, my brother if you wish to come.”

Lucas couldn’t catch his sister as she walked away from him.

It wasn’t that Bern had done anything wrong in the past, as Lucia had said, it was just that he had an ex-lover who loved him so much that he hadn’t left the house for a year.

Lucas, however, was not amused.

He just hoped that Lucia would find a man who would love her unconditionally, even if it meant an arranged marriage.

“……Fuck!”

Even with the muffled curses coming from her room, Lucia continued on her way to the front door.

Bern was there.

“You look beautiful today. Lucia.”

As always, his greeting was well-dressed and polite. Lucia wordlessly placed her hand in his.

Beautiful didn’t feel like an empty word, but he didn’t feel like he was in love either.

Bern’s eyes were softly crinkled, but the golden orbs within them were dry.

“You’re gorgeous, too.”

‘That would be the same for me.’

Naturally, they don’t love each other.

Lucia climbed into the carriage, escorted by Bern.

Sitting across from her, Bern smiled at her, and Lucia smiled back.

Suddenly, she remembered something Bern had said in the past.

‘I wonder if this is why he said I resemble him?’

Herself, who had loved Herwin for so long, and Bern, who had had a lover that he loved to death, but couldn’t connect with her.

Maybe he and herself. Maybe they were alike in their inability to fulfill their love.