Chapter 49
“Please, have some.”
“Thank you.”
After dinner, I had a short tea time with Esdia, as the marquess had asked me to keep her company.
Trickle….
“Hmm?”
Once the tea was poured, Esdia suddenly tipped it into her teacup.
She hadn’t done that at the tea party, so I wondered why she was suddenly doing it now.
“I was really surprised when I saw you drinking it this way before. You’re the first person I’ve seen in the North drink it like this.”
“Ah… I see.”
It seemed she was doing it to find some common ground for conversation.
I was glad to see her trying so hard to make conversation somehow.
As expected of the original heroine.
“I was grateful to you then. I would have been humiliated if it weren’t for you. To be honest, I didn’t know this was the capital’s tea etiquette.”
“Really? Then who taught you that?”
“Sir Heter taught me. As you can see, he isn’t from the North.”
“Oh….”
Esdia gave a small exclamation of admiration.
“It’s amazing that a man knows so much about tea etiquette, especially the capital’s style.”
“Exactly.”
After all, tea parties were generally for women, not men.
“Then are you from the North, Baron Fortune?”
“Yes. Don’t I look like it?”
“Ah. Well….”
Seeing Esdia flustered, I smiled faintly.
Black hair and reddish-orange eyes.
Even to me, I looked quite different from the people who lived in the North.
If anything, Esdia, with her lighter coloring, looked more like a northerner.
As we chatted about trivial things over tea and snacks—
“By the way… may I ask you something, Baron Fortune?”
“?”
Esdia suddenly began fidgeting as she tentatively broached the subject.
I sensed it instinctively.
The reason she had invited me to tea was precisely to ask this question.
What could she be about to ask that she was setting the mood like this?
“What is it?”
I waited for her question with a serious expression of my own.
“Like you and your knight….”
Nod.
“How can I become as close to him as you are?!”
“…Pardon?”
Who did she think I was close to?
“You mean me and Sir Heter?”
“Yes!”
What had Esdia seen to make her think that?
I took a sip of tea and tried to look at the situation from her perspective.
‘From Esdia’s perspective, the tea party must have been the only time she’d seen Sir Heter and me together, right?’
That was when I had ordered Heter to come over and said he wasn’t interested in other women because of me.
Heter had even kissed the back of my hand afterward.
‘It wouldn’t be strange for her to think that….’
“Well… I saw you on a date with Sir Heter after the tea party.”
“Pardon?”
She had seen us touring Cornet territory together that day?
“H-How did you see that?”
“I also toured the territory after the tea party, following Lady Cornet’s recommendations.”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, when Lady Clarie had recommended tourist attractions, Esdia had received recommendations alongside me.
It wouldn’t have been particularly difficult for her to run into us while sightseeing.
Especially since Heter and I had appearances that stood out even from afar.
“May I ask how much you saw?”
If she had also seen me receive the ring at the jewelry shop and what happened at the puppet theater, I felt I wouldn’t be able to keep my composure….
“I wasn’t following you two, so it would be difficult to say how much I saw….”
“Ah, I suppose not.”
Seeing Esdia’s awkward expression, I felt relieved inside.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem that she had seen those embarrassing scenes.
“So what was your question again? How can you become as close to me as Sir Heter is?”
“Yes!”
Esdia nodded vigorously with a determined expression.
“Hmm….”
I didn’t have anything in particular to tell Esdia, and I didn’t think it was necessary for her to do anything, either.
Because… even during dinner, the marquess had teased her, and the two of them already seemed close enough to me. Besides, in the original story, they had been lovey-dovey from the beginning.
“Won’t you grow closer with time? I didn’t do anything in particular to become close to Sir Heter, either.”
“Ah, do you think so?”
After hearing my answer, Esdia visibly deflated.
‘Is this really something to be that disappointed about?’
It didn’t seem as though she merely wanted to become close.
“Was there something else you wanted to ask?”
“Eek!”
Esdia startled as though I had hit the mark.
“Well….”
“Hmm?”
After hesitating for a long while, Esdia mumbled something.
I focused and listened closely to what she was saying.
“I-I suppose I want the marquess to touch me the way Sir Heter touches you….”
“…?”
For a moment, I wondered whether I had heard her correctly, but—
“Ugh….”
Seeing Esdia cover her face with both hands and let out an unintelligible cry, I realized I had heard her correctly.
She wanted a man to make the first move and touch her….
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“Pardon?”
“Women can have thoughts like that too.”
Women were people, too, and I knew perfectly well that they could have desires like that.
In fact, I had once tempted Heter by telling him it was all right to touch me.
“Is that so? A-Actually, I wanted to ask other people too, but I was worried they might think it strange….”
It was certainly a difficult subject to ask about if I weren’t the one she was asking.
Esdia’s current personal maids might genuinely trust and follow her, but they had originally worked for the marquess, after all.
“Of course. I have thoughts like that sometimes too.”
Though I was embarrassed, I spoke as calmly as possible for Esdia’s sake.
“Phew, I’m glad I’m not the only one.”
Esdia looked relieved after hearing my answer.
‘How on earth did she receive sex education…? Ah.’
In this era, mothers usually taught their children about sex.
But Esdia’s birth mother had died when she was young, and her stepmother had mistreated her.
There was no way she could have received any sex education.
“Then what can I do to make the marquess show me affection directly, the way Sir Heter does?”
“Hmm….”
This was a difficult subject for me to advise her on as well.
After all, I had never tried to make Heter express affection directly.
Even now, Heter was probably so forward about showing affection simply because that was his personality.
On top of that, I’d gone roughly forty years across two lives without a proper romantic relationship….
Still, to give her some advice, I recalled what I had seen in the romantic comedies of my previous life.
And the answer was!
“Why don’t you just… tell him how you feel?”
“What?!”
Esdia’s face flushed red again.
“Wouldn’t that be too forward?”
I couldn’t exactly suggest a lucky-pervert scenario, though.
“Marchioness.”
I composed myself as much as possible and looked at her with a serious expression.
“Do you think the marquess is the sort of person who would be disappointed in you for doing something like that?”
“….”
She lowered her head and shook it from side to side.
“If you show the marquess your true feelings, he’ll respond in kind.”
Besides, if the marquess’s personality was anything like it had been in the original story, he would probably be pleased that Esdia actively desired his affection.
In fact, the only reason he hadn’t touched Esdia in the R-rated side story was that he was worried she might dislike it, since she had practically been sold to him.
Deep down, he surely wanted to express his love for Esdia.
“Then does Sir Heter also show you affection more actively after hearing what you say, Baron Fortune?”
“…Huh?”
The question made my breath catch as Esdia met my gaze through the fingers covering her face.
After all, I had never once wished for Heter to express affection toward me.
But—
“O-Of course.”
Having given her that advice, I couldn’t exactly say, ‘Even when I don’t do that, Sir Heter is the one who expresses affection first.’
I couldn’t help it. I had no choice but to lie here.
“Wow… you’re amazing.”
Esdia looked at me with admiration.
“Haha….”
I laughed awkwardly and avoided her expectant gaze.
“!”
“….”
My eyes met Ruby’s as she stared at me wide-eyed in shock.
She looked obviously stunned.
‘No, Ruby. Calm down for now. You know this is a lie too, don’t you?’
I blinked several times and sent Ruby a telepathic message, but—
‘Damn it.’
Of course, that wasn’t possible.
Apparently… after tea time, I would also have to set aside time to explain myself to Ruby.