SMCS Ch 23 — A Story I Didn’t Know

With one hand on the door frame, Periot came in and looked over the officer with a scathing gaze silently for a moment. Handsome features that couldn’t be hidden by his icy expression seemed to be highlighted even greater today.

However, I was so flustered that my eyes almost rolled back in shock.

D-Did he perhaps just hear me cursing him?

…It certainly seems like he heard everything?

No, that’s not the problem right now!

I looked over at the officer hurriedly.

‘You said he wouldn’t come today! You very clearly said he wasn’t going to come today though!’

As if he had noticed my silent protest, the officer shook his head violently with a pale face. Judging from his wild gestures, it seemed like he didn’t know about it either.

“Duke…!”

Perhaps because he didn’t wish for this to happen, the officer suddenly jumped between Periot and I, creating a barrier.

“S-Suddenly appearing without prior notice…”

“Can I not?” Turning slightly toward the officer, Periot spat out in a low voice.

“Well, t-that isn’t the case… but I’d appreciate it if you could make an appointment in advance when you decide to visit next time.”

In the end, the officer, who was overwhelmed by Periot’s intimidating momentum, lowered his head and squeezed those words out quietly.

I jutted out my lip in bewilderment.

No, excuse me?! If even you’re scared, then what should I do?!

Although I wanted to flee like my heart was screaming at me to, I still hadn’t signed the confirmation notice of me having received the confirmation of my annulment without any problems. 

If I knew this would happen, then I would’ve just hurriedly signed it and been on my way! That way I wouldn’t have had to run into this particular person…!

A deep sense of regret suddenly bubbled up from within me.

In the meantime, Periot had lightly pushed aside the officer and was coming closer toward me. Then, grabbing the back of the chair with both hands, he whispered quietly, “Go on, Lorella.”

Although I wasn’t really sure whether he wanted me to hurry up and go on with the signing or continue the backtalk I had been doing earlier…

But thanks to that, I began to come back to my senses.

Right, wasn’t this the Imperial Palace? The organisation that had the highest rank of authority in the entire empire.

In this place, my marriage was officially recognised as invalid. So there was no reason for me to be afraid at all.

Raising an eyebrow, I wrote my name down in one smooth stroke, as if forcefully bringing more attention to the document before me. 

“Then… it’s all been finalised now.”

The officer came over quickly with the documents I had handed over to him and politely opened the door for me. 

Seeing his urgent movements, although it seemed like he wanted to get this awkward and uncomfortable situation over with quickly, in the end, he still didn’t forget what his duty was.

“Duke, as of today, Lorella Mayred now has nothing to do with the Duke of Chambers household. That fact… please remember it well.”

At those words, Periot only jerked one side of his mouth up sharply. As if he had just heard a bad joke.

Then, he calmly crossed his arms and said to me, “Do you not even have time for one final cup of tea?”

“What…?”

“D-Duke.”

I almost doubted my ears for a second. The officer beside me also called out to him with a pale face.

“Isn’t it okay since there’s no law saying that you can only drink tea with people related to your household, and that it’s fine, even if you’re complete strangers?”

It was then.

Ding dong!

「‘Trying a taste of the obsessive maniac’ purchases 1,000 shares.」

「Adding hazelnut syrup to Periot Americano is worthy of the death penalty.」

And without fail, the message window appeared once again.

It isn’t the mood for that right now though!

However, when I saw that shiny system screen, my survival instinct immediately started to twitch. As if I was a gambler who had finally visited the racetrack after a long time, my body started to become restless.

Now that I think about it, wouldn’t this be a great opportunity to sell shares? 

To be honest, I had been neglecting selling shares a little since I had been so preoccupied recently with getting my life together. Besides, a cup of tea with him should be fine since we were in the Imperial Palace.

I nodded toward Periot.

“Alright. It’s not like we can’t.”

I could feel the officer’s shocked gaze on me, but I continued to smile indifferently. “But, only for half an hour though.”

Despite the fairly strict time restrictions, Periot shrugged his shoulders as if he understood. 

Alright. Let’s just sell and leave, nothing more or less than that.

Just for half an hour…!

* * *

pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:

The officer led us to a separate drawing room inside. 

Although the study earlier was already extremely luxurious, this place was so grand it couldn’t even be compared to that of earlier. 

…It even seemed to have a romantic air to it somehow. 

A red sofa and a tea table adorned with white lace. With a vase on top of it that was filled to the brim with a bouquet of pink roses. 

No way… you didn’t think that there was any room for a reunion between us, did you?

Although it was a rather unpleasant misunderstanding, it wasn’t that important whether the officer thought so or not. Since all I had to do was sell shares right now. 

But speaking of that, what would be the best way for me to do that?

Although being resolved to do so was good, I was still worried because the situation was extremely different to the last.

I couldn’t just force out tears and snot and spit out a cringe comment like, ‘In any case, m-maybe it’s not that I dislike being by your side…’ like I had last time at the County. 

With documents that proved the invalidity of our marriage and a coldhearted signature, that sort of clumsy performance would be of no help to me today. 

Besides, there was also the possibility of Periot seeing through that. Although he was a bastard, he wasn’t an idiot either…

However, esteemed ancestors with messed up eating habits who ate obsessive maniacs may be watching this situation with intrigue, so I really couldn’t just leave after drinking tea either. 

I mulled over this for a while until I felt a strong gaze. When I lifted my eyes, which were only fixed on the teacup in front of me, I made eye contact with him.

A heavy silence descended between the two of us once again. 

‘But why did he suddenly ask to drink a cup of tea together for no rhyme or reason? What sort of wind blew in today?’

Although I had accepted his offer with a clear objective in mind, it was still a mystery as to why Periot had brought it up.

I couldn’t open my mouth easily and sat like a stone statue with my back straight only looking forward.

As a result of that, I had no choice but to observe the appearance of Periot, who sat opposite of me. 

The very first thing that caught my eye was his hand, which was leaning rather arrogantly against the sofa and holding the armrest. Scars littered the back of his hand, as if they were veins.

Although it often slipped my mind because of his pale and smooth skin, those scars made me realise that this was a person who had been fighting on the battlefield for the past two years. 

His hair, which seemed to have been slicked back more than usual, was not at all dishevelled. His black silk shirt matched his exceptionally pale skin wonderfully, and his black vest, which was tailored to fit him, further accentuated his solid chest and broad shoulders. 

On his jacket that was adorned with pearl buttons was exquisite embroidery that could only be noticed if you were looking closely. 

I hadn’t been aware since I had never paid attention to it. However, upon closer examination like this, he seemed to be the type to care quite a lot about his clothes on the inside. 

‘Are you going to go to the imperial palace later?’

Oh, wait, this is the imperial palace.

“…Lorella.”

That was when I heard my name.

Looking up, I discovered that he was looking right at me. 

Those bright black eyes seemed to contain the entire night sky bottled in them. It was when I was trying not to be distracted by those deep eyes that seemed to contain some unknown darkness in them.

“I was wondering if you’ve been well.”

A deep voice that was characteristic to him sounded.

“Ever since that day.”

I still couldn’t open my mouth. Since I hadn’t expected him to bring this up. 

“Judging by your complexion, I’m relieved to see that you’re doing better.”

I was about to say that it was thanks to the fact that he had stopped chasing after me, but I held it in. I didn’t want to be the one to trigger a fight first just because I had mentioned something useless.

“To think you had such a knack for business, I wasn’t aware of that at all.”

“What?”

But this time, an unexpected topic came up. I blinked my eyes quickly. 

How on earth did you know about that?

“…Haa.” A small sigh escaped from my mouth automatically.

I guess I had to take back the idea that I had thought of just now. Since it wasn’t that you didn’t chase me, but that you just didn’t get caught chasing me instead.

“It seemed to be going considerably well. It’s incredible.”

Regardless of whether he knew how I felt or not, Periot praised me with his usual flat tone which was devoid of any resentment.

“Well, it’s… nothing special.”

 Never thinking that I’d hear this sort of thing from him, I ended up bluffing due to the embarrassment.

“I would’ve helped you if you had told me. Feel free to tell me if you need any help later on as well.”

“Oh, that sort of thing won’t happen. Since it’s going quite well.”

After my curt reply, I raised an eyebrow and stared at him.

Although I couldn’t say it right away since I had missed the right timing, I was determined to draw the boundary clearly this time. 

“Like the officer said earlier, you and I are now people that have nothing to do with each other. So you can stop doing those sort of things now.”

“Those sort of things?”

“Sending people to keep tabs on me! Do you know just how unpleasant that feels for the victim of it all?”

Periot blinked slowly, then opened his mouth with a determined voice, “I have never done such a thing before.”

“Liar. Then how do you know about my business?”

“Because one of my subordinates is originally from Aurea.”

“What…?”

“His younger sister was apparently a regular of that place. I heard that they even went to the store together.”

Although our eyes made contact, he never avoided my gaze. There was no sign of lies in his expression, his tone, or his eyes.

“Oh. I-Is that so?”

Thanks to that, I ended up feeling extremely awkward. I was so mortified it felt as if my face were burning up from embarrassment. 

“Don’t tell me you suspected that I had been digging into what you’ve been doing?”

“I-It’s because your words confused me! If you say something like that without any additional explanation, wouldn’t anyone who heard that think in that direction like me?”

I ended up pushing the blame onto him out of shame. Even though it was nothing more than my stubborn persistence in being right, Periot thought for a moment without saying much and nodded lightly. 

“I do acknowledge that. Since I don’t have a talent in speaking well.”

“What?”

I burst out laughing for a moment without realising it. 

“Then are you considered to be perfect if we exclude that point?”

“Isn’t that the case?”

“What are you saying?”

I burst into another round of laughter. Much louder than the one earlier.

Seeing as he had responded without any change in his expression at all, he must’ve truly meant it then. 

That crazy groundless confidence, I guess that was a basic characteristic that was given to Northern Dukes.

No matter how I thought about it, it was so ridiculous that I couldn’t stop the laughter from leaking out. 

“Gosh, I should practise having that much self confidence for myself as well.”

Thus, I gave him a scolding in jest for no reason, but at that moment, I noticed that tips of Periot’s lips had hooked upwards smoothly. 

It was an extremely natural smile, one that I had never seen before until now. 

Unable to hide my shock, my lips fell open slightly. 

However, Periot went on regardless.

“You were also filled with many talents. Not only in business, but in other fields too.”

“What… are you talking about?”

“For example, a talent for making me into a crazy bastard.”

My god, what did he just say?

“You don’t seem to be aware of it yourself, but you’ve always been a crazy guy though?!”

“And you’re also good at cursing.”

“That was also how I’ve always been. It’s just that you never knew before. You know it’s already too late for you to blame it on a fraudulent marriage though, right?”

Perhaps it was because it was my first time facing his smile. I suddenly felt that all of this seemed to feel unreal.

To think that I sat face to face with Periot and had a conversation with him while smiling. Ever since he came back from the battlefield, we’ve raised our voices at each other every time we’ve met. 

I thought he was a crazy bastard, a madman, a psycho. There was a time when I screamed at him to fuck off, and when it was at its most severe, I truly detested him for being so disgusting. 

But talking normally from a calm position, I suddenly felt like this wasn’t the Periot that I knew. Although we still bickered over things, we were still able to communicate surprisingly well…

Perhaps this was all possible because we had nothing to do with each other anymore.

“That’s right, it was a fraudulent marriage.”

At that time, a voice as gentle as the wind passed softly through my ears.

“We hadn’t even spent a single day together in those two years.”

The smile around his mouth had also disappeared at some point. A quiet silence fell between Periot and I once again.

I wonder what the reason was. The silence, which had been so familiar before, came as a rather uncomfortable feeling today. 

“E-Even just exchanging letters, I wish we had even just done that at least.”

Scrambling to find words to say, I blurted out whatever came to mind. As soon as I said that, Periot’s gaze, which had lowered heavily, suddenly turned toward me. 

And those lips, which had been silent all along, opened slowly. 

“I went back to the mansion and pondered over your words.”

“What words…?”

“It was: someone who was on the battlefield for two years and didn’t even bother to send a letter back, and now you want to talk.”

“Oh, that…”

My words were interrupted by Periot, who spoke at the same time as I did.

“I definitely sent them.” 

He whispered quietly in a righteous voice, his upper body slightly leaning toward me.

“…Almost every single day without fail.”

ARF ARF ARF