Rick himself doesn’t even know what this emotion is.
All he can do right now is smile awkwardly and respond with a smooth remark.
“As for the greeting, it was probably something like ‘Thank you for the hospitality last time at the Baron’s place. Is everyone in your family doing well?’ There was no need for her to worry about me.”
“It was that basic, but... Rick, it’s true that you’ve been acting like you’re drained lately. I think that’s why she might’ve asked.”
“So, what did you tell her?”
“I said that you haven’t been eating sweet things lately.”
“Good answer. If I had said that I was feeling weak, I’d be genuinely humbled if that sweet lady came to visit me. I’d probably collapse from the shock.”
“She might visit. Didn’t you once accompany me to visit Dori’s house?”
“...Ah, right. That was when she seemed perfectly healthy.”
“Don’t talk like that. Do you... dislike Dori?”
At the sudden, pointed question, Rick swallowed his groan.
This was one of Maria’s flaws. By asking too honestly, she left no time to come up with a response.
At times like this, he had to dodge the question.
“I don’t dislike her. She’s just a bit... overwhelming.”
“Overwhelming?”
“You keep forgetting, Maria. I’m a commoner. It’s normal that I wouldn’t be on the same level as a Count’s daughter, let alone be able to share the same theater seat as her.”
“But... Dori doesn’t care about that kind of thing. Just like me.”
Rick shouted inwardly.
That’s the problem!
‘Where is there a lady who jumps into a back alley for a maid? And even when it turned out that the maid was blinded by love and caused trouble, she didn’t fire her but stood up for her instead.’
Every time he dealt with her words and actions, it confused him.
‘My biggest mistake in life was loving Maria.’
Maria should rise high, based on her beauty and kind heart. If, by some mistake, Rick’s misguided passion dirtied her future, it would be unforgivable.
‘I’ll do everything for her, but I must never do anything for my own love. That’s the wise choice.’
This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.
But hearing her speak for the maid, even Rick, who was once foolishly infatuated with Maria, couldn’t help but feel like he was being ‘acknowledged’ for his past feelings... which terrified him.
‘I won’t allow myself to have pointless dreams.’
“Not caring is actually more of a problem.”
He sighed, finally voicing what he’d only been thinking. Maria’s eyes widened.
“Why?”
“It might cross a line... Not in any weird way, of course!”
“Haha! I know. I won’t misunderstand. Dori has a wonderful fiancé.”
“...”
The word “fiancé” momentarily took his breath away. But Rick was used to carrying on conversations as if nothing were wrong with Maria.
“Well... Even if he and I become friends, do you think his family or my employer would view our friendship warmly?”
“Hmm... That’s true. It’s not an easy situation.”
This time, Maria was wrong. It was actually a very simple problem.
‘I just need to never meet Doris Redfield again.’
That would solve everything.
Maria continued chatting away, oblivious to his thoughts.
“I’d love to meet Dori again when she’s free. I’m sure she’ll like it too.”
“...Yeah.”
“I’ll go rest now. See you tomorrow, Rick!”
Maria’s footsteps down the hall were lighter than ever. She seemed like a child who had just returned from a picnic.
Before, this would have made him feel a sharp pang of jealousy.
But now, after she disappeared down the hall, the thoughts he wished to forget suddenly assaulted Rick again.
Doris Redfield. The third daughter of the one who took Blue Atrium from Rick.
In truth, Rick had no grudge against the children of the Count. Isn’t it unfair for the children to bear the sins of their parents?
The problem arose when he faced that generation—the problem started when he met Doris.
He had been sure that the nobles were all the same, so he had no expectations. But then, this woman, who walked up to him and greeted him warmly, who even handed him snacks with her bare hands—who was she?
She even sat on the filthy theater seats without a care, raised her voice for the maid...
Before he knew it, Rick’s gaze was following Doris almost everywhere.
She wasn’t as beautiful as Maria, nor as kind as her.
‘Does this make sense?’
The day he realized this at the theater, he wanted to faint, banging his head against a lamppost. If Maria hadn’t been walking beside him, he might have done so.
But until then, his feelings for Doris had been complicated.
His feelings were short and simple, though:
‘Annoying woman.’
...But every time he looked at her, it didn’t make him feel bad, and that made her even more infuriating.
And all those feelings and thoughts contained in his heart shattered on the last day of July, when he saw Doris Redfield on stage, like lightning striking him.
The third song of the performance. Even though she was hidden behind a new dress and mask, Rick could recognize her the moment she stepped onto the stage. Of course, he could. He had been following her every move up until now.
The habit of aligning her shoe tips before climbing the stairs, lifting her skirt as it tangled around her legs with her right hand, the way she clenched and unclenched her hands when she was nervous...
As the music began, and the woman behind the mask sang her role as the “arrogant, overbearing lady”...
Rick could see the same woman from the Sacred Salon in front of him.
‘The woman with the red mask.’
Was it you?
She was someone who could easily predict the future of the social scene, a noble herself but skilled at criticizing nobles, who, despite maintaining a haughty attitude, never once asked for Rick to be removed when he drunkenly made a fool of himself—her essence was kind...
‘No.’
They say that lightning sometimes splits rocks and turns them into rubies.
That day, on the charity concert, Rick’s complicated feelings turned into just that.
His heart began to burn with warmth.
The annoyance, the irritation, the attraction, and the admiration were all swept away like sparks, leaving behind only one solid feeling.
‘I... like Doris Redfield.’
The moment he realized it, it felt like a flower bloomed on the stage.
In the blue dress, Doris sang like a mermaid. Beautiful, but he wanted to throw a joke at her.
Hey, you hate singing and dancing, don’t you? You always hide in the corner of the salon, away from the orchestra. It must have been tough on stage.
What would you say then? Would you say it was doable? Would you joke and say, “Could you have helped a bit?” I wish you would. You’re the type of person who could take that kind of joke.
An unreachable desire blossomed.
A small, beautiful, yet firm enough to hurt heart glowed inside him.
Doris Redfield. A noblewoman, and, unfortunately, someone with an unreachable fiancé.
And that fiancé is...
‘Tristan Winter Albion.’
The third son of the cursed Albion family, a man who would inherit Blue Atrium without any effort.
‘And you probably got engaged without ever longing for love.’
The weight of love lodged itself in his chest. It felt like blood was flowing along with it. That stinging sensation gradually stained Rick Ray with new emotions.
The moment Maria and Arthur confirmed their love for each other, a new spark ignited in the man who had lost his purpose in the capital.
***
The day after returning from the picnic, I asked my parents.
“Summer vacation?”
“Yes. I was curious where we’re going this year.”
“You usually just grab your bag and leave without a word. What’s got you curious all of a sudden?”
“Well, since I might be getting married next year, this could be our last vacation together as a family.”
“Dori...”
My mother smiled at me with a look of appreciation.
After the hunting competition, when Tristan’s evaluation of me had gone up and I found out I had been praised by the crown princess, my mother stopped pressuring me to find another man.
She probably thinks I’ll be getting married next year.
Then my father spoke up.
“That’s a kind thing to say, but this year’s vacation destination has already been decided. To be exact, we’re just waiting for ‘that person’ to decide.”
“That person?”
Could it be that Tristan has already chosen the vacation spot ahead of time?