Chapter 109

"It can't be."

Philap grabbed his subordinate by the collar with red, bloodshot eyes.

He couldn't believe this situation at all.

In fact, he vaguely thought that positive news would return.

He had the belief that even if Deborah pretended to hate him, with the marriage proposal coming out in the end, she wouldn't be able to resist it and accept it.

He had the qualifications everyone wanted in a son-in-law. And Deborah liked luxurious and fancy things.

It was calculated that it would not be easy for her to refuse the title of the duchess because of his background, his wealth, and the title of the duchess.

But the situation was turning horrendous.

As Deborah walked along the main street with Isidor, as if she wasn't in the middle of marriage talks, she ridiculed him.

Apparent rejection.

His back tingled as if someone had hit him hard with a blunt weapon.

Denying this disgraceful reality, he shouted as if he were going to strangle his vassal's neck right away.

"Father said not to bring up any more marriage talks? Are you kidding me right now?"

The vassal trembled as he watched Philap burst into anger with a face full of arrogance.

"This guy is at it again!"

When Philap lifted his fist, Duke Montez appeared with an infuriated face.

"F-Father."

"Kidding? Since the letter came after three years, Duke Seymour is joking around in private that he will answer it after six years. The one who's kidding is that Seymour bastard!"

"Duke Seymour is a man with a lot of pride, but if you take the time to persuade him..."

"That jerk making fun of me. Why should I curry favor with an old man who is cunning like a snake?!"

"If you step back like this, it will look even more strange."

"The fact that Seymour has spread the rumor that she liked modest men or whatever, means that they don't like how you've been with women before! It looks strange enough, even now."

"... I finished things with Mia."

"Then what are you doing? Even though you gave me an excuse and we had Seymour's official letter on our side, your reason has become blurred."

"But wasn't Father the one who brought up the marriage talks first?!"

Duke Montez's expression crumpled.

In fact, he didn't expect Duke Seymour to come out so firmly.

He thought that he would lose to Deborah because no parent can win over their child.

But he answered in exactly the same way. He was humiliated by a mistake in his judgement.

"How dare you blame your father for screwing up? How come you're only renewing your pathetic appearance day after day! Wake up!"

Duke Montez got angry and left abruptly, and Philap, who was huffing alone, broke his order to be careful and went to the academy the next day.

"... So, this time, Sir Philap was the one who was dumped by Princess Deborah?"

"That seems to be the case. Like a ball, pop-."

"Pfft. I can't believe he pretended to be so important. Did he get pushed aside by Sir Isidor?"

"He acted like he was the one who dumped her, turns out it was the opposite. Isn't it a disgrac... Ahem."

"What's wrong? Oh!"

Some of the executives that were gossiping excitedly at the frat house, thinking that Philap was on probation, shut their mouths at his appearance.

"Don't you shut up?! F*ck, who was pushed aside!"

As he swore at them as if they were his subordinates, the executives from prominent families frowned.

"Calm down."

"I'm sorry we talked lightly about this, but there's no need to overreact."

Public opinion was completely reversed by the Montez family's own wrongdoings.

Now, what was being seen was Philap hanging on to Deborah too late.

As Deborah was seen doing before.

"Damn it!"

Philap, who fiercely kicked a chair, waited for her for a long time at the place where the Seymour family's carriage stood.

"Deborah!"

Philap hurriedly approached her, who was walking casually, but was blocked by her escort knight.

Standing behind the escort, her red eyes were dull.

The obsessive young red eyes she once had were disgusting and creepy, but those indifferent eyes provoked Philap to madness.

Now that the situation had become this extreme, he realized it more painfully.

Deborah didn't like him anymore.

And Philap was bothered by her not liking him.

He stared at Deborah with rough reddish-brown eyes.

"Deborah, do you know what you did?"

"?"

"You gave up all the guaranteed wealth and honor that I would give you. I'm sure you'll regret your irrational choice in the future. But it's not too late right now. If you say you made a mistake..."

Deborah, who laughed, tilted her head slightly.

"These are all things I can obtain with my own hands, so why should I open my hands to the ugly you?"

"..."

"Have your delusions at home."

Deborah did not deal with him at all.

As if looking at a petty bug, she spoke dryly and climbed onto the carriage.

"F*ck."

Philap looked at the back of the carriage getting farther away, like a dog chasing a chicken, and muttered profanity.

He was distressed and hurt.

After the carriage left, the empire's childish proverb of regret came to his mind, but he denied it.

Pathetic feelings like regret did not suit him.

"The one who will regret it... is you."

But his evil murmur crumbled weakly in the air.

***

'Philap is the type to be obsessed with what he can't have. Like Deborah Seymour.'

I thought the original Deborah and Philap were very similar.

The difference between the two was that Deborah was attracted to Philap, who was just like her, as if it was fate, and Philap was so horrible that he hated his own people.

'Well, it's none of my business. Not anymore.'

Rumors spread that I hated the marriage talks, so if he continued to act clingy, it would only hurt his reputation in the social world.

Deborah had no reputation to lose, but Philap had a lot to protect, so he must be wary of the nobles.

'By the way, did I say that it had to be a wizard?'

Thinking that the recent rumors reflected a lot of my father's taste, I had a slightly ambiguous feeling.

'Isidor is a knight, so he probably can't use magic... huh? What am I thinking right now?'

I grabbed my head at the bizarre incident.

'Ahh, what's wrong with me!'

This was all because of Isidor's shy smile.

'If he smiles with that beautiful face... what am I supposed to do as a fangirl?'

After weeping and banging my head on the desk, I carefully fiddled with the turtle-shaped porcelain that was placed on the study table.

It was a turtle with emerald eyes, like Isidor.

He turned my mind upside down once again that day, before we parted ways.

"How about drinking alcohol only in front of me now?"

"Huh? What? Why?"

"Do you want me to tell you, if you're curious?"

He smiled softly, stretching out his long eyes.

"N-No."

"Come to think of it, I don't think it's a bad idea that I'm the only one who knows."

In fact, I was also aware of it. Isidor had delicate yet big and manly hands, and he practiced the piano diligently with those hands that couldn't play it.

"I'm going crazy."

I lowered my head and muttered.

***

Isidor fell on his desk and looked at the cat-shaped porcelain without hesitation.

The porcelain, which had sharp eyes like Princess Deborah, had bright red eyes like rubies.

He carefully petted the cat porcelain, which was in a posture that seemed like it was going to scratch immediately when touched.

The smooth, cold sensation of the porcelain was felt over his bare hands, which were pale enough to be bluish.

Strangely, a sweet feeling permeated him as if he had taken a bite of a candy.

'I don't think this is the first time I've felt like this.'

When Princess Deborah held his hand at that time, he was shocked as if his senses had been taken over by something.

It also felt like a detonator had gone off.

He had never thought that he could touch someone with his bare skin.

The urge to look into that intense feeling and properly assert it fueled him.

'Though I ran away suddenly as if I had come to my senses.'

He tried to touch Miguel with his bare hands the next day, wondering if perhaps his mysophobia had gotten better without him realizing it, but he only tried.

He was convinced that Princess Deborah was the only exception.

'This is serious. Really.'

The more he reflected on it and looked back, the more beautiful the moment their hands touched was, so he was glad that the Princess was conscious of the memories of that time, even if just a little.

It was so beautiful that he was smiling as he looked at the cat porcelain.

To the point that he was sitting in front of the piano that he still couldn't play whenever he had time.

In addition, the fact that Philap was not in the Princess' heart also brought him a small joy.

'I wish she would be a little more conscious of me.'

If not as much as he was.

"Meow-"

Cookie, who jumped up to the table as if to wake him up from his thoughts, tried to take away the cat-shaped porcelain.

It was because it was the only thing that seemed interesting in the serene and empty room that didn't have anything.

"Not this."

Isidor lightly flicked Cookie's nose.

"Grrr!"

Although Cookie showed its temper by revealing its small, pointy teeth, Isidor remained adamant.

It was the only thing that had been brought into his territory.

It was that much valuable.

'At first, I was definitely curious.'

He was curious and wanted to dig in, but instead, she stepped into him without hesitation.

He couldn't understand it anymore.

It was an unfamiliar and sweet feeling, like he was fluttering.

On the other hand, the true colors of this dreadful feeling were like falling into a pit, even though the marriage talks had only been brought up lightly.