Translator and Editor: Lea and Ishy

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Chapter 18

The man couldn’t be more polite, but I found his dry voice to be emotionless.

“Butler,”

Fortunately, I could guess who he was from the way he was dressed.

‘Did he see me?’

My heart was pounding but I mustered up the courage to continue speaking.

Trying to hide my nerves, I said, “What’s the matter?”

He answered politely, his expressionless look unchanged,

“My master has been looking for you.”

***

I thought one could guess why the Viscount was looking for me.

‘Has Lennox contacted him already?’

Apart from my dislike of the Viscount, my marriage to Lennox required the approval of the head of my family. But I wasn’t very concerned. If I was getting married to Duke Kravant, my father would welcome him happily.

At least, that’s what I thought.

“You called?”

“Olivia Brienne!”

I was greeted by the Viscount’s angry, hoarse voice and his hand banging on the desk. He looked furious, blood vessels profound on his forehead.

‘What’s wrong with him all of a sudden?’

I didn’t know why the Viscount was angry at me.

“Can you explain what’s going on?”

“You’re going to marry Lennox Kravant? How dare you!”

“If it’s the Kravant family, isn’t it a perfect place for me to be alone? I don’t understand why you’re so angry.”

“Huh?”

He snooped his head at what I said before he gave a few gentle nods, “Yes... Indeed.”

‘What the?’

His attitude changed like a flip of the palm.

“You’re right. Marrying the Duke of Kravant, of course, we should celebrate it!”

When I felt something was wrong, I looked up at him to only prove my intuition correct.

‘..!’

He suddenly began to shake his head like crazy, “No, no, no, no.” His pupils were half turned over before I knew it.

His eyes, now mostly white, were giving me the creeps.

‘What the hell..’

At that stage, his whole body was shaking and his head was flipping from side to side.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.”

Face strangely distorted, eyes strangely shiny, and lips strangely twisted. He looked dangerous.

My intuition told me that I should not stay alone with the Viscount.

‘He’s not in his right mind.’

I instinctively stepped back to get away, but all his movements stopped sharply. The black figure regained its original position and stared straight at me. Goosebumps shivered down my spine.

“Not Lennox Kravant!”

Face violently distorted, the figure rushed at me.

‘Crazy!’

Just before his big hand could grab a hold of my shoulder, I leaned down quickly to avoid him. Unable to control his speed, the man collided with the table.

“Arghhh!”

There was a loud crash as the table went over. He groaned, clutching his forehead.

“Ugh, ughh..”

I dashed toward the door to save myself, leaving the Viscount behind.

‘Let’s avoid him for now.’

The Viscount was out of his mind now. It was clear that if I stayed here for no reason, I wouldn’t be able to experience the good things in life.

‘Let’s take refuge in my room and do the rest later..’

“Ugh....”

Damn it. I was almost there.

Stopping at a distance of grabbing the doorknobs, I eventually looked back. I couldn’t just leave an injured person alone. What if he died after this?

So to make sure, I walked up to where he collapsed.

“Excuse me, are you okay?”

I thought he bumped his head. I carefully removed the hand holding his head to see a large nasty swell. It was fortunate that I didn’t see blood.

“Wait here, I’ll call someone. It might be a concussion, so don’t make any reckless movements.”

Whether it was a butler or a servant, it would be settled somehow after I called them.

As I moved to stand up, he startled me with his voice saying, “Olivia?”

Regardless of his injury, he was looking up at me.

“What’s wrong?”

He had a surprised look plastered on his face.

“Why are you here?”

“..Father called for me.”

“Me?”

He asked back with a blank expression. He seemed to know nothing of it.

‘Is it that he doesn’t remember?’

“Ugh..”

I hesitated for a moment before I helped him to sit up on the floor. He frowned and shook his head as if he was having a headache. Like a person with real amnesia.

“What happened to me? The room is a mess,” the Viscount stated at the sight of the broken debris on the floor.

‘I don’t think he’s lying.’

He was too calm for a person who was just after my life a moment ago.

“Do you not recall anything?”

“Yeah. I remember coming into the office and looking at the documents.. I feel as if my soul left my body.”

His eyes were focused, but I decided to be careful. I was still shaken by his sudden outrage a few minutes ago.

“What did we talk about?”

I glanced at him in doubt. ‘It’s not like he’s going to flip his eyes and rush towards me again, is he?’

I wondered if I should talk or not, considering I witnessed such a grotesque scene just a while ago.

‘It has to be decided one day anyway. This marriage won’t be bad for him either.’

Making up my mind, I gulped and began, “My marriage.”

“Marriage?”

Soon after making a strange look on his face, he nodded as if he was convinced.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get you a good marriage partner soon. It’s a shame that your engagement with Marquis Velott is broken–”

“That’s okay. I found a better marriage partner.”

His eyes widened at my words. Soon after, he started showering me with questions.

“I-Is that true? You? Since when? No, rather, you must tell me who he is..”

“Viscount Brienne.”

It was then when he was interrupted by a voice—low enough to shake one’s heart.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

A slow cold breeze blew in from somewhere and shook my skirt.

‘Oh..’

I turned my head to see the yellow glow of a lamp illuminating the wide-open door and the dark hallway beyond.

“We meet again,” said the man who had a distinct presence of them all.

“Olivia.”

He stared at me for a while before he slowly approached. I couldn’t move an inch even though I could hear the clear sounds of his footsteps. The man stopped only when his feet met the partition separating the hallway and the room.

My heart sank as half of his face was illuminated by the light.

Gasp–

I was very surprised at the visit of the uninvited guest.

“I think you know who I am by now.”

Silence.

“Ah, since it’s an official greeting, I must introduce myself.”

His voice was soft. However, his unique arrogant gaze, relaxed attitude, and faint smile were those of an inherent ruler.

“I’m Lennox Kravant.”

***

“Duke, Your Highness..” I could barely speak. However, my voice was cut off along with my fiercely beating heart. I was clearly agitated. I never expected Lennox to appear out of nowhere.

“How are you here..”

Thanks to my clumsiness, I couldn’t finish my question and swallowed it behind my throat. However, Lennox nodded slightly as if he had fully understood what I wanted to say.

“I’m here to see you.”

“To see me?”

‘In the middle of the night? Suddenly? Without calling me?’

I didn’t know if he read my face, but he smiled softly. The curves created by the cold smooth face were breathtakingly beautiful. It was clear that this man knew how wonderful his smile was. And he was skilled in using that charm of his.

He spoke again, gracefully fluttering his eyes at me.

“Why are you so surprised? It’s not like I’m not allowed to come here.”

That woke me up from the trance I was in.

‘I should get a hold of myself. Even if I’m in a tiger’s cave, I’ll survive if I can control myself.’

In this case, the tiger stormed into the rabbit’s hole, but anyway.

“Is it an urgent business?”

“Am I only allowed to see you when I need something?”

‘Excuse me, Duke. You’re so confident about visiting someone else’s house without a prior appointment that it feels so wrong. Anyway, I don’t need to deal with this situation now.’

I was frozen stiff, concerned about my response.

“It has gotten very late today. Why don’t we talk about it again tomorrow?”

But there was something I overlooked.

“My,”

It was the fact that the man who could sneak inside a house without anyone’s knowledge was determined to make his entrance known this time.

“How could you treat your only lover like this? My fiancée is heartless.”

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