For the Lady's Wise Regression - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 14
As she pushed through the crowd, the street that had once been wide enough to fit a thick book narrowed to barely the width of a sheet of paper, and they drew ever closer to their destination.
This was strange. Had she picked the wrong day?
There seemed to be far more people than usual today.
Vanessa glanced up at Ian from the corner of her eye and swallowed hard.
‘His patience is going to snap before we even get there.’
His jaw was clenched stubbornly, and the furrow between his brows was deep—he looked ready to explode any moment now.
When she caught sight of that look in his eyes, the one that said “don’t touch me,” Vanessa drew in a small, careful breath.
If one more person jostled him in this state…
This wouldn’t do.
If she delayed any longer, something was going to happen.
Though he moved like a post, he seemed to handle being an escort well enough, and holding his hand appeared manageable.
“Ian, if you don’t mind—”
“Vanessa.”
The words forming on her lips—’shall we run holding hands?’—died before she could speak them.
The voice that reached her ears was one she could never forget.
Kalleil Renard.
The moment that pale blond hair came into view, her own patience threatened to snap right then and there.
‘I definitely picked the wrong day.’
Spectacularly wrong, at that.
“I didn’t expect to see you here. Are you here to watch the upcoming auction too?”
He carved through the crowd without a care and approached her directly, only then seeming to notice Ian, and belatedly offered him a greeting.
“…I see the Duke of Rosecliffe is here as well. My apologies for the delayed greeting. I am Kalleil Renard.”
“……….”
It was a bow so perfunctory it would have shamed a nodding dog.
Vanessa glanced at Ian’s face again and swallowed dryly.
‘Does he not see that look in his eyes?’
With Kalleil blocking the path, they came to a halt, and people began brushing past him with uncomfortable closeness.
If someone wasn’t careful here, things were going to go wrong.
Vanessa watched the fierce glint in his eyes transform into something predatory—the gaze of a hunter spotting prey—and moved hastily to take Ian’s hand when—
“As it happens, I’ve secured a splendid spot. Would you like to come along?”
Kalleil suddenly extended his hand, deliberately inserting himself between Ian and Vanessa.
Was this madman really this oblivious?
Vanessa batted his hand away with an incredulous look.
“Ian, we’ll need to take a slight detour, but would you like to go that way?”
“…Yes.”
“Let’s hold hands—the path is crowded…”
“Would the Duke not care to join us as well?”
His outstretched hand was rebuffed once more.
This time by Kalleil himself.
This absolute madman.
The moment Vanessa saw Kalleil casually grasp the hand she had extended, she jerked it back in horror.
“Wha—!”
“The Marquise has raised her son remarkably well.”
And so, Ian’s patience—which had been hanging by the thinnest of threads—finally detonated with a tremendous explosion in the middle of Pommel Street.
“…What do you mean by that?”
His gaze, which had been fixed on Vanessa, lifted.
Vanessa found herself trapped awkwardly between the two men and felt like tearing her own hair out.
She could almost feel invisible sparks crackling above her head.
She wouldn’t be surprised if her hair caught fire from the embers falling between them.
“Just as I said. Since you’ve raised your son exactly like me, I imagine you must be quite proud.”
“……….”
“I’ve noticed it before, but you seem to lack proper manners.”
Vanessa barely managed to stifle a gasp.
Had those words really just come from Ian’s mouth?
She couldn’t even begin to gauge how angry he was.
“Since I have yet to forget the woman I love, my failure to acknowledge the Duke was unintentional. If I have been discourteous, I ask your forgiveness.”
‘You absolute madman!’
Under ordinary circumstances, if a Duke had acted as Kalleil was acting toward the Renard Marquis Household, it would not have been strange for charges to be brought—but…
“…However, it was you, Duke, who laid hands on another’s beloved first, was it not?”
The problem was that not only Vanessa and Ian, but Kalleil as well had an acquaintance with Ian.
Though in truth, it amounted to no more than a few childhood scuffles on her account.
Because she had been childhood friends with Ian, and separately with Kalleil, this mess had erupted.
‘My karma, truly my karma.’
Back when she’d harbored that simple, childish notion that a friend’s friend makes the best friend, she’d once gathered both of them for tea time.
She’d arranged it thinking wouldn’t it be nice if they all grew close, rather than playing with each of them separately…….
But after that, she never invited the two of them to the same occasion again.
‘How could I have forgotten that…….’
How had she managed to forget that they’d come to blows during the sparring match that followed that childhood tea time…….
It had started almost comically, with ‘You like this, don’t you? Here, have some.’ and ‘No. Vanessa prefers this one, doesn’t she?’ bickering back and forth.
They’d ended up pulling all the desserts on the table in front of themselves, until eventually they fell to the ground and went uneaten.
After that, when she’d said, ‘I hope you’ll grow close,’ it had prompted ‘If men are to grow close, surely a sparring match is the way,’ and ‘I agree,’ after which Ian had thoroughly beaten Kalleil.
From that point on, she’d made absolutely certain never to invite the two of them to the same place, no matter what…….
“You should speak honestly. If you’d handled things well, you wouldn’t have any reason to come to me.”
“But——!”
Why was the conversation turning toward her?
This meant, in the end, that she’d become the subject of gossip…….
Unable to say or do anything, Vanessa looked back and forth between the two men.
“One can never know. Until we parted, we were on good terms, but then Vanessa came to the Duke’s estate…….”
“Kalleil——!”
How far was that madman trying to go with this?!
Vanessa stepped forward urgently, positioning herself between the two men.
“How little does the young lord think of me, to act like this?”
A small head suddenly wedged itself between the two burly men.
Ian found it amusing that, from this vantage point, Vanessa’s back resembled a small animal caught between two beasts of prey.
If the discomfort that had been building within him had melted away like snow under sun at the sight of her spreading her arms wide like a flying squirrel and squeaking indignantly, was that too shameless of him?
Especially since her anger was directed at someone other than himself.
From behind Vanessa, Ian tilted his chin slightly upward, regarding Kalleil with an expression of childish triumph.
At that juvenile display, Kalleil’s brow furrowed with clear irritation.
“Vane——”
“Not Vanessa—Princess Sharoze.”
…….
“I don’t recall ever giving you permission to use my name.”
Vanessa looked up at Kalleil with eyes turned cold as ice.
“Don’t mistake yourself. The right to call my name freely isn’t something you possess—it’s something I grant.”
…….
“Let’s go, Ian.”
Breathing out a sharp, agitated sigh, Vanessa seized Ian’s hand and pulled him along.
Ian, reluctantly following where Vanessa led, glanced back over his shoulder.
Toward Kalleil, who stood frozen in place, glaring daggers at them, golden eyes curved in a smile of triumph.
Childish as it was to feel he’d won, he couldn’t suppress the laughter that threatened to escape.
The verbal sparring he would never normally have engaged in—but with Vanessa involved, his body had responded before his mind could think.
Much like when he was younger, he’d soundly thrashed Kalleil Renard for daring to eye her with impure intent, calling himself her childhood friend.
‘Satisfying.’
All the more so because the interlaced hands spoke clearly enough about who the true victor was.
But that joy did not last long.
“……I’m sorry, but let’s call it a day.”
……Why?
Ian stood hollow-eyed, watching Vanessa recede, as though cotton candy were dissolving in a river current.
***
“I see you’ve returned later than usual, sir. The date must have been quite enjoyable.”
Denian, who greeted Ian as he arrived at the estate in the late evening, opened his mouth with evident smugness.
Ian passed the first floor with an indifferent expression and came to an abrupt halt while climbing to the second.
“Denian.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Salary cut. One more month.”
“What? No, but that……!”
Ian glared at Denian, whose face suggested he was about to grab at his trouser leg, before continuing up the stairs.
“You should have mentioned the location.”
“No, that was……”
Denian watched Ian’s receding back with a hollow gaze, as if desperate to hear nothing more.
Bang!
The study door shut with a sharp, irritable slam, and in that instant Denian knew the date had been a complete disaster.
“You ought to have told me the master’s preferences…….”
Back in his room, Ian yanked off the necktie that had been choking him all evening, his movements rough and agitated. Then he dragged his carefully combed hair into disarray with both hands.
“Damn it.”
Slouched in his chair, Ian tilted his head back and squeezed his eyes shut.
‘What did I do wrong?’
No matter how much he turned it over in his mind, he couldn’t fathom it.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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