Standard Contract Guidelines for a Fraudulent Marriage - Chapter 55

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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 55

Around that time, Loerston was running his lips absently over the memory of the impulsive kiss just moments before, his expression unreadable.

“This is trouble. It’s become a habit now.”

Loerston had taken Adelia to a quiet, refined restaurant.

Though not crowded, everyone inside was well-dressed, clearly members of the aristocracy.

“The chef here was once the head cook at the Royal Palace.”

Adelia, who had been drinking water, looked up in surprise, her eyes widening.

“Really?”
“Indeed. You’ll enjoy whatever you choose. Let’s see what my wife selects, shall we?”

Loerston handed her the Menu.

Adelia took it and read through the densely written items carefully.

Many were written in foreign languages, making them incomprehensible.

Loerston explained those for her, but most of the dishes were made from ingredients Adelia had never heard of, prepared in ways she’d never encountered.

“Senior.”

Adelia whispered from behind the Menu.

“Is Black Goose really that delicious?”
“I suppose. Why not order it and find out?”
“But if it doesn’t suit my taste and I can’t finish it, I’d feel terrible. I think I’d prefer something more familiar.”
“That won’t do, my dear.”

Loerston gently pulled the edge of the Menu toward him, smiling.

“When you come to a place like this, you must try something new.”

With that, before Adelia could even finish choosing, he signaled a server.

“You called, sir?”
“Bring us all of today’s featured main courses, in order. Ah, hold the dessert—my wife will choose that later.”
“Very good, sir.”

The server bowed respectfully and returned toward the kitchen.

Adelia, who had been sitting in stunned silence, suddenly snapped to attention and spoke in a hurried whisper.

“How am I supposed to eat all of that!”
“Eat as much as you like. If there’s too much, you can just taste each one.”
“But—”
“Trying different things helps you understand what you enjoy and what you don’t. If you’re to navigate Aristocratic Society, having a refined palate will matter.”

She had no response to that.

Part of it was because he was right, but mostly it was that his words made her tongue feel thick and cottony.

—If you’re to navigate Aristocratic Society.

What did he mean by that?

No matter how brilliant a discovery Adelia made, no matter how dazzling a paper she published to shake the academic world, she would never be granted a noble title.

‘Only if I achieved some extraordinary accomplishment whose research impact touched the common people could I even dream of that.’

Adelia murmured to herself.

‘Senior, sometimes I have no idea what you’re thinking.’

Was Loerston perhaps assuming she would marry another nobleman after this sham marriage ended?

If so, regrettably, Loerston was mistaken. Adelia had no intention of marrying anyone.

‘Unless it were someone like senior.’

The thought that had surfaced unbidden, Adelia hastily erased from her mind.

Someone like Loerston didn’t exist in this world.

There was only Loerston himself.

Loerston watched her face flush and gulp down water, and asked with a puzzled expression.

“What’s wrong? Are you warm? Shall I ask them to move us to a table by the window?”
“Oh, no. I like it here. It’s quiet.”
“I had a feeling you’d prefer somewhere secluded like this.”

He winked at her and smiled. Adelia felt herself drowning in that expression.

He’s handsome, she thought.

Even now, seeing his face every day, morning and night, Loerston seemed newly beautiful each time, as if discovering him afresh.

When he smiled, his face looked boyish; when lost in thought or angry, he was cold and sharp as a predator.

In the dark of night, caught in lamplight, his face appeared so sensual and dangerously alluring she’d find herself holding her breath.

I know every side of senior like this, she thought.

Perhaps I alone know all the facets of him.

That thought filled her chest with a swelling, bittersweet pride.

Even if, once their contract ended, she could never again see him this close, these memories would someday become treasured recollections.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

At Loerston’s question, Adelia found herself smiling without quite meaning to.

“That senior is very handsome.”
“You just thought of that now?”

Just as he was about to laugh, Adelia’s fingertips rapped the table sharply, admonishingly.

“It’s not ‘just now.’ Everyone knows senior is handsome. But for someone like me, who faces that face every day, it’s rather different. Handsome is handsome, but there are varieties to it—or should I say, different categories of handsomeness? In any case, there are many nuanced gradations to beauty. So thinking ‘Oh, how handsome!’ upon seeing senior would be logically impossible. Senior already possesses the attribute of handsomeness, you see. We don’t look at a cat and suddenly think, ‘Oh, it has a tail!’ do we?”

Having delivered her passionate explanation, Adelia quickly drank some water to catch her breath.

Loerston had understood every word she said.

He understood it, but… he couldn’t decide what the appropriate response should be.

Should he be embarrassed? Laugh? Respond seriously?

After a moment’s consideration, he chose to laugh. Once he started, his shoulders shook until he couldn’t stop.

“Senior, why are you laughing?”

Adelia asked with wide eyes, and Loerston replied:

“It’s nothing.”

He wiped at the corners of his eyes and let out a long sigh.

“I’ve never had anyone care for me quite like that before. I’m surprised.”
“Care—!”

Adelia’s face went scarlet. A look of flustered panic crossed it.

“That’s not what I meant, it’s not like that—”
“You don’t like me? But you managed that long and elaborate compliment without actually liking me?”

Loerston asked with unabashed cunning, chin propped on his hand.

Now Adelia’s whole face, from forehead to nape, had flushed a deep crimson.

Could she admit to liking him?

This relationship was bound by nothing but a contract, a single page of paper.

“I… I do like senior. I admire you…”
“I like you too. I admire you.”
“But, but absolutely not! I don’t harbor romantic feelings for senior or anything like that, so please don’t worry! I won’t trouble you with such matters!”

Just as Loerston was about to respond to her desperate words, a server approached, wheeling a trolley laden with plates.

“Your ordered dishes. I shall first explain each dish’s Hors d’oeuvre. This one is salted sea bass, grilled and finished with cherry sauce, and this is Vinegar-Marinated Cucumber with Aged Sea Bream. And—”

As the server’s explanation continued, Loerston wore a deeply pensive expression.

He didn’t seem to be listening. It was as if he were lost in thought, his mind elsewhere entirely.

‘What is senior thinking about?’

“And this fourth dish is—”

When the server began explaining the fourth plate, Loerston raised his hand, stopping him.

“That’s enough explanation. We’ll judge as we eat.”
“Ah, yes. Very well, then—”

As the sound of the trolley’s wheels and footsteps faded, Adelia finally released a long breath.

The dishes were small—each one a mere bite or two—but the plates were large enough to fill the entire table.

“Well, what would you like to try first?”
“Hmm… this one. The Aged Sea Bream and the cucumber.”

Loerston slid the plate in front of Adelia and asked:

“Do you like cucumber?”
“Yes! I do. It’s affordable and good to eat in place of fruit. In summer, it’s so refreshing.”
“I see…”

Adelia, watching Loerston pick up a small spoon, suddenly blurted out:

“Senior, do you dislike cucumber?”

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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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