The Problem Is, My Ex-Boyfriend and I Are Both Dating Other People - Chapter 58

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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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Episode 58

Most of the House of Winston’s staff had been hired several months ago.
Richard was still a stranger to them. Which meant that whenever he behaved oddly, they couldn’t help but react with heightened awareness. Each time something like that happened, the servants would quietly share what they knew among themselves.
Such as when Richard ordered the entire rear garden filled with wildflowers.
“So basically, everything’s unfolding exactly as the Captain wants it to. I’m exhausted. Dragged me out in the middle of the night and I didn’t even get any useful information.”
There were moments when the knights who’d come from the Northern Region spoke loudly enough that one had to pretend not to hear.
“Hush, Asta. There are ears everywhere.”
“Let them hear. They won’t understand anyway. So is the Captain really going to do what that crazy Pink Ribbon says?”
“Crazy Pink Ribbon…….”
“She’s not in her right mind. The fact that she crawled all the way here proves it. You’re really not going to throw her out?”
“Asta. Your mouth.”
Philip’s warning made Asta grumble, but he obediently fell silent.
Philip crossed the corridor with Asta trailing behind like a tail, his face heavy with exhaustion.
The head maid felt sympathy for him, at least in her heart. By rank, there was no denying that Asta was technically Philip’s superior. But somehow.
“If you’re thinking of slipping away to meet Noah again…….”
“I’m gathering intelligence. How valuable was the information I brought back?”
“You got caught trailing behind Bella’s Estate, didn’t you?”
“Ugh! Why do you keep bringing up my past mistakes?”
To watch them was to feel there was no hierarchy between them at all.
The head maid received today’s newspaper and gossip magazine from the butler.
TodayLovable—the hottest gossip magazine in the empire—had, predictably, the name of the empire’s hottest man plastered across its top.
Richard Winston.
The name of their employer.
“What do you think?”
The butler gave a barely perceptible shake of his head at the head maid’s glance.
It was his response about their master, who had been inexplicably in excellent spirits since this morning. The cause remained unknown. Everything was exactly as usual, yet the inexplicable joy radiating from Richard filled the head maid’s face with concern.
“The knights seem cheerful too. I wonder what happened?”
“Who knows. Keep quiet and don’t pry. The new attendant?”
“The master took him as a body servant.”
“The one who arrived today?”
“His letter of recommendation was solid.”
Despite the head maid’s words, concern was plainly etched across the butler’s face.
“If any problems arise, replace him immediately.”
“Of course.”
The head maid nodded with a tense expression.
Fortunately, the reason for the Count’s abrupt change of mood became clear before the morning was through.
“Madame, the Duke of Bella’s Estate has arrived. He says he had an appointment. What should we do?”
An attendant stationed at the main gate came running with urgent news, and the head maid and butler exchanged glances. They realized they’d both had the same thought.
A great discovery—a eureka moment.

* * *

I considered it.
“I have no intention of criticizing him for changing his words depending on the circumstances.”
One must be careful with one’s mouth.
It hadn’t been long since I’d declared I wouldn’t provoke Daemon. Until then, I’d had no intention of getting tangled up with Richard. I never imagined I’d be crossing the main gate of the House of Winston with my own feet in just a few days.
“Life happens that way sometimes. Though I’m probably already on the Kill List, I was just trying not to provoke anyone too much, saying I want to keep him alive instead of just cutting him down…….”
Noah chattered and babbled beside me. I considered seriously: if I killed that bastard right now, would it count as murder or suicide?
“I understand completely.”
Kill first, think later.
A sharp glare knocked the wind out of Noah’s sails.
“Before you know it, you’re walking into a wedding ceremony, you blink and you’re reciting marriage vows, that sort of thing.”
Not deflated enough.
I swallowed a sigh and looked around the House of Winston. The manor was pristine enough to give no sign of having stood empty for a long time.
But what startled me wasn’t that the estate was fine.
“Is that what I think it is?”
Noah leaned in close and whispered. When I didn’t answer, Noah continued with certainty.
“Yeah. Gitsongi Flowers. Who in the world decorates the Central Hall like this?”
“Be quiet, Noah.”
“It’s like you’re announcing straight out that it’s a flower holding a precious memory.”
I glared at Noah silently. Far from frightened, he giggled with delight. I really did want to punch him in the mouth.
But my eyes kept drifting toward the colorful Gitsongi Flowers despite myself.
‘Who on earth decorates a manor with these things.’
Wild weeds that bloom haphazardly along roadsides.
It was exactly the sort of choice to invite criticism among the nobility. I decided I’d have to order them removed at once and followed the butler up to the second floor. The moment my foot touched the final step, I was rendered speechless.
“Good heavens.”
Even Noah had lost the urge to tease; he managed only those words.
Good heavens. Mercy.
That was truly all I could say. The long corridor leading to the second-floor Reception Room was utterly overflowing with Gitsongi Flowers.
“Does the Earl typically decorate his manor with wildflowers?” Noah asked the butler. I tried to glare at him, but I was a moment too late. The butler answered respectfully.

“Yes. We have cultivated many Gitsongi Flowers in the Garden of House of Winston. Quite magnificent, I assure you.”
“So I see.”
“Close your mouth.”
“Come now, you clearly like it.”
Why on earth did I bring this fool along? I sighed and stepped into the Reception Room as the butler held the door open.
The interior of the Reception Room was bright with streaming sunlight. Warm and radiant, the space held Richard, who stood from his seat the moment the door opened.
“…A groom?”
Noah muttered vacantly beside me. I didn’t even have the presence of mind to glare at him.
Why not?
Because Richard, his tension evident at a glance as he turned toward me, was dressed as if he could walk directly into a wedding ceremony without a single thing out of place.
“…Earl, if you have an appointment, perhaps we should return another time.”
“Bella, you said you’d come, yet now you’re claiming you have another engagement?”
Richard asked this as though he’d heard something absurd, guiding me to the table. Love, leaning against the window frame, flashed a broad smile at me. Given that he was dressed in servant’s attire, that must be the “disguise” Love had mentioned.
“Is he here as well, Earl?”
“Yes. He asked me to let him hear what passes between us. That was his condition for the arrangement.”
“…”
Richard had clearly decided to stop minding whether I addressed him as “Earl” or not.
‘No, that’s not the issue right now.’
I quickly turned my attention away from Love. Richard, dressed to such lengths for my sake, demanded far more of it.
The cufflinks, the collar pin, the sharp-cut jacket, the immaculate arrangement of his hair—all perfect enough to meet an emperor without any shortcoming.
To take someone already so handsome and groom him with such care was to create the illusion of a man gleaming with light. Fearing I would do nothing but stare at Richard’s face indefinitely, I deliberately lowered my gaze to the table and spoke.
“Since time is limited, I’d prefer we get to the main matter.”
“?”
Richard tilted his head slightly to the side. Ah. Truly. The sight was so devastating that I could bear it no longer and buried my face in both hands.
“Why are you dressed like that.”
Damn it.
I cursed under my breath and blamed his polished face when a low chuckle reached my ears.
He was laughing? Unable to help myself, I lifted my head, only to be met with an even more shocking sight of Richard than before.
He was smiling with genuine joy. Without a care in the world, just as he had when he loved me.
“Do you like it, Bella?”
“…What do you expect me to say?”
“Once you’ve already admitted you like me, what more is there to hide?”
I heard Noah, standing behind the sofa, draw in a sharp breath.
Sigh.
I forced back the urge to tousle my hair wildly. I knew better than anyone that letting emotion rule me would do no good. I had to handle this as rationally as possible.
But how? I tried to sort through my situation with reason.
I had confessed my heart to Richard, unable to hold back.
But that was all. I still intended to marry Daemon. I believed it better for Richard to live on without me than to die at my side, and he knew all of it.
And he has no intention of letting me marry Daemon.
“There is nothing.”
That was my answer. That there was nothing left to hide. Even as I knew the problem lay elsewhere entirely.

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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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