55. A Date is Needed

Just because Darius noticed that my love was false didn’t mean there was any major change in our relationship.

In public, I still casually took his arm, and Darius continued to joke to those around us about how much I loved him.

Ah, I think I heard him quietly complain, “Anette has no conscience.”

I whispered softly in his ear.

“Considering how generously I treated you when we fought about Lady Ygret, you shouldn’t be treating me like this.”

“I think it would have been better if you had cursed at me then, pushed me, and made me out to be a very bad person.”

Oh my. So he even noticed that I was able to forgive him so easily because I had no expectations of him from the beginning.

“Should I do that now? Would it make you feel better if I hit you? How frightening.”

“Just as I don’t have the peculiar taste of growing love with each hit I take, you don’t grow love with each hit you give, do you?”

After seeing Darius sulking ostentatiously around the castle, Apple said to me.

“This time, it’s you who was wrong, madam.”

“Last time you said the Grand Duke was wrong.”

“That’s because last time the Grand Duke was wrong.”

I vividly remembered Apple snatching the croquet from Darius, but now she was betraying me like this.

“You once said you’d be loyal to me since you’re a maid who receives her salary from me.”

“I am loyal, which is why I don’t hold back honest advice for you, madam! This is all loyal counsel!”

Anyone watching would think Apple knew everything about Darius and me, but in reality, she knew nothing. She was just saying that after seeing Darius’s mood change between outside and inside the castle.

“I just have that feeling. This time, you were wrong, madam.”

“I did nothing wrong.”

Of course not. What could I have possibly done wrong?

In front of the maids who seemed to have whispered among themselves and formed a consensus to stare at me, I held my head high.

When I showed no reaction, Darius soon stopped sulking.

“They say coddling men and children only spoils them.”

Children maybe, but adults should grow up strong, right?

“No matter how I look at it, you seem to be in the wrong this time……”

Apple shook her head.

“Look, Cinnamon is passing by.”

“Eep!”

Apple looked for a place to hide at the mere mention of Cinnamon, who wasn’t even there. How dare you criticize me when you can’t even manage yourself and constantly get picked on by Cinnamon, hmph!

* * *

The outing that someone had been eagerly anticipating was a textbook date.

What kind of textbook? The romance fantasy textbook.

Darius and I were dressed as somewhat wealthy commoners, and the shop we chose for our date was similar.

Around us, young couples who weren’t nobles were enjoying their meals in good spirits.

“They say the skewers sold in the alley are delicious.”

I nodded at Darius’s words. I’m sure. Street food stalls always appear in romance fantasy dates. I guarantee the finale will be fireworks.

“Excuse me.”

The kind-looking owner placed a jiggly pudding on our table as a service.

“You two look like a good couple. I hope you enjoy your time at our shop.”

With so many couples here, why just us two?

“Excuse me, aren’t you the granddaughter of Tax Officer Nicola? Please put in a good word for me with your grandfather.”

The shop owner whispered in my ear as if he knew everything.

I had once watched Nicola conduct a tax inspection, and it seemed the owner had misunderstood because of that.

Anyway, that grandfather—he complained about being abused as an old man, but he would have been so upset if I hadn’t reinstated him.

He’s working with such enthusiasm.

“Yes, I’ll definitely tell my grandfather.”

Without correcting the misunderstanding, I looked at the pudding, but this time Darius was staring intently at the pudding without eating it.

You’ve had pudding before, haven’t you?

Ting.

Ting.

After testing the elasticity of the pudding with his spoon, he looked back and forth between it and me, lost in some thought.

“If you like that pudding, should we order another one?”

If the owner who believed I was Tax Officer Nicola’s granddaughter had seen this, he would have piled mountains of pudding before I could even ask.

Darius spoke with a rather serious face.

“I can’t eat the pudding because it resembles you, Anette.”

What?

“The pudding what?”

“It looks exactly like you.”

“In what way?”

“The way it bounces?”

Is he… is he taking a jab at me for rejecting him last time?

I was dumbfounded at being compared to pudding for the first time in my life, but Darius said with a quite serious face.

“I really can’t eat it.”

“Eat it. The pudding will feel hurt if you don’t eat it.”

“But it looks like you, Anette……”

In place of the hesitating Darius, I picked up a spoon and split the pudding cleanly in half. Darius looked shocked.

“Anette just did that to Anette…!”

“Stop talking nonsense. I don’t have pudding sisters.”

“You have no dreams or romance.”

This grumbling Darius seemed like a different person from the Darius I knew.

From the original Darius who closed his heart due to many hardships after experiencing Lady Ygret’s betrayal and before meeting Evangeline.

‘No, how has Darius changed?’

“Eat it.”

Abruptly, I scooped up a large spoonful of pudding and held it out.

Darius turned his head slightly with an uncomfortable expression.

“Huh?”

Finding his reaction quite cute, I giggled and pushed the spoon toward him, forcing him to eat the pudding.

“Hurry up and eat it, then find the differences between the pudding and me.”

Finding it amusing himself, Darius finally ate the pudding after my relentless spoon attack.

“It’s delicious, right?”

He smiled and nodded.

“It’s sweet.”

After finishing our meal, Darius showed enthusiasm for a street food date, so I agreed.

We stopped at a skewer stall, ordered food, and paid with coins. The vendor offered flattery along with the chicken skewers.

“The handsome young man treats his girlfriend well. With those strong limbs, he won’t let her starve anywhere.”

“Ah, she’s not my girlfriend.”

“Hmm? Then what’s your relationship?”

Is there a law that says a man and woman of similar age walking together must be lovers?

“We’re married. I’m the husband and she’s the wife. I have no intention of letting her starve.”

“I thought so. I’ve been doing business here for 20 years, and you two looked like a couple or spouses right away. You young folks got married early.”

The vendor clapped and laughed heartily, insisting his judgment couldn’t be wrong, and added one more comment.

“But young man, why do you talk like that? Do you think you’re some noble lord? Tsk, miss. Looks aren’t everything. If you have a husband with such bad manners, you’ll suffer later.”

Even with changed clothes, the lord mode ingrained in his body wasn’t easily erased. Darius, suddenly transformed into an ill-mannered young man, stammered.

“You’re right, he seems quite hopeless. Should I divorce him now?”

“What are you saying? If you weren’t married yet, maybe. But since you’ve already chosen him, you need to teach him well. You should have chosen more carefully—there are no returns in marriage!”

“That’s what they say.”

Satisfied with the owner’s words, Darius placed a silver coin on the vendor’s counter.

“I apologize. I’ll make amends with money.”

What are you satisfied about? Besides, you still haven’t fixed your manner of speaking!

* * *

“There’s a market this way, so it’s good for buying snacks and goods… Rose… I mean, someone recommended it.”

Eating skewers, buying dolls, and then luckily finding rare items at a stall, with fireworks viewing as the finale. That’s how romance fantasy dates typically go.

‘Oh? Then is this an opportunity to obtain a new item?’

Her wandering soul returned. She focused intently on the items spread out on the stall.

“See anything you like?”

Beep beep beep beep.

Wait a minute. I’m currently communicating with the entire universe. According to romance fantasy law, there must be something here that strongly attracts me—something that looks crude to others but appears extraordinary to me, something I become attached to and must buy!

Candidates for such items include pretty dolls, accessories that a medicine peddler claims are historic and turn out to be genuinely valuable, or dusty suspicious talismans.

‘An item that only looks precious to my eyes, or something that appears crude at first glance but I want to possess despite its unreasonable price!’

“Choose, choose, choose anything! Just one coin for anything! Perhaps something here will change your destiny!”

Even the stall vendor’s lines struck a chord. Isn’t this exactly the kind of line that appears when there’s something significant?

“Anette, do you really like that?”

Darius asked suspiciously.

A shadow fell over me as I had my head practically buried in the stall. Darius stood right behind me, leaning forward with his head next to mine.

“No.”

“Hmm.”

He took a random earring from the stall and held it up to my ear.

“It doesn’t seem to suit you. But you’re looking quite intently.”

“Since when did you become knowledgeable about women’s earrings?”

“Since I told Lucion that red doesn’t suit him because he’s in the Black Knight Order?”

When I turned around out of annoyance, Darius’s firm chest was right in front of my face.

“Hmm?”

Darius remained calm. I was the one who was flustered.

What’s with this positioning? I request social distancing.

Who cares about free items? My life is about to fly away.

To maintain the flow of the original story, it was important to keep enough physical distance with Darius so that when Evangeline eventually learned about our brief marriage, she could generously overlook it.

‘Whatever the important item was, if I don’t get it, Evangeline will probably take it and use it to defeat the demon king.’

With tears in my eyes, I backed away from the stall. I oppose any further romantic events today.