131. Mischief

In the middle of the night while the party was still in full swing, Baronet Shiraz stood outside the party venue, shivering.

Baronet Shiraz, a young man who had made his social debut this year, should have been hopping around like a grasshopper performing courtship dances for wealthy heiresses.

Not hiding his body in this open space where dozens of carriages were parked.

This was entirely unbecoming of a nobleman. Even the coachmen had left their carriages to warm themselves in the servants’ resting area.

‘Should I just leave? There’s no guarantee I’ll meet her even if I wait here.’

The yellow light from the mansion’s party hall visible through the dark bushes looked warm.

〈So your name is Baronet Shiraz?〉

The memory of that laughter kept him rooted to the spot.

‘No! If I can see that smile on her face just one more time, it’s worth waiting here all night!’

Anette Inkheart, the Grand Duchess with cotton candy-like sweet pink hair and gentle smiling eyes, a newly appeared angel in high society.

Baronet Shiraz had accidentally met the rumored Grand Duchess at a tea party hosted by a countess.

He fell in love at first sight with her angelic appearance, and then fell in love again with her kindness that didn’t discriminate against people despite her high status.

‘Why, why are you already married! Grand Duchess! If only you had waited for me a little longer…… though as a mere baronet, I dare not even think such thoughts.’

Though Baronet Shiraz had fallen into love sickness, he wasn’t a fool. He knew it was beyond his wildest dreams to think he and the Grand Duchess could ever be together.

That would have been true even before she became a Grand Duchess. After all, she had been a marquis’s daughter.

‘But at least I could dance with the Grand Duchess!’

It wasn’t at all improper for a spirited young man to admire a prestigious lady.

Moreover, for the baronet, holding the Inkheart Grand Duchess’s hand and looking at each other while circling the ballroom once—that brief time would be enough to create a lifetime of memories.

He wanted to ask the Grand Duchess for one dance, so he attended every ball in hopes that the Inkheart Grand Duchess might appear.

But even on the fortunate days when the Inkheart Grand Duchess attended a ball, Baronet Shiraz never got the chance to ask her for a dance.

This was because Grand Duke Inkheart stuck closely to the Grand Duchess and warded everyone else off.

〈Anette’s dance partners today are me, me, me, and me. Unfortunately, my wife’s dance card is completely full, so she has no time to dance with anyone else.〉

The Grand Duke Inkheart always claimed all the Grand Duchess’s dance appointments before the ball even started and threatened others not to even think about it!

Poor Inkheart Grand Duchess! Because of her husband’s possessiveness, she couldn’t build friendships with other men during this joyful ball season! Even though she was married, what was so wrong with building small friendly relationships with other men!

After repeatedly failing to properly exchange even a single word with the Grand Duchess due to Grand Duke Inkheart’s powerful interference, Baronet Shiraz made a decision.

‘If I can’t meet her at the ballroom, I’ll pretend to bump into her by chance!’

Surely even ‘that’ Grand Duke wouldn’t be able to do anything about a spirited young man who approached this way!

So Baronet Shiraz was lingering near the carriages, waiting for the grand ducal couple who might emerge at any moment.

While fighting the cold that made him doubt whether this was really late summer dawn…..

Sniff, Baronet Shiraz swallowed his runny nose.

‘But if I look this pitiful, the kind-hearted Grand Duchess will feel sorry for me and won’t be able to just pass by, right?’

While waiting miserably with such thoughts, he finally heard footsteps.

Wondering if it might be another nobleman who had parked their carriage, he narrowed his eyes to look carefully, and seeing a frail body cradled in an impressive physique, he realized it was indeed the grand ducal couple.

‘Huh? Why is the Grand Duchess being carried?’

There was no sign of anyone else following besides the grand ducal couple and the servants they had brought. This meant the grand ducal couple was leaving the party early, not returning home at the end of the party.

‘Is the Duchess ill?’

While Baronet Shiraz stood with his mouth agape at this unexpected situation, the figure walking toward the carriage suddenly stopped.

The Grand Duke carefully set the Grand Duchess down in front of the carriage and then approached with lightning speed to grab Baronet Shiraz, who was hiding in the open space, by the collar.

“Who are you.”

“Hiiieek!”

The eyes of a wild beast flashed. Feeling his throat constricted, Baronet Shiraz choked.

The Grand Duke Inkheart was an accomplished swordsman who had achieved the Sword Expert title.

This meant that even from this distance, his eyesight could clearly see Baronet Shiraz’s pale face hiding in the corner. Though the baronet wouldn’t have known this.

“You were hiding near our carriage watching for Anette and me to come, weren’t you? What’s your purpose.”

“I-I’m not a suspicious person! It’s just that!”

“Suspicious people always say that.”

“Keck, keck. Grand Duke, if you could first release him……”

The Grand Duchess, seemingly concerned, was approaching them. In the dark night, Baronet Shiraz could see her soft pink hair, like flower petals, fluttering in the night breeze.

At this rate, the Grand Duchess would remember him as a thief being thoroughly beaten by her husband.

‘I didn’t wait here from evening until now just to be treated like a thief!’

“I am Baronet Shiraz who attended today’s party! The reason I came here is…… I had something to say to the Grand Duchess…… but it was difficult to speak to her inside the party venue……”

“You have something to say to my wife?”

Despite properly identifying himself, the hand around his neck tightened even more.

Why?

“Baronet Shiraz, you say?”

The angelic, sweet voice saved him once again. The Grand Duchess looked even more beautiful when met in this crisis. He felt like crying. Though that might also have been physiological tears from being choked.

Still, being in front of his wife, the Grand Duke released Baronet Shiraz’s collar.

“At…… Countess Basha’s tea party……”

“Ah, I see.”

The Grand Duchess gently murmured, “Countess Basha’s tea party.” They had only met once. It wasn’t unreasonable that the Grand Duchess might not remember him.

“Ah, Baronet Shiraz.”

That smile, as if she had just remembered him, didn’t matter if it was fake.

“So why were you looking for me? If you had something to say, you could have sent a servant with a message.”

Baronet Shiraz’s breath quickened, for different reasons now than when he had been grabbed by Darius.

Even her fingers, brushing away fallen strands of hair as if annoyed, looked as beautiful as if carved from ivory.

“Well…… well……”

He had to say it. Just one dance with her. It would be a lifelong honor. He needed to ask…

“Baronet?”

With a face that looked like it might burst from redness, Baronet Shiraz fumbled in his br*ast pocket and held out a handkerchief. It was a handkerchief he had prepared to give to Anette when he met her.

“That…… you dropped your handkerchief that day…… I wanted to return it to you.”

Baronet Shiraz’s white-gloved hand trembled as he held out the handkerchief. Anette could see it too. The innocent appearance of a young man new to society who couldn’t even speak properly out of shyness.

Anette looked at the handkerchief Baronet Shiraz was holding out with round eyes, then soon smiled brightly. It was a lovely smile, like a flower blooming.

“How kind of you to wait here like this to return my handkerchief. I’m delighted.”

After receiving the handkerchief, the Grand Duchess turned her back.

“G-Grand Duchess!”

Baronet Shiraz called out to her loudly before he realized it.

“Yes?”

“I, I, I, I…… I really want to da-da-dance with you at the next ball……! I-I’d like to re-re-request a da-da-dance!”

Achoo! Shivering from the cold, he couldn’t even pronounce properly. His once-in-a-lifetime courage ended up being truly pathetic. But at least he had said it. He had avoided the regret of not even trying.

“Ahaha.”

The Grand Duchess laughed. At his wife’s clear laughter, the Grand Duke’s eyes became terrifying, making it seem like he had been lenient until now.

“I’m sorry. It was difficult for you to ask, but I don’t plan to attend any more balls this year after today.”

The Grand Duchess slightly lifted her skirt hem as if curtseying after a dance, bowed her head, and then took her husband’s arm to soothe him as he looked displeased.

That was the end of it. Both Baronet Shiraz’s courage and his summer social season balls.

Baronet Shiraz blankly watched the two figures disappearing into the carriage. His legs had gone weak from his life’s greatest act of courage, and he couldn’t move anyway.

“Achoo, achoo! Puhengchoo!”

The dust stirred up by the departing carriage splashed over Baronet Shiraz’s face.

* * *

Baronet Shiraz’s suit, imitating those from famous tailors, showed its cheap quality when seen up close.

Anette thought there was something endearing about how he had carefully chosen clothes that no gentleman familiar with society would ever wear.

“You don’t even carry handkerchiefs normally.”

As soon as they boarded the carriage, Darius made no effort to hide his displeasure as he snatched the handkerchief from Anette’s hand and threw it into a corner.

“He should have at least one memorable moment, don’t you think? He won’t even get to dance with me because of a certain someone.”

Anette giggled as she wrapped her arms around her sulking husband’s neck.

“It’s fortunate he pulled out a handkerchief. What if he had returned something I actually lost? Hmm? What then?”

Speaking of which, where was that thing she lost at the party earlier…

It should never appear again. The evidence of her mischief.

“If I received that, I definitely couldn’t say ‘thank you for bringing it back’ like I just did.”

Anette murmured languidly.

Having somehow lost one of her stockings at the party earlier, Anette’s legs were pretending to be well-behaved under her long skirt hem, keeping their lips tightly sealed.