16. My Woman’s Man

“Shall we go back?”

When Adeline extended her hand toward the duke, a splendid carriage was entering the town.

Though it had no emblem, one glance revealed it was a luxury carriage.

The carriage made of precious black wood surrounded with platinum gradually approached where Adeline was.

Eventually, the door of the carriage that had entered the town center opened.

The toe of an elegant shoe appeared through the door, and then a man wearing a dark gray suit stepped out of the carriage.

The man adjusted his cravat after getting out of the carriage and spoke to the knight who followed him.

“Veil, prepare for a while and then we’ll depart.”

The knight who silently bowed had his shoulder badge covered with black cloth.

Adeline hadn’t minded when the carriage entered. Not until she heard that voice.

Adeline couldn’t take her eyes off the man.

Is that what it means to be emotionless? His grayish hair and eyes emitted an indifferent light.

Even without a family emblem, his noble demeanor and weighty presence were evident throughout his body.

Adeline could recognize him at a glance. He was her father, Marquis Severus Credion.

‘Why is Father here……’

Adeline’s heart began to pound as if it would burst.

What business could he have in this quiet Horn, far from the capital? Adeline glanced furtively at the Marquis.

The first thing that caught the Marquis’s eye after getting out of the carriage was a doll with black hair and red eyes.

His indifferent gaze swept past the elderly man performing the puppet show and the children, toward the fountain.

The moment the Marquis’s gaze reached Adeline, she instinctively ducked her head.

“Huh.”

It felt as if her breath had stopped. The Marquis’s cold eyes that she had accidentally met emitted a chill that could freeze to the bone even in midsummer.

Adeline’s motion to leave had long since stopped with his appearance.

“Del.”

The duke called out to Adeline who was frozen with her head bowed low.

But despite the duke’s call, Adeline couldn’t move an inch.

The Marquis’s staring gaze tightened around Adeline like an invisible noose.

She felt as if she would be dragged away by the Marquis and thrown before the Crown Prince.

Without realizing it, Adeline embraced her own neck with trembling hands as if to protect herself.

‘I should have left earlier.’

Unlike Adeline who was filled with regret and fear, the Marquis put away his emotionless gaze.

Only Adeline was agitated.

Freed from the Marquis’s gaze, Adeline exhaled the breath she had been holding, as if the noose had been cut.

‘Father wouldn’t recognize me.’

Human emotions are truly complex. No sooner had Adeline felt relief than a corner of her heart ached bitterly.

A father who couldn’t even recognize his child would never protect her from the Crown Prince.

The Marquis would surely throw her before the Crown Prince with doll-like eyes that revealed not a trace of emotion.

‘I need to escape. Right now.’

She didn’t want to be this close to the Marquis. But the Marquis’s carriage was positioned on the path toward home.

She didn’t have the confidence to pass by him and head home.

Adeline immediately pulled the duke toward a restaurant on the opposite side of the Marquis’s carriage.

She wanted to get as far away from the Marquis as possible.

The duke, who had been dragged to the restaurant without knowing why, gave a suspicious look.

“Weren’t we going back?”

Adeline decided to wait until the Marquis left this place and it was safe.

She made an excuse.

“Food! Let’s eat before we go. I’m hungry.”

Though Adeline’s urgency seemed strange, the duke decided to just go along with it.

Adeline couldn’t hide her dismay at the appearance of the restaurant she had entered to avoid the Marquis.

Because she had rushed in, she hadn’t properly examined the exterior of the restaurant.

‘The windows are too large.’

A restaurant full of large windows letting in plenty of sunlight. It was an interior that anyone would like.

Except for Adeline who needed to avoid being seen.

‘Of all places to choose.’

She needed to secretly watch the Marquis’s carriage leave town, but rather than being able to monitor, Adeline felt like she was advertising herself to be captured.

No matter where she sat, the large windows framed the town center like a beautiful painting.

The duke, unaware of Adeline’s concerns, chose the prettiest spot for their impromptu restaurant date.

A seat where pleated chiffon curtains were beautifully tied on both sides, highlighting the large window.

‘The interior of the restaurant probably isn’t that visible from outside.’

Adeline comforted herself as she carefully sat down.

While they were choosing the menu and the tableware and food were being set up one by one.

The duke was bothered by Adeline who kept glancing out the window.

Her gaze seemed to constantly turn toward the silver-haired noble man outside town. It was the man Adeline couldn’t take her eyes off earlier.

‘Could it be. She came to the restaurant to steal glances at that man……?’

The duke’s eyes wavered aimlessly.

As if sensing the duke’s anxious feelings, Severus approached the restaurant one step at a time.

As that man’s distance grew closer, Adeline seemed greatly agitated and clutched the tablecloth.

‘I don’t like this.’

Still at a distance, the duke frowned as he saw Severus through the window.

The Marquis’s icy gaze and the duke’s fiery gaze collided in midair.

The duke quickly untied the beautifully tied curtains and closed them abruptly. He needed to turn Adeline’s attention back to himself before the man got any closer.

“The sunlight is too bright.”

As he pulled the curtains shut, Adeline looked at the duke with startled eyes.

“It’s harmful to the eyes.”

In the duke’s opinion, what was harmful wasn’t the sunlight. That man receiving Adeline’s attention was too harmful.

The duke completely misunderstood Adeline’s fearful glances.

Just when he thought he had completely blocked Adeline’s view.

‘Why of all places does he take a seat at the terrace outside the window where we’re sitting?’

Through the fluttering chiffon curtains, the silhouette of a man with a robust physique appeared. The duke tightly bound the fluttering chiffon curtains. Jealousy flared toward the perfect man, even in silhouette.

Not knowing that he was Adeline’s father, Marquis Credion, the duke resented the thin curtains.

“Haah.”

Adeline, who had been agitated by the approaching Marquis, felt her energy drain at the duke’s actions.

She unconsciously let out a sigh.

This appearance further misled the duke.

‘Is she sighing because I’ve hidden that man?’

She said they were eloping…… he looked at Adeline with resentful eyes for already having another man in her sights.

Outside the restaurant.

A knight approached the Marquis.

“Your Grace, preparations are complete. Shall we depart?”

The Marquis was looking at the curtains that had suddenly been drawn when he reached the front of the restaurant.

The rude behavior of the man inside the restaurant irritated him.

However, at the knight’s words that they needed to leave now to meet the appointment with the Crown Prince, the Marquis left without hesitation.

“Let’s go.”

Not long after the curtains were drawn, the Marquis’s figure disappeared, and both the duke and Adeline relaxed their vigilance in different ways.

Today, the duke received a great shock.

Adeline had remained by his side continuously since he lost his memory.

He had never thought that she might set her eyes on another man and leave him.

But Adeline’s behavior today was enough to make the duke anxious.

She was greatly agitated upon seeing that man and clutched her neck. In the end, she even looked affectionate.

The duke felt fear for the first time.

He couldn’t lose Adeline to anyone. He wanted to confirm that she was entirely his.

Today’s events made him desperate for his lost memories.

‘If I had my memories, Adeline wouldn’t have turned her eyes elsewhere.’

“By the way, why are we still lovers?”

“Ah. We were going to submit it to the temple, but because you got sick……”

‘Marriage vow!’

He resolved to expedite the preparation of a marriage vow with Adeline.

⁕⁕⁕

When they left the restaurant, the sun was already touching the horizon.

“The sun has set already.”

“Yes. We should head back now.”

She began to worry about starting too late as the distance was quite far.

Though being with the duke meant the path back to the villa wouldn’t be frightening.

Walking through town while looking at the red sunset coloring the sky, Adeline stopped in front of an inn.

‘Come to think of it, Hailo must have sent a letter.’

Adeline recalled when she had fled in the middle of the night and came to Horn.

She remembered sending a letter to Hailo from this inn where she had stayed briefly.

She had intended to contact him again soon, but Adeline had completely forgotten.

This was because she had been preoccupied with the duke who pointed a knife at her as soon as they met and then lost his memory, leading to tumultuous days.

‘Should I go into the inn and ask? Or not?’

Adeline hesitated while standing still.

She wanted to go into the inn immediately and get the letter, but she was concerned about the duke who was with her.

“What is it? Did you forget something?”

The duke approached Adeline who had stopped and asked curiously.

“Oh my, isn’t that Del? It is, right?”

An affected voice came from behind the two.

When they turned around, a middle-aged woman had approached closely. She was the owner of the inn where Adeline had stopped.

“It’s been a month. Oh, there are letters for Del, take them!”

Adeline tried to leave quickly, but the inn owner told her to wait and disappeared.

Not long after, she returned and handed Adeline several pure white envelopes.

“Someone sends letters steadily every week! Hoho. The person to reply to isn’t here. I wondered how to deliver these.”

At that moment, Adeline realized her mistake. She had momentarily forgotten that the inn owner was a woman who talked too much.

Glancing at the duke, she saw his expression, initially puzzled, gradually hardening.

She thought only of getting away from here quickly.

“Y-yes. Thank you. Then this……”

Just as she was about to say goodbye.

“That’s why I thought the sender of the letters was Del’s lover. I thought they were worried about a lover in a foreign land, but is this your lover?”

The inn owner’s tactless questions continued. At the mention of a lover, the duke’s brows furrowed.

He shifted his gaze from the inn owner to Adeline. His staring eyes seemed to ask what this meant.

‘Friend! Just a friend!’

Adeline hastily stuffed the letters away, took the duke’s hand, and quickly left the place.

She couldn’t show him the letters whose contents she didn’t know.

Though she felt the duke shooting suspicious glances at her, Adeline pretended not to notice.

Under the duke’s blazing gaze, Adeline felt as if her face would burn up.