Chapter 180
‘That voice…’
There was no doubt about it—it was the voice of Dieter, the eccentric son of Viscountess Ida.
Even worse, his voice was trembling slightly, as if filled with anxiety, fearing that he might be rejected.
Why was he here, when he should be sparring with Iona in the training grounds?
For what reason had he slipped away at this hour to deliver a sudden, out-of-the-blue love confession?
Leroy's eyes twitched momentarily as he thought.
It wasn’t hard to guess who Dieter was with at that moment.
There was no way the “lady” Dieter mentioned was his stepmother.
Leroy’s expression hardened as he approached the room where the voices were coming from.
“I love you!”
At the exact moment a booming confession erupted from beyond the door, Leroy, without any time to calculate or think, kicked it open.
What unfolded afterward… was only half of what Leroy expected.
The people inside were indeed Dieter and Iona, but Dieter wasn’t actually confessing his love to Iona.
In the end, Leroy couldn’t even relay the original message he came to deliver to Iona and was forced to return to where he came from.
He couldn't bring himself to ask Iona about another man in front of her, especially after she had done her best to clear up his misunderstanding.
‘How pathetic.’
Feeling an uncomfortable tightness in his chest, Leroy loosened his tie.
Sensing his presence, Jonas, who was near the door, lit up and stood up from his seat.
“Your Grace!”
Jonas hurriedly approached Leroy with an apology ready on his lips.
“I’m sorry. I made a mistake.”
“For what?”
Jonas, who had returned after carrying out Leroy's orders, seemed to have a lot on his mind. He wore a somewhat sheepish expression.
Lowering his voice so that Fin, who sat in the distance, wouldn’t overhear, Jonas whispered, “I feel like I stirred up unnecessary anxiety. The Duke and the Madam are on such good terms—who could possibly interfere between you two? We, well, we just… It’s been a while since we’ve seen a new face, so we gossiped for fun. It wasn’t something I should have passed on to you. I wasn’t thinking.”
“...”
“I’ll make sure the others keep their mouths shut. Honestly, they probably think the same way. Since you and the Madam are such a perfect match, no one takes those thoughts seriously…”
Interpreting Leroy’s silence as anger, Jonas began sweating nervously and continued his explanation.
But it seemed he didn’t really have much else to say, as he kept repeating the same point—no one was truly wary of Fin, because everyone thought Leroy and Iona were the perfect couple.
That’s right. This was the real issue.
Contrary to what most people in the duchy believed, Leroy and Iona weren’t the ideal couple.
To be precise, Leroy wished they were and was trying his best to make it happen, but he wasn’t entirely certain of her feelings yet.
That’s why he was behaving so uncharacteristically—so immaturely.
Leroy was aware that his habit of bristling whenever he saw a man of Iona’s age wasn’t exactly healthy.
‘It’s just that I can’t control it.’
Leroy swallowed a sigh and slowly walked further inside.
Fin, who had been conversing with someone else, noticed Leroy and gave a respectful nod.
Leroy absentmindedly acknowledged the greeting, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
The truth was, the solution to this situation had already been decided. He had just been postponing the decision because he wanted to approach it carefully.
It was clear that Iona had some affection for him, but perhaps her feelings were still only lukewarm, like, “Well, since I have a husband, I might as well make the best of it.”
Sadly, how devoted Iona was to him wasn’t necessarily a positive sign.
‘She was the same with the Crown Prince.’
Iona had a tendency to push through with whatever she set her mind to.
That trait applied even in matters involving people.
She had once been famously loyal to a superior who wasn’t particularly admirable, and if she were to give the same level of devotion to her new husband…
Could that really be called love?
Leroy, who had been indirectly rejected by Iona a few times before, had always come to a negative answer to this question.
And now, nothing much had changed.
He still couldn’t be sure whether her heart aligned with his, or if it didn’t.
But at least he knew what he had to do to secure the future he wanted.
After much contemplation, Leroy muttered as if it were a troublesome thing.
“I guess I’ll have to confess.”
***
The carriage ride back to the duchy from the Ida estate was quiet.
One might have expected Leroy to start sharing what had happened with Viscounte Ida, but instead, he remained silent, staring out the window.
It seemed as though he had something weighing on his mind, so Iona chose to stay silent as well, refraining from interrupting his thoughts.
In truth, Iona’s own thoughts weren’t all that different from Leroy’s.
Her mind had been restless for some time now, for various reasons.
Of course, the one occupying the most space in her thoughts was the man sitting before her.
She was still intensely deliberating whether Leroy had kicked Dieter out of jealousy or for some other reason.
There had been signs, after all.
When they had met the Crown Prince, Leroy had shown the same kind of hostility.
‘The problem is that both Richard and Dieter are practically his enemies.’
Richard was the son of the people who killed Leroy’s parents.
And Dieter, in a sense, was the son of the collaborator who had assisted them.
It was true that both men had made inappropriate advances toward Iona—whether their intentions were romantic or not—but even if Leroy’s reaction had been more due to his existing grudges rather than jealousy, it wouldn’t seem out of place.
‘But if that’s the case, shouldn’t he have taken care of Dieter instead of just holding my hand…? Or is that more rational?’
The conclusion was simple: Iona couldn’t know.
The reason for her uncertainty was somewhat pitiful—throughout both her previous and current lives, Iona had never experienced love.
Feeling frustrated, Iona glanced at Leroy without much thought.
Sensing her gaze, Leroy turned to look at her as well.
For a brief moment, it seemed as if they were two people sharing the same dream—albeit from different perspectives. Their eyes met.
At that exact moment, the carriage came to a stop.
Once the wheels halted, the door immediately swung open, and someone entered without warning.
Despite the abrupt intrusion, neither Iona nor Leroy were particularly startled.
After all, the person who entered was someone they had summoned.
“Sit,” Iona said with a nod.
Peter swallowed hard, removing the hat that had been covering his face, and sat as close to the door as possible.
It was clear that being in their presence made him extremely uncomfortable.
After taking several deep breaths, he finally managed to speak, though his voice trembled.
“You… called for me…?”
“…”
“Uh, and… where exactly are we going? Why did you bring me along in this carriage…?”
Peter glanced nervously between Iona and Leroy, his eyes darting about.
It seemed the unexpected setting had led his mind to all sorts of wild imaginings.
Unfortunately for him, Iona hadn’t invited him into the carriage with any particularly exciting plans in mind.
This was simply a matter of efficiency.
There was no need to stop somewhere else and waste more time for a formal interrogation.
“I’ll drop you off once we’re done talking, so you don’t need to worry about our destination.”
Not that it mattered much, as the destination was just the Duke’s estate.
Rather than informing him of this, Iona casually added, “Even if you weren’t able to get out of here, it’s not something you need to be concerned about.”
Peter’s face grew tense.
Good. That was the kind of reaction she wanted.
A little fear would make him more cooperative in the conversation to come.
As if on cue, the coachman finished his preparations and the carriage resumed its journey.
Unless Peter wanted to do something as reckless as throwing himself out of a moving carriage, he had no way of escaping now.
Iona wasted no time and got straight to the point.
“Well then, let’s start with the first question. Was it the Viscountess who ordered you to drug Dieter?”
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