Luke jerked his head forward and then hung it.
Amelia looked at him with concern. “Wh-What’s wrong? Sorry, did I say something that made you uncomfortable?”
Her fiancé had ignored her for four years—wanting him to think that she was cute could make her sound like quite the stalker or utterly vain. She hadn’t expected him to be so grossed out that he couldn’t maintain his posture. I feel bad now.
“That’s not it; everything’s okay. I just…received a bit of a critical hit. Don’t take it to heart.”
“Hm?”
If her stalker-like statement had been a critical blow, then he found her disturbing after all. She wasn’t sure whether everything was truly okay, like he said.
Luke was covering his face with his hands, but he kept insisting that everything was fine. Hounding him would only affirm his opinion that Amelia was creepy, so she pretended nothing had happened and moved on.
“Anyway, I need quite a large sum, so I’m working hard and selling my stuff,” she said. “Plus, even if I do make a dress, there’s another problem.”
“What is it?” Though he still buried his face in his hands, he was listening and responding to her. She noted that he was a rather sincere person.
“I can’t leave from the front entrance of my residence. But even if I sneak out, they might not let me into the venue. Barely anyone recognizes my face, so they might chuck me out as a suspicious intruder.”
Considering that it was the royal court, she might even be thrown into prison. She needed to carefully analyze and prepare measures to deal with that.
“Then, are you saying that you’re able to see your fiancé as long as you have a dress?” Luke moved his hands away from his face at last, but his cheeks held a hint of crimson. Maybe blood had rushed to his head because he was too repulsed.
“That’s the bare minimum requirement, yeah. But I’m not sure how long it’s going to take at the rate I’m going. Plus, I don’t know which evening party my fiancé will attend either…” She trailed off.
“Is something bothering you?”
Amelia hesitated. “He might not want to see me. He probably hates my guts, after all.” Her shoulders slumped, and she hung her head.
She could persevere to the end of time for Luke’s sake, whether it be selling strawberries or working hard to get her hands on a dress. However, her wish to see him was one-sided. Perhaps he shunned the idea of even facing her.
Amelia could—no, she would—endure anything he threw at her, whether it be hatred, aversion, or curses. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t feel miserable.
Luke took a deep breath. “All right then.”
“What?”
As if the flush of his cheeks earlier had been her imagination, Luke stared at Amelia solemnly. After giving her a radiant smile, he stood up from the wooden crate and held out a hand to her. “You wanted to buy envelopes and paper, right?”
Eyes wide, she nodded. “Ah. Yeah.” It appeared that he was going to lead the way to a corresponding shop.
Taking his hand, Amelia stood up. She began walking with Luke.
A nearby shop sold envelopes and writing paper, but wares with lovely designs fetched steep prices. Since she had to send a number of letters, she had to prioritize quantity over quality.
“You’ve taken a fancy to those ones, right?” Luke asked. “How about I buy them for you?”
She was thankful for his generosity, but she shook her head. “These are letters to express my feelings. I want to buy them with my own money.”
“…I see.” An enigmatic smile, somewhere between wistful and delighted, played on his lips. For some reason, he stroked Amelia’s head. “Let’s talk again. Tell me more about you.”
“Huh? Sure. I should go to the shop to sell sweets again, so let’s chat if we bump into each other on another day.”
For Amelia, opportunities to interact with her peers were scarce. And she enjoyed talking with Luke. She planned to continue her confectionery business for a while anyway, so surely there was no harm in taking a breather once in a while, or so she thought.
Seeing Amelia’s smile, Luke gently lifted her hand. In the blink of an eye, he pressed his lips against the back of it.
“Eep?!” Startled, Amelia pulled her hand away, but Luke didn’t seem bothered.
Was this some kind of greeting among nobles? Maybe he thought that Amelia was a member of the aristocracy, even if she didn’t seem like it. Or perhaps he was also a noble.
Amelia’s eyes were wide with astonishment, and seeing that, Luke’s golden eyes glimmered with the hint of a smile. “See you again, Amelia.”
“Y-Yeah.”
As she watched his retreating figure, she pressed hard on her erratically pounding heart. “Th-They might have the same eye color and name, yeah, and it’s true that he’s a bit handsome, but no, stop right there, Amelia. Your heart already belongs to Lord Luke!”
Flustered, she lightly slapped her cheeks before she began walking.
“I know,” she muttered to herself. “I’m not used to things like kisses on the hand, so my heart’s going berserk because he took me by surprise. That’s got to be it.”
Assuming it was truly a normal greeting between nobles, Luke Klein might do the same thing when they reunited. Now that she thought back, he’d also kissed her hand during their one and only meeting when she’d been twelve, so it was definitely within the realm of possibility.
Anxiety crept into her heart. At the same time, she worried a little. “I can’t afford to act in an unseemly manner in front of Lord Luke. I should prepare myself mentally…and hmm, should I also practice too?”
In that case, she should go to Helt for his assistance after she returned to the Fifth Palace.
Fanning her flushed cheeks, Amelia hurried back to the royal court.
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