🌷 🌷 🌷
ONCE Ophelia had stopped crying, Gian waved cheerfully and left.
Ophelia watched, feeling almost as if she were looking at everything from outside of her body, as Claudio gruffly scolded the receptionist, instructing them, “Don’t let that guy in here again.”
When Claudio turned and started walking away, Ophelia hurried after him.
“Julietta was being raised properly up until that point, you know,” he said. “It was only after taking Gian’s place that he ended up turning out like that…”
“Sniffle…”
She’d stopped crying, but everyone they passed sent Ophelia pitying looks when they caught sight of her sniffling as she struggled to keep pace with Claudio. Without a doubt, they all assumed Claudio had made her cry again.
Claudio glanced over at Ophelia and came to an abrupt halt, seeming to have recalled something. “Come to think of it…”
“Yes?” Ophelia, who’d stopped when Claudio did, looked up at him in confusion.
“You never did tell me why you attended that ball.”
“…! Wh-Which ball are you referring to…?”
“The ball hosted by the royal family. The one where your brother fell through the rotten floorboards in the open-air corridor.”
“Umm, well…”
Before Claudio’s eyes, Ophelia’s face grew paler and paler.
The only reason she’d attended that ball had been because of the nagging desire to catch a glimpse of Claudio’s beautiful face up close. But she’d been warned that if anyone mentioned Claudio’s beautiful appearance, he’d become as enraged as a roaring fire! She definitely couldn’t admit the truth to him…
“Um, I, uh… I went to help my brother look for a lady to court…”
“Oi, your hands are shaking.”
“No, um, it was… A friend! She was attending, and I wanted to see her since we hadn’t met in ages…”
“Now your legs are shaking too! I won’t get angry, so just tell me. You know I can’t stand lies.”
“B-But you’re already angry…!”
“Ugh, I’m not! Just tell me!”
Ophelia pressed her hands against her stomach, which had started cramping with anxiety, and she steeled herself for a vicious scolding. “Um… I also attended Margrave Bressando’s wedding ceremony. I saw you amongst the attendees, Director.”
“Hmm, I didn’t notice you there.”
“And after I returned to the Royal City, my brother received an invitation to a ball…”
“Uh-huh.”
“And your name was on the list of attendees…”
“Yeah…”
“And I… I thought that I’d really like to catch a glimpse of you, one more time, up close if I could… I know it’s terribly presumptuous of me, but I got carried away and decided to attend for that reason!”
Ophelia bowed her head as she all but shouted this confession in a rush before she could lose her nerve. As a result, she missed the rare expression of bewildered uncertainty that flashed across Claudio’s face.
“You… wanted to see me?”
“Yes… I’d never seen anyone as beautiful as you before, so I guess I wanted to burn the image into my mind since I’d probably never get another chance in my lifetime.”
Ophelia kept her head bowed, waiting for Claudio to start shouting angrily, but it never came. When she fearfully raised her head, Claudio was cupping his chin with his hand and seemed to be in the middle of pondering something.
“Um, Director…?”
“…You… Like the way I look, huh?”
“Huh?! W-Well, it’s a bit embarrassing when you say it so directly like that, but, um… If they were selling celebrity portraits in the marketplace, I think I’d buy yours in the blink of an eye.”
“…I see.” The hand that had been cupping Claudio’s chin slowly slid up to conceal his tightly closed mouth. “Well… I suppose I don’t mind, but… Hmm…”
Claudio mumbled those words, but due to the hand covering his mouth, Ophelia couldn’t make them out. He continued muttering to himself as he walked off somewhere alone. Although Claudio’s strange reaction confused her, Ophelia settled for patting her chest and thanking her lucky stars that she hadn’t been shouted at again.