Pride and joy bloomed in my heart. Heh heh! You see now, don’t you?! Despite how he looks, Lord Felix is actually very kind and surprisingly prone to worrying! And now I get it—it’s not that they didn’t like him; they’ve just never had the chance to learn what kind of person he is.
The general population probably feared Lord Felix as a result of the rumors surrounding him. After all, even this young boy had called him scary to his face.
We walked through town, bewildered reactions following us as we went. Thanks to all of the attention we were attracting, the boy’s mother quickly spotted us. She rushed through the crowd with tears in her eyes.
“Dario! Oh, where have you— Eek!” A small shriek escaped her mouth when she realized whose shoulders her son was sitting on.
Meanwhile, the boy’s shouts grew even louder. “Ohhh! Mooooom! Felisk! Mom! Feliskmom!”
Tee hee! He’s so excited that he doesn’t know whose name to call! Also, it’s only been a few minutes since he burst out in tears at Lord Felix’s scary face, and yet he’s already been won over. Does Lord Felix have a talent for dealing with children?!
Lord Felix still seemed a bit overwhelmed by the boy’s energy, but there was a hint of a relaxed, happy smile on his face.
“Th-Thank you...” The mother bowed nervously.
“It’s no problem at all,” Lord Felix replied nonchalantly as he returned the boy—Dario—to his mother.
Looking between Lord Felix and his mother, Dario exclaimed, “Mom! Felisk is really big!” It seemed that he was trying his best to explain to his mother how much fun he’d had.
“Dario! You can’t talk about the lord that way!”
“It’s no problem at all,” Lord Felix repeated a second time. He grinned at the boy, adding, “Because we’re friends now.”
“Yeah!” Dario agreed. “Friends!”
The boy’s loud voice drew a lot of attention. His mother and the people around us all seemed stunned by the scene that was unfolding.
“Th-That terrifying lord became friends with a small child?”
“Looking at him now, it’s hard to believe we ever considered him scary.”
After we parted ways with Dario, Lord Felix murmured, “I never knew children were so warm.”
“It’s because of their high body temperature,” I noted.
He chuckled. “Ah, I see.”
Obviously, I knew he’d meant more by that, but I chose not to press further.
As usual, Lord Felix was wearing his black gloves. He’d explained to me before that they’d been specially made to contain his curse, and he wore them at all times to avoid touching others with his bare hands. From the times I’d held his hand, I knew that those gloves also prevented heat transfer. Feeling the boy’s warmth atop his shoulders must’ve been a new sensation for him.
Suddenly, the serenity of our walk through town was shattered by shouts of anger. After exchanging a look, Lord Felix and I wordlessly decided to head in the direction of the yelling.
When we arrived at the scene, we found a plump noble loudly berating a frightened elderly man in the square.
“Who do you think I am?! You damned commoner living in a cursed land!”
“E-Eek...”
I noticed a sudden shift in Lord Felix’s aura.
Wait, that nobleman is...
Lord Felix strode straight toward the instigator and asked, “Do you have a problem with my land?”
“Oh!” The man grinned. “If it isn’t the infamous Lord Leeuwenhoek.”
Hmm, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this unpleasant man somewhere before. Wait, isn’t that Lord Kanelion, the viscount who was always trying to curry favor with Prince Bernard?! What in the world is he doing here?
Upon noticing my presence, Lord Kanelion’s lips curled into an elated sneer. “Oh? Lord Leeuwenhoek...despite receiving Prince Bernard’s hand-me-down, you’ve already moved on to another woman? Ha ha ha! Well, it’s no wonder you’d prefer that lovely lady over the ugly, arrogant, and vile Lucille Gustelanola. Don’t you think it’s a little soon, though? I don’t think it’s proper to walk around in public with your new woman.”
What?! “Hand-me-down”? “Another woman”? Where did Lord Kanelion get these ideas from?!
As I pondered which statement to address first, Lord Felix beat me to the chase.
“A hand-me-down? You will not insult her like that,” he said, his voice deep and intimidating.
So he chose to start with that!
I appreciated that the first rebuke out of his mouth was a condemnation of the viscount’s affront to my worth.
However, Lord Kanelion merely gave a satisfied smile, as if he found Lord Felix’s response amusing. “The evil lady isn’t here, so there’s no need to keep up appearances. Besides, it’s hardly a convincing defense when you’re with another woman! Words alone mean nothing. Still, I’m surprised your taste in women overlaps little with Lucille Gustelanola. She must be furious. I can imagine her reaction already.”
Oh, right. I forgot how talkative Lord Kanelion becomes whenever he praises Prince Bernard or criticizes people the prince detests.
And like the prince, he was convinced that I could cast curses with my dark magic. Because of that, he was too scared to say anything to my face, but I knew that he reveled in insulting me behind my back.
Still, was he saying these things on purpose, or did he seriously not realize that I was Lucille? Was that even possible?
Baffled, I took a step closer to Lord Kanelion and stared him down. For some reason, his face reddened slightly. He seemed to be flustered.
A large figure quickly intercepted our locked gazes. Lord Felix had stepped before me, as if to protect me.
“Oho ho!” Lord Kanelion laughed. “A lovely lady indeed. It’s no wonder you keep her at your side despite already having a fiancée. But don’t you think she’s lacking discretion by sending that passionate look my way as well?”
Apparently, he genuinely did not recognize me.
Well, it was true that back during my prior engagement, I had tried to match the prince’s glamorous tastes as best as I could, adjusting my posture and appearance and having my personal attendant, Lacia, paint layer upon layer of makeup on my face.
Still, do I look so different that Lord Kanelion doesn’t even think I’m the same person?
I pressed my hand to my cheek as I pondered.
Well, Lord Felix was able to recognize me. The issue must lie with Lord Kanelion, then.
Come to think of it, I wasn’t sure if he and I had ever exchanged words directly before, especially since he feared my magic. So perhaps he didn’t actually remember my face?
Naturally, this realization disappointed me. He’d called me ugly earlier, but this meant he’d been insulting someone whose face he couldn’t even recall. Clearly, he didn’t care what he said about me as long as it was negative.
“That Lucille Gustelanola wasn’t worthy of the prince in any way,” Lord Kanelion continued. “Not only was she gaudy, unattractive, and foolish, but she was also constantly harassing the prince’s beloved Lady Mina.”
Hmm, well this is an odd situation. He’s bad-mouthing me to my face, but I can’t tell him because there simply hasn’t been an opportunity to interrupt his rambling.
I wasn’t personally bothered by anything he said about me, but at this rate, all of the townspeople hearing this were going to have an awful impression of me. What to do?
“Lord Kanelion, I recommend you shut your mouth,” Lord Felix interjected, his voice so low, it felt like it’d come from the depths of the earth. His disgust was clear.
“Eep!” Overwhelmed by Lord Felix’s murderous aura, Lord Kanelion stepped back, his face pale. “A-Anyway, I’ll let Prince Bernard know that Lucille Gustelanola is receiving awful treatment in this accursed land as well!”
I’d been waiting patiently for a chance to say something, but at this point, I had earned the right to just barge into the conversation, hadn’t I?
Just as I was about to say, “But I’m Lucille,” Lord Kanelion suddenly coughed a few times.
“I-I seem to be feeling under the weather,” he said. “I-I’ll be taking my leave now!”
“Wait!” I cried, but he was already gone.
I hadn’t the foggiest idea what Lord Kanelion had come to Leeuwenhoek for. Perhaps Prince Bernard had ordered him to perform some pointless task, like checking to see if I was receiving my “deserved” punishment.
As I mulled over this, Lord Felix peered into my face. “Lucille, are you all right? I’m afraid I was so stunned by his foolishness that I wasn’t able to quiet him sooner.”
“Heh heh heh, it was shocking, wasn’t it?! I couldn’t find the right time to interject either! It isn’t your fault at all. If anything, I’m grateful that you defended me.”
“It was the right thing to—”
“What?!” Our conversation was interrupted by a loud exclamation. “That guy was talking about you, miss?! How could that be?”
Believe me, I’m just as confused as you are.
Much to my surprise, the townspeople all started talking to me.
“Don’t let that outrageous man bother you, miss!”
“Yeah, he wasn’t making any sense.”
“Hey, why was that scary old man bullying you when you’re so pretty?”
“True! You’re as beautiful as an angel, miss!”
“Oh my!” I exclaimed. While the adults offered words of consolation, the children praised me. I knelt down to their eye level. “Tee hee, thank you! I’m so happy to hear that!”
The children, who had been standing a short distance away, excitedly ran up to me.
“Wow! You’re even prettier up close!”
“Miss, are you a real angel?”
I giggled. “Unfortunately, I’m not. Besides, you’re all very cute too!”
While I spoke to the children, Lord Felix engaged the elderly man—the one Lord Kanelion had been yelling at earlier—in conversation.
“I didn’t think you’d reach out to someone like me, my lord,” the man said.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to help you,” Lord Felix replied. “It was a blunder on my part that such a scoundrel was allowed into Leeuwenhoek.”
“Oh my... Thank you for your compassion.”
I’d assumed that dealing with Lord Kanelion would ruin our fun, but now that it was over, it seemed that Lord Felix had grown closer to his people.
Tee hee! All’s well that ends well, right?
Still, Prince Bernard must’ve become an even more unpleasant man if he’d sent Lord Kanelion here. I’d never gotten along with him in the first place, but I hadn’t thought him this foolish.
I’ve heard that love makes people stupid. Is that what’s going on here?