He was having fun at our expense. But I couldn’t tell him off. It was thanks to Rex and the advice he gave me at the time that Phillip and I were able to get to this point in our relationship. However, I couldn’t forget the random and teasing suggestions that Rex gave us either.
“I love stories of Phillip doing weird things because he likes you too much, Viola.”
“Yes, I know that.”
“Has anything like that happened recently?”
“No. I’m telling the truth! The only things I can think of are Phil falling sick because he was thinking about me too much and Little Vio only able to say ‘Viola, I love you!’ for a whole week.”
“Er, that’s more than interesting enough. Viola, your standards for what’s interesting or not have become messed up,” Rex laughed. “Man, you two are the best. Phillip’s as awesome today as he always is.”
“Viola, here you are.”
As Rex and I conversed, I noticed Phil walking toward us. Looking at him now, with his body covered up in a black suit, he seemed so much cooler than anyone else in the room. All of the nearby women were staring at Phil, their faces flushed a pale pink. Phil made his way to my side and smiled, looking relieved.
“I’m sorry that I left you alone for so long,” he said.
“It’s all right. Have you finished speaking with Prince Lucas?”
“Yes. He said that he might have a rather troublesome job for me some time in the near future.”
“Ah, my boss told me something similar the other day. I can take a guess at what the job is, though,” Rex said.
A rather troublesome job that would involve both Phil and Rex? I tilted my head to the side as I pondered what it could be.
“Speaking of which,” Rex said as he looked down at Phil’s hands, “Phillip, what’s up with you? You’ve been wiping your hands the entire time. Did you kill someone?”
I started to cough at Rex’s question. Wasn’t there any other way he could’ve phrased his question?
However, truthfully, I’d also been curious about Phil’s strange behavior. Ever since he returned to our side, he’d been rubbing at his hands with a wet towel. He looked down a little sadly and handed the towel to a nearby servant.
“Marchioness Hayden held my hand. More like, she grabbed onto it,” he said after a pause.
“Oof, how tragic. She loves young men, so I’d be careful if I were you,” Rex said, looking at Phil with a pitying gaze before he gave him a pat on the head.
Like Rex said, Marchioness Hayden had a preference for young men and I’d heard my fair share of rumors about her.
“Plus, Phillip, you’ve always been very fastidious about how you treat women,” Rex continued.
“Yeah,” Phil said.
Rex was right. Phil had never enjoyed physical contact with other women. Even in the past when he escorted me around at parties, he would let go of my hand as soon as he could so I’d been under the impression he disliked touching me as well. It was only later that I learned that, in my case at least, he was simply too embarrassed to hold my hand for very long.
“All right, Viola, go and slap that marchioness,” Rex said.
“She makes me angry but that’s going a bit too far,” I said.
“Phillip’s still popular with the ladies, so you shouldn’t let them think you’re a pushover.”
“Well, yes, but...”
Phil had always been popular, whether it was in school or in high society. Not only that, but it was clear to anyone with eyes that he and I weren’t on good terms. So there were plenty of ladies who tried to approach him. Phil’s attitude was so cold that people referred to him as the Icy Noble, so he dealt with their advances by simply shooing them away. But apparently, there were a lot of girls who liked that side of him.
Now that I knew more about who Phil was on the inside, his nickname was so unlike him that it made me laugh. In saying that though, even after our relationship took a turn for the better, there were still many women who wanted to draw his attention to them. It was also true that their existence caused an uncomfortable stirring in my chest.
My expression must’ve reflected how I was feeling, because Phil looked at me, his face resembling that of a kicked puppy’s.
“I’m sorry. I warned her off and did my best to wipe off my hands, so please don’t hate me.”
“Of course. There’s no way I’d hate you.”
Though I was irritated at Marchioness Hayden, Phil didn’t do anything wrong. If I had to assign blame, I’d say I was more at fault because I seemed like a weak-willed fiancée that they could walk all over. It made me reflect on my past actions and behavior, and I once again steeled my resolve to work harder for our future.
Rex tilted his head to the side and hummed as he stared at us. “I dunno how to say it, but you guys seriously seem too normal. Even though you finally reciprocated Phil’s overly complicated feelings after so many years of misunderstandings, you two don’t seem very lovey-dovey.”
“Mind your own business,” I said.
“Be more affectionate with each other! Most couples would be going through their honeymoon phase right about now.”
In my opinion, Phil and I were progressing at a great pace in our relationship. However, to tell the truth, Jamie had also commented on how we didn’t feel “lovey-dovey” enough. Just what exactly did they mean by “lovey-dovey”?
I stared up at Phil’s face in silence. Perhaps he was also of the same opinion as Jamie and Rex? But it was a bit too embarrassing to ask him that directly. For starters, I had no idea how Phil and I should go on dates after we realized our feelings for each other. Though I read lots of romance novels, I wasn’t too familiar with real-life relationships.
Of course, since even a child knew more about romance than Phil did, I was confident that when it came to matters of love, I was the expert between us.
“Viola?” Phil said after I stared at him for too long.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I was thinking about something.”
In any case, there was no use worrying about this right now. I’d need to find some time soon to discuss this with Jamie. Phil looked like he was still bothered about what happened earlier with Marchioness Hayden, so I held his hand in a tight grip.