Side Story:
The Circumstances of the Bodyguard’s Appointment
THE SOCIAL SEASON was well underway when Dennis came to the capital for the first time in a while. He was there to visit his employer, the Marquess of Molins.
The Green barony, into which Dennis had been born, was a distant relation of House Molins. Despite the gap in social class, he’d enjoyed amicable relations with members of the Molins family since childhood, especially Richard. They found a quick kinship with each other, each being the third-eldest son of his respective family.
Coincidentally, during his time in the military, Dennis’s commanding officer was Richard’s closest friend, Giles. With Giles and Richard posted in different locations, Dennis had acted as a sort of go-between for them. So when Dennis visited after his longer-than-average military service to announce his retirement, Richard’s face lit up at the sight of him.
“That’s right! Dennis, now that you’re here, I can ask you!”
“A-ask me what?”
“Do you have plans for where you’ll work next?”
“No, nothing yet.” Dennis went on to explain that he wanted to take some time off and decompress before deciding the next chapter in his life.
Richard grabbed his jacket and stood. “Good, then come with me.”
“All right, but where are we going?”
Dennis recognized the smile on Richard’s face. It was the look he got when he was up to no good. Seeing that bad omen sent his heart pounding, but Richard was as stubborn as he was friendly. Once he set his mind to something, he would see it through—by force if necessary. Dennis knew that better than anyone, and he also knew from their longtime association that Richard would never force anyone to do anything they truly did not want to do.
Because of this, Dennis gave up any idea of resistance and caved to his friend’s demands—but the next words from Richard’s mouth caught him by surprise.
“We’re going to see your scary former lieutenant commander. He ought to be home right about now.”
“Uh, what? My former lieutenant commander… Do you mean Lord Lowell? P-please, wait a minute—”
“Come on, hurry up. Gee, you’re a lifesaver! This will take a load off Giles’s mind.”
“Again, could you please tell me what this is about?!”
“I’ll explain on the way.”
Dennis goggled in astonishment, and, with a cheerful smile, Richard shoved him into a carriage.
This former lieutenant commander of whom Richard spoke was Giles, who had served in the same platoon as Dennis. In the military, where phrases like “fair and upright” and “straight as a die” were reduced to shells of themselves, it was commonplace for soldiers to suffer under the merciless, arrogant rule of their commanding officers. Giles, however, did not engage in favoritism, and he was one of the few officers who did not take bribes, so he earned the trust of most of his men.
If you asked any of them if he was friendly, however, they would insist he wasn’t. But he did not flaunt his status as the heir to an earl, and he defied his good looks with nerves of steel and a skilled hand. He also exerted himself fully, both in combat and in negotiations with superior officers, and his subordinates relied on him heavily.
Giles’s genius was exceptional, yet his superior upbringing and his friendship with the crown prince rendered him oblivious to this fact. He assumed everyone else was capable of what he could do, so his expectations of his own men were high. As a result, they often had to push themselves to their limits to succeed. All of his lesson plans were brutal. He also always made Dennis take part in training for administrative work. Of course, the experience did serve him well, but he found Giles’s merciless leadership scarier than actual field combat.
Money could not win him over, so even bribes were useless when it came to Giles. Even now, the memory of his callous scolding when he caught his subordinates trying to cover up their failures made Dennis break out in a cold sweat. Though Giles never so much as raised his voice in anger, he was so intimidating in that moment that even Dennis, who had nothing to do with the cover-up and merely happened to be in the room at the time, froze in terror.
Giles was hard on others, and even harder on himself. The impeccably flawless Icy Scion was a name he had actually earned in the military; only later did it spread in high society. Dennis had mentally prepared himself for the eventuality that he might bump into his former commanding officer in the capital someday, but…why did it have to happen so soon?
He was so stupefied by the unexpected turn of events that his shoulders were already tense, but as they sat in the carriage and Richard cheerfully explained the reason they were going to see Giles, curiosity got the better of Dennis’s nerves.
“Ah, so he wants me to be a bodyguard. Who am I protecting?”
“Gil’s beloved.”
“…Uh.” Those were the absolute last two words Dennis ever expected to hear together. He rubbed his eyes and tugged on his earlobes. “Are my ears playing tricks on me? Perhaps I’m dreaming…”
“You didn’t mishear me. This is real. She’s Fiona Clayburn, daughter of a baron. They only recently began their courtship. We want you to keep an eye on her at her place of work to ensure no problems arise.”
“You can’t be serious. Wait, what?! No bloody way!”
“Ha ha ha! Yeah, it’s shocking, I know.”
Dennis was so shocked he lost his manners, but who could blame him? Despite the God-given good looks with which Giles had been blessed, he was an infamous lady-hater. Even in social settings, he made only minimal, polite contact, and he never sought women out at parties. His relatives had tried to set him up with women, and he had flatly rejected every last one.
And now…he has a beloved?
A giant question mark formed above Dennis’s head. An arranged betrothal he could understand; Giles was the heir of a renowned house, and it was common enough for an eldest son’s wishes to be ignored and a bride chosen for him. If that were the case, though, Richard would have called her his fiancée. The word “beloved” implied she was a lady he had begun courting of his own accord.
His love life was so dead, we used to place bets about it. I can’t believe it! He couldn’t even begin to imagine Giles smiling agreeably and whispering sweet nothings into his lover’s ear.
“Well, rumors of his relationship are spreading through the capital like wildfire right now, so I figured they’d reach you in time,” Richard said, satisfied with the shocked response he’d gotten from Dennis. “They go out and canoodle in public practically every day.”
Dennis couldn’t believe that either. “Canoodling? But that isn’t the Lord Lowell I know. It’s an impostor.”
“Ha ha! That’s my Dennis; you know him well. All right, I’ll let you out of your misery and give you the plot twist. So here’s what’s really going on…”
When Dennis heard the next thing out of Richard’s mouth, he cradled his head in his hands. I can understand wanting to avoid marriage, but taking a fake lover?!
“Why did it come to this?” Dennis murmured.
“Well, I was actually the one who first thought up the plan.”
“Of course you’re behind it. Lord Lowell would never dream of such a scheme. Wait, that’s not the issue here! If anybody finds out, it would be a massive scandal. What are you going to do about that?!”
“We’ll just make sure nobody finds out.”
Richard sounded confident, but Giles had adamantly avoided women all his life; he had no experience with courting. How could a man like him pull off a convincing, loving, mutual relationship with a lady? It was unfathomable. This was the royal capital’s high society, a gathering of the nobility’s shrewdest. It would take much more than a half-baked, last-minute charade to fool them.