Chapter 023
Finally arriving at the carriage, I looked up to see his face.
“Are you really not going to tell me what happened?”
I cautiously asked him about the incident that had just occurred.
His eyes, darkened even further, reflected my face.
After a moment of silence, his lips slowly parted.
“I was only acting that way because they wanted to die.”
Hearing his words, I scrutinized his face with a puzzled expression.
It reminded me of his demeanor during Delos’s birthday banquet, where he stood quietly drinking while hearing insults directed at him.
‘It wasn’t that he couldn’t get angry; he simply chose not to.’
Just moments ago, he had looked like someone sitting at the top of the food chain, enough to send chills down anyone’s spine.
What could the man have said to make him react so intensely, given that he had remained passive even at the previous banquet?
“What did he say?”
As soon as my question fell, his brow twitched, and a wrinkle formed.
“It was not something the lady should concern herself with.”
He replied shortly in that same cold voice, drawing a line between us.
Seeing his unresponsive attitude, I decided to drop the subject.
“Alright then. I won’t ask any more. Let’s just go home.”
I shrugged and lightly climbed into the carriage.
Then I waited for him to get on, but even after waiting for a long time, Evan didn’t get on. Eventually, I leaned out the window.
“Aren’t you coming?”
With his feet still on the ground, Evan stood in the same position as before, simply staring blankly at my face.
“Are you really fine, or are you just pretending to be okay?”
“What?”
I asked him again, not understanding what he had said after a long pause.
He glanced away from my gaze and quietly asked,
“… Is it okay if we ride together?”
I looked at him as he stood there like a statue, leaning against the window frame.
‘What could possibly be the problem now?’
The person who had exuded a menacing aura in the hall just moments ago was now asking if it was alright to share a carriage with me.
‘Why does he look so defeated?’
Anyone would think I had insisted on riding separately and was throwing a fit.
“Well, we came together, so are we going to leave separately? Hurry up and get in.”
I forced myself to sound casual, trying to hide my bewildered feelings.
Finally, Evan climbed into the carriage and quietly took a seat across from me.
As the carriage started moving, an air of silence enveloped us, and I stole a glance at him.
Then, impulsively, I said,
“You did well.”
His eyes shifted to me, surprised by my sudden comment.
Seeing his confused expression, I cleared my throat a few times before continuing.
“I meant earlier. I don’t know what that man said, but you handled it well. If something like that happens again, please react the same way as today.”
In truth, seeing him handle the situation earlier had brought me a sense of relief. I now knew he wasn’t the type to passively endure insults.
“You…”
“Yes?”
At that moment, his faint voice resonated softly in the carriage.
Not having heard the rest of his words, I asked him to repeat himself once more. But he shook his head several times, dismissing it as nothing and ending the conversation.
“By the way, Evan, how long are you going to keep calling me ‘lady’?”
It was fine when it was just the two of us, but now that there would be more eyes on us, I thought it was time to sort out the titles.
“You know, people see us as an incredibly loving couple, right? Maybe we should start calling each other ‘darling’ in public to match the rumors?”
I joked with him, hoping to lighten the heavy atmosphere that had settled since the incident at the banquet.
“….”
The temperature in the carriage seemed to drop even lower.
Seeing his face, which radiated coldness, made me feel awkward, so I cleared my throat a few times and spoke as if to justify myself.
“Then at least call me by my name. It’d be even better if you could do it a bit more familiarly.”
“I’ll try.”
It seemed calling me by my name was less burdensome than using ‘darling,’ as he surprisingly nodded in agreement.
As we were sorting out how to address each other, we arrived at the home.
I suddenly realized that I had referred to this place as “home” and was startled by my own words.
‘Home? When did I become so comfortable here?’
“Are you going to just sit there?”
Evan’s voice abruptly snapped me out of my thoughts. I came to my senses to find him already outside the carriage, looking at me with a puzzled expression.
“Uh, I’m getting out.”
In a fluster, I hurriedly got out of the carriage, but I missed a step, and my body tilted to the right.
“Ah…!”
As I quickly tried to steady myself by grabbing the side of the carriage, a lightning-fast hand wrapped around my waist in an instant.
“Be careful. You don’t want to break a tooth, do you?”
Floating in mid-air with a bewildered expression, I suddenly heard a rough voice right by my ear.
Turning my head, I immediately saw his deeply furrowed brow.
He usually had almost no expression, but he often made a fierce face when he was in front of me.
However, perhaps because I had seen this side of him so often in the past few days, I didn’t feel particularly scared.
On the contrary…
‘At this rate, won’t he end up with wrinkles just from this?’
I was even having silly thoughts about wanting to smooth out that furrowed brow.
Without thinking, I raised my hand and pressed down between his brows.
At the same moment, the grip he had on my waist loosened, and I fell straight to the ground.
“Eek!”
Just before I landed on my bottom, Evan, with incredible reflexes, grabbed my arm and thankfully prevented me from getting hurt.
“Wh-why are you suddenly touching someone else’s face like that?”
As soon as Evan confirmed that I was standing firmly on the ground, he quickly distanced himself from me.
Seeing him cover exactly where I had touched with his hand and looking extremely wary made me feel like I had committed a huge mistake.
His face also had a tinge of red, suggesting that he found my silent touch quite unpleasant.
“I’m sorry. I just thought it wouldn’t be good for you to keep frowning like that…”
At my apology, he swiftly turned his body toward the door and replied.
“Please refrain from excessive physical contact in the future.”
“…Okay.”
Feeling a bit deflated, I answered, and Evan, after glancing at me for a moment, silently turned his back.
I hurriedly followed behind him as he walked quickly toward the mansion.
‘Excessive physical contact…’
I had instinctively felt sorry for his reaction, which had been tense just moments ago, but as I thought about it, I started to feel a bit wronged.
I didn’t touch his face with any ill intentions; I just pressed down on his brow once. But since it’s true that I touched his face without asking, I decided to be more careful in the future.
‘He must not like being touched by others.’
“Evan, wait for me!”
To catch up with Evan, who was striding ahead with his long legs, I dashed across the path.
Just as I thought I had nearly caught up with him, I noticed his ears, which seemed to be tinged with red.
‘Is it a bit warm today?’
Looking up at the sky, I noticed the sun was at its highest point, and the sunlight was glaring down on the entire mansion.
I took my gaze away from the sky and called out to Evan again; he hesitated for a moment before suddenly quickening his pace and disappearing into the mansion.
ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
A few more days passed since we returned from the banquet.
And today, once again, I was having breakfast alone.
‘Even Father wasn’t this busy.’
No matter how much work he has, isn’t this going a bit too far? How could there be more days when I couldn’t see his face, even though we lived in the same place?
“This is strange…”
Unless he was deliberately avoiding me, I wondered how it was possible to not run into each other this often.
With a restless heart, I finished my meal and decided to take a walk in the garden to help with digestion.
However, for some reason, there was a chaotic atmosphere throughout the mansion today.
