Chapter 55
Chapter 55. Heart-Pounding Summer Vacation!
Hot.…
Henelone glared at the gloves on her hands and took a sip of the tea.
…It was hot.
In the unbearable heat, Henelone looked around to make sure there was no one around and secretly took off her gloves. She knew it was against the society rules between men and women, but it was too hot in the capital today.
“…Henelone?”
“Haha… I’m sorry. It’s so hot…”
Henelone took off her gloves and placed them on her hands, wriggling her fingers and smiling awkwardly. Adrian looked at her fingertips shining white under the bright sunlight for a moment and then smiled and answered.
“I see. It’s too hot, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I guess it’s really summer now.”
It seems like only yesterday that the days were getting warmer, but summer was already just around the corner. Henelone looked faintly at the dazzling sunlight breaking through the trees outside the window and then turned her head towards Adrian.
“Where are you going during summer vacation, Adrian?”
“Hmm…….. I don’t know. What about Henelone?”
“Oh, I decided to go down to Brenicke.”
“Gosh.”
Adrian lowered his eyebrows sullenly at Henelone’s answer.
“I was a step late.”
“Yes?”
“Actually, my aunt is not feeling well, so I think she will continue to stay in the capital. If you haven’t decided on a vacation plan, I would have thought about going out to the outskirts of the capital with you, but I’ve been too slow.”
“Oh… I’m sorry, Adrian.”
“No. You don’t have to feel sorry, haha!”
Henelone, embarrassed by the sight of hot shoulders drooping as if he was disappointed, raised her upper body and offered her an apology. Adrian burst into laughter and waved his hand, but even that sight bothered her. Since he was from Harfield Kingdom, there would be few people in the Empire who he knew, so she thought she might have been too insensitive.
‘If I come back to the capital, should I at least visit the nearby area with Adrian?’
Although it is not as large as the lake in the Kingdom of Küsshausen, there was a pretty nice lake near the capital. It was a short distance, about an hour away by carriage, so she thought it would be okay to take a quick trip on the weekend. Henelone, who was fiddling with her teacup and recalling her schedule, raised her head and looked at Adrian. But for some reason, the atmosphere was strangely cool.
“But… Brenicke is the Duchy of Woodward, right?”
Adrian was staring at her with a deep smile that made her unable to tell what was inside his mind.
“Then, can I prepare it for you like this?”
“…okay.”
The small eyes of the employee kept glancing at the man in front of him as he visited Hameln, the capital’s leading jeweler.
A tall and thick body that overwhelms even the average adult male. Jet-black hair and creepy red eyes that seem to have absorbed all light. It was Duke Heinz Woodward.
‘Why did the Duke need a wedding ring…?’
The employee’s heart began to beat violently with excitement. A marriage proposal from Heinz Woodward, the hero of the empire and the emperor’s loyal dog! If this were true, it was clear that it would become a huge issue that would shake the capital. The employee swallowed his saliva and hardened his expression. He handed the design draft he was holding in his hand to Heinz.
“The ornament in the middle is an 8.8-carat diamond from Küsshausen. And… We can have a 0.5 carat diamond around it, but in this case you can change the center to a coloured diamond. Usually… It is the color of the eyes of the would-be spouse. Do you have any colors in mind?”
If the eye color was specific, it was possible to guess who he was proposing to marry. No matter how many different eye colors there are, wouldn’t he be able to pick out a few of the women in the duke’s immediate vicinity? In particular, if the duke had never been around the opposite s*x, it would be even easier to guess.
The employee’s heated eyes turned to Heinz’s lips, which were slowly opening.
“Blue diamond would be nice.”
“…All right.”
Blue eyes!
The employee’s eyes flashed with interest as he clenched his fist under the display shelf.
***
“Please come again.”
A cheerful bell rang and the employee who saw Heinz out the door bowed deeply. After receiving a cursory nod from her, Heinz walked out of the jewelry store with long strides. The very idea of buying something for someone else felt very unfamiliar.
Rustle.
Because he was walking so fast, the paper he was holding was crumpled. Heinz, looking down at this, slowly slowed down and unfolded the paper. The two overlapping pieces of paper were a contract form from a Hameln jeweler.
[Marriage Proposal Ring]
The words written at the very beginning of the contract text caught his eye. Proposal ring. A ring to propose marriage. Heinz muttered awkwardly as if he was saying something unfamiliar, and the corner of his mouth slowly rose. He planned to propose to Henelone and purchased a ring.
A huge 8.8-carat blue drop-shaped diamond placed on a simple gold ring. And small 0.5 carat diamonds surrounding it. It seemed to go very well with Henelone’s blue eyes.
‘I will send it to the mansion in a month.’
One month later, he really wanted to propose to her when they went down to Brenicke together during their summer vacation. However, he couldn’t propose with a ring that was commonly found on a shelf. Heinz, trying to suppress his nervousness, folded the open contract and put it in his arms.
‘If we go down to Brenicke…’
