Chapter :2.2

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
‘What the hell is wrong with him?
Have a pleasant weekend. Lucas was busy keeping an eye on Duke Frit.
He was strange today. The murderous mood was the same as yesterday, and he was making mistake after mistake in everything he did with that sour face. Signing in the wrong place where the lines were drawn, mixing up papers that had been reviewed with those that should have been.
‘…….’
Finally, Derek put down his pen. I could almost hear him sigh in his fascinated face.
‘That’s enough for today. Get out of here.’
‘Yes. …… Yes?’
‘Didn’t I hear you right?’
‘No, well, okay.’
‘Wait.’
The congratulatory decree was quickly corrected. It was uncharacteristic of him.
‘Well, then.
Lucas turned to leave, then paused awkwardly.
There was no way he’d be done with work already on this sunny weekend, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on why the man who had never been one to change his mind was behaving so strangely today.
‘Mr President, shall we just leave?’
‘No.’
‘Do you have anything to say?’
‘You.’
‘Yes.’
‘Have you ever received a …… confession?’
A confession?
Lucas rolled his eyes.
Why does he want to know that, he wondered, when it’s never going to be anything to do with you anyway?
Derek’s face tightened as if the blasphemous thought had passed over his face.
‘Forget it. You’ll have to ask someone.’
‘Of course, there is! How old are you, seven……?’
‘Get out of here.’
‘…….’
Am I mistaken if I think I hear a mild sneer?
There was an odd sense of superiority in his bloodshot eyes. As an aside, I was baffled.
‘What’s the matter with him?
I’ve been alone since the day I was born, but I’m not alone. She says she doesn’t have time or opportunity to meet with me, but I’m afraid she doesn’t……. Isn’t there anyone you like? That was very different.
So Lucas had thought long and hard about how to deliver the invitation without offending his bachelor lord, underlying his conviction that he would marry first.
But to have caused the Duke of Fritt so much concern? he was not proud of it, but he was bitterly disappointed.
‘I shall go out this afternoon. Have the tailor ready by the time I return.’
‘But you haven’t had a spring suit tailored in three months.’
‘It should be longer, it’s spring.’
‘Spring, eh?’
‘Is something wrong?’
‘……No, no, I’ll do as you ask.’
Lucas stepped back, puzzled.
The man who wears black all year round is having his spring suit tailored again, but it’s black, isn’t it? It’s a wonder he can distinguish the subtle differences in all that black.
‘No two colors are the same under the sky.’
Does black come in deep black, midnight black, dark black, smoked black, real black, shadow black, etc.?
Lucas’s brief knowledge of the color was not enough to help him understand.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
Sometime later, the Duke of Fritz’s footsteps landed in a bookshop.
‘Ah, there you are.’
Lucas naturally picked out books he knew his lord would enjoy. <The Twelve Ways to Torture a Man (Who Gave Up Being Human), Someone Stuck a Knife in My Head, How to Kill a Man, Creative Interrogation, and so on.
But Derek didn't show up until I had a wheelbarrow full of books.
─Darling.
‘What? He's not in the weapons section.’
Lucas pushed the cart around the bookstore, bewildered. He'd checked every section he could think of, but the Duke of Frit was nowhere to be found.
‘He couldn't have left me behind, could he?’
One of the female clerks spoke up, as if on cue.
‘Sir, are you looking for a particular book?’
‘Well, no. I'm not looking for a book, I'm looking for a person. Did you happen to see a gruff-looking man with a glazed-over eye? I'm sure you've had a chill down your spine as soon as you saw him.’
‘Oh, I think I saw him in the romance section. the tall one, right?’
‘…… Yes? What section?’
‘Romance. I'll show you this way.’
‘…….’
Did I mishear?
Lucas shuddered as if he'd just been told something outrageous.
‘Oh, no. You must have misheard the banquet.
Am. What a man he is.
But the Duke of Frit was too quick to disbelieve his aide.
‘Go, go, go, go, Your Excellency?’
He was stunned. Derek was standing in the middle of the romance section, just as the clerk had told him. He hadn't even realized the aide had approached him, deep in a book with a title that scared him.
Wolf, Get Out of the Way: How to Seduce a Man with More Charm Than a Wolf
It looked like it had been unearthed from a 400-year-old tomb. It hadn't been sold for a long time, and every time I turned the pages, it kicked up a cloud of dust.
The clerk, smelling the smell of the hog, became openly excited.
‘Sir, do you write love letters?’
‘Love…… letters?’
‘This book is just a love manual. It's a basic and essential book.’
<He recommends a weird book called Love Letters, Write as Many as Casanova in a Week,
‘Oh my God, look at my sanity. This is a real thing, and I don't normally sell it, but I'm giving it to you.’
<He also held out a creepy book titled The Secret to Attracting the Fierce Foxes. The way it sat there, gathering dust, it was obviously on the shelf.
Lucas tried to talk to his lord.
‘Hmm. Your Excellency.’
‘Sounds good.’
‘……?’
‘Payment is in gold coins. No change.’
But Duke Fritz, like a man possessed, immediately confirmed the purchase. He seemed nervous that someone would snatch it away while he hesitated.
‘Your Excellency. I think you should think a little more carefully-’
‘What are you doing?’
‘…….’
‘Get a servant to load it up.’
No matter how much I pleaded with him, there was no other wall window like it. Rather, he gave me a look that said, ‘You know nothing about confession, having received one at the age of seven.
‘What's with this sudden behavior?
Lucas was dumbfounded.
He'd been uneasy about the whole confession thing ever since he'd told him……. Is he finally coming to his senses? No, but still, who in the world learns about love from a book?
However, Joo-kun, who had been alone since that day, seemed more excited than usual. As if he had just discovered a new world.
‘Thank you, come again!’
‘…….’
Lucas sneaked a glance at Duke Fritz as he finished paying. Something about his lord's behavior seemed odd.
‘I'm sorry, but why are you looking for the kind of books I've never seen before?’
‘I think it's time for me to try my hand at romance.’
‘What?’
Your Excellency? A relationship?
The aide chose his words carefully, like a parent trying to protect the innocence of a young child.
‘Uh, well, with all due respect, a relationship is something you can't do alone-’
‘……is not something you do alone.’
‘What?’
Derek looked up from his book. He glared at me with murderous eyes, his pride wounded.
‘Has your Excellency ever had a woman?
No way.
Lucas stared back, unable to understand the question.
Duke Fritz, on the other hand, smirked at this point.
‘I know someone who likes me, too.’
‘……!’
‘So you'd better study up.’
‘Go, go, you mean there's someone who likes you?’
‘Yes, there is.’
‘……!’
The aide was visibly shocked.
‘No way!
Oh, my God, there's a woman who likes His Excellency, the Duke of Fritz, and he's still single, with all his limbs, sound mind, good looks, and a decent income?
Unless, perhaps, he has a very large patch on the top of his head, or two strands of hair on each side of his head, or five hundred millimeters of defective feet? Otherwise, why would she like him? What's wrong with him?
‘Your Excellency, there is a woman, too…….’
Why is God so harsh on him?
Lucas was silent for a moment, overcome with a deep sense of defeat. It felt like Solo was the only one in the whole world.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
The Duke had been in shock since Monday morning.
It started with a visit from a florist.
‘I'm here with the ruby rose you ordered.’
‘I…… think you're in the wrong place. We don't order flowers in the Duchy unless there's a special occasion.’
‘What? But surely the Ducal Palace-’
Just then, Derek, who had been running late for some reason, stepped forward.
‘You're just in time.’
‘Oh, Your Excellency.’
The sun had long since risen, and he was still dressed in his usual black Yung robe.
‘Go and get the vase ready.’
‘Yes!’
‘The flowers are this way.’
‘My honor!’
Derek led the way to his office. His gown swayed gently with the movement of his muscles and bones, reminiscent of a lone black panther. The flower merchant followed with an awkward gait, admiring it despite himself. The sensuality of a grown man oozed from his broad back.
‘This is where we'll put them.’
‘……Ah! Yay.’
The flower vendor, who had been stealing glances behind them, exclaimed.
The two men had stopped at the window of Duke Frit's office. A knee-high sill was propped up in front of the window, which was twice the height of an adult man.
‘When the vase arrives, I hope it's neatly arranged.’
‘I will, I will, I will, I will, I will!’
‘It must be placed so that it can be seen from outside. So that it can be seen clearly from outside the capital.’
‘Yes!’
With that,
Derek finished his business and disappeared to finish the remaining preparations.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
It was more than an hour later when the bedroom door opened.
‘Your Excellency. Good morning, !’
‘Good morning, my dear…….’
The Duke's exit from the bedroom was followed by stunned gazes, but he didn't care.
‘What the hell is going on?
Only Lucas, who knew the cause of the problem, was going crazy.
The overlord, who had collected five trillion black clothes, had a new spring wardrobe.
There was just one small problem.
‘This one.
‘What? Oh, you mean the design?
‘No, the color.
‘…… In this color?
Last weekend. Derek flashed me a magazine he'd bought on the recommendation of a shop assistant called Dude, You Can Dress Well. It was a compendium of the latest in frat boy fashion.
What caught his eye was the page dedicated to the hottest trends.
‘Look at this. Men are pink.
‘Blood, blood, pink? But…….’
‘I want this design. Can you get it to me by Monday?
‘I'll make it!
‘Great.’
It was so upright of him to demand exactly what he saw in the magazine, not accepting any variation. It was like a man who had been on the battlefield. What's the point of sticking to your guns when it comes to fashion?
‘You're so inflexible, Won.
You follow the trend, but you make it work for you.
The results were disastrous.
‘This is my first time following a trend, so it's awkward. Is it okay?’
‘……Yes. The outfit, it's beautiful.’
I'd never say you're pretty.
His face was like a villain's, and his clothes were out of place.
He was right, the current fashion in the capital's social circles was the ‘bright boyish look’. Soft pastel fabrics, bold use of ruffles, lavish lace trim, and a feast of teardrop-shaped jewelry. It was a look that could only have belonged to the first groom, the Earl of Emilton.
‘Ah, grotesque, grotesque.’
A man as tall as a mulberry tree, with a skeletal frame, and a flesh-colored ruffle that looked as if he'd stolen it after killing his younger brother.
The frills on the sleeves that swayed with her dainty steps were ridiculous. And the front of her ample breasts were almost bursting at the seams.
I wonder how many people would recognize the Duke of Fritz as a dashing dandy in such an outrageous outfit?
The Duke himself, of course, was not pleased with his new outfit.
‘I heard they were wings. You look light today.’
‘……Yes. I see.’
One would think the Duke of Fritz had suffered a head injury.
Lucas, his loyal servant, had already begun preparing his response to the press.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
‘What the hell is wrong with him?
Have a pleasant weekend. Lucas was busy keeping an eye on Duke Frit.
He was strange today. The murderous mood was the same as yesterday, and he was making mistake after mistake in everything he did with that sour face. Signing in the wrong place where the lines were drawn, mixing up papers that had been reviewed with those that should have been.
‘…….’
Finally, Derek put down his pen. I could almost hear him sigh in his fascinated face.
‘That's enough for today. Get out of here.’
‘Yes. …… Yes?’
‘Didn't I hear you right?’
‘No, well, okay.’
‘Wait.’
The congratulatory decree was quickly corrected. It was uncharacteristic of him.
‘Well, then.
Lucas turned to leave, then paused awkwardly.
There was no way he'd be done with work already on this sunny weekend, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why the man who had never been one to change his mind was behaving so strangely today.
‘Mr President, shall we just leave?’
‘No.’
‘Do you have anything to say?’
‘You.’
‘Yes.’
‘Have you ever received a …… confession?’
A confession?
Lucas rolled his eyes.
Why does he want to know that, he wondered, when it's never going to be anything to do with you anyway?
Derek's face tightened as if the blasphemous thought had passed over his face.
‘Forget it. You'll have to ask someone.’
‘Of course, there is! How old are you, seven……?’
‘Get out of here.’
‘…….’
Am I mistaken if I think I hear a mild sneer?
There was an odd sense of superiority in his bloodshot eyes. As an aside, I was baffled.
‘What's the matter with him?
I've been alone since the day I was born, but I'm not alone. She says she doesn't have time or opportunity to meet with me, but I'm afraid she doesn't……. Isn't there anyone you like? That was very different.
So Lucas had thought long and hard about how to deliver the invitation without offending his bachelor lord, underlying his conviction that he would marry first.
But to have caused the Duke of Fritt so much concern? he was not proud of it, but he was bitterly disappointed.
‘I shall go out this afternoon. Have the tailor ready by the time I return.’
‘But you haven't had a spring suit tailored in three months.’
‘It should be longer, it's spring.’
‘Spring, eh?’
‘Is something wrong?’
‘……No, no, I'll do as you ask.’
Lucas stepped back, puzzled.
The man who wears black all year round is having his spring suit tailored again, but it's black, isn't it? It's a wonder he can distinguish the subtle differences in all that black.
‘No two colors are the same under the sky.’
Does black come in deep black, midnight black, dark black, smoked black, real black, shadow black, etc.?
Lucas's brief knowledge of the color was not enough to help him understand.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
Sometime later, the Duke of Fritz's footsteps landed in a bookshop.
‘Ah, there you are.’
Lucas naturally picked out books he knew his lord would enjoy. <The Twelve Ways to Torture a Man (Who Gave Up Being Human), Someone Stuck a Knife in My Head, How to Kill a Man, Creative Interrogation, and so on.
But Derek didn't show up until I had a wheelbarrow full of books.
─Darling.
‘What? He's not in the weapons section.’
Lucas pushed the cart around the bookstore, bewildered. He'd checked every section he could think of, but the Duke of Frit was nowhere to be found.
‘He couldn't have left me behind, could he?’
One of the female clerks spoke up, as if on cue.
‘Sir, are you looking for a particular book?’
‘Well, no. I'm not looking for a book, I'm looking for a person. Did you happen to see a gruff-looking man with a glazed-over eye? I'm sure you've had a chill down your spine as soon as you saw him.’
‘Oh, I think I saw him in the romance section. the tall one, right?’
‘…… Yes? What section?’
‘Romance. I'll show you this way.’
‘…….’
Did I mishear?
Lucas shuddered as if he'd just been told something outrageous.
‘Oh, no. You must have misheard the banquet.
Am. What a man he is.
But the Duke of Frit was too quick to disbelieve his aide.
‘Go, go, go, go, Your Excellency?’
He was stunned. Derek was standing in the middle of the romance section, just as the clerk had told him. He hadn't even realized the aide had approached him, deep in a book with a title that scared him.
Wolf, Get Out of the Way: How to Seduce a Man with More Charm Than a Wolf
It looked like it had been unearthed from a 400-year-old tomb. It hadn't been sold for a long time, and every time I turned the pages, it kicked up a cloud of dust.
The clerk, smelling the smell of the hog, became openly excited.
‘Sir, do you write love letters?’
‘Love…… letters?’
‘This book is just a love manual. It's a basic and essential book.’
<He recommends a weird book called Love Letters, Write as Many as Casanova in a Week,
‘Oh my God, look at my sanity. This is a real thing, and I don't normally sell it, but I'm giving it to you.’
<He also held out a creepy book titled The Secret to Attracting the Fierce Foxes. The way it sat there, gathering dust, it was obviously on the shelf.
Lucas tried to talk to his lord.
‘Hmm. Your Excellency.’
‘Sounds good.’
‘……?’
‘Payment is in gold coins. No change.’
But Duke Fritz, like a man possessed, immediately confirmed the purchase. He seemed nervous that someone would snatch it away while he hesitated.
‘Your Excellency. I think you should think a little more carefully-’
‘What are you doing?’
‘…….’
‘Get a servant to load it up.’
No matter how much I pleaded with him, there was no other wall window like it. Rather, he gave me a look that said, ‘You know nothing about confession, having received one at the age of seven.
‘What's with this sudden behavior?
Lucas was dumbfounded.
He'd been uneasy about the whole confession thing ever since he'd told him……. Is he finally coming to his senses? No, but still, who in the world learns about love from a book?
However, Joo-kun, who had been alone since that day, seemed more excited than usual. As if he had just discovered a new world.
‘Thank you, come again!’
‘…….’
Lucas sneaked a glance at Duke Fritz as he finished paying. Something about his lord's behavior seemed odd.
‘I'm sorry, but why are you looking for the kind of books I've never seen before?’
‘I think it's time for me to try my hand at romance.’
‘What?’
Your Excellency? A relationship?
The aide chose his words carefully, like a parent trying to protect the innocence of a young child.
‘Uh, well, with all due respect, a relationship is something you can't do alone-’
‘……is not something you do alone.’
‘What?’
Derek looked up from his book. He glared at me with murderous eyes, his pride wounded.
‘Has your Excellency ever had a woman?
No way.
Lucas stared back, unable to understand the question.
Duke Fritz, on the other hand, smirked at this point.
‘I know someone who likes me, too.’
‘……!’
‘So you'd better study up.’
‘Go, go, you mean there's someone who likes you?’
‘Yes, there is.’
‘……!’
The aide was visibly shocked.
‘No way!
Oh, my God, there's a woman who likes His Excellency, the Duke of Fritz, and he's still single, with all his limbs, sound mind, good looks, and a decent income?
Unless, perhaps, he has a very large patch on the top of his head, or two strands of hair on each side of his head, or five hundred millimeters of defective feet? Otherwise, why would she like him? What's wrong with him?
‘Your Excellency, there is a woman, too…….’
Why is God so harsh on him?
Lucas was silent for a moment, overcome with a deep sense of defeat. It felt like Solo was the only one in the whole world.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
The Duke had been in shock since Monday morning.
It started with a visit from a florist.
‘I'm here with the ruby rose you ordered.’
‘I…… think you're in the wrong place. We don't order flowers in the Duchy unless there's a special occasion.’
‘What? But surely the Ducal Palace-’
Just then, Derek, who had been running late for some reason, stepped forward.
‘You're just in time.’
‘Oh, Your Excellency.’
The sun had long since risen, and he was still dressed in his usual black Yung robe.
‘Go and get the vase ready.’
‘Yes!’
‘The flowers are this way.’
‘My honor!’
Derek led the way to his office. His gown swayed gently with the movement of his muscles and bones, reminiscent of a lone black panther. The flower merchant followed with an awkward gait, admiring it despite himself. The sensuality of a grown man oozed from his broad back.
‘This is where we'll put them.’
‘……Ah! Yay.’
The flower vendor, who had been stealing glances behind them, exclaimed.
The two men had stopped at the window of Duke Frit's office. A knee-high sill was propped up in front of the window, which was twice the height of an adult man.
‘When the vase arrives, I hope it's neatly arranged.’
‘I will, I will, I will, I will, I will!’
‘It must be placed so that it can be seen from outside. So that it can be seen clearly from outside the capital.’
‘Yes!’
With that,
Derek finished his business and disappeared to finish the remaining preparations.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
It was more than an hour later when the bedroom door opened.
‘Your Excellency. Good morning, !’
‘Good morning, my dear…….’
The Duke's exit from the bedroom was followed by stunned gazes, but he didn't care.
‘What the hell is going on?
Only Lucas, who knew the cause of the problem, was going crazy.
The overlord, who had collected five trillion black clothes, had a new spring wardrobe.
There was just one small problem.
‘This one.
‘What? Oh, you mean the design?
‘No, the color.
‘…… In this color?
Last weekend. Derek flashed me a magazine he'd bought on the recommendation of a shop assistant called Dude, You Can Dress Well. It was a compendium of the latest in frat boy fashion.
What caught his eye was the page dedicated to the hottest trends.
‘Look at this. Men are pink.
‘Blood, blood, pink? But…….’
‘I want this design. Can you get it to me by Monday?
‘I'll make it!
‘Great.’
It was so upright of him to demand exactly what he saw in the magazine, not accepting any variation. It was like a man who had been on the battlefield. What's the point of sticking to your guns when it comes to fashion?
‘You're so inflexible, Won.
You follow the trend, but you make it work for you.
The results were disastrous.
‘This is my first time following a trend, so it's awkward. Is it okay?’
‘……Yes. The outfit, it's beautiful.’
I'd never say you're pretty.
His face was like a villain's, and his clothes were out of place.
He was right, the current fashion in the capital's social circles was the ‘bright boyish look’. Soft pastel fabrics, bold use of ruffles, lavish lace trim, and a feast of teardrop-shaped jewelry. It was a look that could only have belonged to the first groom, the Earl of Emilton.
‘Ah, grotesque, grotesque.’
A man as tall as a mulberry tree, with a skeletal frame, and a flesh-colored ruffle that looked as if he'd stolen it after killing his younger brother.
The frills on the sleeves that swayed with her dainty steps were ridiculous. And the front of her ample breasts were almost bursting at the seams.
I wonder how many people would recognize the Duke of Fritz as a dashing dandy in such an outrageous outfit?
The Duke himself, of course, was not pleased with his new outfit.
‘I heard they were wings. You look light today.’
‘……Yes. I see.’
One would think the Duke of Fritz had suffered a head injury.
Lucas, his loyal servant, had already begun preparing his response to the press.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
‘What the hell is wrong with him?
Have a pleasant weekend. Lucas was busy keeping an eye on Duke Frit.
He was strange today. The murderous mood was the same as yesterday, and he was making mistake after mistake in everything he did with that sour face. Signing in the wrong place where the lines were drawn, mixing up papers that had been reviewed with those that should have been.
‘…….’
Finally, Derek put down his pen. I could almost hear him sigh in his fascinated face.
‘That's enough for today. Get out of here.’
‘Yes. …… Yes?’
‘Didn't I hear you right?’
‘No, well, okay.’
‘Wait.’
The congratulatory decree was quickly corrected. It was uncharacteristic of him.
‘Well, then.
Lucas turned to leave, then paused awkwardly.
There was no way he'd be done with work already on this sunny weekend, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why the man who had never been one to change his mind was behaving so strangely today.
‘Mr President, shall we just leave?’
‘No.’
‘Do you have anything to say?’
‘You.’
‘Yes.’
‘Have you ever received a …… confession?’
A confession?
Lucas rolled his eyes.
Why does he want to know that, he wondered, when it's never going to be anything to do with you anyway?
Derek's face tightened as if the blasphemous thought had passed over his face.
‘Forget it. You'll have to ask someone.’
‘Of course, there is! How old are you, seven……?’
‘Get out of here.’
‘…….’
Am I mistaken if I think I hear a mild sneer?
There was an odd sense of superiority in his bloodshot eyes. As an aside, I was baffled.
‘What's the matter with him?
I've been alone since the day I was born, but I'm not alone. She says she doesn't have time or opportunity to meet with me, but I'm afraid she doesn't……. Isn't there anyone you like? That was very different.
So Lucas had thought long and hard about how to deliver the invitation without offending his bachelor lord, underlying his conviction that he would marry first.
But to have caused the Duke of Fritt so much concern? he was not proud of it, but he was bitterly disappointed.
‘I shall go out this afternoon. Have the tailor ready by the time I return.’
‘But you haven't had a spring suit tailored in three months.’
‘It should be longer, it's spring.’
‘Spring, eh?’
‘Is something wrong?’
‘……No, no, I'll do as you ask.’
Lucas stepped back, puzzled.
The man who wears black all year round is having his spring suit tailored again, but it's black, isn't it? It's a wonder he can distinguish the subtle differences in all that black.
‘No two colors are the same under the sky.’
Does black come in deep black, midnight black, dark black, smoked black, real black, shadow black, etc.?
Lucas's brief knowledge of the color was not enough to help him understand.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
Sometime later, the Duke of Fritz's footsteps landed in a bookshop.
‘Ah, there you are.’
Lucas naturally picked out books he knew his lord would enjoy. <The Twelve Ways to Torture a Man (Who Gave Up Being Human), Someone Stuck a Knife in My Head, How to Kill a Man, Creative Interrogation, and so on.
But Derek didn't show up until I had a wheelbarrow full of books.
─Darling.
‘What? He's not in the weapons section.’
Lucas pushed the cart around the bookstore, bewildered. He'd checked every section he could think of, but the Duke of Frit was nowhere to be found.
‘He couldn't have left me behind, could he?’
One of the female clerks spoke up, as if on cue.
‘Sir, are you looking for a particular book?’
‘Well, no. I'm not looking for a book, I'm looking for a person. Did you happen to see a gruff-looking man with a glazed-over eye? I'm sure you've had a chill down your spine as soon as you saw him.’
‘Oh, I think I saw him in the romance section. the tall one, right?’
‘…… Yes? What section?’
‘Romance. I'll show you this way.’
‘…….’
Did I mishear?
Lucas shuddered as if he'd just been told something outrageous.
‘Oh, no. You must have misheard the banquet.
Am. What a man he is.
But the Duke of Frit was too quick to disbelieve his aide.
‘Go, go, go, go, Your Excellency?’
He was stunned. Derek was standing in the middle of the romance section, just as the clerk had told him. He hadn't even realized the aide had approached him, deep in a book with a title that scared him.
Wolf, Get Out of the Way: How to Seduce a Man with More Charm Than a Wolf
It looked like it had been unearthed from a 400-year-old tomb. It hadn't been sold for a long time, and every time I turned the pages, it kicked up a cloud of dust.
The clerk, smelling the smell of the hog, became openly excited.
‘Sir, do you write love letters?’
‘Love…… letters?’
‘This book is just a love manual. It's a basic and essential book.’
<He recommends a weird book called Love Letters, Write as Many as Casanova in a Week,
‘Oh my God, look at my sanity. This is a real thing, and I don't normally sell it, but I'm giving it to you.’
<He also held out a creepy book titled The Secret to Attracting the Fierce Foxes. The way it sat there, gathering dust, it was obviously on the shelf.
Lucas tried to talk to his lord.
‘Hmm. Your Excellency.’
‘Sounds good.’
‘……?’
‘Payment is in gold coins. No change.’
But Duke Fritz, like a man possessed, immediately confirmed the purchase. He seemed nervous that someone would snatch it away while he hesitated.
‘Your Excellency. I think you should think a little more carefully-’
‘What are you doing?’
‘…….’
‘Get a servant to load it up.’
No matter how much I pleaded with him, there was no other wall window like it. Rather, he gave me a look that said, ‘You know nothing about confession, having received one at the age of seven.
‘What's with this sudden behavior?
Lucas was dumbfounded.
He'd been uneasy about the whole confession thing ever since he'd told him……. Is he finally coming to his senses? No, but still, who in the world learns about love from a book?
However, Joo-kun, who had been alone since that day, seemed more excited than usual. As if he had just discovered a new world.
‘Thank you, come again!’
‘…….’
Lucas sneaked a glance at Duke Fritz as he finished paying. Something about his lord's behavior seemed odd.
‘I'm sorry, but why are you looking for the kind of books I've never seen before?’
‘I think it's time for me to try my hand at romance.’
‘What?’
Your Excellency? A relationship?
The aide chose his words carefully, like a parent trying to protect the innocence of a young child.
‘Uh, well, with all due respect, a relationship is something you can't do alone-’
‘……is not something you do alone.’
‘What?’
Derek looked up from his book. He glared at me with murderous eyes, his pride wounded.
‘Has your Excellency ever had a woman?
No way.
Lucas stared back, unable to understand the question.
Duke Fritz, on the other hand, smirked at this point.
‘I know someone who likes me, too.’
‘……!’
‘So you'd better study up.’
‘Go, go, you mean there's someone who likes you?’
‘Yes, there is.’
‘……!’
The aide was visibly shocked.
‘No way!
Oh, my God, there's a woman who likes His Excellency, the Duke of Fritz, and he's still single, with all his limbs, sound mind, good looks, and a decent income?
Unless, perhaps, he has a very large patch on the top of his head, or two strands of hair on each side of his head, or five hundred millimeters of defective feet? Otherwise, why would she like him? What's wrong with him?
‘Your Excellency, there is a woman, too…….’
Why is God so harsh on him?
Lucas was silent for a moment, overcome with a deep sense of defeat. It felt like Solo was the only one in the whole world.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
The Duke had been in shock since Monday morning.
It started with a visit from a florist.
‘I'm here with the ruby rose you ordered.’
‘I…… think you're in the wrong place. We don't order flowers in the Duchy unless there's a special occasion.’
‘What? But surely the Ducal Palace-’
Just then, Derek, who had been running late for some reason, stepped forward.
‘You're just in time.’
‘Oh, Your Excellency.’
The sun had long since risen, and he was still dressed in his usual black Yung robe.
‘Go and get the vase ready.’
‘Yes!’
‘The flowers are this way.’
‘My honor!’
Derek led the way to his office. His gown swayed gently with the movement of his muscles and bones, reminiscent of a lone black panther. The flower merchant followed with an awkward gait, admiring it despite himself. The sensuality of a grown man oozed from his broad back.
‘This is where we'll put them.’
‘……Ah! Yay.’
The flower vendor, who had been stealing glances behind them, exclaimed.
The two men had stopped at the window of Duke Frit's office. A knee-high sill was propped up in front of the window, which was twice the height of an adult man.
‘When the vase arrives, I hope it's neatly arranged.’
‘I will, I will, I will, I will, I will!’
‘It must be placed so that it can be seen from outside. So that it can be seen clearly from outside the capital.’
‘Yes!’
With that,
Derek finished his business and disappeared to finish the remaining preparations.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
It was more than an hour later when the bedroom door opened.
‘Your Excellency. Good morning, !’
‘Good morning, my dear…….’
The Duke's exit from the bedroom was followed by stunned gazes, but he didn't care.
‘What the hell is going on?
Only Lucas, who knew the cause of the problem, was going crazy.
The overlord, who had collected five trillion black clothes, had a new spring wardrobe.
There was just one small problem.
‘This one.
‘What? Oh, you mean the design?
‘No, the color.
‘…… In this color?
Last weekend. Derek flashed me a magazine he'd bought on the recommendation of a shop assistant called Dude, You Can Dress Well. It was a compendium of the latest in frat boy fashion.
What caught his eye was the page dedicated to the hottest trends.
‘Look at this. Men are pink.
‘Blood, blood, pink? But…….’
‘I want this design. Can you get it to me by Monday?
‘I'll make it!
‘Great.’
It was so upright of him to demand exactly what he saw in the magazine, not accepting any variation. It was like a man who had been on the battlefield. What's the point of sticking to your guns when it comes to fashion?
‘You're so inflexible, Won.
You follow the trend, but you make it work for you.
The results were disastrous.
‘This is my first time following a trend, so it's awkward. Is it okay?’
‘……Yes. The outfit, it's beautiful.’
I'd never say you're pretty.
His face was like a villain's, and his clothes were out of place.
He was right, the current fashion in the capital's social circles was the ‘bright boyish look’. Soft pastel fabrics, bold use of ruffles, lavish lace trim, and a feast of teardrop-shaped jewelry. It was a look that could only have belonged to the first groom, the Earl of Emilton.
‘Ah, grotesque, grotesque.’
A man as tall as a mulberry tree, with a skeletal frame, and a flesh-colored ruffle that looked as if he'd stolen it after killing his younger brother.
The frills on the sleeves that swayed with her dainty steps were ridiculous. And the front of her ample breasts were almost bursting at the seams.
I wonder how many people would recognize the Duke of Fritz as a dashing dandy in such an outrageous outfit?
The Duke himself, of course, was not pleased with his new outfit.
‘I heard they were wings. You look light today.’
‘……Yes. I see.’
One would think the Duke of Fritz had suffered a head injury.
Lucas, his loyal servant, had already begun preparing his response to the press.