♦Chapter 68: Untold♦
"Don't you have anything to confess to me?"
I froze up a little as soon as I heard Lucian's question.
"What might you be talking about?", I calmly replied to him with a fake smile.
To be honest, I wasn't expecting for this kind of development to occur all of a sudden. Perhaps, I have been underestimating him, but still, the Lucian I knew (probably) wasn't this sensible.
Not like I'm gonna fess up, though.
"Stop pretending. You have something to do with the report earlier, don't you?", he persisted.
Well...
'You won't be of help to us even if you knew so shut the fuck up.'
I imagined giving him that kind of response while wearing a casual smile on my face.
"My, jumping into conclusions is a rather bad habit, young master.", I answered with an expression befitting to my indirect denial toward Lucian's assumption.
"Stop acting that way. You look disgusting..."
I held in my irritation before I could say a word.
"You have my gratitude for that compliment."
"I'll keep complimenting you until you tell me the truth."
Oh, you son of a bi-
I went silent, realizing who his mother was before I could even finish cursing him in my thoughts.
Let's just lie to him again, shall we... I decided without a single sign of reconsideration.
"I already told you that I don't have any connection with the news, didn't I?"
"Didn't you have a close relationship with mother? Don't you feel any remorse for her death?"
That was the moment where I noticed what hints led him to the conclusion. I suppose, being too calm even after receiving the news made Lucian have an odd feeling about me based from my reaction back there.
I guess I have been too lax during the scene, which brought Lucian's suspicion meter to rise up. I shouldn't have underestimated him.
Nevertheless, this surely has gone rather bothersome. If only I knew that this would happen, I shouldn't have been too lazy to act perfectly moments earlier. To be honest, the responsibility lied on me the most since I was the one that ignored the chance of this happening right now.
"Haah.", I could only have a long sigh from what I've done.
Either way, interferences to the plan wouldn't benefit us. That's why, the actions that I would take from here should be obvious.
"Let's say that it's true that I had a good relationship with the Duchess. But lecturing you doesn't have any connection with that, does it?"
"...Well, you have a point."
"Then-!"
"But, my gut tells me that there's more to this."
Gut, my ass!! You didn't even bother to read the mood before!!!
I could legitimately feel that this would become a long debate. And to me, it was such a pain in the ass, specially because my conversing partner was the bastard.
In all of the people that I had to confront to in my previous life, Lucian was the most difficult to deal with. Maybe it was a bad idea to agree with the Duchess' request after all.
"If you're talking about the news, of course I feel bad about it too!"
".....I'm not like those people who rejoiced after hearing that she passed away."
I had honest feelings when I said those words.
In fact, there were several that detested Duchess Fleurette, not just in this mansion but also out there in the noble society. Specially during the time where ill-rumors about her has been widely-spread... it was quite noticeable if one were to mention who would be the culprit of the incident.
And upon getting wind of her death, most of them would wear a smile on their faces. Just like how everyone from the mansion looked thrilled as soon as they saw me leaving the place back then...
"Also-"
'If I were to express my emotions in that stage, nothing good would come out from it...'
I couldn't say it...
It's not like he'd understand what I was trying to say even if I ever did anyway.
"Also?"
"Oh my, it seems like I forgot what I was trying to say..."
"....."
Lucian stared at my thick mask as if he was trying to analyze it. Then, he closed his eyes with a sigh, while keeping his arms crossed.
"Alright. I'll leave it to that, for now.", he uttered, still not being convinced with my answers.
And with a genuine smile of relief, I hurriedly bid him farewell, as if I couldn't bear to stay in the room for longer.
"Thank you for your consideration, young master. I shouldn't bother you too much so I will take my leave now.~"
Being pleased, I moved my feet toward the door so I could exit the room as soon as possible. But when I was about to open it, Lucian added.
"One more thing..."
A question mark popped out of my head as I shifted my gaze to his direction.
"The dining room..."
"Yes...?"
"I just... realized that it's been a very long while since you shared the same table with us."
What? Is he gonna use that to make a fool of me again? I doubted the intentions he had in his statement.
"Well... it's not like that can happen again, no? Why bring it up this late?"
"That's-!....... Because......."
"...? Because?"
Biting his lower lip, he replied with his head looking down.
"....Nevermind.", he murmured.
"Is that so? Then, I'll formally excuse myself here, young master."
Just like that, I left the room with the door closed and without looking back, being a bit curious of what Lucian tried to advise me. And what awaited me outside was...
"Was everything okay, Lady Melissa?", Aiden asked with a worried expression.
"I appreciate your concern, but nothing bad has happened so I'm fine, Aiden.", I replied, reaching out my hand on top of his head.
As I petted him while that phrase came out of my mouth, I noticed something different from him.
"Aiden, have you taken your measurements as of late?"
"I... don't think so?"
"Well, congratulations then."
Aiden tilted his head from my statement, meanwhile, I smiled at him for his achievement.
"It seems like you've grown taller."
"Is that true?"
"Yes."
Seeing how he faced downwards while blushing a bit, I could understand how joyful he felt for something as small as a height measurement. Perhaps, he felt down of the fact that a girl nearby his age like me was taller than him despite his gender.
By now, he was a few inches taller than me compared to before. His growth was honestly shocking from its progress in just a short time. It was a no wonder how tall he was when I first saw his adult figure, before time has rewound.
"You should do your best so you can get more taller.", I encouraged him, appreciating how adorable he was to look at.