Chapter 19
His brain couldn’t process the information.
A man? A man?
The smile vanished from Yulician’s face.
“Say that again.”
“The person you brought—he has brown hair, right?”
“…There are tons of brown-haired people. You could grab ten maids walking down the hallway, and at least eight would have brown hair.”
“He has light green eyes.”
“…I’m sure you could find green eyes somewhere if you looked hard enough.”
“…He’s good at cards and picking pockets.”
“Haha. I can play cards too. But pickpocketing… not really.”
Yulician waved his hand dismissively with a hollow laugh.
“Brown hair, pale green eyes. Pickpocket and errand runner. Name’s Maddy. Nicknamed ‘Mad Maddy.’”
There was no denying it anymore.
Damn it.
Yulician barely held back a curse and asked Crockton,
“…So, Maddy’s got a boyfriend? What kind of guy is he? Is he silver-haired too?”
“Why are you bringing up silver hair now?”
Yulician couldn’t help but burst out.
“Maddy said her type was silver hair and blue eyes! Me! She said my face was her type!”
“…Wow. You really lost it beautifully.”
The more shocked Crockton looked, the more Yulician lost his composure.
“Yeah! I’ve lost it! She’s cheating on me? On me? After making promises? She has a boyfriend? After saying I was her type? She followed me around and—what? Huh? She—”
“She what?”
“…Loved me.”
She took out two assassins right in front of me to earn my trust.
But he couldn’t say that out loud.
Crockton stood up abruptly.
“You got duped!”
“I did not!”
“People say she lives with a man!”
“What?!”
“Well, maybe not lives with, but she’s been seen drinking with the same guy at different taverns. It’s real.”
“Maddy probably just likes drinking, that’s all.”
“They say she goes bar-hopping with that same guy all the time like it’s a ritual.”
He couldn’t take it anymore.
Yulician, overcome with a bizarre, bubbling emotion, jabbed a finger toward Crockton.
“Who said that? Who told you all this?!”
“I asked around the slums! Because you said you proposed!”
“T-the slums… those people lie, don’t they? I mean, come on… So who is he?!”
His words were jumbled and panicked.
Even Yulician didn’t know what he truly wanted to say.
Of course, it wouldn’t be strange if Maddy had a real lover.
After all, he and Maddy had a purely business relationship tied by money—nothing more, nothing less.
But even then, the thought kept circling: No, still…
Still, they were engaged, even if in name only. Shouldn’t that mean something? Wasn’t openly seeing someone else crossing a line?
“What does the guy look like?!”
“Why are you so mad?”
“Wouldn’t you be?! We’re supposed to get married! Maddy and I! I even introduced her to my uncle! His Majesty knows about it! It was in the papers! And she has a boyfriend? A boyfriend? While engaged to me? Who is he?! Was her ‘ideal type’ all a lie? That’s just messed up! That’s not something you lie about!”
Not expecting such a wild outburst, Crockton handed him a glass of water.
“…Here. Drink. Calm down and listen for a second.”
“What’s he look like?”
Crockton hesitated.
Right now, if he told Yulician the lover wasn’t silver-haired with blue eyes, he might tear someone apart.
But from what he’d heard, the guy looked nothing like that.
Crockton sat Yulician down and patted his shoulder.
“Yulician. If the guy really was silver-haired and blue-eyed, that would be even worse.”
“What?”
“Her lover looks just like you? Then she’s just a pervert.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It means she didn’t fall for your character, wealth, honor, or beauty—just your hair and eye color. That would mean Maddy’s just obsessed with a certain type.”
“…Is that so?”
Was Yulician always this dumb?
Crockton momentarily questioned their long friendship but nodded anyway.
“Yeah. The guy doesn’t have silver hair or blue eyes.”
“…Then what does he look like?”
“They say she only meets him at night. So no one agrees on the eye color. But his hair’s supposed to be a mix of brown and orange. A tall, young man.”
“A young man? Orange? Orange? Ha! That’s a far cry from silver hair.”
“Calm down… Have another glass. Want me to bring you something stronger?”
“I’m fine.”
“Why’d you fall for a girl with a boyfriend? And she doesn’t even suit you.”
Yulician put down the glass mid-sip and burst out again. He was like a runaway carriage on a downhill slope.
“What do you mean, doesn’t suit me?! You don’t know that!”
Crockton scowled too.
“…Don’t ever come to me for relationship advice again. If this is what your first love problem looks like…”
“When did I ever have time for love?! I’ve spent my whole life going from one funeral to another until today!”
“…Why bring up funerals now? You really have lost it.”
“Yeah! I’ve lost it!”
He had no idea why his rage wouldn’t cool.
Why was he this angry?
Maybe it was the “bright orange” hair.
Maddy’s supposed “type” was nothing like that.
So that was a lie too. It felt like betrayal.
There wasn’t a single thing about her he could trust—even if he scrubbed his eyes with lye, he wouldn’t find it.
“Maddy’s a liar.”
“Huh? Uh… so, are you going to break up with her?”
“I’m not breaking up!”
“What is wrong with you.”
Crockton, the nobleman who had transcended his class, couldn’t help but curse.
“Well, that’s all I had to say. Do what you want. But that woman’s suspicious.”
“’Your shlurve ish shloom-thing…’”
“What?”
Yulician had gritted his teeth so hard while clutching his glass that Crockton couldn’t understand him.
“What?”
“…Because I love her. That’s why. So please, just believe me.”
“But she has a boyfriend…”
Yulician closed his eyes tightly, then opened them.
“Maddy will choose me.”
At least on the surface.
He drained the rest of the water in his glass.
So she did have another lover.
Why hadn’t he tried to find out sooner? He just assumed someone that reckless wouldn’t have a lover—and that was his mistake.
Yulician chewed on his lip and went over their relationship (which was a contractual marriage, not a romance).
Then he finally figured out why he was so angry.
He wasn’t worried about love or betrayal.
He was scared this contract marriage might fall apart.
Not because of jealousy—but because you can’t trust a partner you’ll spend three years with if they lie about something this basic.
That made sense.
Once he had that answer, all his raging emotions finally made some sense.
At that moment, Crockton slumped into the seat beside him and sighed.
“Are you really going to marry her?”
“Yes. I’ll take care of the boyfriend issue. Thanks for your concern, Crockton.”
“Why are you taking care of it? She should be. Are you going to challenge him to a duel or something?”
“…A duel. That is an option.”
A twisted gleam of madness flashed in Yulician’s eyes.
Crockton’s face darkened.
This guy’s gone full speed into madness over a woman.
There goes my friend.
Crockton considered slapping some sense into him.
So he said that name.
“…What about Astrid? If you get married, she’ll be left all alone.”
As soon as he said it, Yulician crushed the glass he had been holding.
The sharp crash rang through the drawing room, but neither of them flinched.
Yulician’s expression instantly turned icy.
He slowly turned to Crockton, his blue eyes glowing cold with warning.
In a low voice, Yulician warned,
“Crockton Vainil. I told you not to say that name.”
“…She only has you. Don’t forget that.”
Yulician brushed off the glass shards clinging to his hand. Ignoring the blood trickling from the cuts, he clenched his fist.
Bright red blood dripped from his trembling knuckles.
Crockton glanced at the wounded hand, then continued.
“It’s serious. You can’t run forever. No matter who you marry, you’ll have to tell them eventually.”
“…Enough. It’s better she doesn’t know.”
“So you’re just going to keep it like this forever?”
Yulician said nothing, but his silence was an answer.
Crockton sighed deeply again and added, as if giving up,
“…She really misses you.”
That shook Yulician too.
He lowered his gaze and answered softly.
“…Tell her I’ll come see her soon.”
Crockton nodded, and a brief silence fell between them.
At that moment, the door to the drawing room creaked open without a knock, making a disturbing sound.
Maddy stood at the door with her arms crossed.
But she didn’t say a word.
She just smiled faintly—eerily so.
“…Maddy.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“…Why are you just standing there not saying anything? Why didn’t you come in?”
“Rayley braided my hair and told me not to speak before a superior asks a question.”
“Ha. Since when did you ever follow rules like that?”
She’s supposed to act. Pretend to love me.
But his words came out sharp and cold.
Yet Maddy didn’t seem to care in the slightest.
She slowly blinked her large green eyes and looked intently at Crockton.
She was probably calculating what kind of person Crockton was and what kind of lies might work.
Yulician had deliberately spoken to her coldly, but she acted like she hadn’t heard it at all.
And that, for some reason, stung.
She clearly didn’t value the contract. To Yulician, it was a life-or-death matter—but not for her. She kept lying.
Even in private, she lied.
Yulician hid his bleeding right hand behind his back.
He was sure she wouldn’t ask what happened.
Sure enough, Maddy’s attention was focused solely on Crockton.
“…It seemed like Your Grace and your friend were having an important conversation, so I waited outside.”
“Important conversation?”
Yulician only now realized they’d been talking about “that child.”
Now wasn’t the time to get emotional.
Maddy’s smiling face looked the same as always, but he couldn’t be sure whether she’d overheard anything about Astrid.
Yulician swallowed dryly and watched her closely.
He could only hope she hadn’t heard.
Astrid must never be revealed to the world.
Anyway, the noble house of Kuhn Londenes would end with Yulician.
