CHAPTER 86……………………..
It wasn’t as if his words were empty boasts—admiration filled the gazes fixed on him.
Of course, mine was among them too.
“Why, should I switch partners for you right now?”
Alfeo, who was watching me, quickly suggested.
I could clearly see he just wanted to avoid my footwork, so I smirked.
“It’s fine. You’re enough for me to step on.”
“You’re really too much.”
A little later, a waltz ended.
When I stepped off the floor, Duke Dinero was sipping champagne.
Since I’d actually enjoyed the dance, I spoke to him.
“Would you care to dance too, Your Grace?”
“With your lousy dancing skills? You trying to smash up my feet as well?”
Damn it. Was it that obvious?
After being rejected by the old man, I suddenly had no partner left.
Somehow, my confidence deflated, and I sipped champagne gloomily from a corner.
That’s how I ended up just watching the banquet grow livelier.
I saw Lennox approach Alfeo, who had once again been reduced to a professor’s errand boy fetching champagne.
‘Weren’t they friends? Maybe they’re catching up after a long time apart?’
Remembering what I’d forgotten, I watched Lennox and Alfeo converse briefly. They looked rather close.
Feeling like some fresh air, I stepped onto the terrace.
Whooo—
“Ugh, cold.”
The night wind swept across the open-air terrace without restraint.
In the Seriel Empire, autumn days were warm, but the night air was sharp enough to sting the tip of your nose.
After lingering for a bit, I turned to head back inside—only to stop when someone stepped out onto the terrace.
“Ren.”
Of all people, it had to be the one person it was most awkward to be alone with here.
Recalling the situations where we’d been too close before, I forced my awkwardness down and spoke.
“I was just heading back in, so it’s fine if you stay here.”
“I was looking for you.”
His voice stopped me mid-step.
“You were looking for me?”
“There’s something I wanted to say to you—just between the two of us.”
Before I knew it, he was closer. Too close again.
I unconsciously stepped back to widen the distance—then froze.
His green eyes were clouded with heavy, tangled emotions.
‘Why does he keep making that face?’
It bothered me enough that I asked.
“What did you want to talk about?”
Lennox finally spoke.
“I want to know why you made that choice.”
“What choice?”
“The fighter jet development. If you had accepted it, you could’ve instantly gained the Emperor’s trust.”
“Ah…”
I shut my mouth before answering carelessly.
‘Because I didn’t want you to get hurt.’
The words felt too embarrassing to say aloud.
Besides, I wasn’t sure he’d even believe me. It would sound like I was fishing for credit.
The last time I’d sponsored him for his own good, he’d gotten upset and gone to war instead.
Thinking of that, I gave a deliberately casual excuse.
“There were mechanical flaws… and besides, I run a transport business, not an arms trade.”
Lennox’s gaze grew strange as he looked at me.
Did he see through my lie? My heart skipped uneasily.
“Cough!”
The cold night air bit into my lungs, and I burst into coughing. As I kept hacking, Lennox began unfastening his coat.
“Pardon me.”
He draped it over my shoulders.
The coat, warmed by his body heat, was soothing.
The chill disappeared in an instant.
“You didn’t have to…”
“You’re cold, I’m warm—it’s mutually beneficial.”
He looked utterly unaffected by the chill.
Honestly, it was cold enough that I might freeze out here, so I pulled his coat tighter and murmured,
“Thanks.”
Lennox exhaled a faint sigh as he stared at me.
‘That face again…’
Like something inside was suffocating him.
Now I really wanted to know what was going on in his head.
“By any chance…”
“Hm?”
“…No, never mind.”
His eyes dimmed with a bitter heaviness.
“…Shall I take the coat back?”
“No. I’m already burning up inside.”
“H-huh? Oh… okay?”
What did he mean, burning up inside?
‘It’s not because of me… right?’
I glanced at him. But Lennox just sighed repeatedly, eyes fixed outward.
Then, as if making up his mind, he spoke.
“I’ve never forgotten. Not for a moment.”
His sudden words made me look up in confusion.
“Never forgotten what?”
“All the things that changed my life—big and small. They were all things you did for me.”
His expression was deadly serious.
“So I resolved to repay you someday.”
“…Huh?”
“That’s why I went there then. But you turned me away.”
Realizing what he meant, I scratched my cheek, embarrassed.
“…There’s no need to repay sponsorship.”
Now I finally understood why he had proposed a partnership.
In his own way, it was to look out for me, who had fallen from the Imperial family’s favor.
I was grateful for the intent, but I hadn’t sponsored him expecting anything in return.
‘It was for my own peace.’
Though yes, that could be considered a kind of self-interest.
Still, I never expected anything back from him. His peace was my peace.
“No. I can’t accept that.”
His gaze burned deeper than ever.
“I heard you fell into debt because of me.”
“H-how did you find that out?”
Only Duke Dinero and I knew that. Publicly, my debts were said to be from failed business investments.
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
But his eyes were tenacious, unwilling to let the chance slip.
“No. A contract must be honored. I intend to take responsibility.”
“…Responsibility?”
I wanted to say there was no need.
And what kind of “responsibility” was he even talking about, with such gravity?
‘This is… a little unsettling.’
After pausing, Lennox’s expression hardened with determination.
“By marrying—”
Knock knock.
At that moment, a royal attendant knocked on the terrace door.
“His Majesty requests your presence, Marquess Blake.”
At the message, Lennox’s expression soured. His eyes brimmed with swallowed curses.
“…Tch.”
He sighed heavily, then strode back into the banquet hall with rough steps.
Left alone, I tried to guess what he’d been about to say.
“‘By marrying—’? Marry? Merit? Measure? Merge?”
The context was all wrong.
“Well, no way he meant marriage.”
Lennox proposing to me? That’d be insane.
The very thought made me burst into laughter.
But then his earlier words echoed back.
“No. A contract must be honored. So I’ll take responsibility.”
Just what did he mean by responsibility?
‘The sponsorship contract between Lennox and me.’
I’d been so busy, I’d forgotten it existed.
But I still clearly remembered what it said, even ten years later.
The beneficiary owes the sponsor the duty to do anything in return.
That boy had voluntarily offered terms absurdly unfavorable to himself.
Someone who’d survived the back alleys for years couldn’t have missed such a trap clause.
‘He must have hated accepting help without offering something back.’
Looking back, he really was a stubborn one.
‘But that contract… isn’t it basically null and void now?’
After all, he’d gone off to war, refusing further sponsorship.
I never imagined it would come up again now.
‘Though technically, it still holds.’
We’d never signed a termination agreement. Nor had we written conditions for dissolution.
I’d never intended to stop sponsoring him, and I hadn’t expected him to refuse.
‘But he did refuse.’
Most things unfolded as I expected, but with him, nothing went the way I thought.
That was part of what made him such a difficult person for me.
Sometimes he showed unexpected gentleness and deep care; other times he was cold and unyielding.
‘Like plunging between hot and cold baths.’
Still, I’d better go back and review the contract.
Just as I thought that, someone else stepped onto the terrace.
