At first, she certainly seemed like she wasn’t interested in him, but now…
“Lady.”
“Yes?”
“Nothing.”
He wondered if it was just his illusion, but Laila Estevan looked really innocent. Perhaps because she hadn’t been raised in a good environment, she seemed very nervous.
Now, he was starting to be confused if she had let her guard down and revealed her true personality, or if it was that his presence made her shy.
More than anything, he was surprised at himself for being curious about it. His face grew serious. While looking at Laila, he came to a conclusion.
He was somewhat satisfied with the profile that was next to him. It was a little different from that of a girl who was being shy in front of her first love.
‘She’s let her guard down.’
He let go of the subtle disappointment in his heart and gently lifted the corners of his lips.
“Now that I think about it, something like this is not really as bad as I thought.”
At these words, Laila turned to look at him. Strangely, he felt a sense of satisfaction when her eyes were on him…
His attention was caught by the white cosmos flower in Laila’s hair. Seeing the curiosity in Laila’s face, he said frankly, “I mean us sitting here together in this desolate garden and obstinately getting exposed to the cold night air. Also, to be sitting together on the ground with a lady like this.”.
“Oh.”
Laila didn’t know what to do as she listened to him quietly. Venio shrugged off her behavior and continued, “Why don’t you give your hands to me? I can tell that they are very cold by just looking at them.”
Before Laila could begin to feel sorry for him, her face smoldered with embarrassment. Unlike the casual manner with which he spoke, he carefully took Laila’s hands in his.
Before she could say anything, he slipped a pair of luxurious cotton gloves that gentlemen typically wore on her hands. Feeling her hands being quickly covered, Laila let out an anxious breath.
But Venio looked nonchalant, as if he was unaware of what Laila was going through.
“This would be a little better, so please keep them on. I came here to officially discuss our opinions, so our conversation will take some time,” said Venio, as if it was just an ordinary thing to do.
Laila looked at Venio with surprise, and suddenly felt she understood something. She opened her lips and said, “Oh!”
“I must be dreaming right now.”
“…What?”
Yes, sometimes when she was really sick or when she was hungry, she used to see things that didn’t exist. So, she was wondering if she was experiencing that right now.
This warmth and this reality that was like a miracle can’t be real. She thought she was not just seeing things, but also imagining how she would feel about them too. It was also because her condition wasn’t good to begin with.
“Oh, yes, that must be it. There’s no way you would appear like this.”
“What do you mean by that?”
At Venio’s question, Laila responded with a warm whisper, “I’m surprised I could dream up something like this.”
“Hmm.. that’s a new one.”
Venio frowned as he looked at Laila, who appeared as if she understood everything, believing that everything was just a dream. He was getting somewhat nervous, thinking that she was way more naive than he had thought.
“Well, I’m not quite sure about that. I don’t think I’ll have to correct you since you’ll find out in time if this is a dream or reality. What’s important is what we are about to discuss now.”
Laila was looking at the gloves that Venio gave to her with the same reaction as when she looked at the flowers that Venio brought. Then, she lifted her head.
“My lady, I came here to discuss our agreement in detail. We can talk about the rest later since you said you are confident about it.”
“Discuss in detail?”
“That’s right. Because we only talked about how I’d pretend that I love you. We have to decide on what we are going to tell others about our relationship. Also, we have to talk about how we are going to pretend to be in love in more detail.”
Venio was planning to use this discussion to find out more about Laila personally. It was not only because he believed he was more talented than anyone else in the world, but it was fundamentally more for Laila’s sake. Even from his point of view, she didn’t seem to be in a good situation.
Although he was a Grand Duke, it was impossible to uncover an important noble family’s well-buried secret. That’s because if he left any traces, it would create problems in the future. And hiring a professional who wouldn’t leave a trace wasn’t what he was interested in at the moment.
Besides, he believed Laila wouldn’t like it if other people found out about the family’s secret.