Chapter 71

No matter how little Dana remembered and didn’t know the formality, it could be seen that Leon’s behavior was not common.

“Hey, can you do this?”

“It’s my house, what does it matter? Don’t worry about it.”

“But… Oh, well.”

Leon put all the slices of bread in his mouth and chewed. The informal appearance, which was not like a high-ranking Grand Duke, seemed rather familiar to Dana.

However,  it was quite surprising to the servants around her. He was always their master with a strong aura, and on the days he came to the dining hall, he was always with guests.

When they saw Leon, who was usually formal without distraction when accompanying guests, like this, the hearts of his close aides and those next to him were confused.

Regardless of how they felt, the meal continued and the atmosphere between the two was very good. Until she brought that up.

Dana put down the fork when she was somewhat full. Because she had worked hard for two days, she ate quite a lot, but the food on the table was still not decreasing.

“Did you finish eating? I don’t think you ate much.”

“I’m full, I can’t eat anymore.”

“You’d better eat well. To endure it well every night. I don’t think you have enough stamina to match with me.”

As soon as she knew what he was talking about so calmly, Dana was surprised and screamed inside.

“Leon! What are you talking about here? And how can you do that every day…? Are you going to do that with me?”

“First of all, don’t you have to do it until you get tired of it? You don’t like it? But last night…”

Leon’s words, which were reciting embarrassing words like a sly snake, caused her to jump up and block his mouth with her palm.

Leon smiled and let her do what she did. Ahil and other escort knights were also a little confused.

Originally, if Leon had someone who treated him this way, they had to pull out a sword and stop them. Leon implicitly hated being touched, whether by men or women.

Knights who knew his tendencies initially blocked approaches at a certain distance, except for shaking hands when necessary.

But what about the case of a “lover”? Was she a lover? Was she a prospective Duchess?

Whatever it was, fortunately, no matter how tactless Ahil was, only his slightly embarrassed eyes were revealed, but he did not pull out a sword in this situation. Of course, Ahil was not Leon now, but Dana’s escort knight.

Dana, who had been holding Leon’s mouth closed for a while, put down her hand and sat down. She did it by chance, but she knew this was because Leon was looking at her.

“Dana.”

When her hand fell, Leon called her in a calm but friendly voice. Dana directed the blue and pretty eyes at him, and a smile spread to Leon’s mouth.

She felt so comfortable after acknowledging her heart. But that laugh must only be hers.

She responded to Leon with a wink. Then the servants and escort knights tactfully left the dining hall and waited. They were the only two left.

“How much do you know about Dana Deniz?”

It was a topic that would come out someday. However, it was strange to ask about the character without questioning why she came to be Dana Deniz.

“I heard she’s the representative of the Deniz Merchants. She is an heir and has full authority. But she couldn’t come to the appointment because she wasn’t feeling well, and she really wanted to make a deal with the Grand Duke with the merchant group. That’s why I wrote myself as a stand-in who looks like that person.”

Leon listened quietly to Dana with his hands under his chin. First of all, nothing had been questioned by the merchant group.

On the top side, he thanked them for sending “Dana Deniz” and added an explanation that she was friends with the Grand Duke when she was young to convince them not to request Dana back immediately.

Leon made Dana do everything under the guise of “Dana Deniz”. Leon had fulfilled all the conditions they wanted, so they couldn’t say no.

But he had to explain to her why he did that from now on.

“My father had a special connection with the Deniz Merchant. He’s told me that since I was young.”

Leon’s father would be the friendly middle-aged gentleman. At that time, Leon misunderstood that his father and Dana knew each other and doubted whether they had deceived him, but after he had heard that Dana was a stand-in, he realized that he had not been deceived.

And from now on, it would be like he was deceiving his father.

“Maybe that’s why he wanted to meet Dana Deniz, the heiress of the merchant group.”

“Why her?”

“He wanted me to marry her.”

Leon spoke and carefully examined Dana’s face. As expected, Dana’s eyes twinkled. The reaction she showed was both willing and worrisome.

“Of course, I kept avoiding meetings. I didn’t come to this meeting because I wanted to. Things were going like this without me knowing.”

“The woman whom you promised to marry…”

“Something caught my mind, and you were there, as the role of Dana Deniz.”

Slowly, his voice faded into the background. Dana murmured blankly but tried hard to understand. From the beginning, the wife’s position was beyond reason. She was unclear about her origin, and if she became the wife of the Grand Duke, then she would be the Grand Duchess.

Just because their hearts mingled, it was not a position to covet. Didn’t he talk about the mistress from the beginning?

In addition, Dana was not yet sure if she wanted to marry him.

That’s right. It was like that’s right. But…

Why was her heart so cold? He said he had assigned a dedicated maid a while ago, and she felt slightly tickled because she was happy.