CH 43

“Sheesh! Did you ask me to dinner so you could ask about this?”

“What?”

Feeling embarrassed by Chloe’s overly frank remark, he was bewildered and asked again.

“Am I right? Or not?”

He couldn’t bring himself to deny it. It was true.

“Ha! I guess I look like someone who talks about what my friend says to others and doesn’t have a sense of loyalty.”

Drunk Chloe looked like a completely different person. She didn’t think about the words she wanted to say and just spit them out.

“Am I… not her friend?”

“Pardon? What did you just say?”

Chloe asked while leaning her body forward at Gerard’s preposterous remark.

“The young Lady and I are friends, too. Didn’t we decide to be the Blarost trio or something like that?”

Gerard could barely say it while scratching his nape, seemingly embarrassed. His ears turned red at his own lame remark.

“Hahaha! Blarost? That’s so childish!”

Upon that sight, Chloe laughed loudly. Normally, she would have ignored an embarrassed Gerard, but this was not the usual Chloe.

“Anyway… I’m a part of the Blarost trio, so how can you two have a secret without me?”

Gerard decided to be shameless. However, her response completely caught him off guard.

“…Do you know what you’re even saying right now? You don’t even like me.”

Once again, a dumbfounded sound escaped Gerard’s lips. Chloe Roem was unexpectedly quick-witted.

“You thought I wouldn’t know? You don’t like me, do you?”

“…”

“Wow, you won’t even deny it. What did I do that made you not like me? Give me a reason.”

Chloe cornered Gerard.

“…I don’t. Why would I dislike you, young Lady?”

“Oh, you’re lying. We can’t be friends if it’s like this. We can’t be friends!”

She asked and answered herself, indicating how drunk she was.

“Young Lady, you seemed very intoxicated.”

“What are you saying? You gave me this yourself!”

Chloe had been turning each of Gerard’s remarks back on him. He thought it might be her drinking habit.

“But… Why are you talking less and less? Whyyy? Don’t you want to be friends with me? If you think it’s unfair, you don’t have to talk to me.”

She thought they were not friends. Drunk Chloe shared the same logic as young Leila.

“Haa.”

Gerard gulped down the wine in his glass, feeling suffocated by the thought of Leila.

“Oh, you drank it all at once! Sir, you’re quite a heavy drinker, aren’t you?”

Chloe, who had no idea about her friend’s burning heart, clapped with a broad smile.

“Then, can we be friends if I talk to you, young Lady?”

“Yes, of course!”

“All right. No… all right, then. So tell me now. Is Leila really serious with Archduke Anata? I mean, are they really serious with each other?”

“…What? You hate me! Hahaha!”

“!”

They were back to square one. Chloe, who was drunk, kept getting Gerard worked up. The usually quiet young Lady became a completely different person when she was intoxicated.

“How could I, young Lady, my dear friend?”

It was the first time in his life that he wanted to be someone’s friend like this.

Of course, being friends didn’t make Chloe obligated to tell him about Leila. However, Gerard’s mind failed to pinpoint that loophole as he inadvertently drank quite a lot.

“Do you really want to be friends with meee?”

“Yes, I do.”

Gerard, who felt awkward speaking informally, returned to using honorifics before he even realized it.

“Well, then… If you tell me why you don’t like me, I’ll be your friend!”

Chloe offered generously.

“I don’t dislike you anymore.”

Gerard opposed firmly. He thought that Chloe Roem was quite a sweet person.

“That means you hated me! Why did you hate mee?”

Chloe, who was drunk, was more quick witted and stubborn than he expected.

“It’s not that I hated you, but at first… it was because of your eyes.”

“My eyes? My eyeeeees?”

Chloe asked whilst pointing to her eyes.

“Yes.”

“Why? My eyes are prettyyy.”

“Ha…”

Did young Lady Roem always have this kind of personality? Gerard was puzzled and laughed at the absurdity.

“Huh? Why are you laughing? Catherine said my eyes are the prettiest blue color in the world, and Karina said she envied me for them.”

“Oh, of course.”

“Ha! It’s really ridiculous! I guess you don’t want to be friends with me?”

“No, I do.”

Gerard immediately dropped his cockyness upon Chloe’s subtle threats.

“Since I told you the reason, you should…”

“No! You didn’t tell me why you don’t like my eyes.”

“Do I have to say that as well?”

“Of course! You have to say so we can solve the problem together and become friends. Do you not know that?”

Chloe retorted with her own logic.

“Ha…”

“Hurry up!”

“…”

“…If you don’t want to talk, then don’t. I’ll take my leave, Sir Blanchett!”

Chloe staggered to her feet as if she really meant it. She greeted him with an exaggerated bow as if she was about to leave.

“I’ll tell you.”

Gerard caught her in a hurry. 

‘The Imperial Family is missing out. Chloe Roem should have become a diplomat.’

Gerard grinned inwardly.

***

Gerard opened up to Chloe Roem about why he despised blue eyes. About Raphael Blanchett, his blue-eyed uncle, his mother, and even the words that his mother said while clinging to his young self.

Was it because he drank too much or was it the atmosphere in the room? Stories of his past that he wouldn’t normally tell anyone slipped out. No, he might have needed someone to tell this to. Leila hated heavy and serious stories, and Owen was more of a Lord than a friend to him.

“So that’s what happened.”

After he told her, he felt like he was no different than his mother. Judging someone by the color of their eyes.

However, Chloe Roem’s response amazed him.

“Oh, I feel sorry for youuu… The book didn’t mention it!”

“Don’t feel sorry for me. Don’t cry, young Ladyyyyy.”

Gerard also drank quite a bit in the meantime because it was such a hard topic to talk about. That might’ve been the reason he was suddenly dragging out his words like Chloe.

“What’s wrong with blue eyes?! I’ll give you my eyes! You can take them, got it?”

Chloe was drunk and said scary things. She closed her eyes and began to massage them with both hands.

“Why aren’t they falling outtt? I have to give them to you!”

“No, I don’t need your eyes! Since I’ve told you, we’re friends, right?”

“Yes! Let’s be friends!”

“…Yes?”

“Yes!”

“I remembered I wanted to ask about something earlier… Oh, right! Where is Leila going to meet that b*stard Anata next time?”

Gerard Blanchett, who was heavily intoxicated, was calling Archduke Anata a ‘b*stard’.

“…Clock tower square.”

“On what day and what time?”

“…”

“Hm?”

Gerard urged Chloe when she hesitated to answer right away.

“I don’t know.”

“Oh? We’re friends, so tell me! Why do you pretend that you don’t know?!”

“…I can’t tell you any more!”

“You can’t say that. You have to tell me the day and time they are going to meet!”

“Why? If I tell you the date and time, will you go and interrupt them?”

“…”

Gerard, who felt called out, couldn’t come up with a response.

“Don’t do that, Sir. It’s Leila’s choice to meet the Archduke. Oh! If you genuinely like her, you have to respect her choice!”

An enraged Chloe hit the table with her hand.

“…What if I lose her forever?”

“Hmph! I’m sure if you interrupt them, you’re even more likely to lose her forever.”

“…”

“Don’t think about interrupting her time with the Archduke, but think about how to convey your true feelings to Leila. It’ll be more effective. Oh…”

Chloe’s drunk remarks were straightforward. However, she meant it.

There was nothing that made people think considerately as much as true feelings. Gerard’s stomach churned.

“Then, uh? I…”

Chloe Roem’s body leaned forward as she edged her way to his heart.

“Young Lady!”

Gerard inadvertently grabbed Chloe’s face with one of his hands. It was a reflexive moment when he saw her face almost land on the plate.

“Because I cheered you on, now you have to try your best…”

Chloe murmured in Gerard’s palm. The feeling of her lips moving in his palm made him feel ticklish.

“Haa.”

Gerard laughed helplessly at the sight of Chloe.

Did the tickle in the palm of his hand spread to his heart? His stomach was tickled by the childish babbling, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

***

Chloe woke up the next day with a frown, nauseous.

“Water…”

Chloe looked for water with a cracking voice.

“Here.”

Surprisingly upon speaking, a cup of water was immediately brought before Chloe. She was startled at the sight of the glass of water.

“Oh, sister?”

Karina was staring at Chloe firmly.

“Drink this first.”

Karina ordered in a firm voice.

Chloe bit her innocent lips and lifted the cup. However, as Karina said, she needed to moisten her throat a little.

Her mouth was so dry that it felt like there was rough sand around her mouth.

Gulp, gulp.

“…”

After drinking it, Chloe put the cup down as slowly as possible. Karina, who was staring at her without blinking, asked in a low voice.

“Are you dating Sir Blanchett?”