CH 60

We moved to the pool table. While Clovin was preparing the cue stick, I blankly stared at the pool balls. I was at a loss because I had only played pool once in my previous life.

I don’t even know the rules… but Clovin must be good since he has played it a lot in Nine, right? This time, I had a feeling that I would lose.

While maintaining the cue stick, Clovin glanced at me. Judging from my reaction, he seemed to anticipate his victory.

He confidently handed me a cue stick and took a step forward.

“I’ll go first.”

“Uh… okay.”

I tried to learn the posture by watching Clovin. When the game started, Clovin skillfully positioned himself.

Thud… click, ball in. Thud… click, ball in.

He smoothly pocketed the balls two times in a row, like a fish in water.

He’s really good… Unlike me, who has only played once, he seemed experienced with hundreds of plays.

When it was my turn, I stiffened my posture. I felt like I could hear Clovin’s mocking laughter.

“Young Lord, is this your first time playing? Tsk tsk. If you’re right-handed, your left hand should be up.”

Ah, no wonder it felt awkward. I changed the position of my hands on the cue stick and lowered my body again.

That’s when I heard a tickling sound in my ear from behind.

“You should bend your waist a bit more to be comfortable.”

It was none other than Jed’s voice. It seemed that he had entered the main room while I was watching Clovin’s play.

I bent my waist as he instructed. I could feel his touch on my shoulder.

“Relax your shoulder.”

I flinched at the natural physical contact.

Being told to relax my shoulder when someone I like suddenly touched it felt almost impossible.

Jed seemed to realize that his physical contact was making it harder for me, so he let go of my hand.

“Just relax your shoulder, that should be enough.”

“Yeah… thank you.”

After Jed moved away, my shoulder finally relaxed. With the posture corrected by Jed, I hit the white ball.

Thud, the sound of the white ball colliding with another ball, and thud again, the ball I aimed for went into the pocket.

“Yes! It went in…!”

Jed left me, who was excited, and headed for the sofa.

***

When Jed sat on the sofa, Diego, who was already sitting there, looked at him meaningfully.

“What’s your plan with this?”

“…”

“You don’t have to do me any favors. Even if you make him like you, what’s the point?”

“…”

“Don’t bother me. I have no intention of reciprocating.”

Diego didn’t like the idea of Jed being liked by someone. He was determined to withstand the power of Jed being liked, no matter how much he tormented him.

A servant brought a bottle of whiskey. He poured whiskey for Diego first.

While Diego was choking on whiskey, Jed unexpectedly gave an answer.

“Even if he doesn’t reciprocate, I’m still interested in having fun.”

Jed also tasted the whiskey that the servant had poured. Behind the whiskey glass that I put down after the servant left, May, who was playing pool, was visible.

“If he starts liking me, then it won’t be me who wins.”

Even if it’s a person who gets more attention than himself, even if it’s a person who’s better than himself, if he likes him, that’s how he won.

“…To feel a sense of victory from a strange place.”

Diego frowned and turned his head.

“I’m disgusted. Play on your own man.”

“May Flotina is not a man.”

Diego had an expression that asked what kind of nonsense it was.

“She’s a woman.”

The day they collided shoulders with Stella Nazret on the fashion street. The day he first saw May Flotina in person. He was drunk that day from drinking at Nine.

He accidentally bumped into Stella Nazret’s shoulder and happened to see May Flotina standing next to her.

It wasn’t a mistake caused by being drunk. It was clearly a feminine appearance. It was undeniably a woman, except with short hair and dressed in men’s clothes.

Then why does everyone except himself believe that May Flotina is a man without doubting her gender?

The answer to this was found at Iris’s birthday party.

The guardian of Flotina, Floa, who accompanied May.

He was famous for his proficiency in mental magic since his days as a magician. It was clear that others did not question May Flotina’s gender because of Floa’s mental magic.

“What…?”

Diego shifted his gaze towards the members who were focused on the pocket ball game. Galley Maxime and Vita were cheering for Clovin together.

Among them was a boy, May Flotina, who stuck close to Isabella and watched Clovin’s performance.

Looking intently at May, Diago placed the whiskey glass he was holding on the table.

“I knew you were weak against alcohol, but I didn’t know you would get drunk after a sip. How can May Flotina be a woman?”

Diego thought that Jed was playing with alcohol.

“She is a woman.”

“Are you crazy? Don’t say disgusting things.”

His face was filled with disgust.

“Didn’t you see it just by looking at her appearance? She has an exceptionally elegant and beautiful profile.”

“She does have a pretty…”

Diego casually blurted out his thoughts and quickly got angry.

“Ah, damn it.”

He threw the cushion next to him with all his strength towards May. As the cushion flew towards her, May was startled and caught it.

“What the…?”

Is he crazy? Why did he suddenly throw a cushion?

“Why are you throwing it? If you have any complaints, say it.”

However, Dego didn’t even look at May.

“What the hell…”

“It’s your turn, Young Lord.”

May stared at Diego and put the cushion down, focusing on the pocket ball again.

Diego slammed the table with both hands, stood up, and stared straight into Jed’s advancing purple eyes.

He spoke in a low voice that others couldn’t hear.

“I hate this kind of thing the most. You know that, right? I was tempted because the woman I was considering trying turned out to be a man when I stripped her. After that, I stopped meeting women.”

There was a time when Diego indulged in women and lived a licentious life. The Emperor, who despised him, hired a man suitable for cross-dressing to reform his licentious life.

He ordered that man to seduce Diego, and thinking he was a woman, he succumbed to the seduction. It wasn’t until he saw the man’s naked body that he realized he was a man.

“You know how much I was mocked by my father at that time. I was treated like an idiot who couldn’t even distinguish between people’s genders.”

As a result of this incident, Diego developed trauma related to gender identification.

“I know.”

“If you know, then shut up. It’s the most detestable thing to know that the person’s gender is different.”

“….”

“If May is a man, then May is a man.”

Diego asserted firmly and finally seemed to calm down as he lifted his whisky glass.

Since Jed was a good listener, he didn’t argue anymore that May was a woman. However, he knew. Diego’s interest in May was due to her being pretty despite being a man, and perhaps tormenting her was also influenced by that incident.

Having been by Diego’s side as cousins for a long time, he understood his psychology well.

“…If May is a woman, I will quit drinking for the rest of my life.”

Diego made that declaration, seeming to emphasize that May absolutely couldn’t be a woman rather than simply thinking she couldn’t be a woman.

* * * 

Naturally, the pocket ball battle ended with Clovin’s victory. He seemed to feel exhilarated by the fact that he had defeated the rival of his love. His shoulders were raised high and sharp as if he had mountains on them.

“If Young Lady Nazret had been in that spot earlier, she would have definitely fallen for me!”

“Oh yes, of course!”

‘Master Penso must have thought he was cool.’

Velta and Galley were busy flattering him from the side.

Isabella held my hand and reassured me that it was okay.

“It’s okay to lose. Because Sir Duke is much cooler than Lord Penso.”

“Thank you, Princess.”

When it was dinner time, we all had a meal together at a restaurant.

Everyone was focused on eating, except for one person. Only Isabella was doing something else. She was staring at my face as if she wanted to burn a hole through it.

Diego, who couldn’t stand it, said something.

“Isabella, start eating.”

He was greatly annoyed by the fact that Isabella and I were sticking together, but he didn’t forcibly separate us. It seemed impossible to force or compel something from his foolish little brother.

Isabella’s lips opened. She was still looking at me.

“If Sir Duke had been born a woman, he would have been an incredibly incredibly beautiful person.”

“Pff-“

I laughed in surprise and spewed out the mushroom soup I was eating, just like someone hit by a pitch.

The soup ended up all over Diego’s face.

“Oh my…!”

I widened my eyes, pretending to be surprised. It wasn’t intentional, but I secretly found satisfaction in seeing Diego’s face dirty.

“Oh, sorry.”

It was an apology that showed no sign of remorse.