TPOTLPIM Chapter 13

"Miss, you need to eat. The Marquis is waiting for you."

From Dalein, who had come to announce the meal, Cecilia was finally able to hear the truth about what had happened the night before.

"You came back late last night with the Marquis after going to the reading club, didn't you."

As she listened to the explanation, Cecilia shuddered as the foggy scenes from last night came back to her one by one.

["Miss, what on earth is this!"]

["Haha, beloved Dalein! Eh, someone keeps catching my legs or something. My strength is draining."]

Dalein ran to catch Cecilia, who had returned home being supported by Teros.

["Cecilia drank a lot of wine. I'm ashamed before the Count who is away. Please take good care of her."]

As Teros turned to leave, Cecilia flailed her hand toward him.

["Eh! Lord Teros! You're going to leave just like that? Absolutely not allowed. Dalein, catch Lord Teros!"]

Both Dalein and Teros looked at Cecilia with bewildered expressions.

["Lord Teros had an accident with his pants, we have to protect our handsome Lord Teros's honor."]

["Oh my..."]

At the embarrassing words, Dalein covered her mouth, and the flustered Teros hastily explained.

["The accident wasn't mine, it was Cecilia's!"]

When Dalein reluctantly glanced down toward the hem of Teros's pants, she saw pants thoroughly stained purple.

"Do you remember how you desperately held onto the Marquis when he said he was fine and wanted to go back?"

She thought that's what happened.

"No matter how much we washed the clothes, the color wouldn't come out, so Ube hurried to the tailor shop this morning."

How embarrassing.

Just as Cecilia was about to feel terribly sorry for Teros, she remembered what he had said at dawn.

["You defiled me yesterday."]

It was true, but it was a statement that had quite a bit of room for misunderstanding. Perhaps he intended the misunderstanding.

Cecilia's face flushed red with embarrassment.

When she went to the dining space for breakfast, Teros, who was sitting at the table, greeted Cecilia as if he were the master of the estate.

The gown that had been embarrassingly small had been replaced with a clean shirt thanks to the servant's trip to the tailor shop.

"Lord Teros, you've already perfectly adapted to the Serin household."

"I'm already a person of the Serin household. Let's welcome Count Serin together when he returns to the estate."

At his shameless words, Cecilia had no energy to retort and began picking at her food.

After glancing at Cecilia once, Teros slyly brought up a topic.

"You're quiet today. Yesterday you kept talking endlessly even when I told you not to."

"Lord Teros, I remember everything now. There was nothing I needed to take responsibility for regarding you. It's too much to tease me using my lack of memory as an excuse."

"The one who's too much is you, Cecilia. What I experienced yesterday was so shocking that I still remember it vividly."

"Th-that!"

Alcohol was her enemy. It was the root of the problem that she had drunk without knowing her capacity in an attempt to ease her upset feelings. Moreover, she had ruined Teros's clothes, so she had nothing to say.

Cecilia gripped her fork with force. Strangely, words that would have required great courage just yesterday came out smoothly.

"I apologize for that. But Lord Teros, please apologize for teasing me too. And don't tease me like that anymore."

"I'm sorry. I won't tease you anymore."

When an unexpectedly polite and courteous apology came back immediately, Cecilia was rather flustered.

But soon after, Teros suddenly burst into laughter, making her eyes go round.

"Ah... sorry. It's my first time apologizing for something like this. That doesn't mean my apology wasn't sincere."

Teros found this situation of squabbling over trivial matters amusing. Wasn't an apology supposed to be something like the brief moment of mourning one feels as a human when beheading an enemy general on the battlefield?

"Is this funny to you right now? Then what have you apologized for before?"

"Well, I can't remember, so it seems I've hardly ever apologized to anyone."

It was an absurd statement, but it was believable coming from Teros. He wasn't in a position where he had to bow his head to anyone, and he was famous among the nobles for being rude and frightening.

Suddenly, Cecilia remembered Teros looking down at her with annoyed eyes when they collided on Rosein's engagement ceremony day. Even then, he hadn't said he was sorry.

Compared to then, the current Teros seemed like a different person.

'The power of the mysterious potion is truly remarkable.'

That smile would disappear in six months.

When she had this thought, she felt somewhat lonely for some reason.

"I'd like to see the Count soon. What business has kept him away for a whole month?"

"Father went to obtain materials needed for new weapons."

"Ah, I heard that the Serin family is developing a new mobile cannon, so that must be why."

"That's right. To move the cannon quickly, we need to reduce its weight, and for that, we need to mix tanir into the cannon barrel."

"Tanir... the lightweight magical mineral. It must be troublesome to obtain in large quantities."

"Speaking of which, will the new weapon be very helpful in war?"

Since the topic had come up, Cecilia asked Teros specifically whether the mobile cannon under development would be useful in war and what form would be better.

Although firearms had just been invented and were being distributed, they took a long time to load and had low accuracy. Rather, weapons like swords and shields combined with Odik's enhancement magic could produce greater power than guns.

For this reason, the Empire valued knights who could ride horses and move freely across the battlefield wielding swords more than gunmen.

Even if the weight of mobile cannons was reduced, considering the horses and troops needed to transport the weapons, they would have to play a supporting role to the knight orders rather than being the main force. Teros's opinion, with his abundant experience in leading knight orders and participating in battles, would be of great help in developing new weapons.

Teros eagerly answered her questions, which seemed determined to ask everything she could while she had the chance. The conversation was quite interesting to him as well, and he lost track of time.

"Wait a moment, I need to take notes too. Dalein! Could you bring some paper and a pen from my room?"

Teros watched with curious eyes as Cecilia diligently wrote down his words. He knew that Count Serin had a high reputation as a weapons manufacturer, but he hadn't expected his only daughter to be this involved in weapon development.

"Do you always participate in developing guns and cannons?"

"Would it be just guns and cannons? As you know, Lord Teros, everyone says the swords made by the Serin family are both practical and elegant. While the practical part might be thanks to Father, whose sense do you think makes them elegant as well?"

She spoke with considerable pride, and he found her lovable.

Teros kept his gaze on her, but Cecilia was so absorbed in taking notes that she didn't give him a single glance.

"My fiancée has many talents."

He casually threw out the word 'fiancée,' but Cecilia didn't show the startled or shrinking rejection she had before. Didn't she hear it? To get Cecilia's attention, he lightly knocked on the table and asked.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

Then Cecilia, who had been concentrating on writing with her nose buried in the paper, suddenly looked up at him.

"I was listening. You said I have many talents. It's common knowledge, so no need to tire our mouths."

"Haha, you heard exactly right. Yes, it's a fact that more people should know."

So she definitely heard me call her 'fiancée' too. Happy that she said she was listening, he burst into laughter.

After finishing breakfast, Cecilia saw Teros off as if chasing him away.

"Won't you show me the garden? You only asked questions and then this is too much."

"I'm sorry, I got an idea about the mobile cannon. I need to work on the concept right when I think of it."

Standing in front of the carriage, Teros couldn't bring himself to leave. What excuse should he use to meet her next time? He could continue to hold onto her using the mysterious potion as before, but now he had the desire to make her want him too. The fact that Teros had come to want not only her presence but also her heart was like giving Cecilia the final weight that would determine which way the scales of their relationship would tip.

Uncharacteristically, Teros hesitated and searched for words to say.

"...Rox wants to see you."

"......"

"Snowie has also been neglected because its master doesn't visit."

So please come to Hasblue. Teros swallowed what he wanted to say and patiently waited for her answer. As her response was delayed, his heart began to beat heavily as if a heavy weight had been attached to it.

"I'll visit next time."

'Though I don't know when that next time will be.'

Cecilia gave a polite response as she had at the engagement ceremony. She didn't want to leave Teros standing there struggling as if he had spoken difficult words.

Despite her answer that she would visit, Teros smiled bitterly. Her expression and tone had conveyed her true feelings to him completely. But this was enough. Since he had heard her say she would visit, he just needed to make her put those words into action.

Teros got into the carriage, consoling his regret with the promise of next time.

Returning to her room, Cecilia sat at her desk and focused on drawing designs.

Suddenly turning her head to the side, she saw the table chair where Teros had sat within her line of sight. Remembering him sitting in that chair looking at her in the dim dawn made her face flush hot.

'Ah, how embarrassing!'

She reflexively stamped her feet at the air.

'Huh?'

Come to think of it, it was strange.

From when she woke up at dawn until now, she hadn't thought of Rosein even once. Just yesterday, she had thought she would be depressed about Rosein all weekend, but now she was overflowing with motivation instead.

"How strange."

She blinked her big eyes and tilted her head.

Meanwhile, Teros, who had arrived at Hasblue, was sitting in his office handling his backlogged work.

Knock knock-

"Come in."

Marcel, wearing armor as if he had just finished training, entered the office.

"Reporting on the knight order status. The knighting ceremony for the 5th squad has been completed. We need to order more armor and spears."

"Really? Have them place an order with the Serin family by letter. Or should I go and discuss it in person?"

Marcel's eyebrows twitched as if something displeased him.

"Didn't you just come from the Serin family?"

"Would it be burdensome to go again today?"

"Please maintain your dignity."

"Ha, Marcel. Sometimes I feel like you're my lord. You're no fun."

Teros began signing the documents Marcel handed him.

As he was intently reading the papers, he suddenly thought of Cecilia writing something down earnestly on paper.

When he thought of her, the corners of his mouth automatically curved up slightly.

Marcel noticed Teros's subtle change in expression like a ghost.

"Did something good happen?"

"Isn't the fact that I went to the Serin family explanation enough?"

"Ha, how nice for you. I'm spending my youth educating men while Your Lordship... well, even Your Lordship should have romance. But please don't smile like that. It's unfamiliar."

"Hmm?"

Teros suddenly felt something was strange and felt his face with his large hand. He could feel with his palm the corners of his mouth that had risen without his knowledge.

Just yesterday afternoon, when Asen had advised him to consider Cecilia's preferences, he had wondered what on earth it meant to smile warmly.

But looking back, ever since he met Cecilia yesterday, he had been smiling a lot until now.

"How strange."

He muttered in a heavy voice.

Marcel looked puzzled at his lord's behavior, as if he were exploring his own face anew. Teros was definitely strange these days.

"Marcel."

Even his calling voice was gentle, making Marcel swallow dry saliva, now feeling creeped out.

"Don't be too envious. It wasn't all good things that happened."

Teros recalled the unpleasant emotion he had felt at Count Serin's estate.

To explain that unpleasant emotion, he had to trace his memory back to dawn.

This dawn, in Cecilia's room, when he stood in front of her bookshelf.

Dmitri's poetry collections occupied a section of her bookshelf side by side.

He reached out and opened one of the poetry books. It was the first edition of Dmitri's first poetry collection, written before his poems became famous.

Even then, he hadn't felt any particular suspicion.

What truly flustered him was Cecilia's reaction.

["Don't look at that!"]

With her desperate cry, he felt a hand grabbing his, and when he turned his head, Cecilia was right next to him as if she had teleported.

She had rushed from the bed to here in an instant, as if Dmitri's poetry book contained some great secret.

He closed the poetry book with a snap and carefully put it back on the bookshelf.

["You've crossed the line, Cecilia."]

He smiled, trying to hide the unpleasant feeling somewhere in his heart.

Cecilia's ideal type that Asen had told him about, Cecilia bringing up Dmitri in the carriage, Marcel asking if she had used the mysterious potion because she liked Dmitri.

The memories he had tried to ignore until now flashed through his mind, all speaking with one voice.

Although he didn't show it, he had definitely felt uncomfortable then.