The Reason Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion

“Oh god, Nick… I thought I was the only one who picked up on that meaning.”

Standing up and down in excitement, Raeliana clamored at Nick’s sharp perception.

The maids who had been silently doing her hair pushed her back down.

“Hah, knowing what a smile means is nothing to Monsieur Nick!”

He boasted.

“Now shall we learn the ‘Vivian Shamall’ smile?”

“Vivian Shamall?”

She asked upon hearing the curiously familiar name.

“Yes. That vixen.” 

“I’m sorry…?”

Vixen? Did he just call that woman a ‘vixen’?

But casually, Nick continued as if he had said nothing.

“This is the ‘Vivian Shamall’ smile.”

He smiled showing his teeth like a model in a toothpaste commercial.

Though Nick’s appearance did not look so, his smile looked neat and elegant.

Pulling off such a neat and elegant appearance with his looks spoke to his severe professionalism.

“And baby, the smile you’ll set into trend is this one. I want to call it the ‘Nick Maddocks’ smile. Observe and practice.”

Nick demonstrated.

Smiling brightly with one eye more curved than the other as if he drank fruit juice, it was a dazzling smile appealing with the freshness of a pop star.

Raeliana looked at him open­ mouthed.

That’s a tough one…

Whether Nick himself suited the expression or not, the issue was whether she could pull it off.

“Come on, try it.”

Raeliana winked her eyes and curled up the mouth at Nick’s words.

“Like, like this?”

“No, no. Don’t twitch your lips and tremble your eyes. That looks like ‘Oh my, look at how my body lacks magnesium’ smile. Try again.”

Ma, magnesium…

Raeliana wondered if he had a king at his back; without such a patron, he could not possibly treat the future duchess like this.

“Look here, my lady. Think about jamming a bullet through that vixen’s head, but look happy on the outside!”

“Nick, you just said ‘vixen’, no?”

“No. Baby. stop fussing over the tiny things. Now, imagine the person you hate the most.”

The person I hate the most… The first that came to Raeliana’s mind was Francis Brooks. Noah was next.

“If you meet that person, would you shoot that person in the head or the chest?”

Very casually, Nick did not give an option of not shooting.

But Raeliana did not care as she had already given the man a taste of bullet to his temple.

“Hm, I’d go for a headshot.”

“That’d feel awesome, huh? With that in mind, move your lips slightly… Yes, that’s it!”

“That works.”

Appreciating the good tip, she flashed a fresh smile.

As Raeliana practiced her smiles, Nick orchestrated the maids even to the amount and location of loose hair strands.

They meticulously put up her hair without a word of complaint.

Then, Nick picked up the colored makeup, saying that he needed to apply the final touches.

With a serious face, he began to work here and there on Raeliana’s face and Raeliana closed her eyes, unable to keep looking at the looming face before her.

After some time had passed… “My lady? Are you not ready yet?”

Gideon, the head butler, knocked on the door.

Putting the finishing touches on the lips, Nick shouted that he just finished and raised his head.

“My lady.”

Raeliana peeked open one eye as Nick called her. She smiled sheepishly as if to say that closing her eyes was not to avoid his overwhelming face.

He scampered around Raeliana, observing her from different angles, and spoke as he clutched both of his hands.

“My lady, you have to hire me for life.”

Raeliana answered that she will with a puzzled face.

***

Adam, who had been ushered out of the room, stood against the wall with his arms crossed, straightening as soon as the door opened. His eyes met Raeliana as she came out.

Not expecting that Adam was standing right outside the door, her eyes widened and smiled shyly.

“Oh, Sir Adam. How do I look? Do I look alright?”

Adam was silent.

Hm... did I expect too much from Sir Adam?

As Raeliana got embarrassed and was about to look away, Adam who had been silently watching moved his lips.

Gideon, who had been waiting beside them, butted in and led Raeliana to the study where Noah was.

“You look incredibly beautiful, my lady. As elegant as the long history that resides in this mansion…”

As he poured out endless praises, which Raeliana did not know whether those were for her or for the mansion, she let them in one ear and out the other as she followed behind him.

Adam walked a step behind her, and nodded his head belatedly.

“Master.”

Gideon stood in front of the study and knocked on the door. Hearing the permission to enter, he opened the door and let Raeliana in first.

Noah, who apparently had finished getting ready earlier, was looking at some documents at his desk.

“Just a moment, let me finish this and we’ll…”

As he pointed at the papers and raised his head, he stopped talking upon seeing Raeliana.

Hm?

She tilted her head after staring at Noah who had frozen in place.

Why is he not saying anything?

She had expected him to shoot snide comments about how a monkey in silk is still a monkey. Is he being careful because of the butler?

Uncomfortable with the long silence, her eyes darted around before she cautiously spoke.

“Do I look weird…?”

Noah opened his mouth briefly to say something, but soon clamped it shut.

What is with him? Raeliana took a step forward.

“Noah?”

With a stiff expression, he picked up the papers and rapidly walked past Raeliana as he spoke.

“We’re late. Let’s get going now…”

He doesn’t even want to spare empty compliments?

Pouting, Raeliana followed behind him when Gideon, after telling Noah that the carriage was ready, whispered contentedly to Raeliana.

“He must be shy to admit the truth that you’re beautiful.”

Something, a ghost that resided in this mansion, for example, must have possessed the butler or something.

If not, he could not possibly say that about Noah.

Despite thinking the man, who was blunt to the point of being rude, could not possibly be shy, Raeliana blushed a little as she walked.

In the carriage to the ball, Raeliana hugged a fluffy cushion. The duke sat across from her with the paperwork he did not finish earlier.

The duke had remained silent since leaving the mansion.

Click clack.

Raeliana, who was blankly looking out the window while only hearing the sound of horseshoes, asked as if she had suddenly remembered.

“Noah, have you heard of the two smiling trends in high society by any chance?”

“…?”

Noah, who had been looking at the papers, raised his head to give the ‘Noah Wynknight Style’ smile.

Nick’s words seemed to float like subtitles behind Noah’s head.

This smile means “I have no idea whether you are talking words or gibberish.”

“Well… no, nevermind…”

Raeliana waved her hands and averted her gaze to the window.

***

If gazes had physical power, Raeliana would have been beaten to smithereens by now.

After the struggle between Francis, the eldest of the House of Brooks, and Noah, the Duke of the House of Wynknight, Raeliana who had been just one of the typical rich, pretty­ faced lady became famous.

On top of that, her engagement to Duke Wynknight had been announced today.

What did she have that conquered the hearts of these powerful men?

Whether she wanted it or not, Raeliana’s every move had become the gossip fodder that would feed the members of high society whose main interests were others’ romances and scandals. Raeliana’s story was worth at least three months.

As she entered the ballroom escorted by the duke, the curious eyes began to chase her like hungry hyenas.

Raeliana followed Noah’s lead, feeling like an abandoned fawn in the hyena-infested Serengeti Plains.

Those eyes feel like needles…

Had she known this, she would have opted for a man a tier below Noah.

She would cook him up and seduce him like a devil to overthrow Noah Wynknight.

She let out a small sigh quietly.

What’s done is done.

High-ranking nobles, who did not even throw her a glance before she became the duchess-to-be, queued up to introduce themselves.

“With such a beautiful fiancee, it is of no wonder that Your Highness would turn his back on the House of Brooks.”

“Congratulations, Young Lady Raeliana. Now I understand why His Highness has looked so joyous lately.”

All of them were hardcore conservatives who did not blink an eye at the nouveau riche.

Hiding the bitterness that swept her, Raeliana smiled brightly and pretended to listen.

“Is that so?”

“Of course, he looked rosier than usual…”

The marquess that twirled his mustache whipped up a story about how happy Noah was during the two weeks he was caught up in the Royal Palace.

Rosier than usual. Yeah, okay.

Raeliana swallowed her laugh as the marquess did everything he could to appease her.

Noah was the usual Noah Wynknight. To every sleek word, he threw that ‘Noah Wynknight Style’ smile and answered smoothly.

That hypocrite. He needs a sign board that says ‘Not listening to a word you’re saying.’

“You wouldn’t know how fortunate I feel about meeting her.”

Noah lightly put his hand on Raeliana’s shoulders and spoke in a loving tone.

Ugh…

Utterly shocked by the sudden attack of tenderness, Raeliana desperately imagined putting a bullet to Francis Brooks’s head.

Fresh smile, fresh smile.

Despite her inner monologue, Raeliana’s lacking-magnesium face spoke to her frustration.

One man had approached her for her money while the other was simply held down by her because of his weakness.

Even worse, the duke was treating Raeliana like a suspicious schemer.

During the endless influx of people, one nobleman approached to ask Raeliana for a dance. Apologizing, Noah blocked him completely.

His actions sparked people’s misconceptions.

To them, a romance drama about the beloved young lady that Noah could not bear any other man to approach was unfolding.

Looking at young noble ladies whispering ‘oh my’ and squealing, Raeliana only felt frustrated.

Noah was simply scared of her getting in contact with others and scheming something beyond his knowledge.

Raeliana remembered what the duke had whispered before entering the ballroom.

“Raeliana, from here on, do not move beyond my eyesight for longer than five minutes.”

Geez, what kind of nonsense is that?

“Noah, a lady needs time to adjust her makeup.”

At least give me some bathroom time.

As Raeliana explained, Noah shrugged and pointed behind him.

The group following behind them pulled the reins and began getting off the horses. There were five knights including Adam. Each knight had the duke’s emblem of the thorn and the hawk on the chest.

As the duke pointed to the knights, Raeliana looked beyond him and one of them, a female knight with her hair tied behind her, bowed her head.

Adam wasn’t enough that he had to mobilize four more? I mean, what would I even do after escaping the watch of five people? Moreover, would it even be possible to escape them?

So paranoid.

Raeliana twitched her lips into a smile at the female knight. She could feel the obsession from him that he would not let her be wherever or do whatever.

Just by looking at him, it was obvious that he would become a very obsessive man if he ever fell in love.

Raeliana clicked her tongue and expressed regret at the poor heroine whose life will become entangled with his in the future.