When A Villain Meets A Villain - Chapter 53

Lionel was unusually quiet on the carriage to the Imperial Palace.

Normally, he would have stirred Atalante’s insides with strange words or looked at her face admiringly at the very least.

Atalante was unable to stand the strange silence and looked at the grand duke seated next to her with folded arms.

‘Is he feeling unwell?’

However, his side profile was extremely neat and handsome that she was unable to tell if he was feeling unwell.

“Excuse me.”

Perhaps because he was elated that she spoke up first, Lionel turned to Atalante with a joyful face.

However, their eye contact lasted for a moment only, and he avoided eye contact immediately like he was on fire.

“Please speak.”

It was quite amusing that his answer was steady, even though their gazes weren’t connected.

“Why are you so quiet? It’s not even your first time at a banquet like this, but you seem even more nervous than me.”

“I’m a little nervous. Yes, a little bit.”

The grand duke admitted that he was nervous straightforwardly and blinked slowly. His gaze was still affixed towards the front and not Atalante.

It was quite strange.

As throughout the whole of yesterday, Lionel was far from being nervous, and had a pleasant smile the entire time.

When asked why he was in such a good mood, his reply was.

“It’ll be strange if I’m not in a good mood, when I’m introducing the most dazzling person in the world as my fiancée.”

She felt uncomfortable again when she pondered over the words Lionel had said.

Atalante’s face distorted instantly and she asked incredulously.

“Why? You were completely fine yesterday.”

A faint sound of an exhale came from Lionel, and he slowly turned his head towards Atalante.

“Would it be rude of me to say that you’re too pretty?”

“…You’re so corny.”

“But it’s the truth.”

Like he was suppressing something, Lionel’s lips drew a sluggish arc as he followed her in crossing his arms.

“I’d like to ask you a favour”, starting with these words, he continued speaking with a sweet voice.

“I plan to do something that’s not like me today, and I hope that you’ll like it.”

“Hmm, if it’s something that isn’t like the Grand Duke… Are you going to share some candy with the people at the banquet hall?”

Lionel burst into laughter at her adorable guess.

She had racked her brains to come up with such a remark, so Atalante’s expression turned quite upset.

“I will do so if you want me to. What flavour of candy should I prepare?”

“While it sounds interesting, I’m afraid that rumours of the Grand Duke being crazy in a different way will appear, so I’ll respectfully decline.”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

As they were conversing, the carriage seemed to have arrived at the Imperial Palace and as a result, came to a halt.

She heard that there was quite a distance from the grand duke’s townhouse to the Imperial Palace, but even yesterday, she felt that they had arrived very quickly.

The carriage moved very slowly, like it was demonstrating with its entire body to express safety first.

“Well, let’s go.”

Lionel got off the carriage first, and reached out to Atalante, who was hesitating on whether to stand up or not.

She wanted to say that she could do it alone, but her hand moved before her mouth did.

Lionel hugged her gently and lowered her to the floor, before whispering as he removed the hair that was sticking on Atalante’s cheek affectionately.

“I’m too nervous, so could you call me by my name again?”

How can he use such a weird voice to say ‘call me by my name’?

Disregarding his overly mellifluous voice, the request itself wasn’t difficult, so Atalante called him by his name obediently.

“Lionel.”

“Yes, dear Atalante.”

Lionel responded immediately with such a brilliant smile that an illusion of the surroundings brightening occured.

“I’ll do my best to ensure that you’ll have a great night today.”

As Lionel whispered words that caused her to become expectant inadvertently, he fixed his grip on Atalante’s hand, and she took a step ahead of him with a straightened back.

“Yes, please do your best.”

The addition of a haughty line was as though she didn’t intend to lose to Lionel.

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“When has purple coloured dresses become popular?”’

Esma, who entered the banquet hall under Tross’s escort, tilted her head puzzledly.

All the young ladies around her age were wearing purple dresses.

This was odd, as pastel-toned dresses were obviously in vogue until a few weeks ago.

However, she discovered the answer soon after.

‘So, it was influenced by Miss Atalante yesterday.’

Everyone cursed her for being impudent, but in the end, they admitted that Atalante was beautiful.

‘Miss Atalante is an acquaintance of mine.’

With a strangely proud feeling, Esma straightened her shoulders as she took a good look at the scene of young ladies in purple dresses.

“Long time no see, Count Evita, as well as Countess Evita. Young Lady Evita looks particularly dazzling today.”

Count Sera approached the newly entered members of the Evita family with a smile and spoke to them.

Instead of responding to him, Esma only gave an awkward smile.

Other than his talent, the rumours surrounding Count Sera weren’t good.

Regardless of noble or common birth, he coveted women and even rumours that he was attacked by Atalante in the past arose.

“Did my son properly escort the Young Lady yesterday?”

When Pietro was mentioned, an extremely blatant gleam appeared within Count Sera’s eyes.

After Tross failed to carry out the emperor’s order, Esma’s debutante partner was decided to be Pietro from the Sera County.

If Count Sera’s scandals were excluded, Pietro was quite an acceptable groom. Both families operate similar-sized merchant groups, and the two of them were around the same age.

Most importantly, Countess Evita liked Pietro very much.

“Apparently, red-haired men rarely experience hair loss!”

Wherever did she hear that was one problem, while the other problem was that she became interested in Pietro due to a reason that wasn’t the slightest bit credible.

Annoyed by Count Sera’s interest in his beloved younger sister, Tross spoke in a pointed voice.

“It seems that the Count has a narrow view”

Count Sera’s gaze turned towards him belatedly and spoke with an exaggerated look of pity.

“Young Count! I’d heard that you were seriously ill before the debutante, are you better now?”

“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”

“Haha! The Young Count’s charm is in being feisty. However nowadays, the academic background of youths aren’t the only things that are taken into account, but from various aspects…”

“Father! What are you doing here?”

Just as Count Sera was about to deliver a strange sermon, Pietro approached them with a startled expression.

Pietro sent the Count to a distance by lying that the Countess was looking for him, and opened his mouth with an intentional look of apology.

“I’m sorry. You must have been talking amongst yourselves, but Father seems to have interrupted you.”

“Yeah, you should discipline your father well… Argh!”

“Hoho! What interruption are you talking about? Rather than that, thank you very much for escorting our Esma yesterday, Young Lord Sera.”

As Countess Evita gently stepped on Tross’s foot with her heel, she smiled and thanked him.

“The Young Lord seems to have also entered the hall with your family, so can I entrust our Esma’s first dance to you today?”

“Of course, if Young Lady Evita doesn’t mind.”

As Pietro answered politely, he snuck a quick glance at Esma.

From the slightly reluctant look on her face, she probably had someone else in mind.

The reason why Pietro could easily guess Esma’s thought was obvious. It’s because he was in the same situation as her.

‘Atalante will also attend today’s banquet… as the Grand Duke of Blanc’s partner.’

Pietro shook his head lightly like he was trying to shake off her afterimage that was still vivid.

Unlike his debauched past, he hadn’t enjoyed such banquets since sometime ago.

‘I can’t even dance with the person that I want to, so it obviously wouldn’t be fun.”

Both Esma and Pietro were outstanding aristocratic children, so they chose to keep their families’ honour and etiquette towards their opponents instead of showing their feelings.

“It would be an honour if Young Lord Sera would do so.”

Esma hid the tingling of her heart and replied with a prim voice and a faint smile.

She tried her best to pretend that she couldn’t see Paulo, who was quite nearby, and smiled at her mother with a pleased gaze.

At the same time, the hall suddenly became noisy.

“It’s the Grand Duke of Blanc!”

“That vi… no, that woman is with him.”

Rumours about the events that transpired at the debutante had already spread widely.

That the next grand duchess that the grand duke has set his heart on was none other than the villain, Atalante.

Also, the fact that he used his immunity to remove her status as a wanted person, and also kicked and dumped a young lord that flirted with Atalante.

But the most shocking news was none other than, the mad grand duke had ‘fallen in love’.

Not only did the aristocrats that didn’t attend the debutante, but also those that remembered yesterday’s events vividly, were looking at the entrance’s direction with both interest and nervousness.

Very soon, Lionel and Atalante made their appearance while being on the receiving end of everyone’s curiosity.

Apart from the fact that they were the main characters of rumours that made a stir in the capital, their very self was enough to attract people’s attention.

With embroidery of Blanc’s emblem, the red cape and pure white uniform. Lionel’s attire was revealing to the entire world his identity as the Grand Duchy’s master.

Whether it’s because he had paid more attention today, or because of his overly dazzling appearance, the faces of both young ladies and noblewomen turned red.

Atalante, who was holding his hand, wasn’t dressed in an unconventional outfit like yesterday, but in a lovely dress that matched her age.

As a result, those that wanted to laugh at Atalante’s attire, which wasn’t like an aristocrat’s, could only close their mouths.

“She’s really… beautiful.”

A young lady that inadvertently revealed her thoughts, covered her mouth in surprise.

Although she was instantly given sharp glances, apart from that, no one could contradict her words.

Of course, Atalante had a dignified air that exceeded most aristocratic young ladies.

She didn’t seem like the boss of an organisation that conquered the underworld at all.

“Oh gosh, even so… It’s true that she has a tattoo on her back.”

“It’s hideous. But to think that instead of hiding it, she had even revealed it so proudly.”

“Perhaps she doesn’t know any shame. Even if she was favoured by the Grand Duke, her origins wouldn’t go anywhere.”

The grand duke, who had exceptional hearing, seems to have heard every soft murmur that was being said. This was evident from how with each step, his expression turned even colder.

“Lionel.”

As soon as he heard Atalante’s call, his rigid gaze softened like it was a lie.

“Those words, I’ve decided not to mind them, so don’t care about it either.”

Atalante shrugged her shoulders like it wasn’t a big deal, and gave a toothy grin.

“I’ll think of it as the sound of dogs barking.”

At the remark she added, Lionel burst out laughing and held her hand a little tighter.

“I’ll do that.”

With that tender smile, the gazes of people shifted from Atalante’s back to the corner of Lionel’s mouth.

That Grand Duke of Blanc, was he someone that knew how to smile like that?

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