A Lady Who Refuses to Step Aside
Well, Chloe could more or less guess. She had heard all the commotion from outside the window earlier, too. Apparently, the jeweler’s closed doors on account of Chloe’s visit had offended someone tremendously.
“Miss Montpis, shall we go somewhere else to talk first?”
Lady Basilure tried to guide Agathe Montpis away with genuine courtesy. No matter what, Chloe had been the first customer to arrive, and she was also the most important customer of the day. Basilure could hardly put on an ugly display in front of Chloe about reserved appointments and the like.
That doesn’t look like it’ll work.
Chloe, however, was skeptical of Basilure’s approach. Naturally. If Agathe were the sort of person who backed down after hearing that, she would not have forced her way in when she had already been blocked at the front of the shop.
“Hmm. No, I don’t think I want to.”
“Miss Montpis.”
Basilure spoke as if sighing, glancing toward Chloe.
“We have a guest who arrived before you. I am truly sorry to have displeased you, my lady, but…”
“Is she more important than me?”
“Pardon?”
“I asked if she’s more important than me.”
Everyone present stared at Agathe in bewilderment. Was she asking because she truly did not know? Come to think of it, perhaps the two of them had never been introduced. But in that case, should she not have been even more polite? Asking, in front of a stranger, are you more noble than I am? was the very definition of dangerous behavior.
The one who stepped in then was Ezra.
“Sergeant Montpis. That is enough.”
“Oh my. If it isn’t Warrant Officer Ezra Dubois. What brings you here?”
Agathe opened her fan and fluttered it lightly with a smile. Her face seemed to say she had not noticed him there at all.
“I’m on leave today. Ah, could it be that the guest Lady Basilure mentioned is you, Warrant Officer Dubois? Congratulations. Are you here to buy a ring for your fiancée?”
“Sergeant.”
Ezra was about to say something.
“Second Lieutenant Noel is such a distinct person.”
A clear voice cut between them. In an instant, every eye in the room turned that way.
It was Chloe.
Resting her chin on her left hand, she continued in a bored tone.
“I think he’s a very upright and admirable person. Courteous, kind to everyone, efficient in his work, and so considerate that I can’t help respecting him. And yet he never goes too far.”
“…”
At the sudden mention of her older brother, Agathe’s eyes narrowed. She likely had no idea what Chloe was trying to say. Chloe deliberately ignored Agathe and tilted her head.
“But his younger sister seems a little… muddled.”
“…What did you say?”
Agathe, suddenly struck by words instead of a hand, flared up. But had Agathe not been the one who had tried to strike first? Thinking as much, Chloe ignored her reaction and swiftly asked in return.
“Do I look like Warrant Officer Dubois’s fiancée to you?”
Agathe froze.
Her gaze remained fixed on Chloe’s left hand. Seeing that, Chloe lifted her left hand from beneath her chin and looked down at it.
There, the Amethyst Ring still sat, glowing brilliantly.
When Agathe saw Chloe do so, she seemed to realize she had been careless with where she looked, and quickly snapped back in a sharp tone.
“What do I care who you are? Shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?”
Well, from where I’m standing, you seem to know this ring very well.
Instead of saying that, Chloe smiled brightly and replied, “You really don’t know?”
By then, Agathe seemed to have recovered her composure.
“My father says people who go around asking, ‘Do you know who I am?’ are never worth looking at.”
“Oh dear.”
Chloe snorted as well.
“Your father must have been very worried about his daughter’s future. Still, I don’t think he needed to go so far as to say you weren’t worth looking at.”
“What did you say? Listen here!”
“‘Was I supposed to go ask something like that?’”
To Agathe, who had raised her voice, Chloe promptly returned the very words she herself had spoken. Agathe’s face turned bright red. But Chloe had no intention of giving her a chance to make excuses.
“Unless you’re truly stupid, I doubt you came in here without knowing who I was.”
Even without the ring, she had countless opportunities to recognize Chloe.
For instance, there were the illustrators stationed in front of the shop, who had probably still not left. If they wanted to sketch the Grand Duchess spending Curtis Shan Berk’s money freely, buying tremendous things and loading them into carriages, then naturally they would have to wait until Chloe came out.
On the way into the jeweler’s, Agathe must certainly have seen those illustrators.
And was that all? Surely an employee, while stopping Agathe, would at least have mentioned who was upstairs. In this sort of encounter, the one who was rude was always the one who lost. The employee had probably tried to dissuade her out of concern for Agathe rather than for themselves. Even before that, there was a high chance Lady Basilure would be put in an awkward position.
“It’s a lovely day. You are Miss Agathe Montpis, aren’t you? I am Chloe Le David Berk.”
At that point, Chloe rose, approached her, and offered a handshake.
Ezra followed in alarm, but Chloe waved him off.
Although Agathe had behaved rudely, Chloe wanted to wrap things up here, more or less. She meant to greet her properly, say she understood why Agathe was upset, but that she had no intention of monopolizing the place, so they should each enjoy themselves comfortably and leave.
From yesterday’s exchange with Philip the butler, Chloe had learned that she was much better at verbal sparring than she had thought.
More precisely, she was good at finding fault.
The reason was probably…
I must have caught it from spending three whole months stuck with that man…
By “that man,” she meant none other than Curtis Shan Berk, her contractual husband.
It was truly lamentable. To think she had come to resemble the verbal habits of a superior she wanted to beat senseless.
However, separate from being good at it, she had also realized yesterday that such arguments were extremely exhausting.
If this had been a place where everyone could see them, she would have had to continue the verbal duel, or else crush Agathe with some childish nonsense like, I’m the Grand Duchess Berk! before it could end.
But Chloe did not particularly want to do that.
It was tiring enough just being in an unfamiliar place surrounded by unfamiliar valuables.
Besides, she could roughly guess why Agathe was acting like this.
Although Chloe had answered Noel’s words as if they were no great matter, Agathe was the young lady who, several years ago, had liked Curtis Shan Berk so much that she caused a spectacular incident at a banquet and was humiliated for it.
Chloe and Curtis’s wedding had been only yesterday.
If Agathe was a young lady who had adored Curtis, her resentment would not have cooled yet.
Well, I suppose I’d feel the same…
She had liked him for years, only for some woman who had suddenly appeared from nowhere to marry him after three months.
“I understand what has upset you, Miss Montpis. I had no desire to cause anything unpleasant for anyone else either.”
But Agathe stared at Chloe’s offered hand as if dumbfounded, twisted her face all out of shape, and finally scoffed.
“Ha!”
Chloe found it strange.
The Montpis count family was powerful even among the nobility. There was no way a young lady from such a family would not know these things. Was love blinding her? Or else…
“Lady Basilure seems troubled, so why don’t we…”
“How shameless. Bringing your lover along on the very first day of your marriage.”
Pardon?
Chloe’s eyes went round.
Agathe looked even more exasperated when she saw Chloe’s expression, then indicated Ezra with the tip of her chin. Ezra’s brow furrowed as well. Not because he was offended or upset, but because he simply could not understand what she meant.
“Who… is what?”
“Don’t play innocent, Sir Amboise. I mean Warrant Officer Ezra Dubois over there.”
Agathe tucked her neatly cut bob behind one ear and spoke.
Sir Amboise.
So she meant not to hear Chloe at all when Chloe called herself Le David Berk. Under ordinary circumstances, Chloe would have had to correct that title first, but something even more bewildering was unfolding before her. In the end, Chloe set aside the title “Sir Amboise” for now and opened her mouth.
“Why is Warrant Officer Ezra Dubois… my lover?”
She nearly bit her tongue as she said the word lover. It gave her chills. Of course, Ezra on the other side seemed to feel much the same, given the deep creases in his forehead.
“Sergeant Montpis. I don’t know what you’re suddenly talking about, but—”
“You really don’t know?”
Agathe folded her arms and spoke with triumphant confidence.