Chapter 11: Flora Kocco"s Source of Amus.e.m.e.nt (Side Story)
Any reproduction, distribution or other type of use of these translations elsewhere is not allowed. In other words, do not repost. Hosted exclusively at Foxaholic. Translated by .
"Nora Kranz, we need to talk."
A beautiful blonde lady stood with her hands on her hips.
Flora"s pose sent Nora a feeling of deja vu.
Surely, it was her.
After she finished her performance as the "azure nightingale", she looked at the girl and tilted her head in puzzlement.
"…Who might you be?"
"You! Cut it out!"
"I was kidding. Don"t make a commotion inside the restaurant, Lady Sophia. Flora, can I use the room at the back for a bit?"
"Sure, that"s fine."
Nora The Azure Nightingale gestured towards the back of the restaurant as the girl was about to raise her voice in anger.
"I really never get bored of watching Nora." After escorting them, Flora returned inside the restaurant.
It has been six months since her friend Nora got her engagement cancelled at the evening party.
When Nora told her, "I don"t remember getting engaged but it seems like I was and now it"s gotten cancelled," it was so baffling she could only laugh in response.
After that, Nora"s engagement with the marquis" son, Allan Callum, somehow got cancelled and she started to be "friends" with Elias Callum.
Flora had witnessed all of that.
As her friend, it was only natural that she wanted to support Nora.
But it was also because she secretly enjoys watching on the side.
"Sophia did?"
Two handsome gentlemen with grayish brown hair uttered at the same time.
Nora"s song had finished and it seemed like they were enjoying a toast.
From the momentum of the gla.s.s as it was placed on the table to the action of rising up from their chairs, the two were in perfect unison.
As expected of the twins, Flora admired. Then, the gentleman with sky-colored eyes had a stern expression on his face.
"Can you take me to that room?"
"With pleasure, my Lord. I came here for that purpose. Will you also be going, Lord Allan?"
The gentleman with lemon-colored eyes also had a stern expression on his face.
"Yeah, I gotta take responsibility for the consequences of my actions."
"–So, didn"t you plant something in Allan"s head?"
Sophia"s voice could be heard on the other side of the door. She seemed extremely furious.
"Isn"t it your specialty to plant something in someone"s head? I didn"t do anything." Nora calmly replied but Sophia raised her eyebrows.
Flora had heard that it was Sophia"s lie that led to the public cancellation of the engagement at the evening party.
As expected, it was awkward. Compared to what Nora has suffered then, Sophia had it easy, Flora thought.
"Even though your engagement had been cancelled, it"s strange that my engagement with Allan didn"t go well! How much more do you want to get in my way?"
"I didn"t do anything. If your engagement didn"t go well, doesn"t that mean there"s something wrong?"
"What did you say?!"
"–That"s enough."
Elias said as he opened the door. There was a questioning look on Sophia"s face but it was soon replaced by her innocent facade, befitting of a young lady.
Flora was impressed by her quick change of emotions.
"Lord Allan!" She looked as if she was about to fall down and jumped right into Allan"s arms. What excellent acting.
If you didn"t know anything, you"d have thought that Nora bullied her.
But Sophia was about to fall because Allan avoided her.
"Sophia, why did you call out Nora?"
"She"s been hindering our engagement, right? I just wanted her to stop interfering."
"Hindering… Sophia, do you want to marry me?"
"Of course." Sophia answered Allan without a moment"s hesitation.
"But what if I don"t succeed the Marquis?"
"Huh… What?" Sophia uttered in surprise.
"Elias refused to be the successor because he wanted to marry someone else. And that"s how I became the successor. Did you know that?"
"Yes, and hence the next marquis would be you."
"But I didn"t want to take the t.i.tle at all. The marriage arrangement, which was the condition for the successorship, has also been dissolved recently. And now it doesn"t have to me be."
"…What do you mean?"
"It means I won"t have the t.i.tle. Even so, do you still want to marry me?"
"No way… That rumor was true?" Sophia"s face curled up in surprise.
Even if it"s a lie, she should have said, "Despite that, I still like you."
But perhaps due to her ambition to marry a marquis, she couldn"t hide her true feelings.
She has shown a good acting performance so far but the shock threw her off her game.
As though he had expected it, Allan smiled wryly at Sophia"s easy to read response.
"Well, that"s how it is. Sophia wants to marry the next marquis, not me. I"m no longer the successor."
Elias, who had been watching on the side, felt sorry for him as he tapped Allan on his shoulders and looked at Sophia.
"We know you"ve been contacting other n.o.blemen aside from Allan. You"re only after the t.i.tle."
"That"s-"
"From now on, you have no connections with the House of Marquis and Nora. If you bother us again, you know what will happen, right?"
Elias" handsome smile did nothing but enhance his threatening tone.
Sophia cowered in fear and nodded in agreement as her face paled, then darted out of the room.
"Are you all right?"
Elias" intimidating demeanor earlier was now replaced with a more gentle tone.
"Seeing you intimidate her felt really wonderful."
"I"ll take that as a compliment then." Elias grumbled.
It turns out that when he"s provoked, the usually calm Elias becomes like a different person.
"Since Sophia"s goal is to marry an upper cla.s.s n.o.bility, she won"t chase after Allan anymore. She"ll move on to her next target. Allan won"t be the next marquis so he"s no longer of use to her." As Flora stated the fact, Allan nodded in agreement.
"Flora, that"s too much."
"Oh no, that was rude of me." After she apologized at Nora"s urging, Allan simply shook his head.
"No, you were only saying the truth. And thanks to you, I was able to see Sophia"s true colors and take action accordingly."
When he was telling Nora to cancel the engagement during the evening party, he had such a haughty demeanor.
Perhaps a broken heart maketh a man mature.
"This restaurant has become more popular. Especially since alcohol is available. Thanks to the "azure nightingale", more upper cla.s.s n.o.bility have been coming. How fortunate!"
At the restaurant, Flora overheard a rumor that a n.o.ble daughter has been wandering around looking for a successor.
The chatter happened to have started the same moment the two Callums were listening to Nora"s song.
Aware of the truth, Allan seemed to have been deep in thought but was almost as quickly out of his daze.
When he was reconsidering his engagement with Sophia, his parents have asked him if he genuinely wanted to be with her. As she would be the next marquise, they must have looked into her.
If he couldn"t even see through his wife, he didn"t deserve to be the successor. If he had gotten engaged to Sophia that way, he might no longer be the next marquis.
Allan had wanted to break up with Sophia right then but Flora stopped him.
"As the rumor says, I don"t think someone like her will let go of her dream to marry a marquis. Since you"ve broken up, I think she will continue to make trouble for Nora."
In fact, she has already been bothering Nora and scheming all sorts of things.
"But I still can"t marry her. Even without love, a woman without virtue isn"t suitable to be a marquise."
"I didn"t expect you to say something so decent."
"What do you take me for?" Flora laughed at Allan"s grumble.
"In that case, I think it"d be fine even if you don"t become the next marquis."
"Nevertheless, the next marquis really doesn"t have to be me."
"Huh? Wasn"t that a lie?" Nora asked in surprise.
To make it easier for Sophia to back away, it was Flora who suggested that Allan should say he won"t be the next marquis.
But she didn"t expect it to be true.
"Just like what the rumors say, Sophia"s desire to marry a successor is strong. If you lie to her face, she"ll know it immediately."
In fact, because the rumor has reached Sophia"s radar, Allan"s course of action has been correct.
"So in the meantime, the successor won"t be named. You know, my father just laughed at the trouble caused by his stupid sons. Once Allan marries a decent and suitable woman, he"ll quickly become the next marquis." As Elias was worrying about the succession, Allan shook his head.
"For now, I"m done with women. I didn"t want to be the successor in the first place… Besides, there"s someone else who"s sure to get married and succeed the position." Allan smiled as he looked at Elias and Nora.
"Someone else…?"
Nora blinked a few times before exchanging glances with Elias. Upon realizing what Allan had meant, her cheeks began to blush.
Now that they"re "friends", the next step doesn"t seem so far away.
"I really never get bored of watching Nora." Flora sighed.