Chapter 166

Chapter 166

Deatrice smiled faintly and folded the finished letter and put it in her desk drawer. Most of Dixie’s letters were lively and somehow warm. There was more work to do, but it wasn’t annoying or unpleasant like Dixie implied.

If she did look around the mansion, she would probably recall what happened that day, the event that pushed Lucius off the proverbial cliff. But Deatrice still remembered Lucius in his youth—dating her, laughing with her, and writing letters to her.

She wanted to see the room where he spent his childhood days. So, as soon as she read the letter, Deatrice wrote a letter back, saying she was happy to comply with her wishes.

* * *

On the day their official couple portrait was completed, Deatrice and Lucius were preparing to leave the estate. She packed everything in advance and had them brought outside. She then stood by the sidelines as she watched the painting being displayed on the wall for the first time.

The portrait was hung to the left of the stairs leading from the hall to the second floor, between the paintings they had collected. According to popular belief, family portraits should be hung at the highest level. Having the owner’s portrait on display is also meaningful for the servants.

Of course, it was because they would not get scolded if they just stopped working and simply stared at the image of the Marquis and Marchioness. It was a rare moment of reprieve from work, so they naturally embraced the invitation to witness the unveiling of their masters’ portrait.

The professionals handling the canvas did the job deftly, providing a few tense moments when they pretended to fall or slip. Soon, their little charade ended by the removal of the last piece of white cloth that covered the painting.

Thanks to the dramatic effects of the experts and the positioning of the high-hanging portraits, exclamations were heard from everywhere as soon as the painting was revealed. However, as soon as Deatrice saw their large portrait, she struggled with awkwardness.

Misunderstanding her stiff face, Lucius asked kindly, “You don’t like it?”

If she doesn’t like it in the slightest, he’ll immediately have it taken down and get them to draw a new one.

Deatrice shook her head and gave a clumsy excuse. “I’m just not used to seeing you by my side. It feels a bit strange…”

Her hasty excuses, as always, did not have a good effect. Seeing the strained faces of the head maid and the servants, including the butler who heard the sound, she had a rough idea of what kind of expression Lucius was making even without looking at him.

“It’s not that, I mean…”

“You don’t have to explain. I feel just as awkward.”

“…”

“Then should we depart?” Lucius said lightly, then he turned around and left.

For a moment, the tone of his voice made her wonder if he didn’t take her words seriously, but it was clear that he would never go overboard with such a thing, considering Lucius’ history.

Even after Deatrice was escorted by Lucius into the carriage, she continued to explain her slip of the tongue.

“I’ve never seen such a large portrait of myself before, let alone it being displayed so blatantly for all to see. It felt a little off for me… I just… stood in front of the painter and…”

She was happy to explain why since she simply felt shy about their couple portrait in total. She didn’t even bother putting on her gloves.

Lucius wasn’t angry in the first place, but it was particularly refreshing to see Deatrice flustered every once in a while, aside from their time in bed. So, he kept his face monotonous. But there were times he almost gave up his facade and laughed out loud seeing her animated expressions.

He resumed pretending to be sad and lowered his eyes to her.

“But you said that it was strange for me to be next to you…”

“That….”

Deatrice was about to say that true happiness does not emanate merely through fabricated images of blobs of paint, but that it is because she is with him that she is able to smile freely again. That he should disregard the painting ever existed and just focus on the two of them now.

But ever so lightly, she noticed a slight crack in his expression and stopped her train of thought and she almost pouted. “You’re being like this on purpose, right?”

“What?” he responded innocently.

She narrowed her eyes into slits, “You’re not the type to show that kind of expression when you’re upset.”

Lucius lacked an objective awareness of himself to act out a perfect performance, especially since he was intending to fool someone who had been closest to him to observe the subtle differences in his actions.

Thus, Lucius let out the laughter he had been desperately holding back. “Then? What do I usually do when I’m upset?”

“You would’ve spouted out a lot of mean words again.” she crossed her arms and looked away, obviously looking upset.

Feeling an ominous trouble brewing Lucius called her name in a coaxing manner. “Deatrice…”

However, Deatrice was confident that she would not lose to him today. Making herself look teary-eyed, she gazed at him pitifully.

“Sometimes when you get angry at me, you say horrible things to me. Like during our first night together. You said you’d rather die than bed me—oomph.”

Lucius blushed and abruptly covered Deatrice’s mouth.

“Dee.”

He moved very desperately to stop the little woman from removing his hand on her face. As he slowly removed his hands when she glared at him, he pleaded suddenly.

“I’m sorry, please? At that time, I was absolutely out of my mind.”