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Especially while I stood there blankly staring at the attendant with my hair tied in pigtails, Emma remained composed despite her shock and quickly cleared away the accessories. The lace fabric wrapped around my head remained, however. After roughly handing the items to a maid, Emma dusted off her clothes and replied.
“No, please bring him here.”
“Yes, Ma'am.”
As soon as the attendant disappeared, Emma rushed over to me and began removing the pearls embedded here and there in my hair.
“Your Imperial Highness, you said you had business with him, right? This is perfect. I’ll arrange a spot, so please have your conversation here.”
Here? I did have business with him. The business of drawing his attention to shake off my obsession.
However, I had no intention of showing any words or actions that would attract Valentin's interest in this place. I hadn't even made a plan in the first place. It was just after a maid had hurriedly approached and set a refreshment tray on the table that a new presence, one I hadn't felt before, was heard.
As Valentin walked in with steady steps, a fine layer of unmelted white snow rested on his shoulders. After taking off his hat and brushing the snow away, he was holding a beautifully wrapped gift box; seeing as he hadn't even taken off his coat, it seemed he intended to leave immediately after dropping off the gift.
There was no sign of nervousness or excitement about visiting his fiancée without a prior appointment. His turquoise eyes, which calmly scanned the drawing room, came to a dead stop on my face. His gaze clearly screamed, ‘What on earth is this?’, but perhaps I had grown accustomed to such arrogant treatment, as I didn't feel like snapping at him.
“Good afternoon, Lady Tolstoy, and...”
Valentin, who had bowed politely toward Emma, looked at me.
Whenever I recalled the day he mentioned jealousy, I had a burning desire to ignore him, but since this wasn't my own front yard, it was difficult to do so.
“Hello, Valentin.”
“It seems you were having an enjoyable time, Your Imperial Highness.”
Feeling suddenly embarrassed, I brushed down the hair that had been tied up high.
“Oh dear, has it started snowing in the meantime? If you don't mind, would you like to come in? I was just having tea with Princess Larisa.”
“No. I was just passing by and stopped in. This is a token of gratitude for the invitation to the previous gathering.”
Emma, receiving Valentin's gift, wore a soft smile.
“You didn't have to be so thoughtful. Thank you. I must be a truly lucky person to receive such touching returns from both of you, even though the poetry reading was lacking.”
“It seems Your Imperial Highness also visited for the same purpose as I did.”
“Yes.”
A well-matched pair.
That was the first impression I had while watching them at this moment.
Additionally, I realized only now that Valentin was quite—no, considerably—tall. Perhaps because I had always seen him standing next to Vasily and Ivan, the sight of Valentin facing the slender Emma felt a bit awkward.
Their height difference looked to be about a hand-span based on adult male standards. From memory, he seemed to be at a similar eye level to Vasily, so Valentin must also be slightly over 185cm.
Perhaps because the radiance emanating from his beautifully drawn facial lines was so overwhelming, today was the first time I had truly scrutinized Valentin as a whole.
His short chin and long neckline possessed a fresh quality, as if he hadn't yet shed the traces of a boy, but his characteristic serene gaze was mature enough to completely mask any childishness.
In short, Valentin viewed as a whole was a bit—just a tiny bit—more handsome than the Valentin I had examined in parts. It rubbed me the wrong way.
While Emma approached the table to set down the gift, Valentin stood before me. His head was so high that my neck felt stiff from looking up. The way he scouted me with his narrowed eyes was utterly impudent.
“I didn't come here because I'm jealous.”
“I haven't said a word yet.”
Leaving Emma behind as she added small egg tarts to a plate, Valentin whispered teasingly.
“Were you still harboring that in your heart?”
It was a provocation sufficient to make my calm state of mind flare up.
“How could I not?”
“I was joking. Please ignore it. I have eyes as well, and I do not see Your Imperial Highness as someone who would harass an innocent person because of a guy like me. Regardless, I didn't expect to see you again at the Tolstoy townhouse.”
Does he not know the definition of a joke? A statement that you spit out and then try to clean up days later with an 'Oh, I was joking' doesn't even qualify as a joke in the first place.
Still, I couldn't deny that at his belated excuse, I felt as if a nail driven into the edge of my heart had been pulled right out.
Soon, a warm teapot was brought in, and Emma handed the gift Valentin had brought to the maid. That gift would be sent straight to Emma's room. Seeing her genuinely happy without any pretense made my mood improve as well.
“Be good to Miss Emma, Valentin.”
Valentin, who had been tilting his head with his hands clasped, stared at me in silence before flashing a meaningful smile.
“Miss Emma is quite loose-lipped, contrary to appearances.”
Ah! Good grief, I had foolishly overlooked the fact that their engagement was a secret. Sorry, Emma. In times like this, playing dumb is the best policy.
“I only told you to be good to Miss Emma.”
“And I only said that her lips are on the loose side.”
How can someone be this infuriating...?
“I'm always left in awe whenever I talk to you, Valentin.”
“Is that so?”
“How are you so skilled at making people lose their composure?”
As Valentin chuckled, Emma approached with quick steps from behind him.
“I'm sorry. I think the state of the tea leaves is a bit odd. The maid will bring fresh black tea shortly, so please wait a moment longer.”
“The gift I brought is also tea leaves. If Miss Emma doesn't mind, you may use those.”
“My goodness, is that so? Then I can't just leave it to the maid. Since it's a gift from the Count, I must check it myself. I'll brew it quickly.”
After the sweet Emma left the drawing room, Valentin took a seat in the chair next to me. An attendant approached and volunteered to take his hat and coat, but he refused again.
With a hand wearing a black lambskin glove, he belatedly tried to brush the snow off his shoulder, but it had already melted and dropped a round bead of water onto the floor.
My eyes unconsciously followed the movement of that hand, and thanks to that, I was surprised to realize a newfound fact.
Valentin's hands were very large. Large enough to cover all of his delicate yet well-defined features. His feet were the same. The gentleman's shoes sitting side-by-side with my legs were, without exaggeration, about twice the size of my feet.
'Unexpected.'
Had I unconsciously thought that his hand and foot bone structure would be small and petite to match his pretty looks? I must have been trapped in a stale prejudice without even knowing it.
The black hand turned elegantly and rested on the armrest of the chair. It was right next to where I had placed my hand. Naturally, the size difference was also twofold. Should I call it a difference you'd only see between a nephew and an uncle? For some reason, I felt like I was losing, and I wanted to pull my hand away abruptly.
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