Not once since I turned sixteen had I enjoyed a carriage ride as much as I did today. Claisey hummed a tune while looking out the window, though her focus was entirely on Merran’s reaction.
Merran hadn’t moved an inch, sitting there huffing and puffing. Her face was blatantly twisted in a scowl, and her cheeks were puffed out like a pufferfish.
Claisey had to keep pressing her hand against her lips to suppress her laughter.
“By the way, did you leave most of your eldest sister’s keepsakes back at the main house?”
Feeling a tiny prick of guilt, she tried to strike up a conversation, but Merran jerked her head to the side with a sharp snap.
“I don’t want to talk to my aunt.”
Claisey reminded herself several times a day that she wasn’t Merran’s mother. And yet, perhaps because she had raised her since she was a child, she couldn’t help but find it cute when Merran grumbled so openly.
Besides, she was the only one who got to see this side of Merran anyway.
“Suit yourself, then.”
As Claisey replied lightly, Merran let out a groan, moved to the seat next to her, and clung to her arm.
“Aunt, are you getting back at me right now?”
“Getting back at you? Do I seem like the type of petty person who would do that?”
“Yes!”
“You’re right.”
Claisey laughed, tugging on a few strands of Merran’s golden, thread-like curls. Merran smacked Claisey’s leg before burrowing into her embrace.
Time flew by while they bickered, and eventually, the carriage came to a stop. Merran popped up like a jack-in-the-box and darted out.
Claisey followed slowly, watching Merran’s back with a suspicious eye.
*Is Merran genuinely interested in Dernic? She’s never acted like this before.*
Upon entering the restaurant, a waiter in a suit asked for their name and led them to their private room.
When the door opened, they saw Dernic, who had arrived early and was admiring a large Monstera plant. He turned his head at the sound, smiled upon seeing Merran, and then burst into a hearty laugh at the sight of Claisey.
“This is perfect. I invited one beauty, and two showed up.”
“My aunt followed me because she was worried about me.”
Merran muttered shyly and shot a glare at Claisey.
If Kishin had been there, Claisey would have refused to let her image be pigeonholed as ‘Merran Kalasi Omal’s aunt’ instead of ‘Claisey Kalasi.’ But with Dernic, it didn’t matter.
“My niece is just so pretty, you see. I couldn’t bear to send her out alone to meet a stranger.”
Claisey grinned, playing the part of an overbearing aunt. If she laid the groundwork like this, she could probably find an excuse to interrupt their meetings a few more times.
But for some reason, Merran, who had been sulking the whole time, seemed to brighten at Claisey’s words and flashed a goofy grin.
“See? My aunt takes such good care of me.”
As she said this, she even shook Claisey’s arm affectionately.
A thought crossed Claisey’s mind.
*Does Merran want me to act like this toward her? Like an overprotective guardian who pours all their attention onto their child?*
The sound of a chair being pulled back snapped Claisey out of her thoughts.
When she regained her senses, she realized Dernic was pulling out the chair in front of her. Merran was still standing there blankly. As their eyes met, Dernic grinned and said,
“Aunt, please sit first.”
“……”
Claisey almost hit Dernic in the chin with her handbag.
*Is this guy doing this on purpose?*
Suppressing her rage, Claisey sat down with dignity. Dernic then pulled out Merran’s chair before finally taking a seat himself.
Once they were settled, the arrangement struck her as ridiculous. Claisey was seated at the head of the table like the family elder, while Merran and Dernic sat to her right and left.
It seemed that since she had chosen to act like an overprotective guardian, Dernic was playing along with it. It was a gesture she felt no gratitude for.
However, Claisey couldn’t openly protest against Dernic. After all, she had already made the chilling assumption during their last meeting that he might be royalty.
Claisey just laughed it off, pretending she didn’t notice, and picked up the menu.
Merran, who had been quiet the whole time, asked Dernic while they waited to order.
“Why did you call me?”
“Ah, Marie’s daughter. There was something important I wanted to ask.”
“My name is Merran. Merran Kalasi Omal.”
“My name is Dernic. Anyway, Marie’s daughter, I heard you inherited all of Marie’s keepsakes?”
Claisey and Merran answered at the same time.
“Not all of them. Most.”
“Isn’t it getting harder to keep calling me ‘Marie’s daughter’?”
Dernic looked back and forth between Claisey and Merran, as if he didn’t know whose words to answer, before replying to Claisey.
“Then who has the rest of them?”
Merran’s brow furrowed. She seemed displeased that Dernic, who treated her like a child from next door, was treating Claisey with actual respect.
“My eldest uncle… the Marquess Omal.”
Merran cleared her throat. As Dernic turned to look, Merran repeated what she said earlier.
“Sir Dernic, please call me Merran from now on.”
Dernic let out a sigh and muttered, looking troubled.
“But Marie’s daughter is Marie’s daughter.”
“It’s harder to call me that.”
“It’s fine. If I say Marie’s name multiple times, you can hear it multiple times.”
“Then why don’t you call my aunt ‘Marie’s sister’?”
*He calls me an arms dealer!* Claisey sneered internally.
Dernic, on the other hand, looked caught off guard.
“That’s true. Why don’t I call Lady Claisey that? But Lady Claisey… I don’t think I should call her that.”
*Of course you shouldn’t. You have to call me an arms dealer!* Claisey sneered again.
Dernic didn’t call Claisey an arms dealer in front of Merran. Instead, he met her eyes and winked, as if they were sharing a great secret.
“We have a better nickname for each other. Right, Lady Claisey?”
*As if!* Claisey was too stunned to respond.
However, Merran seemed to have misunderstood Dernic’s teasing remark. Her face, which had been beaming with pride because Claisey was playing the aunt role so well, twitched.
It was barely noticeable, but Claisey realized that Merran was genuinely hurt by those words.
Claisey quickly cleared up the misunderstanding.
“There was an incident when I first met Sir Dernic. He’s talking about that. It’s not a term of endearment; it’s a teasing nickname.”
“An incident?”
When Merran asked, Dernic began to explain how he had urgently hitched a ride on Claisey’s carriage and the events that followed.
While he was talking, the staff arrived with their food. The story didn’t end until they were halfway through the meal.
Dernic was a bit of an eccentric, but he was a good storyteller. Throughout his animated retelling—exaggerating and embellishing the events between Claisey, himself, and Kishin—Merran was laughing with delight.
As if the earlier hurt had vanished, Merran was laughing so hard she could barely eat.
Claisey, feeling a bit embarrassed and awkward hearing her own story told through Dernic, just focused on her meal.
By the time the story ended, a cheerful Merran finally brought up the topic of the keepsakes.
“I received most of Mother’s belongings, but I only brought a very small portion here. The rest is divided between the Omal Marquessate and the Kalasi Countship. Since they’re split into three places, it would be difficult to find the rest. So, just tell me exactly what keepsake you’re looking for.”
“It’s a bit private to tell just anyone.”
“I’m not ‘just anyone.’ I am Marie Omal’s only daughter.”
“You’re not my daughter, though.”
Merran’s expression turned strange when those words, which Claisey usually said often, came from Dernic’s mouth. Unaware of the irony, Dernic crossed his arms, pondered for a moment, and suggested:
“Then, Marie’s daughter, invite me to your house. I’ll look through the keepsakes myself. You may stay by my side while I do so. How about it?”
Merran deliberated before replying.
“I’ll think about it.”
Then, Dernic grinned and stood up.
“Good.”
Claisey had been standing a step back while the two talked, but when Dernic suddenly stood up and donned his coat, she asked curiously.
“Where are you going?”
Dernic replied with a playful expression.
“To find a gift that will change your daughter’s mind, Marie noona.”
Merran giggled and asked, “What kind of gift?”
“I’ll be back in ten minutes. Daughter, have some coffee with your aunt.”
Dernic said, checking his watch, and vanished without even mentioning what he was going to do.
What a truly impulsive man. Claisey clicked her tongue in disbelief.
However, it seemed Merran didn’t think so poorly of Dernic’s impulsive nature. Once Dernic left, Merran burst into laughter, as if she found the situation amusing.
Claisey found Merran’s reaction fascinating.
Every man Merran had met until now had been swayed by her. They listened intently to her every word and tried to follow whatever she said. But the only thing Merran wanted from them was to stay away from Claisey.
Yet, even though Dernic acted as he pleased and treated Merran like a subordinate, she was looking at him with more affection than she had shown any other man.
Claisey was confused.
*‘Does Merran like him because I’m close with Dernic? Or is she genuinely curious about Dernic himself?’*
Unable to contain her curiosity, Claisey asked.
“Are you perhaps fond of Sir Dernic?”
But what part of that question had triggered Merran? Merran, who had been holding the menu to choose a coffee, suddenly snapped back in a blunt tone.
“What about you, Aunt?”
“Huh? Why me all of a sudden?”
Claisey laughed, bewildered.
Merran pursed her lips, folded the menu, and asked again.
“Have you given up on Sir Kishin already? You were so happy hugging the bouquet Sir Kishin gave you just a while ago. Are you interested in Sir Dernic now?”
She looked exactly like someone who was wary and jealous, afraid that Claisey might take an interest in Dernic.
Claisey chuckled and teased Merran.
“That’s right. I’m interested in Sir Dernic now. You said it yourself—that Sir Kishin misunderstood things and insulted me, so I shouldn’t get close to him.”
* * *
“Oh dear.”
Dernic covered his mouth with his hand and glanced at Kishin, who was standing beside him.
“I didn’t bring you here for you to overhear a conversation like that.”