Chapter 111

“I thought you were done with your class today, or maybe you have another appointment?”

The Marquis, slicing the meat with an elegant posture, glanced up and saw Liv.

“Is it with the guy you had an intimate conversation with on the street?”

Liv wondered if the coachman, who had seen her talking to Bethel, had passed the word along. If so, it was a quick report.

Liv shook her head quickly at the Marquis’ unexpected question.

“Bethel is a priest in training at the chapel I used to attend. He doesn’t spend time with the believers in private.”

In addition, those who sought the path of the priesthood were pure people who served only God. However, despite Liv’s adamant words, the Marquis scoffed as if dismissing it.

“Pleasure and priesthood are two distinct things.”

Every priest and devout believer would have exploded and reported him to the Order’s headquarter if they had heard his statement. Even Liv, who wasn’t very religious, found it to be irreverent. Staring at the Marquis in disbelief, Liv shook her head and looked away.

“My Lord, I’m well aware of your piousness, so you don’t need to remind me.”

Liv added defensively, cutting the meat into small pieces.

“I haven’t been going to chapel since I moved. I ran into him, and we just said hi. There’s no appointment, and right now I’m just a little surprised because I didn’t expect you to call me today.”

In truth, she didn’t need to explain so much about his conversation with Bethel. However, the way the Marquis used the phrase “intimate conversation” bothered her. It made her feel uncomfortable, as though she looked like a woman who would get intimate with any man.

That was it. She didn’t want to get falsely misunderstood.

As she rationalized, Liv glanced up at the Marquis. He was sipping his wine with a calm expression on his face as if he didn’t care about her words at all.

Bethel said that the Marquis was a man who could speak to a priest of high rank whenever he wished. However, he was not religious enough to converse with a priest. Nevertheless, he and Liv had crossed paths in the chapel several times.

“You even visited that chapel, my Lord. Do you remember?”

“I do.”

The Marquis nodded in affirmation. Liv, who had been watching the Marquis for a while, idly nudged the meat with the tip of her fork.

“Bethel said he had never seen you in the chapel.”

He was the kind of man who attracted everyone’s attention just by standing there quietly. Such a man had come to the chapel several times, hiding his identity.

“How is that possible?”

“Why not?”

The Marquis asked back in a questioning voice.

“It’s not hard to trick people’s eyes. I don’t like to leave traces. There’s a lot of people out there who will chase even after the smallest crumb.”

Indeed, she could picture that it was likely the case. He didn’t seem to like having people around him and seemed to hate anyone acting close to him. Naturally, the whole process of concealing his identity and visiting the chapel must have been annoying to the Marquis.

Could that mean she was special enough for him to tolerate the annoyance?

Liv subconsciously gripped her fork and knife tighter. She slowly parted her lips, praying that her face was nonchalant.

“Are there many people doing background checks on you, my Lord?”

“It’s an interesting issue, after all.”

He readily affirmed.

“It must have looked appetizing.”

Liv thought of Camille. Camille had said the Marquis avoided women resolutely, but he had Liv by his side. If Camille continued to keep an eye on the Marquis, he might eventually find his connection to Liv. Besides, Camille was interested in Liv.

If the Marquis were to have a troublesome label attached to him through Liv, would he still consider her special? It was indeed true that he treated her differently, but the way he visited the chapel so discreetly must mean that he didn’t want anyone to know about his encounter with her.

In fact, Liv suspected that the Marquis was somewhat aware of Camille’s presence. His dislike of having people on his tail meant that he was vigilant enough to prevent such annoyances from happening. Still, Liv was worried about this relationship, which was developing somewhat carelessly.

To be precise… She was afraid that she would be a nuisance to the Marquis.

“What will you do if… There’s someone who’s been checking your background in Buerno?”

The cutlery, which had been moving smoothly, came to a stop. Putting down his cutlery silently, the Marquis leaned back a little and touched his wine glass. He then asked indifferently, as usual.

“Who?”

His concise question was so soft that Liv almost spat out Camille’s name. Luckily, she still had a shred of reason left in her. Parting her lips, Liv swallowed back Camille’s name and instead warned the Marquis in a roundabout way.

“I happened to hear a talk about how our paths overlapped. I wonder if we should be a little more care—”

“About what?”

The Marquis’ sneering voice interrupted Liv’s measured words.

“Our affairs?”