Chapter 160

“Disgusting,” Eckart said, unequivocally. “Are you okay? It would have been a hard job just to look into her face.”

Marianne stared at Eckhart because she wondered why he first asked about her safety instead of Mrs. Chester’s underlying intentions after he was fully briefed about her conversation with Mrs. Chester yesterday.

“Well, I have two answers to your question. One is candid, the other is not. Which one would you want to hear?”

“Of course, I want your candid answer.”

She shrugged once and said, “Well, I’m not feeling okay, to be honest with you, but I have no other choice. I can’t ruin it and be swayed by my emotions. Besides, I’ve been investing too much in this fight to give up at this point. Don’t look like that. You didn’t do anything wrong. ”

“But …” Eckhart fumbled his words.

Marianne felt that he looked at her in pity as if he was looking at an injured puppy.

‘Where did he learn this kind of useless responsibility?’

Marianne stood up with a perplexed look. Pulling Eckart to his feet from behind the desk, she led him by the hand and walked with him to the long sofa by the window. She didn’t care whether her grip on his hand hurt or not.

He cleared his throat to pretend to be calm and sat at the end of the couch.

“Now, if you really want to comfort me, please do it this way. ”

Mariane sat in the middle of the couch and fell to the side to lay her head in his lap. His thighs stiffened beneath her cheek as she lifted his left arm and placed it on her shoulder. She lifted his arm so his wrist bent and his hand trailed down her shoulder three or four times.

“… Marianne, who the hell is comforted by this? ”

“Me. I lie my head on Cordelli’s lap and ask her to rub my shoulder when I’m having a hard time. I asked my father for it often. My friend, Evelyn, sometimes played pranks on me by suddenly moving her legs, but she usually agreed to my request.”

What more could he say when she said that’s how she was comforted?

Eckart took a deep breath. In no time, he carefully stroked her shoulder awkwardly. His touch was so light that she didn’t feel even the weight of his hand.

Under his innocent touch, Marianne suddenly twisted her body to look up at him. His big hand stopped in the air suddenly.

Eckart hurriedly withdrew his hand, narrowing his eyebrows slightly. He looked down, but when his eyes met hers from beneath his chin he turned his gaze.

“Your Majesty!”

“What is it?”

“I’m curious about something. Can I ask you about it?”

“Marianne, you do not have to ask for my permission before asking me questions. ”

“Any question?”

“Of course!”

“Then, please make eye contact with me. When you talk, it’s basic manners to make eye contact with the other person, right?”

As she asked daringly, he had no choice but to turn his gaze back to her again.

The sunlight coming from the window glistened in his golden hair. His breath was hot and fell over her face like a snowflake. As she was looking up at him, she could even see the halo of his eyelashes.

“I know I shouldn’t relax like this, but I love it. What can I do? ”

He blushed at her embarrassing comment.

While she was amazed by his blushing face, he squeezed the back of the sofa, avoiding her eyes. If he pulled his arms back like that, his back would hurt, but he didn’t care at all.

If Marianne’s head had not been in his lap, he might have leapt to his feet and ran out of the room right away.

“How can you say that to me so casually? ”

“What? What’s wrong with me saying it? You just said I could ask anything …”

Marianne pouted and turned to the side again.

He once again stiffened like a surprised animal then began to stroke her shoulder again after a brief moment of angst. She felt that even though he was clumsy, he was doing his best to comfort her.

He spoke softly, “Do not be too impatient!”

Even his low voice seemed to comfort her.Eckart was an overly affectionate person. Just like the chestnut had sharp thorns to keep sweet and fragile fruit safe, his cold, high “iron wall” was probably nothing but a defense in precarious positions.

At some point, Marianne could see the soft flesh hidden behind his thorns. The hidden fruit was so sweet and fragrant that she did not want to yield it to anybody else in the world. She wanted to embrace his affection as well as his hatred of her.

“In fact, I was keeping an eye on Levedev’s daughter, so I’m going to order further investigation of her. I think it’s very likely that the Ann the maid mentioned is Levedev’s daughter.”

Marianne nodded instead of replying. Even though it was rude, he didn’t blame her. His thighs had relaxed beneath her cheek and stiffened again suddenly.

“I have to doubt Mrs. Chester’s motivation to tell me about Marquise Blanchefort and her daughter…”

Trying to snuggle into the shade of his body unknowingly, Marianne tried to reflect on Mrs. Chester’s real intention.

But even now, she couldn’t detect her real intentions. She felt the purpose of Mrs. Chester’s intention was too uncertain to regard as intimidating. She couldn’t even know how much Mrs. Chester believed her. If Mrs. Chester regarded Duke Hubble as her enemy, she didn’t need to reveal his flaws which should have been her advantage.

“It seems certain that she is falling out with Duke Hubble, given that Empress Alessa received the sword or Mrs. Chester prepared a separate gift for her…Considering other intelligence, I can’t help but conclude that she is deliberately shaking the political chessboard after the accident in Roshan.”

“I think our betting is paying off. Do you think Mrs. Chester is trying to exclude Duke Hubble from the chessboard completely?”

“Maybe. It will be clearer, depending on what solution Ober will bring. ”

“Got it. I don’t think Duke Hubble will take it lying down… Let me wait for now. ”

Marianne turned to the other side as if to show she was mentally disturbed.

She stared into the fireplace. It was empty because it was summer.

The bookshelf just to the right of the fireplace made some rattling sound then turned. A familiar face popped out of the dark space behind it.

With eyes as black as his hair and dressed in Eluang Knights’ uniform, he was none other than Curtis, whose presence could hardly be felt by anybody.

As soon as he entered the study, Curtis looked at the surroundings and stiffened. The bookshelf shifted behind him, not quite closing. Though he was expressionless, he was obviously embarrassed and didn’t speakEckart and Marianne were surprised, too and didn’t speak.

Marianne blinked her big eyes several times, desperately trying to figure out what she was looking at. A barrage of questions came to her mind like sprouting buds in spring.

‘Was the bookshelf designed like that from the beginning? Did I not know that there was a bookcase with such a strange feature because I didn’t like reading very much? Or did I like Eckart’s voice so much that I fell asleep? Is this a dream? How can Curtis appear if this is a dream? Or is this the work of the Goddess Kader? She suggested meeting me on Awakening Day. Has the day come already?”

With the two men fiercely suspicious of what was happening, Eckart first came to his senses and sighed,”… How long are you going to stand there?”

Curtis pushed the bookshelf back into its place while Marianne jumped up, looking at Eckart.

“This isn’t a dream, right?”

“… Nope.”

“Why did Curtis come out of the bookcase?” After she said that, she quickly looked around and asked in a whisper, “How come he came out of bookcase?”

“Because there is a passage over there.”

She frowned at his reply. Curtis, meanwhile, came close to the two and politely offered greetings. The moment the edge of his white uniform swept the floor and lifted back into the air, Marianne opened her mouth like someone who realized something.

With her eyes glistening, she held his hands tightly and asked, “It’s a secret passage, right?”

He wondered if this was something for her to marvel at, but he just nodded.

“Oh my gosh! It’s real. I did not know that. It’s amazing, wow… ”

Marianne mumbled and stood to walk away from the couch like someone who was bewitched by something.

Her destination was obviously the bookshelf.

Eckhart turned to Curtis, barely holding back the urge to laugh at her.

Curtis’ black eyes watched her in silence. He seemed to have no reaction as usual, but Eckart, who had known him for a long time, felt he was a bit embarrassed and felt awkward.