RHFTY chapter 27

‘I’ll buy two of these for Leo.’

Shaking off his thoughts, Chaeyi selected a hairpin and a brooch as gifts for Leonard. After choosing another brooch for Lawrence, he turned to where Enoch was.

“Enoch, have you picked yours?”

“Oh, yes!”

“Really? Then let’s head back.”

After gathering all the gifts, Chaeyi finally left the store. The shopkeeper, who had looked worried earlier as customers fled, quickly became friendly and escorted them to the door after Chaeyi bought the expensive items.

“Mr. Chaeyi, I’ll treasure the gift you gave me.”

Enoch smiled happily as he looked at the necklace around his neck.

Leonard also expressed his gratitude by kissing the back of Chaeyi’s hand.

“I’ll make good use of it.”

Seeing how happy they were made Chaeyi feel equally pleased.

That evening, after returning to the mansion and finishing dinner with Leonard, Chaeyi gave Lawrence his gift as well, who appeared late.

Honestly, since he hadn’t chosen Lawrence’s gift himself, he worried that he might not like it…

“I didn’t expect you to get something for me… Thank you so much. I’ll treasure it.”

“Oh, come on. Of course, I got you something. You’ve been working so hard for us.”

“Mr. Chaeyi… Sniff, I can’t believe you recognized all my hard work…”

Fortunately, Lawrence, despite his large build, was moved to tears, making Chaeyi feel a bit embarrassed.

In any case, despite all the ups and downs, it seemed like a pleasant day.

The next morning, Chaeyi, feeling more refreshed than ever after a sound sleep, left the Onyx mansion for his usual morning walk. It was a routine no different from usual.

“Huh?”

That is, until he came face-to-face with him at the mansion.

“Hello.”

Chaeyi stopped in his tracks.

In the backyard, sitting at a table set for enjoying tea, was a familiar man. The moment Chaeyi recognized the face, he was so taken aback that his jaw dropped.

“Why is he here?”

The man who was waving at his cheerfully was none other than Ferdinand.

Seeing Chaeyi’s stunned expression, Ferdinand snorted with amusement and approached him.

“We meet again, Chaeyi.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Am I not allowed to be here?”

Well, that wasn’t exactly it…

On second thought, he wouldn’t have been able to enter the mansion without Lancaster’s permission, so the question itself was misplaced.

“All right. Get on with your business.”

With that, Chaeyi resumed his walk.

However, as if his presence in the Onyx mansion’s backyard wasn’t a coincidence, Ferdinand started following closely behind him.

“So, you’re the famous Beta, huh?”

“…? I’m famous?”

“Didn’t you know? ‘The Beta who was accepted into the Lancaster mansion known for its strict standards.’ Almost every noble knows about you. Only a few might know your name or face, though.”

He didn’t know, nor did she particularly care. Chaeyi was the type who found paying attention to what others thought was the most bothersome thing.

As long as he wasn’t causing any trouble, it didn’t matter.

Seeing that he couldn’t get much of a reaction from Chaeyi, Ferdinand, who found him intriguing, changed the subject.

“Where are you headed?”

“For a walk.”

“I’ll join you.”

“Didn’t you come here for some business?”

“My business is with you.”

“What business could you have with me?”

“Nothing much. I just wanted to see you.”

Did he really come all this way just to see her?

Judging by his earlier comments about his being famous, it seemed like his curiosity had piqued after yesterday, but… what was so interesting about a Beta, who wasn’t all that special?

Though he was at an age where curiosity ran rampant, he truly was a peculiar fellow.

“Suit yourself.”

With Chaeyi’s permission, which wasn’t really permission, Ferdinand smiled playfully and matched his steps to his.

He happily chatted with Chaeyi as they entered the forest path, and everything was fine until then.

But Ferdinand soon realized that something wasn’t right.

“Wait, huff huff… Wait for me!”

Despite just jogging lightly, the distance between them grew wider and wider.

Chaeyi was now far ahead, running, while Ferdinand huffed and puffed, lagging behind.

“Ha.”

Stopping after a short run, Chaeyi let out a small sigh.

He had known he was somewhat frail, but he hadn’t expected him to be this exhausted. Judging by his panting, it was clear he hadn’t been training much.

Finally catching up, Ferdinand grabbed the hem of Chaeyi’s clothes, casting his a resentful look.

“You said this was a walk… Huff… What kind of walk is this? This is exercise!”

“Well, warming up is a form of exercise, too.”

But calling it that just because they were lightly jogging…

Feeling sorry for Ferdinand’s poor stamina, Chaeyi sighed.

“This won’t do. Let’s walk from here.”

Eventually, Chaeyi matched his pace to Ferdinand’s, who had caught his breath, and they slowly walked along the path.

Ferdinand ran his hand through his disheveled hair and let out a long breath.

“How are you going to manage with such poor stamina?”

“…I’m going to start exercising from now on.”

“Huh? You haven’t been doing it until now?”

“If I say I will, I will.”

Ferdinand grumbled with a sullen face. Well, it was a good thing, after all. Looking up at the sky for a moment, Chaeyi spoke.

“We’ve walked quite a bit. Shall we head back now?”

“I’m all for that.”

“But didn’t you say you were going to start exercising?”

“…Not right this moment.”

Chaeyi burst into laughter. Chatting away like that, they made their way back to the entrance… where they happened to run into Leonard, who had been waiting.

As soon as Leonard saw Ferdinand beside Chaeyi, his brows furrowed slightly. After hearing from Enoch, he had come over just in case, and as expected, there was Ferdinand sticking close to Chaeyi.

“What are you doing here?”

“The head of this house, your father, allowed me in, didn’t he? Even gave me permission to stay as long as I like and lent me a guest house.”

“Get out.”

“No.”

Ferdinand retorted, meeting Leonard’s sharp gaze without flinching.

The tension in the air thickened with the chilling pheromones emanating from Leonard, making the atmosphere heavy.

Yet, once again, their encounter didn’t escalate beyond a verbal argument.

Leonard didn’t want to display such an unpleasant sight of fighting in front of Chaeyi. Of course, Ferdinand knew this and provoked him even more than usual.

He hoped Leonard would show an unsightly side of himself to Chaeyi, thereby lowering his impression of him.

And Chaeyi, unaware of the subtle tension between them, always misunderstood the two’s verbal spats.

‘Even though they bicker, they must be closer than I thought. If they truly didn’t get along, they’d have had a physical fight by now, but since they haven’t, maybe they’re not that bad with each other.’

At that moment, Chaeyi’s stomach growled. It was still early for a meal, but he was feeling a bit peckish, perhaps from all the moving around.

‘Maybe I’ll have some tea and snacks.’

Chaeyi usually had a simple tea time when he felt this way.

‘Oh!’

Suddenly, Chaeyi had a good idea and suggested it to the two people who were still glaring at each other.

“Why don’t we all go for a tea break together?”

He thought that spending a leisurely time talking together might ease the tension between them.

For both of them, it was quite an unexpected proposal.

Leonard and Ferdinand turned to look at Chaeyi with a slightly puzzled expression.
But Chaeyi had already made up his mind, so he started walking ahead.

“That small flower-shaped bread we had last time was delicious. What was it called again? I should ask Enoch.”

As Chaeyi cheerfully led the way, Leonard and Ferdinand exchanged awkward glances at each other… then both quietly followed him.

The three of them ended up sitting in a triangular formation around a round tea table.

Despite their mutual discomfort, neither Leonard nor Ferdinand wanted to give up spending time with Chaeyi, so they sat down together.

“Enjoy your meal, Lady Chaeyi,” Enoch said.

“Thanks, Enoch,” Chaeyi replied with a smile.

After smiling at Chaeyi, Enoch served dessert and tea to Leonard and Ferdinand as well. Meanwhile, the two men continued their battle of words.

“It seems you are mistaken, so I suggest you go ask the Duke of Combast again. Just because you are allowed to stay in the mansion doesn’t mean you are free to come and go in front of my Onyx Mansion.”

“Well, you practically gave this house to Chaeyi, didn’t you? So, isn’t Chaeyi the current owner? Whether I come and go should be Chaeyi’s decision, not yours.”

“If you intend to make unreasonable demands to Chaeyi with such nonsense, it’s best you stop. My patience has its limits.”

“How ridiculous. Do you even know who’s really tolerating whom? Oh, if you want to solve this with violence, then go ahead.”

It was a childish yet fierce battle of nerves.

Of course, Chaeyi…

‘The weather is so nice today.’

…was too absorbed in enjoying the fragrance of the tea, the delicious dessert, and the refreshing weather to care about what the two were doing.

It was like looking at black and white.

Enoch, who was serving Chaeyi and watching the whole situation from an outsider’s perspective, could only sigh inwardly.