Operation Start

Before he knew it, Lucien was already kicked out of the imperial palace.

After she said that, Giselle immediately stood up from her seat.

“Well, I shall contact you soon, then. Farewell,” she said, not giving Lucien any chance to respond before she stormed out of the sitting room and told the maids to escort him outside.

Within just a few moments, Lucien was already in the carriage on the way home.

He blanked out as Giselle’s voice kept ringing in his head.

You’re more my type than Siegfried is.

Lucien raised his hand over his mouth.

“Huh…?” he mumbled, his face flushed red as the carriage made its way to his house.

***

When Lucien arrived home, his parents also just got back from their work. He just knew what would happen next as his mother stomped over to him. He stood still in resignation when his mother raised her hand.

To his surprise, however, his mother wrapped her arms around him instead.

“Son, are you okay? You’re not hurt?” the marchioness said, her face clad with worry. She cupped her youngest child’s face in her hands and swung it left to right to check for any injury.

It had been years since Lucien overpassed his mother’s height, but he still felt like a little boy whenever she treated him like this.

He smiled and placed his hands over his mother’s.

“What worried you, Mother? As you can see, I’m fine,” Lucien said while nuzzling his cheeks into her hands like a child. He always liked it whenever her mother showered him with affection.

“Well, we heard that you were dragged away to the palace by the… princess! How could I not worry?” the marchioness said. She looked hesitant to say it out loud, but Lucien knew that she also found the princess’s reputation concerning.

“She was being hospitable, Mother, don’t worry,” Lucien said with a chuckle. His eyes then shifted elsewhere. It wasn’t as if he could say that he was the one being pretty impolite to Giselle earlier.

“If you say so…” the marchioness sighed and squeezed Lucien’s cheeks in her hands. “Still, be careful when you’re facing the princess. We all know what she’s capable of.”

She must be talking about all the rumors surrounding Giselle. As much as Lucien wanted to say she wasn’t actually that bad, he hadn’t gotten to know her that far yet. Just in case, Lucien nodded.

“I thought you would be angry with me for leaving Cecile in Clara’s house, Mother,” he said with a muffled voice due to the squeezing.

The marchioness laughed at her adorable youngest son. No matter how big he got, he would always be that small baby in her eyes. “It’s fine since it’s Clara.”

Lucien nodded in agreement. At this point, Clara’s family was basically an extension of their family.

That’s why it was even more absurd when he recalled the way Giselle was so adamant about him liking Clara romantically. No way, no how. Unless something completely unexpected, something so out of left field happened, there was no way it would ever be true. Just then, the marquess cleared his throat.

“Honey, Lucien, why don’t we get inside now?” the marquess said, interrupting the mother-and-son moment. The marchioness pouted at him but she nodded anyway. She linked her arm with Lucien instead of her husband.

“Right, let’s go,” she said as she made her way into the residence with Lucien, leaving the marquess alone and sad behind.

Yes, this was a daily occurrence in the Renand household.

***

“Will this really work…?” Lucien asked.

“It will,” Giselle whispered as an answer. “Just stay quiet, understand?”

Will it really though…? Lucien thought, clueless on what he should do with his hand.

Let’s turn back time a little. Earlier in the morning, Lucien suddenly received a letter informing—ordering—him to come to this one trendy cafe at noon. There was no name attached to the letter, but judging by the purple envelope used exclusively by the imperial family that the letter came inside, it was easy for him to guess who sent this.

And just as he expected, when he arrived at the cafe, that person was already waiting for him in the seat by the window.

Lucien couldn’t see her face because she was facing the window, but he could recognize that regal posture and twin tails from anywhere.

As soon as he got closer, the lady sitting by the window turned to face him.

“You’re slow,” Giselle said with her arms crossed and her chin turned upward. As usual, even though her face didn’t show much expression, her behavior was an obvious giveaway of her aversion to him.

Lucien sighed and took a seat on the chair across Giselle. “Your Highness, you were the one who—”

“Not there.”

Lucien halted. He looked at her with one of his eyebrows upturned, after which Giselle then pointed at the chair next to her.

“Sit here,” she ordered. Lucien pressed his lips together. He would be sitting too close to Giselle if he obeyed her order, so he was feeling uncertain about it. However, Giselle reminded him what he came here for in the first place. “Don’t you remember what’s written in my letter?”

With a perplexed look on his face, Lucien finally left his seat and went to the chair by Giselle’s side.

As soon as he sat down, Giselle immediately scooted closer to him and plopped her head on his shoulder.

…What kind of situation is this?

“Will this really work…?” Lucien asked in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the cafe.

“It will,” Giselle whispered into his ear as an answer. “Just stay quiet, understand?”

Will it really though…? Lucien thought, clueless on what he should do with his hand that was slowly turning numb as time went on because of the nerves and the pressure Giselle put on his shoulder.

No one around them said a word, but Lucien could feel various kinds of stares directed at them. Curious ones, horrified ones, judging ones… Even intrigued ones. No one dared to make a sound, not even a gasp.

The way Giselle rested her head on his shoulder felt rather stiff and forced to him, but to the onlookers, they looked pretty much like a couple. That was precisely Giselle’s aim today.

“Smile a little, won’t you?” Giselle whispered. Her voice was calm, but why did Lucien feel threatened? He had no choice but to flash a smile. Thankfully, Giselle seemed to find his smile satisfactory.

“Remember, you don’t have to do a thing. Just don’t make it too obvious that you’re uncomfortable with me.”

“...Understood.”

In the letter she sent earlier today, Giselle wrote down her objectives for the day. She basically said that she wanted to do something that required Lucien’s assistance to quell the rumors about her feelings toward Siegfried, and to have that attention directed to her “affection” for Lucien instead.

She did say she was going to act like a lovestruck girl in front of other people and a certain someone… but he didn’t expect that it would also involve physical contact. She just didn’t seem like someone who would be comfortable with making physical contact, but maybe that was just prejudice on his part.

Lucien took a glance at Giselle, whose crown of the head was the only thing he could see from his angle. She seemed so nonchalant that it was hard to believe she said… THAT… the last time they met. He wondered if maybe she didn’t mean that he was her type in a romantic sense, but just in a general sense?

He shook his head. What does it matter to him anyway?

When Lucien looked up, he saw a familiar figure coming over to their direction. A man with a build so large he towered over almost everyone in the cafe. His intimidating presence demanded the attention of every person in the room even though he was just walking over to Lucien and Giselle.

The man stopped right in front of them, his eyebrow raised in a questioning manner at the pair. Instead of easing up and making some space between the both of them, Giselle wrapped her arm around Lucien’s and interlaced her fingers with his.

Lucien was too stunned to even speak up.

“Siegfried,” Giselle said, acknowledging the man. Siegfried stared at their connected hands with squinted eyes, but he didn’t say a word and just took a seat opposite them.

Giselle lightly pinched Lucien’s hand to make him come to his senses.

“Hold my hand back,” she whispered. Only then did Lucien realize his hand was frozen stiff in place. He quickly squeezed her hand and smiled at Siegfried. Her hand was really small in his, he noted.

“Lord Renand is your beau?” Siegfried asked, his eyes fixed on their hands before shifting towards their face.

…Beau? Lucien turned to Giselle, but she didn’t look fazed at all. In fact, she wasn’t even looking at him.

“That’s right. As I told you, he’s the one I’m in love with,” Giselle said while lifting their intertwined hands.

“Hmm,” Siegfried muttered, his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he crossed his legs and leaned back, his hands resting on his knees.

Lucien knew that Siegfried wouldn’t be so easily convinced. After all, he was pretty sure they didn’t look natural as a couple at all. He was used to ladies clinging to him, but he was not used to Giselle. Maybe everyone else in the room would be fooled, but not the princess’s own cousin. Lucien took a glance at her, wondering if he should say something.

“You don’t believe me?”

However, Giselle was faster. She used her other arm to pull Lucien’s arm to her embrace.

“You know I would never do this with anyone I don’t like,” she said while squeezing Lucien’s arm in a hug. Lucien’s eyes widened and his eyes shifted to Siegfried, who was now giving him a death glare. His mind was going blank from everything that was happening.

“Your Highness, this is not—” he tried to whisper to Giselle. He wished she would at least warn him beforehand

“Quiet,” she whispered back, almost like she was snarling.