(BL) Rejected by daughter's second male lead-Chapter 23

"What did you just say?"

Yuan, who had been mercilessly pruning the branches in the garden with magic, stopped dead in his tracks and asked. Yuan’s robot attendant Number 1 repeated what he had said without a hint of displeasure and held the silver tray up higher.

"His Excellency Duke Blake’s attendant, Viscount Navard Zen, has brought a letter and a gift from His Excellency Duke Blake."

On the silver tray lay a letter in a gold-leafed envelope and a small box. Yuan stopped his pruning and immediately picked up the letter first.

"Hah! I called him disgusting, but does this mister have no pride?"

Yuan said as if he were angry. However, his face had softened a little compared to when he had been frighteningly trimming every tree in the garden.

After reading the letter, which was filled with flowery language and the purpose written in a roundabout way in an elegant cursive script, Yuan threw the paper away. Then he hastily tore open the wrapping of the gift box.

"This is driving me crazy."

Yuan let out a hollow laugh. Inside the small box was an emerald brooch. The emerald, the size of a fingernail, was decorated with silver. The design was simple and the size was small, making it a perfectly unremarkable brooch, but....

"Why don’t you just publish a special edition for the entire empire? That you’re dying of love for me."

Naturally, Yuan interpreted it differently.

A jeweled brooch. How blatant. Gillen even knew the fact that Yuan had prepared a jeweled brooch to propose to Cecilia!

"The stone is small and ugly. The color is crude, too. I probably don’t have any clothes that would suit such a worthless brooch."

Yuan grumbled as he held the brooch up to the sunlight. The robot attendant Number 1, who was standing docilely in front of him, asked.

"Shall I take it to the warehouse?"

"What?"

Yuan asked sharply.

"I asked if you would like me to take it to the warehouse if you do not like it, Marquis-nim."

Attendant Number 1, truly thinking that Yuan had not heard him, explained his words once more. Yuan furrowed his brow.

"Never mind. I said it wasn’t great, not that it was so terrible I’d throw it away. You may go."

Attendant Number 1 gave a courteous bow, then turned and walked away with a steady pace.

Yuan pretended to be occupied with something else until the attendant had completely disappeared from the garden, then he examined the brooch again.

"His taste is terrible. Don’t people usually match them to the eye color? Of course, there is no jewel that I can’t pull off, but this is really too much. Still, the quality isn’t bad. Of course it would be. It’s a gift he’s giving to the man he likes under the pretext of a visit, so he must have chosen it with great care."

While Yuan was mumbling to himself, a parrot flew in from somewhere, picked up the letter that had fallen on the ground, and landed on Yuan’s shoulder. Plop, the letter fell from its beak and landed in Yuan’s lap.

"Marquis-nim! A letter has arrived! A letter!"

"I know. I read it and threw it away."

"Threw it away? Then can I eat this?"

The parrot asked, innocently rolling its eyes. Yuan hesitated for a moment before picking up the letter.

"No."

"Oh, dear!"

The parrot circled once above Yuan’s head and then landed on the crown of his head.

"The garden is pretty!"

The parrot squawked. As the bird said, the garden of the lord’s castle had become unrecognizably wonderful. The trees, pruned by magic, had taken on various shapes, the bushes were trimmed into round, fluffy forms, and all the debris from the grooming had disappeared without a trace. It was a skill and efficiency that would make the Blake household, which employed more than ten gardeners, shed tears of blood if they saw it.

"Of course it is. Who do you think took care of it?"

Yuan said haughtily and glanced around the garden. It was just a little something he did to relieve stress, but since Duke Blake was coming tomorrow, he thought he might as well put in a little more effort.

"I might as well redecorate the inside of the castle while I’m at it."

Yuan waved his hand toward the garden as if conducting an orchestra, then turned around. By the time he entered the castle, flowers of all colors were already blooming vibrantly in the garden.

A Pheromone Shower

A massive and imposing carriage bearing the Blake family crest arrived in front of Yuan’s mansion. Soon, the door opened and its master, as large and imposing as the carriage, revealed himself.

"Welcome, Your Excellency Duke Blake."

Robot attendants Number 3, 4, and 5 greeted Gillen with a perfectly synchronized bow. Behind them stood ten servants. Gillen smiled brightly and returned their greeting.

"It’s a pleasure."

He knew from Yuan that there were robot attendants, but he did not know which of them were robots. Perhaps they were all robots. But Gillen did not let on that he knew and followed the attendant’s guidance into the castle.

"This is truly... impressive."

Stepping into the castle, Gillen let out an involuntary gasp of admiration. The interior of the castle was as splendid and beautiful as to be reminiscent of the imperial palace. The walls were engraved with intricate relief decorations, and on top of the golden pillars were painted sacred ceiling murals that one would expect to see in a temple.

’What is this, the Palace of Versailles?’

Gillen had been to countless places, including the imperial palace, various royal palaces, and the mansions of high-ranking nobles and those who prided themselves on their extravagance, but he had never seen a castle as grand as this.

’Was it like this when I came last time? It seems to have become much more magnificent. It’s even better than the imperial palace.’

That was a little unsettling. Originally, in this world, the best house and position should rightfully belong to the male lead. It could be said to be an essential virtue of the male lead to get together with the female lead. But for Yuan’s castle to be this good... could it be a foreshadowing that the male lead’s position might be shaken? And this was a second house!

As Gillen was looking at a sculpture of Yuan’s face placed nearby with an anxious expression, he heard the clacking sound of high heels. It was the sound of Yuan’s footsteps as he walked across the marble floor like a model.

"You really came. I didn’t make much preparation, just in case."

Although a great number of servants had come out in advance to welcome Gillen, Yuan continued to speak haughtily.

"Welcome to the Capelli lord’s castle. I shall forgive the rudeness of sending word of your visit just a day before. Since my magnanimity is so vast."

Originally, those were the words Gillen should have said. Thank you for accepting my request to visit your precious place so suddenly, please forgive my rudeness, you are so magnanimous.... But since Yuan had already said it all, Gillen could only nod his head with a sheepish expression.

"...Thank you."

"The gift, well, I received it. You must have put a lot of thought into choosing it. Not that it met my standards, though."

"Ah...."

That was just something he had instructed Navard to enclose with any gift. What did Navard say he sent? A brooch or cuff links. Gillen’s eyes busily scanned Yuan’s body. But there was no way he could tell just by looking. Yuan was already laden with jewels, from earrings to necklaces, brooches, rings, cuff links, bracelets, and so on.

’Is he a crow? Why are there so many jewels? Is the one Navard sent even among them?’

Just then, Yuan subtly turned his body and showed his left chest. The small emerald brooch pinned to his jacket sparkled in the light of the chandelier.

’So it’s that one....’

It was a relief that Yuan had a soul as clear and pure as a child’s—in a way, it could be described as pure. He was incapable of hiding anything and had a habit of wanting to be praised by others, so it was easy to get information out of him. Gillen pressed his lips together once to hold back his laughter and then said.

"Thank you for wearing the brooch I gifted you. It looks good on you, as expected."

While saying that, Gillen added words that would make Yuan overjoyed.

"Although, of course, its value seems to have faded in the face of your beauty."

Yuan blinked his eyes rapidly. The tips of his ears instantly turned red. The corners of his mouth twitched noticeably. Gillen, laughing inwardly, tilted his head as if he were being serious.

"Now then, could you guide me to the drawing room? We have things to talk about, and it would be better for both of us to finish the sponsorship procedure quickly."

"Hmph, let’s do that."

Yuan turned sharply. Gillen quickly noticed that his gait was lighter and more rhythmic than usual. Even from behind, he looked extremely pleased.

’Cute fellow.’

Was it because he was young, or was his personality naturally transparent? Yuan sometimes showed a boyish side. And Gillen did not find it unpleasant. It reminded him of when Cecilia was going through puberty.

Thinking about it that way, Yuan did not seem like such a villain. Except for the point that he was firmly convinced that Gillen was in unrequited love with him, he was actually quite likable.

The drawing room that Yuan entered first was decorated in a different atmosphere from the hall. The drawing room was also splendid, but the aesthetic sense was so great that it did not feel excessive or tacky, and it only evoked admiration.

"It seems even more wonderful than when I came before, or is it my imagination? Was this place always this magnificent?"

Gillen asked as he sat on the sofa. But Yuan just chuckled and shook his head.

"When you first came, I was also in a state of confusion and couldn’t decorate the castle. It was a terrible, nasty, old-fashioned castle that wasn’t even fit for human habitation, wasn’t it? It felt like ghosts would appear. I decorated it all with my money and magic. Look at this detail and luxury. Do you think this would be possible for a human being to achieve in such a short time?"

How could he be so annoying even when giving a single answer? If the other person had not been Gillen, it was a way of speaking that would have earned him curses wherever he went.

"Hahaha, yes, yes. As expected of a genius wizard."

Gillen praised him perfunctorily and placed the document he had brought on the table first.

"I’ve brought the new document. And before that, I want to apologize to you for what happened yesterday."