(BL) Rejected by daughter's second male lead-Chapter 51

However, before he could even resist, Gillen found himself in the position of a couple with their arms linked with Yuan. When Gillen’s body stiffened and his feet stopped, Yuan gave a slight tug on the arm he had entwined.

"I’m well aware of how happy you must be to have your arm linked with none other than me, but please stop acting like a person desperate to show it off like this. It won’t make me feel any genuine affection for you, Duke."

Whether Gillen was stammering or not, Yuan began to walk, pulling Gillen along. And so, the two of them strode awkwardly down the city streets, arm in arm.

"Now where are you planning to go?"

Yuan asked nonchalantly. He was making eye contact with each and every noble who was staring at them with a surprised expression, snickering at them one by one.

His presence was so intimidating that Gillen felt like he was the one who wanted to lower his gaze instead. The other nobles, however, made sure to stare at the Gillen and Yuan ’couple’ and cry out things like, "Gasp!", "Goodness!", "Oh my!", and "Heavens!"

"I... was thinking, ahem, of suggesting we go to an open-air café."

Gillen said, trying to subtly pull his arm away. However, that attempt failed as Yuan pressed his body closer.

"Have you never linked arms with someone before? Why are you making this so uncomfortable? Please keep your arm at a proper right angle."

"Umm, right..."

Gillen bent his arm to a 90-degree angle. Yuan comfortably hooked his own arm through it.

Did I ever ask you to link arms? Why are you making so many demands when you’re just interpreting things however you want and bossing me around like always? I’m not interested in you! I don’t feel any goodwill, let alone affection, so please just stop your bullshit! You little brat who’s still wet behind the ears!

If he could, Gillen would have shouted this. But of course, it was impossible. Even when he was trying to interfere with Cecilia’s relationship, he had to move cautiously for fear this crazy bastard would flip out, and now, there were even more constraints on him, like his charity work, his reputation, and the magical contract.

And so, what Gillen ultimately said after swallowing his pride was this:

"...I’m good at it when I try."

It was a compromise that could not be seen without tears.

In reality, Gillen was skilled at escorting someone. That was because ever since Cecilia had grown up, Gillen had always personally taken his daughter to parties.

After Cecilia got a respectable male friend named Hexion—who she was now in a ’some’ relationship with—Gillen would swallow his tears and attend parties with other noblewomen as his partners. His partners were always women from pro-imperial or vassal families. This was because the parties of the nobility were not just places to play and eat, but political venues—of course, that was only Gillen’s thought, as all the noblewomen who had been Gillen’s partners came to seriously dream of marrying him.

"Your arm is quite thick."

Gillen said bitterly. Until now, he only had memories of escorting women. In a world where there were many same-sex couples, Gillen had only ever brought female partners regardless of their secondary gender, and one newspaper had even published an article claiming Gillen’s sexual orientation must be heterosexual. It was a truly absurd article, but at the time, Gillen had been rather moved by the fact that he was an influencer in this world.

As he was reliving the memories of that time and ruminating on his past glory (?), a familiar scoff came from beside him.

"So are you trembling?"

"What?"

"It feels less like a person’s arm and more like a tree. You’ve stiffened up like a wooden statue, literally. Are you that nervous?"

"...Wh-what?"

"Hmph."

What’s with that obnoxious laugh again? Gillen scowled and glared at Yuan.

"You’ll wear it out."

Yuan said, looking straight ahead. Oh for crying out loud, this bastard really... Gillen sincerely wanted to punch Yuan square in the head. If possible, in the stomach or chest too... and one in the groin... and the arm...

Imagining himself repeatedly hitting Yuan in his mind made him feel a little better. But then, Yuan suddenly yanked his arm away.

"On second thought, it’s a bit ridiculous."

Yuan said in a voice that was incomparably colder than before.

"My arm is thick, you say? Are you implying that all the arms you’ve escorted until now were slender? Are you suggesting your history of womanizing to me right now? That this is the first time you’ve escorted a man with such a thick arm?"

"Whaaaat...?"

Was it that because his intelligence was high, his mind itself worked several times faster and more randomly than others? How on earth did he arrive at that conclusion, and why was he berating him for it again? Gillen had no way of knowing.

"Well, I suppose you’ve been to many parties with that Viscount Iple, or Gae-ple, or whatever her name is?"

"It’s Viscount Iple."

"Is getting that woman’s name wrong important right now? Stop avoiding the main point." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"No, it’s not that I’m avoiding the main point... What even is the main point right now? I’m asking because I don’t understand—"

"Of course, as a common man, you wouldn’t understand. But what can you do? I am a genius of geniuses, the likes of which may appear once in a thousand years, and my insight, analytical skills, and deductive reasoning are exceptionally outstanding. It means I’ve already read the hidden meaning and the past history from your one short sentence."

Of course... it was true that Gillen had only ever escorted women until now. There was no need to escort Alpha or Beta men, and he had avoided Omega men as much as possible. He was still clumsy at dealing with men who could get pregnant and give birth.

But Gillen swore he had not been trying to make a point that he had only ever escorted women. He didn’t even think that would be something to make a point of, so he also couldn’t understand why Yuan’s demeanor had changed so drastically and why he was firing words like bullets.

Still, let’s calm the angry person in front of me first. As a man of common sense, Gillen had that thought and opened his mouth.

"Calm down, Yuan. It’s true I’ve only ever escorted women."

"Ha!"

"But most of the time, I went to parties with Cecil, or we attended public functions after agreeing it was politically necessary for us to help each other. A history of womanizing... it’s absolutely not like that."

"...Cecil?"

Yuan’s expression softened noticeably. He tilted his head and pursed his lips slightly. Dangling, the red earring at the tip of his ear fell distinctly against his cheek.

For a moment, Gillen thought the gleam that brushed past Yuan’s ruby earring looked like Yuan’s tear. It was out of the blue, but perhaps because he had seen Yuan become mentally unstable a few times before, Yuan’s mood swings didn’t feel as strange as they did just a moment ago.

"Yuan, are you angry?"

Gillen asked in a gentle voice. It was a tone he mainly used when dealing with a young Cecilia.

"Hmph, angry? Why would I be angry? I just didn’t like your pathetic little tricks. You’ll have to build up more skill if you want to provoke my jealousy. I see right through everything, you know."

"Oh, dear. I had no intention of provoking your jealousy. I see you felt that way and it upset you."

Gillen readily nodded his head.

I have no idea why this kid is putting on a one-man show... but he’s still young... I have to be patient.

He reminded himself again that Yuan was around Cecil’s age and patiently continued.

"It’s not like that at all, Yuan. I’m sorry for speaking carelessly about the thickness of your arm. I said it without thinking, but I’ll be careful in the future. It may be a contract, but this is my first time going on a date with a man, so I was inconsiderate. Will you forgive me?"

Gillen bent his arm at a right angle again, making space for Yuan to link his arm. Yuan glared at Gillen’s arm irritably before thrusting his own arm through with a thud.

"I’ll forgive you just this once."

His tone was irritatingly prim. But Gillen bared his teeth and smiled.

"Ha! Ha! Thank you. I didn’t know I’d be forgiven so quickly. Now that I see it, you’re not just smart, but merciful too, aren’t you?"

"You’re only just realizing that now? I was originally famous in the Magic Tower for being a pushover. Even when other mages made mistakes, I never killed them or dismembered their bodies. I would merely burn the research they’d spent their entire lives on or seize all their assets. Even the old geezer, the Master of the Magic Tower, always used to tell me, ’Your only weakness is that you’re too soft.’"

"Uh... is, is that so. Um..."

Just what was the level of integrity among mages? Gillen swallowed the words he wanted to say and continued to smile. Still, seeing him calm down so quickly when he was intentionally trying to soothe him was kind of cute too.

"Well then, shall we go to the open-air café now?"

It’s so hard just to get to a café... Gillen exclaimed brightly and started walking with Yuan.

And the passersby who had been secretly eavesdropping on their conversation while pretending not to, belatedly got busy.

"That just now... was a lovers’ quarrel, wasn’t it?"

"It was definitely a lovers’ quarrel!"

"Good heavens... I thought the two were mortal enemies."

"Didn’t you see their press conference a while ago? They said their relationship wasn’t that bad."

"No, that doesn’t look like a bad relationship, it looks like they’re dating, doesn’t it?"

"His Grace Duke Blake and Marquis Hampton are dating?"

"What? What did you just say? Did you say Duke Blake is in a romantic relationship with Marquis Hampton?"

"They’re having a secret romantic rendezvous. They say that pheromone shower back then was something lovers do!"

"The two of them released their pheromones openly in the plaza?"

"No, for goodness’ sake! Not pheromones! They say they fought in Moorebang Plaza, then made up and shared a passionate kiss."

The two’s date and fight spread far and wide through the mouths of witnesses. In the process, it was naturally distorted and exaggerated once again. In any case, Gillen had succeeded in producing the rumor he had intended to try at the open-air café right there in the plaza, so one could say it turned out well.