Chapter 70
At those words, the three men all looked at Lucy at the same time.
Lucy panicked.
Is he crazy?
Lucy asked Bartholomew that question with her eyes, but he just smiled calmly.
Feeling she had to explain, Lucy quickly spoke.
“People will misunderstand if they hear that.”
“Is it wrong?”
Bartholomew was talking about the time he had taken off his upper clothes to erase the curse mark.
Lucy thought hard about how to explain, then blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“I-it was just a coincidence!”
She hurriedly added, looking at the three men.
“I saw Duke Bartholomew in the special care room when he was being treated at the temple.”
“What does that have to do with being naked?” Patrick asked.
“There’s a bath in the special care room. I happened to see Duke Bartholomew from behind while he was soaking in it.”
The more Lucy explained, the stranger it sounded.
It really sounded like she had been peeking at him.
Which, honestly, she had.
Lucy’s face slowly turned red.
Seeing this, Bartholomew finally stepped in to help her.
“That’s right. It was a coincidence. I was joking, but it seems I embarrassed the Princess quite a bit. I apologize.”
Lucy thought his apology was shameless.
Because of that, she didn’t notice the looks the three men gave Bartholomew.
“It seems you’ve changed quite a bit, Duke Bartholomew,” Patrick said with a smile.
“You seem more relaxed than before.”
What Patrick really wanted to say was that Bartholomew seemed like a completely different person.
The Bartholomew he knew had been like Lucy’s shadow.
He was always by her side, but gloomy.
He didn’t seem interested in high society or in getting close to people.
But now?
He moved confidently through the banquet hall as its main figure.
He showed no hesitation despite suddenly becoming the head of the family.
He even joked on purpose, showing off how close he was to Lucy.
There was one thing that had not changed.
His eyes were always on Lucy.
As if Lucy was the only person in his world.
Seen that way, maybe he hadn’t changed at all.
What had changed was probably the way he tried to gain Lucy’s attention.
Patrick realized this.
Lucy treated Bartholomew as a friend, but Bartholomew’s feelings were far heavier than hers.
Patrick felt uneasy.
But he didn’t know why.
And it wasn’t just him.
Logan and Cecil felt the same way as they watched the changed Bartholomew.
Only Lucy treated Bartholomew the same as before.
After returning from the banquet, Lucy was exhausted and went to bed early.
When she woke up in the morning and thought about the day before, she felt speechless.
Of all people, Bartholomew had drained her energy the most.
At first, Lucy had viewed it positively that Bartholomew spoke to the three men first.
As the head of the family, he would need to deal with many people, and his old antisocial attitude would have been a problem.
So I thought he had finally become interested in making connections.
But he didn’t seem interested in getting close to them at all.
He had stuck close to Lucy the entire time.
And then he said we’d seen each other naked.
He joked with words that anyone could misunderstand.
Lucy had never known Bartholomew had such a side to him.
After the Duke of Faraday’s death, Bartholomew had changed in many ways.
And Lucy was the one flustered, unable to keep up with those changes.
It used to be me teasing him, and him getting flustered.
Right. I’ve lost my original mindset.
Thinking that, Lucy decided she would no longer let Bartholomew fluster her.
Still, what other secrets does Bartholomew have?
She had already found out about the dark magic curse.
That alone was shocking.
What other hidden secrets could there be?
She was wondering how to find out, maybe by visiting the imperial library again, when a servant came to see her.
The servant told her that Bartholomew had come to visit.
Lucy went outside the annex.
Bartholomew was playing with Cerberus.
As he petted Cerberus, his face looked very peaceful.
Seeing that expression, Lucy’s irritation toward him melted away.
If she could keep seeing that face, she thought she wouldn’t mind falling for his jokes again and again.
…Is this because my “flattery stat” is maxed out at 100?
Or is this really my own will?
Lucy couldn’t tell which one was causing these thoughts.
“Bartholomew.”
“Lucy.”
At her call, Bartholomew stood up from his crouched position.
“Aren’t you busy today?”
At Lucy’s question, Bartholomew nodded.
He was always busy, but he didn’t want to show it in front of Lucy.
If he did, she would surely start worrying and spend less time with him.
“That’s good. If you have time, let’s move the curse again.”
At those words, Bartholomew smiled faintly.
“We’re people who’ve seen each other naked, right?”
Lucy shot him a glare and walked ahead.
Bartholomew picked up Cerberus and followed her.
Lucy was about to take him to the bedroom, but she hesitated.
She hadn’t thought much about it before, but after his “naked” comment, it started to bother her.
The idea of the two of them spending time together in a bedroom.
And now, Bartholomew was the head of the Faraday family.
Spending time with him would attract far more attention than before.
If rumors spread that they were together in a bedroom, Lucy felt dizzy just imagining it.
“Let’s go to the study.”
She chose a place that felt safer.
In the study, the two sat side by side on a sofa.
With his back to Lucy, Bartholomew took off his shirt as if it were routine, without saying a word.
Lucy handed him the ring.
“Can’t you just keep wearing this ring?”
He asked as if it was troublesome to put it on again every time.
“If that’s easier for you, do that.”
“What about you?”
Lucy’s eyes widened.
Bartholomew turned and asked her,
“You’re not going to wear it?”
Lucy looked down at her hand.
The ring was loose even on her thumb.
“I might lose it if I wear it all the time.”
“Then we can just make it smaller.”
Lucy hesitated.
If someone saw them wearing matching rings, what would they think?
Would strange rumors spread?
Lucy shook her head.
“What if changing the size affects the ring’s effect?”
“I don’t think reducing the size a little would cause that.”
“Anyway.”
Lucy made it clear she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
Bartholomew turned back around.
Lucy glanced at his broad shoulders, then quickly looked away.
She almost caught herself paying attention to his body again.
She managed to control her eyes, but not her mouth.
“Why is your body so well built?”
Lucy squeezed her eyes shut.
Because of her “flattery stat,” she couldn’t tell what she should or shouldn’t say.
“I exercise regularly,” Bartholomew replied calmly.
“I thought it might hurt less if my body were stronger.”
Lucy had nothing to say.
Instead, she carefully placed her hand on his back.
The ring began to glow, and the process of transferring the curse started.
Lucy tightly closed her eyes to avoid stray thoughts—more precisely, to stop her flattery stat from acting up.
She transferred the curse from his body to her own, but once again, there was no pain.
“Lucy.”
Bartholomew, who had been silent, quietly called her name.
Lucy opened her eyes and looked at his back.
Was something wrong?
“I want you to do this only for me, from now on.”
“What do you mean?”
“Even if someone else is cursed, I want you to do something like this only for me.”
