32 — What He Had to Say

“Go on, Callie.”

Mr. Fisalis is actually asking Calendula to leave again! He wasn’t kidding this time either when he said he’d be home early.

“Cercis!” Calendula whipped around to face him.

“I’ve told you before, haven’t I? That I’ve come to my senses.” His expression was more serious than I had ever seen.

This isn’t his default smile.

But he’s really carrying himself differently from usual, too. He’s normally a lot more stiff and formal, isn’t he?

While I was busy convincing myself this wasn’t important, his beautiful, dark brown eyes bore into Calendula.

“You’ve been very good to me, Callie... but we can’t go on like this,” he started to say. I was beginning to think that they ought to be having this personal conversation somewhere more private. Mr. Fisalis and Calendula seemed to have forgotten we were all still there: Rohtas, Dahlia, Mimosa, and I.

“Can we just slip away?” I whispered to Dahlia.

“Exactly what I was thinking,” she whispered back, when suddenly Mr. Fisalis addressed us.

“I want you all to hear this too.”

...curse you, Mr. Fisalis. Even his hearing is as sharp as a dog’s.

We were barely making a sound and he still heard us.

There was nothing I could do once he had told us to stay, so I reluctantly nodded in agreement.

This is looking more and more like a lover’s spat. I feel like I lost a bet or something, having to watch all this!

“All this time I’ve just been running from my responsibilities as a duke. I had to look out for my family all by myself... I was so lonely, but I couldn’t let anyone know. I was trapped.”

Mr. Fisalis started to talk, never taking his eyes off of Calendula.

I feel like Dahlia told me all this before.

She and the others were right on the mark, then!

“Everyone only saw me as the heir to the duchy. No one would see me for who I really was... but you would joke around and laugh at me.”

“Hmph, I did do that sometimes, didn’t I?”

Mr. Fisalis’ smile looks so lonely, but Miss Calendula is so indifferent! I wonder if her words have hurt him.

“I could relax and enjoy myself when I was with you. I could let go of my responsibilities as heir and as a duke.”

Rohtas and Dahlia each made a fist as soon as he said so.

You guys really don’t like that, do you? I totally understand why!

“I wouldn’t even go near the main house. I suppose it must have been all those emotions I’d repressed all coming to the surface at once,” he said, lowering his eyes and biting his lip.

Miss Calendula was facing me now, but I couldn’t see her face as she silently grasped her fan, listening to Mr. Fisalis.

“I was shocked when I stepped into the manor after all that time; it had changed so much. The servants were lively, the place was overflowing with flowers and light, and more than anything... it looked happy,” he said, looking toward me.

Our eyes met on what felt like instinct. I didn’t understand why.

“The house changed when Viola came.”

Hm? Me? I saw his bright eyes relax.

Calendula followed his line of sight and looked at me, too.

“Until now, the house felt cold to me; now, it’s full of warmth.”

That’s because I took it upon myself to do the cleaning, washing, and decorating!

“I felt genuine curiosity about Viola, who had so easily taken complete responsibility for the title of ‘lady of the house’ that I had forced onto her.”

Wow! That’s what caught his eye?

“And we began to talk to each other a bit, so I started wanting to know more about her. The more time we spent together, the more I felt that supporting the family house was the most natural thing in the world for her.”

Ah ha, I leveled up from “interesting” to “impressive!” But you give me too much credit, thinking that I’m totally supporting this household.

I simply preferred living as a servant, rather than a lady, so I squirmed uneasily at the praise.

“No matter how much time I spent with her, she was modest and never asked for a thing, and spared no effort to improve herself.”

Does he mean my dance lessons? Or my spa treatments with Mimosa? I couldn’t exactly refuse to do any of them, but... I wouldn’t actually say that here.

Doesn’t matter now, anyway.

“Oh, so in other words, all I ever did was pester you?” Calendula shot back with narrowed eyes, clearly irritated.

“To be fair, I was the one who could never tell you ‘no’ when you did. But still, Callie, I can’t help but feel that you wasted the past six years.”

“I only ever said that I had wants. Even a simpleton wouldn’t refuse a gift.”

“Viola has never even once asked for anything. She’s the kind of person who, when I tried to buy her things, told me she already had more than enough, and turned them down.”

“So what?” Calendula coldly said back.

“When I took her to an evening party she had no interest in going to, she still socialized, even though it was hard for her. She far exceeded my expectations for a duchess. And what did you do, Callie? You would leave me on the dance floor when you didn’t feel like dancing, and rudely reject others’ invitations to dance.”

“I don’t see why you even expected me to. I’m no duchess, for one, and no one really likes having to flatter strangers at parties!” Calendula chuckled haughtily.

“You’re right, I used to think that way, too—but when I saw Viola, I realized I was wrong. There’s no need to force yourself to do something, but you can at least use the bare minimum of politeness. Viola always took those around her into consideration, despite disliking high society. I’m certain of it.”

I have to agree with you there, Mr. Fisalis!

No sooner had his words entered her ears, though, than Calendula said, “But those people have nothing to do with me,” with a bold smirk.

“You’re nothing like them, that’s for sure—but even so, I can’t escape my ties to them. And that’s why I need to start making better decisions, too,” Mr. Fisalis said to her, his eyes narrowing sadly.

“Oh.” Calendula’s smile stiffened when his expression shifted, and she glared back at him. She was gripping her fan so hard it appeared to be on the verge of breaking.

“From now on, I want to protect Viola. She’s admirable and hard-working, and doesn’t resent me, even though I was the one who forced her into that fiendish contract and then abandoned her. Seeing her made me realize that I couldn’t just keep running away from my family and my title, and all the responsibilities that come with them... so, Calendula, I’m breaking up with you.”

He what!? He’s breaking up with her!?

Give—Give me a minute while I try not to panic!