33 — True Feelings

Sl-Slow down, Mr. Fisalis.

Did you say just now that you’re breaking up with Miss Calendula?

And because of me? And yet, I’ve been left out of the conversation? Really, what is going on here! ...calm down. Calm down.

Okay, first I need to get ahold of the situation here. Calmly.

“Excuse me, could we pause for a second...?”

Everyone’s eyes were on me the instant I nervously voiced my suggestion. I really had no business interrupting Mr. Fisalis and Miss Calendula, who were still staring (glaring?) at one another, but there was something more important I needed to ask, and I had finally worked up the courage to do so.

“What’s the matter?” Mr. Fisalis asked. He broke his gaze first and refocused it on me, then Calendula did the same.

“I’m sorry to have blurted it out so suddenly, but there’s something I need to ask.”

“Need to ask?”

“Yes.”

I emerged from behind Dahlia, where I had been more or less hiding, and moved to stand where I could see Mr. Fisalis clearly. Rohtas remained between Calendula and I.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and asked my question.

“Just now you said that you are going to break up with Miss Calendula. If you do so, what will happen to me and our contract?”

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

Looks of surprise washed across Mr. Fisalis’ and Calendula’s faces simultaneously.

“I mean, isn’t my position as show bride contingent on you having a girlfriend? So, if she were gone, what would that make me? My position becomes superfluous, doesn’t it?”

I only went into greater detail because I wasn’t sure if I understood my role, so why did they seem so surprised? I cocked my head in confusion, trying to figure out if I had said something strange, but nothing came to mind.

“Oh, er, that’s...” Mr. Fisalis looked taken aback. It still seemed like he didn’t understand me, so I continued.

“This would put me in a very difficult situation.”

“Why is that?”

“Mr. Fisalis, if you break up with your girlfriend, you’ll be able to see anyone you want, right? So, to quote what you said earlier, the only reason you can’t marry Miss Calendula is because she isn’t of noble blood, but that if you found someone who did have the appropriate social status, that wouldn’t be a problem anymore. So if you break up with Miss Calendula, you’ll be able to marry someone you’re deeply and truly in love with.”

“I did say that, yes.” Mr. Fisalis tentatively nodded his head at my explanation, although it didn’t seem like it satisfied him.

“Which would mean that you’d have no need for a show bride like me. I’d be in the way, even.”

“Exactly! When I say that I’m going to break up with Callie, I don’t mean that I’m going to annul my marriage with you, Viola! In fact, I want to break up with her precisely because I think you’re better for me!”

“What!? ...Did I hear you right?”

Mr. Fisalis walked briskly over to me all flustered.

It was hard for me to have to look up at him once he was closer to me, and it wasn’t just because he was so much taller than me, either. But once I steadfastly met his dark brown eyes, I was finally able to reveal myself to him.

“It wasn’t my intention to tell you like this, so suddenly, but I’ve never thought of you that way.”

“...Oh, I see,” he said, clearly crestfallen at my confession.

His elegant brows drew together in a look of abject misery.

“Besides, didn’t you say when we met that you were deeply in love with your girlfriend?”

Seriously, who could have thought he’d shift his affection onto me!?

“Yes, I was—back then! But the more time I spent with you, and the more I talked with you, the more I became attracted to you, Viola!” he said at an even higher volume, blushing.

“Well if that were true, wouldn’t that have made you a cheater, then, splitting your time between the cottage and here?” I said, without holding back.

Rohtas and Dahlia are nodding like they agree with me.

Mr. Fisalis fell silent.

Sure is embarrassing, isn’t it? Can’t look me in the eye, huh?

“Plenty of wealthy men keep mistresses, so that in and of itself isn’t a crime, but I thought that your offer of a contract with me was a testament to how much you cared for Miss Calendula. I’m disappointed that I was mistaken.” He looked shocked, but I continued to glare daggers at Mr. Fisalis as I spoke.

I got everything out in one breath! It’s like a weight has been lifted off of me!

“Viola...” Mr. Fisalis turned his gaze back to me and opened his mouth like he wanted to object.

“Ah ha ha ha ha!” A joyful laugh, completely at odds with the tension in the air, suddenly echoed through the entryway.

Everyone jumped at the sudden noise and our eyes convened at the source of the laughter: Calendula, who until then had been watching the back-and-forth between Mr. Fisalis and I in silence.

She was holding her stomach and laughing loudly (very undignified!) with one hand still holding her fan in front of her lips. She looked about to explode with laughter.

“Ca-Callie!?” Mr. Fisalis was blinking in shock.

“What happened?” Dahlia asked.

“Who knows?” I replied, making eye contact with her.

Mimosa looks completely flabbergasted over there. Only Rohtas has been able to maintain his usual composed expression (no, wait...he’s entered Ruthless Mode).

Meanwhile, Calendula laughed so hard that tears streamed down her face, heedless of the delicate situation unfolding around her.

“Ahh, this is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen! Your own wife won’t return even one iota of your tenderest feelings, Cercis!”

Has she suddenly gone mad? I wondered. Calendula looked as though she could barely control her laughter at our mismatched romantic feelings. Good.

She brushed away her tears with finely-manicured, elegant fingertips.

“I can’t help myself. She’s just so uninterested in you! I’m sorry, Cercis, but you know I can’t stand losers. I’ve got to wonder, though, when did you turn into one?”

“Huh!?”

Miss Calendula’s sudden shift in attitude caught Mr. Fisalis off guard yet again. His beautiful face had gone stiff in shock at abruptly being called a loser.

He’s probably never been called anything close to that, so my guess is that it shook him pretty hard.

My condolences.

“When I first met you, you met with me solely because you wanted to. You didn’t care what anyone else thought. That’s what I found attractive about you. But now... I’d never be seen with a loser like you. You think you’re dumping me? What a laugh. I’m all too happy to give you away to your wife, you pathetic man!” Calendula said, looking my way.

I crossed my arms in front of me in an X shape, a symbol of my absolute rejection, and said, “Nooo, no, no, no!” I couldn’t believe she just dumped him like that, but I sure didn’t want him either!

“Ah ha ha ha! You even used to say that you didn’t need a wife at all! What will you do now, Cercis? You should start by working yourself to the bone to make sure your wife doesn’t ditch you, too! Then again, maybe an amusing, pretty, gutsy little wife like her is wasted on someone like you.”

Calendula was clutching her stomach, bent over in roars of laughter again. She wouldn’t stop.

“Callie!” Mr. Fisalis scowled at Calendula. He had suddenly come back to himself after standing motionless, apparently stupefied. He looked strikingly handsome even when he was angry. Calendula just scoffed at him.

“At any rate, any love or whatever that I had for you, Cercis, completely vanished the moment you showed off your weak side like this! Then again, I hadn’t planned to stay for as long as I did. Staying in one place isn’t my style, so I’ll do you a favor and get out of this stuffy house as fast as I can. Oh, and I’ll be taking the dresses and jewelry with me as compensation. He’s all yours now, Madam!” she said with the most refreshing smile I’d ever seen on her.

Uh, what? This has to be a joke. She just handed him off to me!?

“Um? Hold on a second! What will you...” Panicking, I tried to get her to wait, but she raised one hand as if to stop me.

“I’ll be more than fine making my living as a dancing girl, just like I did before. There’s no need for you to worry about me... we girls can get things done, right?” she smirked grimly.

Yeah, she seems like she’ll be fine.

Calendula turned, her dress billowing elegantly around her, and confidently disappeared out the door Mimosa was holding open.

Wow, talk about gone with the wind!

All that’s left is... Mr. Fisalis. He’s in a total daze.

I had torn him to shreds, and so had Calendula.

We’ve left him in quite a predicament, and it seems to have rattled him to the core.

What’s left of the shock is written all over his face, too. His complexion has gone from an embarrassed, angry red to white in horror.

We broke him.

...so what do I do now?