Chapter 34
Chapter 34
Episode 34
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After folding the letter and putting it in an envelope, Chloe checked the time. The pocket watch was pointing to midnight. As she wrote in her letter to her father, it was true that every night she had to meet the Duke alone. Although it was a secret that Chloe didn’t like that time very much.
“The master is waiting in the game room.”
“The guests?”
“The last guest just returned.”
He must have been the guest Gray had just sent off. Damien never missed time to meet her no matter how late the business was. Because of that, Chloe couldn’t get ready to sleep until he fell asleep.
“Duke.”
Chloe announced her presence, but Damien grabbed the cue without looking at her. Wearing a black shirt and pants, he felt colder and more distant today, perhaps because of his dark clothes.
‘… Will there ever come a day when the distance with the duke will be reduced?’
Tak! Chloe woke up to the sound of a white ball made of ivory hitting a red ball. The red ball quickly crossed the spacious table and disappeared into the hole.
“If the game isn’t over, can I wait a little bit and come back later?”
“It’s not fun to be alone.”
Again, with a light sound, the blue ball quickly rolled over the edge of the table where she was. Damien walked over to her, taking out the chalk and rubbing the cue.. As he stretched out his arms toward Chloe, she was startled and unknowingly backed away. A little while ago, her heart was beating rapidly, startled by the aftermath of him approaching as if he could touch her face.
“Do you know the rules of snooker?”
(Author’s note: snooker-A kind of billiards)
(T/N: snooker- a game played with cues on a billiard table in which the players use a cue ball (white) to pocket the other balls (fifteen red and six coloured) in a set order.
Billiards- a game for two people, played on a billiard table, in which three balls are struck with cues into pockets round the edge of the table, with points scored by cannons, pocketing an object ball, or cannoning the cue ball into a pocket.)
Damien asked, returning the blue ball that had fallen into the hole to its place. Chloe pretended to be calm and shook her head. Because she wanted to give the impression that she knew nothing and she didn’t want to bite the tail of the conversation.. No one came after her husband’s questioning, and Chloe wanted to end her unwelcome meeting with him and return to her room.
“No.”
“Right.”
Damien lowered his chin slightly and took a stance.
“What I just hit is a 10-point play.”
Lie!
Chloe, who opened her eyes wide, almost made a sound out of her mouth. Damien’s eyes gleamed sharply as he carefully aimed the ball, and the white ball moved quickly along the wall of the table.
Tak! Tak! The three balls that collided in a row completely disappeared into different holes. Damien spoke again with a face without any remorse.
“This is 30 points. Isn’t it perfect?”
If Viscount Verdier, the father of Chloe, a master snooker player, had seen it, it was likely that his neck would hurt from his rising anger. Chloe frowned at the duke who didn’t blink an eye as he played his ball one ball at a time, completely ignoring the rule of putting them in order.
Is it okay for a person who attends the parliament to discuss the country’s affairs to be so carelessly deceitful?
“The ball is going well today. I will score over 100 points soon.”
Chloe’s lips, which had been crumpled in dissatisfaction, finally opened.
“Duke. You kept on fouling. It is a mistake.”
“You said you didn’t know the rules.”
Damien again aimed the ball again, scored it into the hole on her side, and exhaled.
“Are you lying?”
Red. Blue. Black. Pink. The colorful balls went straight into the hole in the corner of the table where Chloe stood.
Rumble rumble. Every time she heard the sound of the ball falling, Chloe’s mouth was dry for no reason.
“Did you have a good night with the young stable manager?”
Rumble.
After putting the last black ball in, Damien got up. As he rearranged the balls on the spacious table, Chloe realized that this room was not far from hers. The windows were all in one direction, meaning the Duke might have heard Gray and her brief conversation.
“Did you turn to exercising your right to remain silent on difficult questions?”
“… Why did you tell me to come? If you want to check the relationship between me and the servants, I’d say it’s okay. Not just Gray, but other servants as well.”
“Take the cue.”
Chloe looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but Damien gestured to the wall,as if he had no intention of overturning his orders. Today, the Duke seemed intent on tormenting her with this.
“Take the cue, Chloe.”
Chloe took a deep breath and looked at him.
“Would you like to play a game with me?”
“Yes.”
“What are the conditions?”
Damien looked at her and smiled at her.
“Conditions?”
Chloe uttered the words the Viscount Verdier had always emphasized.
“I don’t play games without a bet.”
A low laughter echoed through the spacious room.
“Ah, Chloe. You always surprise me.”
Chloe bit her lip as she looked at the duke smiling happily like a child.
“Am I funny?”
“Very.”
“What is funny?”
Chloe defiantly raised her head.
“With an innocent face who has never even bought a ticket at a horse race, she puts bets on billiards like a ravenous man.”
Damien came up to her and met her eyes.
“What is the bet? Do you want anything from me?”
His eyes filled with interesting light. It wasn’t a good situation for Chloe at all, but she thought she had to say something.
“Please stop calling me out in the middle of the night.”
“What if I have a business?”
“You can do it when the sun is up. This is not the time when all the servants are asleep.”
“What if I win?”
Chloe paused for a moment. Damien laughed softly again.
“Have you never thought about the possibility of losing? This is going to be crazy.”
Chloe looked at him seriously, thinking whether the Duke would laugh at her or not.
“What does the Duke want if he wins?”
“What I want is something you have.”
Chloe blinked a couple of times and gave him a slightly puzzled look.
“As the Duke knows, I don’t have much.”
“Does that mean that there was nothing but dust in the twelve luggage bags that occupied the entire space of the freight train?”
Chloe grabbed the cue stick instead of the cane and glared at the Duke.
“Of course not. I just thought I didn’t have what the Duke needed.”
“What did you hear?”
Her precious luggage bag was full of essential items. In addition to the vials that saved Eliza’s grandchild Charlie just a few days ago, the diary pack she had been keeping since she was a child, the colorful embroidery threads and fragrant stationery that her mother bought for the first time, quills, incense candles her father bought at Swan for her, the doll that she played with since she was a child. There was not a single thing that Damien wanted to take away.
“I’ll tell you after the game is over.”
“As you like.”
Damien nodded his head and gave her her turn. Chloe thought she would never look after him. In the name of Verdier.
***
The white ball that rolled smoothly hit the target colored ball accurately. After scoring the goal, Damien watched Chloe carefully as she took the next angle. He noticed that her small lips were partly open as she concentrated throughout the game.
“Foul.”
“That can’t be right!”
At Damien’s whisper, Chloe’s eyes widened. She was moving so carefully to avoid making a mistake, but it was a foul. Does the duke have eyes on the back of his head?
“I was wrong.”
Damien calmly shrugged his shoulders and hid a smile. He knew for a long time that this woman always manages to surprise him, but this was, frankly, more than he expected. Chloe was prudent, and once she had made a decision, she had the determination to hit him daringly.
He wiped his dry mouth with his tongue. As Chloe walked along the wide table limping, staring at the ball, he seemed to be out of sight. Eventually, only the last two balls were left.
Damien was two points ahead of the score, but Chloe had the last chance to attack. If she scores two balls in a row, the game goes back to her victory. If that happens, he won’t be able to see her any more at night. If he doesn’t agree to the terms of the bet, she won’t want to play any games with him anymore.
“Chloe.”
Damien suddenly called her name. Chloe said yes, without looking at him.
“Did you know that the basis of this game is to win by leading your opponent’s mistakes?”
“Yes.”
Chloe listened to him with one ear and blew it out through the other, busily calculating the angle in her head. After sweating hard on her hands and dusting them with rosin, she finally settled down. As a child, when her legs were weaker than they are now, Viscount Verdier taught Chloe, who was depressed because she couldn’t go outside, to play billiards.
“The play in this small table is unbelievably diverse, Chloe. So is our life. None of that was decided from the beginning. So it’s fun.”
“My… life?”
“Your life too. My dear daughter.”
Chloe couldn’t go out, but has learned all the hobbies that can be done indoors. Neither her father, who taught her to play billiards while discussing her unpredictable future, would have imagined that she would become the Duchess and have to deal with her ill-tempered husband. It was when she gave her last aim, as she smiled faintly as she recalled her father.
****