# 2
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It really gave the boy an adult feeling.
It was hard to believe that he was thirteen years old, the same age as Quentin.
His soft black hair was neatly combed, and his face with the slightly raised corners of his mouth was elegant.
His arms and legs were also long, so the Duke's servants who followed him said that he would soon surpass his father, Duke Clifford.
But it was only the boy's eyes that Ariana admired.
“Beautiful...”
The sea was the turquoise color that appears in children's books.
Before I knew it, my ankles were locked, and it felt like my entire body was going to be locked out.
It was such an intense color that I wanted to stay in that moment forever.
But the boy tilted his head and smiled. Looking at the way only one corner of his mouth rose, it was clear sarcasm.
“… thank you”
"Yes? Ah...!"
Ariana quickly covered her mouth with both hands.
When I realized I had expressed my admiration out loud, my face turned bright red.
“This is not...”
I certainly didn't plan to be fascinated by the boy's face. Kenneth left Ariana in a state of confusion, and turned his head to Quentin.
“It's like you said”
“Haha. Yes?”
“Little hmmm...”
Kenneth lowered his eyebrows and sneered affectionately...
At least that's what it seemed to Ariana.
He did it because she was younger than them.
“She is very nice”
Ariana's fingers and toes were dyed red.
'What should I do? 'I think he made fun of me'
Ariana turned and walked slowly into the room. Soon my steps became quick and my breathing stopped.
I couldn't figure out why I felt so embarrassed at this moment. To be honest, this was the first time I felt such strong emotions, so I didn't know exactly what to say.
On that day, Josefina severely whipped Ariana's leg.
“What did you do in front of Young Master? I’m so embarrassed I can’t raise my head!”
You are a disgrace to this family and the greatest burden in Josefina's life.
You're an idiot and you can't even say hello properly.
Why didn't you die as soon as you were born?
The beating did not end until she cried incessantly, saying that she was sorry for the verbal abuse that followed.
That summer, Ariana watched the two boys through the window.
Whenever I saw Quentin and Quentin playing tennis, I would sneak up and hide half my body against the wall.
“If I make a mistake in front of that person, I will be hurt again.”
I want to keep watching, my curiosity the same... The heat from the marks of the whip hidden under my white socks was extremely painful.
But just as Ariana was trying to hide herf completely.
There was a neat knock on the window.
When I turned my head, I found two turquoise eyes shining with kindness.
Ariana hesitated, but eventually opened the window.
The young man, with his bat leaning over one shoulder, was looking at her with interest.
Ariana whispered, his gaze pressing on her more clearly.
“The ball didn't fly here...”
“Why don't you go out?”
"… Yes?"
“Haven't you been watching us the whole time?”
Kenneth smiled and pointed over his shoulder.
“I need someone to check the result, so you can go out too.”
Did my sad feelings appear after seeing the two boys playing with each other? However, before she could open her mouth, a familiar shadow appeared from behind Ariana.
“Good evening”
“Good evening, ma'am.”
“Thank you for taking such great care of this little one.”
Josefina's well-manicured nails dug into Ariana's shoulders.
“But if she gets nailed, it's a big deal, so Ariana will stay inside.”
“Unlike a gentleman, a proper young lady should be careful from this point on.”
Ariana looked at the ground nervously.
Strange, why do I have a strange feeling that the boy and my mother are secretly fighting?
Kenneth smiled politely but disrespectfully.
“That's true, but lately other ladies have been enjoying being on the beach in Port Elysia.”
“Thanks to my mother, it is said that even noble women have attractive brown skin.”
Kenneth added politely,
“Of course, I know you know best.”
Josefina's eyebrows twitched subtly.
The southern region, including Port Elysia, was chosen as the location for the Clifford family's hotel business and was growing significantly.
In particular, to promote this project, the Duchess has been cleverly spreading the message that “healthy, sun-tanned skin is a symbol of wealth.”
But it is not possible for Josefina to join the Duchess' gathering.
So she was always gossiping at home, saying that such a tone was superficial, and there was no way she could not understand what the bold young man was saying.
'That cheeky...'
But even though he was young, the boy's status was ultimately higher than hers.
As a result, Ariana put on her sun hat and quickly followed the boy.
It was the first time in my life I had seen someone interact so smoothly with an adult.
‘Brother Quentin is also very difficult with his mother!’
Kenneth tried to walk slowly with his long legs, but when he saw Ariana rolling behind him, he walked slowly.
“Do you know how to score tennis scores?”
"naturally … !"
“Then I'm happy.”
He laughed as if he was fluttering in the wind.
Ariana mumbled, holding the brim of her hat with both hands.
“Why did you do that earlier?”
At the time, it wasn't clear what kind of answer she wanted. The other person is a boy who is much closer to an adult than me...
“I told you, it's because you're cute.”
He lowered his eyes halfway and spoke sarcastically.
This is probably true, because Ariana is too young in Kenneth and Quentin's eyes.
Where did you even get interested in playing them?
However, out of inexplicable disappointment, I pulled the brim of my hat with both hands to the point that the top of my head hurt.
Why am I like this?
Whenever I think of Kenneth, I can't sleep, as if I were drinking breakfast tea at night. My heart was beating so hard that my eyes were tearing up.
After that, Kenneth would often come to visit me during vacations.
“Hi Ariana”
When he called out to me in a deeper voice, the nerves in my back shivered.
It sounded like he was teasing, but it was like singing the title of an old song.
As the years passed, the boy became an adult, and Ariana was always keen to keep up with him.
Oddly enough, it seemed like we would never be the same even if we spent the same amount of time together, so I hoped the day would go by quickly.
Later, Ariana reminisces about those days and wishes she could stuff them down forever.
* * *
A few years later, Ariana entered the finishing school in the capital.
It was an institution in which single women from noble families acquired a higher level of culture until the age of eighteen.
I don't know why I should go to a place like this.
Since ancient times, isn't culture something you can learn by looking at your parents?
At first, Josefina was very upset, but the other girls said that they would all go, so there was no way to stop her from letting her go.
In an era when only noble women teaching teachers was considered “old-fashioned.”
When Ariana was in her final year of school and turned eighteen, she clicked her tongue when she saw the article.
The Clifford family appears in the newspapers every day
The “Kingdom of Dobris” across the Strait was a land famous for its arts and gastronomy.
Josefina scoffed that it was a “vulgar country compared to the empire,” but Ariana wanted to go there at least once.
“And the Clifford family is really going to get busier.”
What's worse is that the joke that he was replacing Claude, the royal, now seems very serious.
“…Kenneth?”
But I never imagined that a working person would wait outside the academy.
He was also wearing a suit and accompanied by a dark blue car that had already replaced the carriage in Rentia, the capital of Cremisa.
“Ariana”
The boy who was handsome when I first met him was still handsome even when he became a duke at the age of 21.
When he smiled slightly and extended his hand, Ariana's face turned bright red.
“Come here”
Ariana looked at Kenneth's feet back and forth, not knowing what to do.
'Originally, Quentin was supposed to come pick me up?'
Ariana wanted to study as little as possible to avoid her mother's scolding, so she deliberately stayed long after the academy's closing time.
Since the Aberdeen family was short of servants, Quentin had to attend to her, saying, “Why do you trouble me so much in the late afternoon?”
'Now that I think about it, it seems that the number of Kenneth's visits has increased significantly recently...'
Am I imagining things for nothing?