The overhead door leading to the underground parking lot opened, and Lorenz’s car slid down the gentle downward slope.
Lorenz’s expression as he sat in the back seat was completely stiff from a headache. The headache that had started around afternoon was gradually worsening.
However, his eyes, which had been sharply honed with irritability, suddenly changed.
He lifted his upper body from the backrest and looked intently at one spot.
Elian Bellotti was standing in the parking lot where several vehicles were neatly displayed. A man who drew more attention than the white lighting that brightly illuminated the interior.
Elian was looking at Lorenz’s vehicle as it approached while slowing down.
Could it be, he came out to greet me?
That can’t be.
But if not, then why is he in the parking lot…?
Whatever the reason, a slight elation made him tense. It was enough to make him forget even his headache momentarily.
As soon as the car stopped, Lorenz opened the door himself and got out of the car.
Elian was still looking this way from in front of the car parked opposite. He bowed his head lightly in greeting, and Lorenz responded in kind.
Slowly, step by step, he approached him with cautious steps as if placing dots.
“It’s been a while.”
At Lorenz’s dry greeting, Elian showed a light laugh.
Lorenz could feel that he too was awkward.
“It feels strange somehow, you saying that when we’re living in the same house.”
“What were you doing here?”
“I was helping Mr. Carter wash the car.”
“Washing the car…?”
Washing the car. He couldn’t understand what that meant. Lorenz frowned and shifted his gaze.
Come to think of it, there was one more person in the parking lot besides Elian. It was an employee wearing a jumpsuit-style work uniform with the top and bottom connected, wearing rubber boots.
Lorenz frowned at him.
“Did you make Mr. Bellotti wash the car?”
A reproach close to shock, as if such a thing couldn’t be possible.
At Lorenz’s sharp interrogation, the flustered man’s gaze scattered wildly.
“Well… I did try to stop him, saying his clothes would get dirty, that it absolutely couldn’t be done…”
The man with a still-youthful face rambled excuses, not knowing what to do. Elian, feeling sorry for him, stepped in on his behalf.
“I was bored after work hours. So I insisted on helping…”
“No! It’s my fault, Lord Lorenz.”
The man who had been mumbling excuses in a crawling voice suddenly changed. Perhaps moved by Elian trying to cover for him, he boldly stepped forward. He even blocked Elian’s front with one arm. As if trying to hide him behind himself and protect him from Lorenz. His tanned face looking directly at Lorenz was even quite tragic.
Hah, Lorenz snorted.
He felt like a thug who had intruded between a peaceful couple to play nasty pranks.
Is that so? Was that it, Elian Bellotti?
Lorenz’s gaze toward Elian again was cold.
“Everyone in this mansion has their own role. It would be troublesome if the laundry staff cooked, or if the cooking staff managed the garden. Mr. Bellotti is here for Lucas.”
Not only his gaze but also his voice and tone were firmer and colder than when he’d greeted him. His clipped speech and low voice even contained a hint of reproach.
“Then it’s my fault. Because I insisted. If that’s the rule here, I should follow it. I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
At Elian’s obedient answer, Lorenz’s frozen gaze softened somewhat. However, his displeased air remained the same.
“Lord Lorenz, no. It’s really my fault…!”
In front of the employee trying to step forward again to cover for Elian, Lorenz raised his hand. It was a clear expression of intent to stop there. The headache seemed to have weakened, but suddenly fatigue washed over him. Lorenz turned his head and spat out quickly:
“You said you’ll be careful in the future, so that’s enough.”
Lorenz, who had just turned around and was about to walk away, suddenly turned his body around again.
Elian also looked at him, wondering what he was going to say.
Lorenz’s lips, darkly red like wine mixed with blood, showed no sign of opening readily.
Beyond Elian’s shoulder, the freckled employee’s face came into view. Lorenz, who threw a brief glance at him, spoke to Elian.
“Won’t you have dinner with me?”
It was Lorenz who had proposed, but strangely, Elian looked troubled as he glanced back at the employee behind him.
“I appreciate the invitation, but…”
Lorenz’s eyebrows immediately twisted savagely.
“You’re refusing again?”
“I already made plans with Mr. Carter.”
At hearing the name Carter, Lorenz’s gaze moved from Elian to the man once more. It was a fierce momentum as if it would freeze everything his eyes touched.
This time, even Noah couldn’t dare stand up to him and shrank back.
Lorenz wasn’t saying anything, but the sharp green gaze alone was an oppressive force that was hard to endure. His pale green eyes seemed to harbor some wicked and mysterious power. Under the baseless guilt and fear, Noah had no choice but to lower his gaze. It felt as if a reprimand would fall at any moment from the man who would become the young master of this mansion.
He muttered to Elian in a crawling voice.
“I-I’m fine, so next time…”
“But it’s a prior engagement, so we can’t do that. Mr. Lockhart will understand too.”
No, he’s completely mistaken.
Why should I understand?
For Lorenz, it was an incomprehensible choice.
To refuse his dinner invitation because of a prior engagement with an employee.
For Lorenz, this was a matter of efficiency and priority.
If a more important person requested a meeting, it was natural for existing schedules to be postponed. The existing party wouldn’t be dissatisfied about it either. That was the efficiency and priority of the world Lorenz belonged to.
“I’m sorry. My appointment with Mr. Carter was first…”
Elian looked up at him with a truly regretful expression. That alone was the only consolation that soothed Lorenz’s trampled pride.
Lorenz answered barely, as if squeezing it out, like someone whose throat was completely blocked and couldn’t make a sound.
“Then it can’t be helped.”
He couldn’t even imagine being rejected like this yet again. He’d thought that this time, for sure, he would accept his invitation. He’d believed it without a doubt.
Even while turning around and walking toward the elevator, Lorenz was dazed. He felt as if Elian had harshly slapped him across the face. He couldn’t even feel anger at the completely unexpected situation.
Elian, who had been watching his retreating figure, quickened his steps and followed him.
“Mr. Lockhart.”
The man’s steps stopped and his broad, solid-looking shoulders turned toward this side.
Lorenz’s face was perfectly expressionless. A shape that had removed all kinds of emotions from a human face, merely a combination of features. Therefore, Elian didn’t notice at all the shock he had received.
“If it’s all right with you, could I see you briefly after dinner?”
“What is it about?”
“I have something to tell you.”
Lorenz’s eyebrows twitched minutely.
You won’t have dinner with me, but you have something to say so make time?
An impulse to torment Elian as much as he himself had been shocked fiercely swept over him for a moment.
His lips twitched, wanting to point at Carter and sneer whether that kind of man was his type.
But whatever taste Elian had, whoever he dated, it wasn’t his business to interfere. He had no intention of ruining his dignity by spouting such childish nonsense. And yet, why was this so unbearably unpleasant?
Yes, probably because he rejected my proposal due to a prior engagement with someone else. Because I’ve never experienced being pushed down in priority. Whether in business or in private life.
As Lorenz’s silence lengthened, Elian pleaded once more.
“It’s about Lucas. It’ll only take a moment, so please make time. I’m asking you.”
His transparent green eyes looked at Elian in a darker shade than usual.
I want to make an excuse and refuse. By doing so, I want to humiliate him too, and make him feel a small frustration.
However, after looking down at Elian’s face for a long while, the answer that came from Lorenz’s lips conveyed a completely different conclusion.
“Let’s meet at the third-floor study at 9 o’clock.”
“Understood. Thank you.”
Before Elian’s greeting was even finished, Lorenz turned around and disappeared with quick steps. As if fleeing.
■
