Chapter 15

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Translated by: Miss Lassie

Larson made a fuss.

“Please put on your clothes!”

“You and I have known each other for ten years and three months as of today, Willy. Did we meet in spring?”

“Stop changing the subject! Your appearance is embarrassing…”

“That’s harsh coming from you.”

The man slowly moved his hand over Larson’s shoulder, who was about the same height as Judith. It looked like he was trying to tighten the laces of his loosened robe as he grumbled with a strange foreign accent.

“Waltz is the city that symbolizes freedom, but it’s so different from my imagination.”

“There is a difference between enjoying freedom and being lax.”

Larson stepped away in front of Judith only after the man had tied the laces of his robe. Before she knew it, the man walked towards her and closed the distance between them. He was so close that they could observe each other’s features in detail. There was a moment of silence in the hallway.

The man was much taller than he looked from a distance. Judith lifted her head and looked up at him. She pursed her lips as her gaze slowly climbed up to the bridge of his nose until she met his eyes.

Wow. Judith couldn’t help but admire him.

“Beautiful…”

His grayish-blue eyes were uniquely beautiful among all the blue eyes she had seen. The color resembled a lake mixed with pelagic limestones where you could sink without a trace if you slipped.

Was it because of his eyes that, despite his masculine charm, the word ‘beautiful’ still suited him best?

While Judith admired the man, he was also gazing at her. But it seemed like he wasn’t only taking in her appearance because he was also looking at her carefully. She was a little bewildered. Was there something on her face?

As the silence lengthened, Larson hurriedly stepped in.

“Miss Judith, this is…”

“Ethan Ewart.”

The man’s calm voice cut off Larson’s introduction.

He walked past Larson and held his right hand to Judith. His actions were graceful, contrary to his clothes. The man greeted Judith warmly.

“Hello.”

Judith managed to take off her gaze at him and shook his hand, then introduced herself.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Judith Wortherford.”

“Ah!”

The man named Ethan Ewart let out a low exclamation, and his smile turned into a smirk.

“So you’re the girl that Rogeric is sponsoring. I’ve heard so many things about you.”

Ethan squeezed Judith’s hand a little before letting it go, and her eyes narrowed slightly in pain. It was the swollen hand that the bully had grabbed a few hours ago. Her reaction was subtle but still evident to the man.

“Hmm.”

Ethan’s hand, which fell to his side after brushing Judith’s fingers, rose again as he lifted the sleeves of her blouse, exposing her wrist with blue bruises.

He frowned.

“Why is your wrist like that? Did you encounter thugs along the way here?”

“Uhh no, I bumped into something.”

Judith denied it even though the bruises on her wrist had the shape of a person’s fingers. Ethan stared at her wrist and smiled.

“Okay, you should ask Dr. Kim to get it treated.”

Fortunately, he chose to go along with her lie, but a moment later, Judith retracted her thoughts when he turned to Larson and uttered some words.

“You need to clear the perimeters of the mansion, Willy. I won’t be able to sleep peacefully here with thugs hanging around the area. I’ll be staying here for a while after all.”

“Yes, I’ll take care of it.”

Questions naturally arose in Judith’s mind as she listened to their conversation. Who the hell was this man to stay in her sponsor’s mansion and casually give orders to the Curtis family’s secretary? His expressions and behavior were too comfortable and natural, as if he were staying at his own house.

Judith opened her mouth to say something, hoping to convey her intentions as politely and indirectly as possible.

“Can you tell me how I should address you, sir?

“Whatever you like. It’s also fine to call me by my name.”

“Then, Mr. Ewart. Would that be alright?”

“Ms. Judith, this is…”

Larson, whose face suddenly turned pale, hurriedly intervened. Who was this man?

However, a single graceful hand gesture from Ethan cut off Larson’s words which seemed to have held the answers to her questions. Ethan smiled at her.

“Alright, let’s go with it.”

Judith thought his accent was strange but nodded in agreement instead. He seemed to have no intentions of revealing his true identity to her.

Ethan Ewart asked her gently, slightly lowering his head towards her.

“It’s my turn now. What should I call the young lady?”

‘Young lady?’

There wasn’t a huge age difference between them. Ethan seemed to be around thirty years old at best, and he seemed to be friends with Mr. Curtis, so his actual age must be around his too. Besides, Judith was not a young lady anymore. She suppressed the urge to correct him and responded politely instead.

“I don’t care what you call me…”

“Judy.”

He came up with a name to call her faster than she expected. Surprisingly, he skipped her surname and chose to call her by a nickname she had never used. Ethan looked carefully at her expression and asked her back.

“Is there a problem?”

“Oh no, there’s no problem… It’s just that you called me by a nickname no one has ever called me.”

“What do your friends call you then?”

“They call me Jude. I have a friend with the same name as me in the orphanage, so they call me Jude to tell us apart.”

“I like Judy better. It sounds good.”

Why did he ask if it didn’t matter anyway?

The nickname wasn’t important to Judith, so she nodded indifferently.

“Call me whatever is convenient for you.”

“Yes, Ms. Judy.”

The new nickname that came out of Ethan’s mouth sounded softer and sweeter, much to her surprise.

Ethan took a step back as if to signal he had no intentions of grabbing her again.

“You must have been exhausted from traveling all the way here. You should get some rest.”

He turned on his heel after giving Judith a light wink, and she followed right behind him.

Even though his movements were relatively restrained, he still walked elegantly at a languid pace. His free speech and clothes gave him a relaxed impression.

However, he also exuded a classic regal bearing and the appearance of a noble. It was indeed a conflicting image.

In short, he was a man you couldn’t figure out based on first impressions alone.

“Ahem, excuse me.”

Larson cleared his throat, which cut off Judith’s train of thought, and introduced her to Ethan again.

“He’s a close friend of Mr. Curtis from Yorkshire in the north. He stopped by last week on his visit to Baja and will stay in Waltz for about fifteen days until he has to leave for Tessas, so please don’t worry too much…”

“Oh, it’s okay. I’m the one who showed up here suddenly.”

“I sincerely apologize. It was due to my negligence in not adjusting the schedule in advance. I’m sorry, Ms. Judith.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m fine.”

Did Larson have to apologize for that much?

The next day, Judith found out why Larson was so concerned.

St. Hawk, which was not only spacious but also vast, had few servants compared to its size.

They woke up at dawn, finished cleaning in the morning, and disappeared somewhere, making it difficult to see them in the mansion except for Macy, Sarah, the butler Barnes, and a few other servants who helped her.

Judith was alone in a lonely mansion with a strange man, and her sponsor was still absent. If she and Ethan had one thing in common, it would be that neither of them was the type who enjoyed the silence in their respective rooms.

In other words, they frequently encountered each other throughout the day in different places.

Judith went to the terrace on the first floor late at lunchtime mid-afternoon and bumped into a blonde man sunbathing on the lounge bed.

“…Hello.”

“Good afternoon, Miss Judy.”

Ethan, wearing sunglasses, greeted her warmly. How many encounters had they had today?

The first one was in the dining room this morning when Sara asked her where she would like to eat breakfast, and without thinking, she said she wanted to eat downstairs, where she saw Ethan eating while reading a newspaper. He was only wearing a night robe over his trousers, and he immediately tied the loosened laces when he spotted her.

Less than two hours after breakfast, they saw each other again in the study and an hour later in the gallery. Judith went outside because she kept running into him, but she never expected he would be out there too.

“I’ll just go inside then…”

Judith awkwardly stepped back, but a hand caught her ankle.

“After running into each other so often, isn’t it about time we start talking to each other?”

“What?”

“Or shall I wait a little longer? How many more chance encounters should we have before we can start conversing?”

His gentle voice sounded with a hint of playfulness in it. Ethan shrugged his shoulders somewhat exaggeratedly, and Judith lightly shook her head.

She knew it would have been more awkward if she had started avoiding him since she would still see him often until Mr. Curtis returned.

“You must have been enjoying the sun.”

“The sun feels nice.”

“Yes…”

It looked like he always knew what he would do, even from his outfits and the things he did in his spare time.

Like any other person who enjoys sunbathing, he only wore baggy beach pants exposing his torso and calves to the sunlight.

A scar on his right shoulder was as long as two fingers, the only flaw on his perfectly proportioned and well-built body.

Ethan lowered his sunglasses and raised his head obliquely. His watery-turquoise eyes looked drowsy.

“What?”

Judith’s breath caught in her voice.

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“…No, not at all.”

It was perhaps because of the warm weather, but Judith’s nape felt hot, and she quickly averted her gaze to the surroundings.

A nondescript red drink was on the small table beside the lounge bed with plenty of ice and tropical fruits. It even had an ornamental umbrella for decoration, and spread out on Ethan’s lap was a magazine containing gossip in Waltz.

If anyone looked at it from an angle, it would seem like he was doing a photo shoot for a fashion magazine, thanks to his handsome looks and languid pose. Ethan casually flipped through the pages of the gossip column and asked her a question.

“Are you allergic to sunlight?”

“…No.”

“Then sit down.”

Judith couldn’t think of any other reason to refuse his offer unless she was allergic to sunlight.

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