Lily glanced at Herald's smiling face and drank the tomato juice. As if to prove that the claim about it being good for hangovers wasn't a lie, her queasy and uncomfortable stomach felt a little better.
The food was quite delicious too, making her earlier refusal seem foolish as Lily ate heartily.
On the other hand, Herald didn't eat anything except coffee. Lily, who belatedly noticed this fact, asked:
"Aren't you eating?"
"Ah, I don't particularly like tomatoes."
He ordered dishes made entirely of tomatoes despite not liking them?
Lily stared at him blankly, unable to understand his behavior. Misinterpreting her gaze, Herald smiled and said:
"I suppose it's not very appealing for an adult to be picky like a child."
"Ah, that's not why I was looking at you. And I don't think it's unappealing at all."
"Is that so?"
Seeing his skeptical expression, Lily quickly added an explanation, not wanting to create any unnecessary misunderstandings.
"I don't like cucumbers either. So when I eat salads or sandwiches, I leave out the cucumbers."
At those words, Herald looked down at the salad. Indeed, there were plenty of cucumbers left, as if she really disliked them.
"My adjutant also dislikes cucumbers. It seems you're the same, my lady."
Herald put down his coffee cup, picked up a fork, and began eating the cucumbers Lily had left behind.
"Why, why are you eating that...!"
"It seems a waste to leave food uneaten, so I thought someone should eat it."
That may be true, but this doesn't seem right.
Unlike the flustered Lily, Herald calmly ate the cucumbers. His attitude was so brazen that Lily blinked her eyes wide, feeling as if she was the strange one for being surprised by this.
More importantly, it was about time to bring up last night's events.
While there was no way to undo the fact that she had spent the night with Herald, she needed to somehow address her request to become his mistress.
As Lily was looking for an opportunity to bring this up, she flinched at the sound of a knock and looked towards the door.
Herald, on the other hand, nonchalantly said as he cleansed his palate with coffee:
"You can ignore it."
"Commander, it's me."
When Dillon's voice was heard, Herald's attitude changed. Lily hurriedly hid behind the sofa as Herald approached the door.
Herald glanced at the frantically moving Lily, then opened the door and stepped outside. Dillon bowed his head in greeting before stating the purpose of his visit.
"The Duke is looking for you."
"What for, so early in the morning? More importantly, I'm curious how you knew I was here."
Dillon grinned.
"If I didn't know where the Commander was, I wouldn't be fit to be your adjutant, would I?"
"Am I imagining things, or does it sound like you've been stalking me?"
"Oh my, of course not. I was merely protecting you out of concern, Commander."
So he did follow me after all.
Which means he probably knows about bringing Lily here too. Herald looked down at Dillon intently.
When Herald looked at him like this, Liam would startle and spout all sorts of nonsense, but not Dillon. He met Herald's gaze calmly, as if asking what the matter was, which made Herald chuckle.
"You'll keep it a secret, won't you?"
Dillon, who understood immediately as befitting an adjutant who had assisted him for over three years, tilted his head.
"I'm not sure what you're referring to, sir."
It meant he would keep his mouth shut and pretend he hadn't seen anything. Satisfied with that, Herald told Dillon to wait for a moment before re-entering the room.
Lily, who had been watching the situation while hiding behind the sofa, slowly emerged when only Herald came back in.
Herald picked up his coat that he had taken off and said to her:
"It seems I have an important matter to attend to. There's still time until check-out, so you can stay a bit longer if you'd like, my lady."
"Ah, I'll go too."
"Then I'll give you a ride to the Benjamin Viscount's residence."
"No, it's fine. I can go by myself, so you can leave first. You said you have an important matter to attend to."
"If that's the case, I'll take my leave then. Ah."
Herald made a short exclamation as if he had just remembered something, then approached Lily and pressed something into her hand, saying:
"You hurt your knee, didn't you? Make sure to see a physician."
"..."
"Well then, goodbye."
Lily, who had been staring blankly at Herald, belatedly checked what he had put in her hand and gaped.
It was a pair of socks with pure white lace.
Search "lover" on redcatty(.)com to read ahead up to chapter 70.