Author: 冬瓜茶仙人 / Winter Melon Tea Immortal

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 33

“That’s not fair,” Eugene said. “Am I not handsome?”

Martina pressed her ample chest tightly against him as she held his arm and replied, “Dear, of course you’re handsome.”

“Then why do I have to be the coachman?” Eugene asked discontentedly.

He and Martina were standing at the back door of a mansion. A quarter of an hour earlier, Shivers, fully dressed up, was led inside by a plump woman, while he and Martina clearly didn’t even have the privilege to warm up by the kitchen stove, forced to wait behind the carriage instead.

Martina’s chest was mostly exposed to the night air, but she seemed not to feel the cold at all.

“Lady Holly prefers a more gentlemanly type of young man, ideally one with refined pronunciation, who can recite poetry to her in a singing tone.”

Gentleman? Eugene thought that was because she hadn’t seen Shivers beat up a wild wolf with his bare hands—the guy’s abs were more orderly than the loaves from a bakery… But he was just grumbling. Any noblewoman would be charmed by Shivers’s face, as if the Sun God himself had descended. Eugene wasn’t foolish enough to truly compete with Shivers over looks.

Martina was actually just securing an “interview” opportunity for Shivers, who was using the alias “Green”. However, the Knight Commander unquestionably passed the test, and within an hour, someone informed Eugene that he had secured the job of coachman for the evening.

Thanks to his employers and companions, all being high-society folks, this not-too-long, not-too-short journey had turned him into a half-professional coachman, newsboy, concierge, cook… And thanks to the fact that Duke was so wealthy, he spared no expense when conditions allowed. Otherwise, just a few months prior, figuring out how to open such a sophisticated carriage door could have taken him all night.

It took Shivers a while to come out and meet them from the back door. Martina could only accompany them this far, but she was still pleased to straighten Eugene’s collar, although from her expression, she might have preferred to offer that service to Shivers.

Lady Holly and her adopted daughter left from the front door, and Eugene could only drive the understated yet expensive carriage, following at a moderate distance behind them.

The destination of the party remained a secret until their arrival because the dinner was just a pretext. In reality, while the men gathered in the salon to smoke cigars, the women had their ways of finding amusement. This kind of party, dominated by noblewomen and kept discreet, also existed in Pennigra, but Shivers had never imagined he would also one day be brought as a “male companion” to such an event.

Mokwen was established as a cavalry nation, rising rapidly during wars by seizing several iron and rare metal mines, although modern times had completely abandoned their rugged and unrestrained nomadic lifestyle compared to other ancient royal and noble families on the continent that had settled for hundreds of years.

Their aesthetic approach to life was still in the stage of believing that expensive and shiny meant sophisticated—how did that saying go? “A nouveau riche who would even inlay their toilets with gold if they could.” This was the Duke of Brandenburg’s exact words, and it was also one of the reasons he wasn’t close to his brother-in-law.

Distrust was one reason. He also felt that this nouveau-riche temperament couldn’t be remedied within three generations. Only through his sister’s efforts, perhaps proper education of the next generation might redeem them a little—just a little.

Perhaps because of Mokwen’s rich yet not too sophisticated environment, both men and women in the country had an unusual pursuit of “artistic temperament”, which naturally reflected in their preferences for the opposite sex.

This preference had opened the door for Shivers, who came from the fertile plains. He had merely concocted a tale of a down-and-out noble from a small country traveling in Doran, who just happened to qualify as a novelist and musician. Lady Holly immediately gave him a chance, although she had almost decided to bring a “distant relative” to the event. Lady Holly had been “sponsoring” that lovely young painter for some time but considered this: there were plenty of musical instruments in a high-society salon to charm the guests, but a painter couldn’t produce a magnificent piece on the spot—even if they could, music sounded more romantic.

“‘Musician,'” Eugene muttered, turning to ask. “Do you play an instrument?”

The Knight Commander sat in the carriage with a discreet smile.

Eugene sensibly turned his head back. Nobles—especially those from wealthy regions like Lemena, whether in talent or that meticulously poor posture—weren’t something a kingdom like Mokwen could compare with. The Knight Commander ignored Eugene’s subtle jealousy. His focus was always on the core of the issue.

“It’s odd for a high-ranking member of the ‘Fox’ to appear at such an event,” Shivers said. “Miss Martina’s clearance isn’t enough to know which one has come to Mokwen. I have a feeling there’s some deceit involved.”

Although the Fox was a vast family, not everyone protected by this family was entitled to the Fox family name, including most middle and lower managers who could only say they belonged to the Fox but couldn’t claim the name. Even Eugene knew, only the direct blood relatives of the current family head were entitled to use that name—these individuals were the absolute rulers within this Black Gold Family, a principle that applied equally among the other Black Gold Families.

Thus, although the Fox family was renowned for their involvement in the trade of flesh and intelligence, nobody would be foolish enough to think that a person with the surname “Fox” needed to peddle flesh themselves to acquire anything. Below these apex members, there were plenty like ants—insignificant yet supporting the massive, heavy carriages moving forward, and Martina was among them.

According to the strict hierarchical system within the family, people like Martina might never have the privilege to see Cici with their own eyes. Therefore, if it was true as Martina said, with countless beauties under his command, a ‘Fox’ personally mixing into the kingdom’s circle of noblewomen as a male companion, the reasons behind it were worth scrutinizing.

Although his identity had changed, whether it was the party or the ladies, these were areas where the Knight Commander excelled, especially when he appropriately praised a lady who was clearly the center of the party with his “poetic language”.

Soon, many gathered around him like ants around sugar, each wanting to hear another sweet word from him. Lady Holly was pleased with this, first because the occasion was meant to show off wealth, and nothing pleased her more than the envious glances of other women. Second, no matter how many people took the opportunity to touch Green’s pectorals while chatting, he would still ride the carriage back to his own residence tonight, where she could request that he make up to her for the entire evening. Besides, this gentle lover, even surrounded by a whirlwind of powder, didn’t neglect her at all.

Shivers got Lady Holly a small piece of almond cake, naturally leading her away from the crowd to sit on a small sofa in a corner, where he politely and somewhat ruefully complained to her about the party being larger than he had anticipated. Although he tried his best to maintain manners, he soon couldn’t tell who was who, hoping he hadn’t embarrassed Lady Holly.

Lady Holly was delighted, patting his arm. “Don’t worry, dear. Everyone likes you. Even during the usual social season, it’s rare to gather so many people. I’m a bit confused myself—look at Lady Tomyles from the Tomyles family. Lord have mercy, I haven’t seen her in almost three years.”

Almost without needing much prompting from Shivers, Lady Holly began to chatter away, proving Martina’s connections to be very reliable. If anyone could be so familiar with the background gossip of Mokwen’s upper class and also be eager to talk, it was Lady Holly, who could even generally comment on the identities of the male companions brought by the ladies.

“That Countess…” Shivers skillfully steered her back to his line of thought. The Countess he mentioned was Donna, the only Countess of Mokwen and the hostess of tonight’s party. In a kingdom like Mokwen, which revered strength and was male-dominated, it was somewhat miraculous for Donna to have inherited a Countess title as a woman.

After all, most noble women’s status and titles were derived from their fathers or husbands. Plus, with her unique personal charm, Countess Donna held a high position in Mokwen’s circle of noblewomen.

She was over forty, unmarried and childless, said to be an arrangement with the royal family to ensure that the Countess’ honor would end with her. However, marriage and offspring might not be what she needed, as her esteemed social position and inexhaustible wealth were enough for her to squander a lifetime.

Such a gathering as tonight’s, described by those in the know as “debauched and unprecedented”, was also initiated by Countess Donna. But peculiarly, she had no companion by her side tonight.

Lady Holly, realizing what Shivers was asking, giggled. “Oh, maybe her cat hasn’t woken up yet?”

She heard on her first day back in the capital that Countess Donna had recently adopted a stunningly beautiful young man named Yitzfa, who apparently had a bit of a temper, so much so that even Countess Donna had to coddle him.

Shivers almost immediately confirmed that this Yitzfa was the Fox that Martina had mentioned. He hadn’t yet figured out how to approach Countess Donna subtly and reconfirm whether Yitzfa would attend tonight’s gathering when the ambiguous strings of the music suddenly slipped, as if someone had pulled the hand that was strumming the strings, causing the entire piece to stall momentarily.

But no one seemed to mind this. Facing the door, Lady Holly used her folding fan to partially cover her face, uttering a soft sigh. “Is that him? This is really…”

Her next words were lost in the fluffy feathers decorating her fan. Shivers turned his head and unsurprisingly saw a man entering the venue of tonight’s gathering—the warmly decorated conservatory arranged by Countess Donna, which she proudly considered a winter miracle.

She had lavishly expended a great deal of manpower and resources to maintain an appropriate temperature in this vast greenhouse year-round, planting various exotic and vibrant flowers. It was said that there were as many as fifteen gardeners solely dedicated to maintaining these delicate plants.

However, as beautiful as the flowers were, defying the rules of seasons with their riotous blooming, they seemed to dim somewhat the moment the man walked in. He was tall and slender. His skin was an ivory white rarely seen in Mokwen, more flawless than any of the women present, with features so finely crafted they seemed to be deliberated by a painter countless times, leaving no room for fault. His long eyelashes and straight nose gave him an androgynous look, somewhere between feminine and youthful, compelling one to pause at first glance.

Yet, what caught Shivers’s attention more were the man’s golden hair and large, round eyes. Although not completely similar, he had seen such features before on a boy who liked to wear dresses.

Shivers was probably the only one at the event not moved by the man’s appearance. In fact, he barely glanced before calmly placing the small porcelain plate with almond cake back on the table.

No mistake.

He was definitely the Fox he was looking for.

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