Regarding the Duke with Gynophobia and the Eccentric Lady Scholar Chapter 29

Luca came back once in the evening. The ball would be held at the Royal Palace today so he came home to prepare for it.

"Elsa."

Luca looked at Elsa, who had come to greet him, and held out his arms for some reason. Elsa replied with, "Huh?"

"…… I want to hug you."

The servants once again became rowdy as Elsa stared at Luca.

"What?"

She sighed and went into Luca's arms. The servants thought, "Wow, they look like newly-weds" and then remembered that they were actually newly-weds.

"Is your body alright?"

Everyone had been asking that…… Since the morning when she'd awoken. Elsa was a little fed up with that question.

"It's as you can see."

She replied unconcernedly to her husband. Luca said, "Is that so?" as he hugged her seriously and pulled her in tighter for a second.

However, they couldn't stay like this forever, especially when Elsa's preparation needed time. No, females needed more time to get ready in general.

She couldn’t be trusted to prepare herself to appear before the socialites of high society. The problem was that she had no fashion sense, so she needed people to help with her appearance.

Today's dress was silver but it had a blue gloss to it. They probably picked it out because it matched Elsa's eye colour. Incidentally, Luca's necktie was also silver.

Then some comfortable high heels. Elsa certainly felt like she had gotten used to wearing heels. Also, she wasn't wearing her spectacles. Her eyesight had gotten worse during this past year so it was more dangerous for her not to wear them. Well, she couldn't see people's faces but she could feel their presence, so she wouldn't b.u.mp into them…… Probably.

Elsa felt that if she strayed from Luca, she wouldn't be able to find where to go so she firmly held onto Luca's arm. It looked like she was acting spoiled but she was quite serious.

"Welcome, Duke and d.u.c.h.ess Inglacia."

A man that was waiting at the entrance of the a.s.sembly hall called out to them as they entered and Elsa narrowed her eyes to look at him. It was rather rude.

"Prime Minister."

Luca whispered, he'd probably noticed that Elsa couldn't recognise the person's face. Elsa nodded, Oh.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you, Prime Minister."

Elsa lightly curtsied. The Prime Minister nodded, "Yes".

"Come to me after you've finished greeting His Majesty. Someone is waiting for the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess. Duke Inglacia, make sure to bring your wife with you."

"As you wish."

Elsa and Luca looked at each other upon hearing the Prime Minister's words. They wondered who this someone was.

After greeting the King, who was the organiser of tonight's ball, Elsa and Luca proceeded to the where the Prime Minister was standing. At his location was Prince Lionelo, his wife Teresa and another man.

『Yes, yes! It's you, Elsa-dono! 』

Elsa widened her eyes in silence. She had a feeling that she'd heard this voice before but she couldn't recall from where. She also couldn’t make out that person's face at all, unlike Lionelo and Teresa, whose faces she was used to seeing. Moreover, he was speaking in a foreign language.

…… Wait a second, a foreign language?

Elsa caught onto something and Luca once again whispered to her.

"It's the Diplomat from the Eastern Kingdom that you interpreted for last season."

"Ah……"

I see, she thought. It was certainly an eastern language. His clothes were also similar to the ones she'd seen at the time. She wasn't wearing her spectacles so she couldn't make out his face but she was probably right. She wasn't wearing her spectacles when she met him last year, in the first place, so she couldn't remember what he looked like.

『Long time no see. I'm honoured to be able to meet you again.』

Although Elsa could understand the eastern language better than most others, it still wasn't her mother tongue, nor was it a language that was frequently used in the neighbouring kingdoms. Therefore, it sounded unnatural in some places but the Diplomat seemed satisfied.

『No, no. I'm glad we can meet again. I had hoped that I would see you again this year. I actually have something I want to ask you.』

The diplomat grinned. Elsa tilted her head and replied,『Yes? 』. Only the two of them were talking, Luca and the others were talking about other matters in their mother tongue.

『If it's alright with you, I wondered if you would come to our Kingdom……』

The Diplomat glanced at Luca so Elsa could somewhat guess what he wanted.

The Diplomat had probably heard last season that Elsa was a historian. There were quite a few kingdoms that had foreign objects in their possession and they wanted a third opinion from a foreigner.

But he'd also probably heard, beforehand, that Elsa was married, which is why he hesitated. It had also never occurred to her that there was a possibility that the diplomat had wanted to take her as his wife.

Honestly, Elsa wanted to go to the eastern kingdom because it had a completely different culture and history from the ones in her area. It was very intriguing.

But.

『Thank you for inviting me but I want to be with my husband.』

Because no one would understand anyways, was what Elsa meant. Elsa would die if Luca had heard what she'd said but they were speaking in the eastern language so he couldn't understand. The Diplomat laughed bitterly when he heard Elsa's reply.

『Of course you would. You're really close with your husband.』

『Thank you.』

The Diplomat stopped pestering and Elsa narrowed her eyes and smiled.

『Now then, I would like you to interpret again like last time.』

『I understand. Please wait a moment.』

Elsa informed the Diplomat and then she turned to look at the Prime Minister and Prince.

"He has asked me to interpret for him."

"Understood. Please do."

"Yes."

Elsa said and turned back to the Diplomat.

『I've received permission.』
◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

Elsa ended up interpreting after all. She sat on a sofa in the rest area that was located in a corner of the dance hall. She didn't intend to dance at all, even if it was a ball.

"Elsa, here's some water."

Luca said as he pa.s.sed her the gla.s.s. Elsa took the gla.s.s from Luca while remaining seated, "Thank you". Then Luca sat next to Elsa.

"Thanks for your hard work."

"It's fine. But I don't ever want to do that again."

Elsa said and drank the water.

"Luca. Don't mind me and go dance."

"…… Elsa. You know I have gynophobia, don't you?"

Elsa stared at him and thought, "Come to think of it, he does". Luca could interact normally with Elsa so the image of him having gynophobia had been slowly disappearing from her mind.

"But, I can't dance."

"Yeah, you can't."

Luca nodded and laughed wryly. Luca looked at Elsa, who was slowly sipping her water, and asked.

"Earlier, what did you talk about before you started interpreting?"

Elsa thought, he must have been bothered by it even though he hadn't interfered, and answered.

"He invited me to visit the eastern kingdom. Of course, I declined."

"…… Is that so?"

Luca said in a clearly relieved tone. Elsa laughed at him.

"Because I don't want to leave the place I'm familiar with."

If she left the kingdom then the distance between her and Luca would be further than the distance between the university and the Royal Capital. She didn't know this before but now she couldn't bear being that far away from him.

There was no way that he knew what she was thinking inside but he hugged her, kissed the mole under her eye, and buried his nose into her hair.

"I'm glad. Don't go."

Elsa laughed and said, "Okay."

"How sweet…… I'm going to puke rainbows."

"How lovey dovey……"

Elsa and Luca turned towards the familiar voice. Both of them became serious in that moment. Elsa couldn't make their faces but she somehow knew who the people were from their voices.

"Rebecca. Gaius."

It was those two. Elsa knew it was them even when she couldn't see because they were close friends.

"So you know who those two are."

"I'm used to them. Even if we're apart I can tell who you guys are, Luca."

It was more correct to say that she could recognise their voices. She wanted to wear her spectacles if possible but everyone disapproved.

"Were you two always like that?"

Rebecca sat down next to Elsa and said. Elsa separated herself from Luca and turned to face Rebecca.

"I don't think we've changed that much."

"No, you have."

Elsa, who had retorted, shrugged. She, herself, didn't feel like anything had changed but maybe it had from other people's viewpoints? Elsa and Luca looked at each other and tilted their necks.

Translator: Blushy
Someone begged, I promised someone this chapter. Enjoy ~