Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Dillon was both Emily’s older sister and her protector. When she was young, she wouldn’t sleep at night, instead watching over Emily for fear that she might die. During Emily’s frequent bouts of illness, Dillon would feed her the healthiest, most nutritious food. Even now, Dillon would sometimes place a finger under Emily’s nose while she slept. Only when she felt her little sister’s soft exhales against her finger could she relax and go to bed herself.

To Dillon, Emily was still the tiny infant in the cradle whose little hands reached out to hold her sister’s finger—she couldn’t afford to lose Emily. She needed to block the predetermined future, even if it meant inserting herself into inappropriate situations. Ever the protective older sister, she didn’t want to tragically lose Emily and her bright smile.

That was why she got in Cedric’s way and kept him from proposing to Emily. She couldn’t think of anything else to do. She figured that if Emily didn’t get married to Cedric, there would be no pregnancy in the first place, so she wouldn’t die in childbirth.

But Dillon never imagined that she would get involved like this.

“Did you really propose to Dillon as a joke to deceive her?” Robert asked coldly.

“Deceive?” Dillon interjected, perplexed. “Father that’s—”

“Stay out of this, Dillon,” her father interrupted, and her mouth slammed shut.

It’s really not like that though, she thought, all the while knowing that her excuses would fall on her father’s deaf ears, intent on upholding their honor as he was. Dillon chewed on her lower lip. This was quite the embarrassing misunderstanding. Dillon looked fretfully between Cedric and her father. She could already tell how the conversation would go.

“Is this true?” Robert asked again.

“The details are a little off, but the main points are more or less the same,” Cedric replied.

“Then—” Robert started, but Cedric interrupted him.

“Only, I didn’t officially propose to her.”

Of course not. Dillon knew very well that there was no reason for Cedric to propose to her. In fact, Cedric Hayworth despised Dillon Langton, who was known throughout the novel only as “Baroness Samuelson.” Ironically, it was because of Cedric’s hatred for her that Dillon was actually a more important character in the novel than Emily—not that Dillon had realized it until recently when she had first met Cedric in person.

In the novel, Dillon’s character was not once introduced as “Dillon Langton.” She was always referred to as “Baroness Samuelson,” with no mention of her actual name. Why? Because she was someone the male lead despised so much that he couldn’t be bothered to call her by her real name. And the reason that Cedric hated her so much was because of her foolish habit of attempting to seduce him, both before and after Emily died, even going so far as to shoot him flirtatious glances during her own sister’s funeral—it was absolute madness.

Obviously, the current Dillon wouldn’t be caught dead acting that way. But in any case, that was why Cedric despised Baroness Samuelson. It didn’t help that even after Dillon had married Baron Samuelson—who was 35 years her senior because she couldn’t find a husband her own age—she had continued her unseemly behavior.

She distinctly remembered the novel describing how Cedric saw her:

“Grim, dreary eyes.”

“A dismal, unpleasant gaze.”

“A face painted with indecent desire.”

“A vulgar smile.”

From the descriptions of her appearance alone, it was clear that Cedric never once looked at Dillion kindly. But considering the fact that Dillon had fallen in love with her younger sister’s husband, was jealous of her sister, was happy that she died, and constantly attempted to seduce her widowed brother-in-law, it was no surprise Cedric hated her.

That’s why the misunderstanding in which Dillon now found herself was nothing short of hilarious. What had happened on that garden bench was most definitely not a proposal—it was a squabble between a woman who was just trying to protect her younger sister and the man whom she had offended in the process.

“What do you mean it wasn’t official?” Robert pressed. “Do you mean to tell me that you insulted a lady by proposing when you had no intention of marrying her?”

“No,” Cedric replied, bowing his head to Viscount Langton.

Dillon followed suit and bowed her head as well. Again, she could tell how the conversation would play out for the next few minutes: Cedric would make an excuse worthy of a sensible nobleman and insist that he had only been complimenting Dillon when Emily had misheard him. However, he would still apologize for saying something that could be so easily misunderstood. Or he would confess that he had actually been trying to propose to Emily and had only been asking Dillon for advice—ugh, damn it.

What was Dillon going to do if he said that? She felt her heart sink. If he said that, it was over. They currently had a huge audience comprised of many nobles, all of whom were watching them intently. Dillon’s father was also present, which satisfied the customary requirement of proposing in front of the guardian.

On top of that, if Cedric were to propose to Emily right here, the viscount would not be able to refuse because it would be an insult to the duke. If he asked right now, Emily would have to say yes, so he absolutely must be stopped. Dillon bit her tongue as she waited for Cedric to speak.

Just apologize, she mentally urged. Apologize and end it here. Apologize for making Emily misunderstand. Please. Just end this with an apology. Dillon met Cedric’s eyes and gave him her most desperate look. Please, just apologize. Cedric’s mouth slowly opened.

“I must first apologize to you, Viscount Langton,” he said.

That’s it! Dillon thought. The heaviness in her chest disappeared and she let out a sigh of relief.

“I should have brought this up in your presence rather than alone with her,” Cedric continued.

Dillon paused, momentarily confused. What? She didn’t understand. Who was “her,” and what did he need to bring up in front of the viscount? And why was Cedric suddenly coming toward her? Why...

Cedric was slowly getting down on one knee in front of Dillon.

Why?

He took out a small box from his pocket.

Why?!

The people around them suddenly seemed to come to life with ardent whispers. Dillon’s mind, meanwhile, went completely blank. She couldn’t move her body at all, as if time had stopped. It seemed only Dillon’s world was frozen because Cedric had knelt before her and was opening his mouth to speak.

“Lady Dillon Langton…” he began.

Oh my god, Dillon thought.

“Will you marry me?” Cedric asked.

Dillon had imagined many possible scenarios, but this wasn’t one of them.

* * *

“Will you marry me?”

The people in the ballroom circled the couple as the scene unfolded like a romantic play, everyone’s hearts pounding.

“Goodness, His Grace is so courageous!” one person whispered.

“It’s so romantic,” said another.

“I want to be proposed to like that,” one woman swooned.

“What are you waiting for?” another random audience member called out. “Hurry up and accept, Dillon!”

They were all watching with the same rose-tinted glasses. The only person there who was mere seconds from panicking was Dillon. I need to reject him. That was the first thought that popped into her head. I must reject him. Even though she knew this was a situation in which she most certainly could not reject him, she still had to—and she wanted to.

There were so many reasons to. First of all, she had not even the slightest desire to marry Cedric. Second, she didn’t want to become Cedric’s first wife who would give birth to a stillborn baby and then die. It may not have seemed likely, but one could never be too sure. And finally, most importantly, she wanted to avoid the route that had been determined for her by the novel at all costs.

The current Dillon was, of course, completely different from Baroness Samuelson in the novel. She hasn’t fallen for Cedric, and nor was she jealous of Emily. But by outward appearances, didn’t it seem like Dillon was jealous of Emily and wanted Cedric to marry her instead? And wasn’t that what Cedric thought? Clearly, Dillon had good reason to be wary.

Novel Dillon and the current Dillon both shared the same past, and in the novel, Dillon resented Emily in part because everyone, especially men, had always compared her to her more-beautiful sister. But mostly it was because of how Dillon’s fiancé had broken off their engagement.

Yes, Dillon had once had a fiancé too. Emphasis on had. It had been a long time ago, around the time when she’d started remembering the contents of the novel. And the reason for their split? He was a total nutcase.

That nut case’s name was Miles Whitewood, and he was the eldest son of Baron Whitewood, a long-time friend of Viscount Langton. It was during the New Year’s Eve ball, where everyone was gathered to ring in the new year. There was a tradition that engaged or married couples would share a kiss at the stroke of midnight, leaning close together while hidden behind the woman’s fan.

Miles Whitewood had chosen that moment to tell her, “To tell you the truth, I’ve never liked you romantically. I’ve only ever thought of you as a friend. That’s why I could never kiss you.”

Dillon had never once asked him to kiss her. Honestly, she had also only considered him a friend, so when he implied that he had never been attracted to her, she had wanted to reply that she had felt the same.

However, she never managed to get the words out, because Miles had continued by saying something downright insane: “The person I like is not you, but your sister, Emily.”