Don't Ask, It'll Hurt If You Know - Chapter 22
“First, I’d like to know why you’re curious about that.”
It was a perfect response that avoided both a difficult answer and lying. Chloe looked at Ian proudly, feeling pleased with herself.
“I know all of Chloe’s friends, but since I’ve never seen you before, I was a bit curious.”
Ian MacMilden knows all my friends?
Finding this absurd, Chloe asked incredulously.
“How can you be so sure? There might be friends of Chloe’s that you don’t know about.”
“No. I know all of them.”
Ian’s gaze at Chloe, who wore Bianca’s mask, was the most serious she’d ever seen.
“I also know that you can’t possibly be Chloe’s longtime friend.”
Though internally startled at being hit right on the mark, Chloe maintained her composure externally and met Ian’s gaze calmly.
“Now it’s your turn to answer. Since when have you known Chloe?”
Answer well, Chloe. Otherwise, there’ll be strange misunderstandings.
Their first meeting had been a complete disaster, and if strange misunderstandings arise too, their relationship would become irreparable.
……But why do I care about my relationship with Ian?
“Well, truthfully, we haven’t known each other that long.”
Chloe answered, swallowing her sudden doubt.
“We first met at the recent Rumonie. We talked about various things and became close. We had similar interests, so we got along well.”
Since no suitable excuse came to mind and telling the truth seemed better than making clumsy lies, she spoke honestly. Of course, with some modifications and omissions.
“But about Chloe falling from her horse…….”
Worried that Ian might dig deeper about what they discussed, Chloe turned the conversation toward the riding accident while pretending to tear up.
Ian’s expression darkened dramatically. He looked like someone who had lost something precious.
‘I didn’t know this guy cared about me this much.’
This was rather touching. Feeling slightly embarrassed about constantly challenging him to matches while shouting that she would definitely win this time, Chloe scratched her cheek.
“Um, Chloe will definitely wake up, so don’t be too sad.”
“How can you be so sure about that, Lady?”
Because I’m the person in question. Because I don’t plan to live in this body forever.
No, more importantly, he’s throwing my own words back at me, and it’s not even for revenge.
As Chloe glared at him in disbelief, Ian smiled slightly and muttered as if to himself.
“I suppose you are a friend after all.”
* * *
“Jack, Jack!”
Having returned safely to the viscounty mansion thanks to Ian, Chloe searched for the coachman who had driven her carriage.
As it happened to be dinner time, Jack, who had been eating in the servants’ dining room, came running out hurriedly.
In the past, he might have continued eating leisurely regardless of whether Bianca Lloyd called him or not, but having personally experienced her recent change to a fiercer personality, he rushed out immediately.
“You were looking for me, Miss!”
“Yes, I was.”
Chloe placed her hands on her hips and flashed her eyes menacingly.
“Who gave you permission to return on your own? Did you want to trick me that badly?”
“What? That’s not…… Miss, you told us to return first.”
“What? I did? When?”
Finally sensing something was wrong from her questions, Jack stammered an explanation.
“Well, the post office clerk definitely said that you had an appointment and told us to return first…….”
Though Jack, who was even sweating nervously, didn’t seem to be lying, it still made her angry. Chloe pressed her furrowed brow and questioned Jack.
“So you just believed what a mere clerk said and left? Without even checking with me?”
“I-I’m sorry, Miss. Since you’ve done this before, I thought this time too…….”
Chloe was about to ask ‘when did I,’ but remembering she was now Bianca Lloyd, not Chloe Elena, she swallowed her words.
“Right, I did do that before.”
Since there was precedent, and in a way Jack was also a victim, Chloe just told him to make sure to check next time before returning to her bedroom.
“Haah.”
After removing her coat and sitting on the sofa, Chloe pondered why the post office clerk had told such a lie to Jack.
Was that person even really a post office clerk to begin with?
If they were in league with the person who had followed her, maybe they created this situation deliberately because it would be hard to follow a carriage…….
“…….”
Getting goosebumps just thinking about it, Chloe hugged her arms and turned her head. Her gaze fell on a mirror where Bianca Lloyd’s face was reflected.
Seeing someone else’s face in the mirror when she hadn’t expected it was something she couldn’t get used to no matter how many times she experienced it. And she didn’t want to get used to it.
Because becoming accustomed to this situation would mean she had spent that much time as Bianca Lloyd.
“I need to return before that happens.”
Chloe made a firm resolution, again and again, that she would definitely return, and as soon as possible.
