I'm Done Being Your Best Friend

From that day on, the Harrison Duchy had maintained a strange tension, and its head, Fabian, was in agony.

A rare guest came to the drawing room of such a residence.

“Long time no see, Duke Harrison.”

“It’s been a while.”

Duke Grint reached out to Fabian. Fabian shook his hand.

By nature, Fabian was against socialising. In his mind, he thought he would only get useless attention if he went out there. He was even reluctant to come close to the nobles that could do him good.

Even for business meetings, Fabian had Justin as his substitute. He had the authority as the Duke’s representative and all was up to him to handle. It had always been that way if the matter was not too important.

However, the Grint Duchy, along with Harrison, were the only ducal families in the kingdom. And as families that had been in close contact from generation to generation, Fabian was in regular contact with Duke Grint.

Today, the Duke of Grint requested a meeting. And his eldest daughter was with him.

“It’s been a while, Your Grace.”

Chloe greeted with a composed smile. Fabian also greeted her and said to Duke Grint.

“Did you say you have something important to say?”

“The important thing is,…I just came to see your face.”

Duke Grint burst out laughing.

I was fooled again. Fabian thought. He’s always like this.

But the Duke of Grint was not an idle man. After talking for a little over an hour, he rose from his seat. Fabian also stood up to see them off.

Yet, Chloe was sitting still.

Why isn’t she getting up? Fabian questioned in silence.

“Father, please make your way out first.”

“All right. Go ahead and talk to him.”

It seemed that an agreement had already been made between her and duke Grint.

Duke Grint left the drawing room without any explanation, leaving Chloe alone with Fabian.

“Don’t come out. I can go on my own.”

When Fabian tried to see him off, he turned him down.

Fabian was left alone with Chloe in the drawing room. There was something suspicious about her smiling face.

“Did you have something to talk about?”

“Yes. I came today for it. But if I came alone, you might think it’s strange.”

“What are you trying to say?”

What was there for them to talk about in private? The fact that she followed her father today was also something she wouldn’t normally do. Fabian waited silently for her next words.

And the question Chloe then threw at Fabian left him baffled.

“The man lady Nelson is dating, is Your Grace, right?”

For a moment, time seemed to stop.

He knew Chloe was hanging out with Sienna. But Fabian had never appeared before her during this time. Chloe was one of the few nobles who knew his face.

He didn’t say anything to Sienna that day. The confession that he loved her, nor the confession that he was a duke. He knew it was his misunderstanding and only came back with a conflict.

But how did she know? Fabian looked at her without answering her question.

After a few seconds passed, Chloe urged him for an answer, as if she could stare straight through his soul and know everything about him.

“I’ve come to know everything. So just tell me.”

Fabian remained expressionless and kept his mouth shut. What should he do in this case? It was time for him to make a choice.

Should he pretend he did not know what she was saying? He could just calmly respond with nonchalance. That way he would not be exposed as much.

But since Chloe was so sure, he didn’t know if she would be deceived by just him denying it.

Seeing that Fabian didn’t reply to her, Chloe seemed to have noticed Fabian’s conflict. Frustrated, she spoke once again in a stern tone.

“Duke, please say something. Don’t even think about deceiving me.”

If he denied it right here and now, Chloe would still be persistent until she got the answer she wanted.

‘Duke, why are you lying?’ Her voice as she said this was clearly pictured in his mind.

Just thinking about it made him feel fed up. Since it had come to this, it might be better to tell her the true story. If it were her, she wouldn’t go around spreading this recklessly. Since Chloe had a cool personality and was tight-lipped. With that, Fabian decided to trust her.

He asked Chloe with his alerted eyes on her.

“How did you know?”

“As expected. So that must be a ‘yes’.”

Chloe nodded her head a couple of times as if it was understandable. Then she asked Fabian, who was still confused.

“Why on earth were you like that?”

Why did you do such a ridiculous thing? huh? Tell me. Her words seemed to be translated into that.

Where should I start? Unknowingly, Fabian let out a long sigh.

“About that….”

He could not just begin by saying that it started when he wanted to confirm the identity of his fated partner. Because unlike himself, she was a total realist. Hearing this would make her burst into laughter.

“It was on a trip. I happened to meet her while I was on my trip to the Marquisate.”

Fabian decided to leave out the important thing.

“Is that so? And you’ve kept in touch with lady Nelson ever since that trip?”

“Yes. I travel a lot.”

“Then you must have at least used a fake identity.”

Chloe really seemed like she knew everything. Even to the extent that he faked his identity as a traveler.

How did she find out? Fabian’s eyebrows furrowed.

“My friend said she saw a man with lady Nelson. But she also said he had black hair and red eyes. No matter how hard I thought about it, it didn’t seem like he was an ordinary person.”

She stirred the empty teacup round and round with a teaspoon. The sound of friction from the empty teacup bothered Fabian. The sound stopped shortly after. Chloe put down the teaspoon and said.

“Even his name is Logan! So, who else is there to match these traits besides the Duke?” (t/n: his full name is Fabian Logan Harrison.)

Chloe didn’t say who she had heard it from, but he had already known even if she didn’t say it.

Lady Coventry. She must have told her.

Even when they met on that day, lady Coventry had a different reaction from lady Moore’s friends. She tilted her head as soon as she saw him, and she whispered something to Sienna when he was away.

So that must have been how it turned out. Fabian, who had just been caught by Chloe, regretted it. Maybe it was wrong to inadvertently give them his middle name back at the Marquisate.

But since he had already said that, it’s irreversible. It unintentionally made him deceive Sienna. At that time, who would have thought that Sienna, someone he thought would end with a brief meeting, would appear in the fountain as his fateful partner?

It was Fabian’s fault in the first place.