Everyone Realized the Saint Was a Fake, but She Still Thought She Was Fooling Them - Chapter 3

The next day.

Lianne had been so restless about yesterday’s events that she barely slept at all. When the promised time came, she hurried to the Tronic Duke’s estate, where Celeste lived.

When Lianne arrived, she was immediately led to the courtyard.

Wallace was already there, playing with Coco.

Lianne was too worried about yesterday to focus on Coco, but Wallace seemed calm and was affectionately teasing the dog.

Huh?

Lianne was secretly surprised at how different her reaction was from Wallace’s.

Coco was a female English Springer Spaniel.

Wallace was happily stroking the paw Coco had given him for a handshake, but Coco looked annoyed and kept trying to pull her paw back.

In the end, Wallace got smacked on the head from behind. “Enough already! Can’t you see Coco hates it?”

Lianne was startled.

The person who had hit Wallace was Bartlett, the same man from yesterday who had been with them during the incident with Ernst.

Bartlett noticed Lianne.

“Oh, Lianne.”

He completely ignored Wallace, who was crouching next to him, holding his head.

Lianne glanced at Wallace with some sympathy before turning to Bartlett.

“So, you’re here too, Bartlett?”

“Yeah, well, if I leave Wallace alone, he’ll just end up bothering people everywhere,” Bartlett said with a resigned sigh.

“I don’t bother people!” Wallace protested.

“You were literally just bothering Coco,” Bartlett pointed out.

Wallace pouted and fell silent.

Lianne found their interaction amusing, but she quickly came back to her senses.

“Hey, what happened yesterday? How is Lord Ernst?” she asked, bringing up the previous day’s events.

Wallace, however, answered in a relaxed tone.

“We’ll talk about that when Celeste arrives. She’s probably worried too. Ah, here she comes! And her fiancé is with her.”

Lianne turned around and saw Celeste approaching with her fiancé. She looked slightly nervous.

Celeste’s fiancé greeted Lianne and Bartlett. “It’s been a while.”

Then, he turned to Wallace and bowed politely.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Brode, Celeste’s fiancé and the eldest son of the Stokely Earl family.”

Wallace looked a bit more formal than usual and responded seriously.

“I’m Wallace of the Kianan Duke family. I spent the past year in a neighboring country.”

Brode gave him an approving look.

“Celeste has told me about you. You’re highly regarded by His Majesty the King. It’s an honor to finally meet you.”

Wallace started to reply, “Yeah, I get that a lot,” but before he could finish, Celeste stomped on his foot.

Brode didn’t seem to notice and continued, “Will you be returning to the neighboring country soon?”

Wallace shook his head with a smile. “No, I’ll be here for a while. I need to find a marriage partner. Do you know anyone suitable?”

Bartlett blurted out, “Wait, I thought you liked Lianne?”

Before he could say more, Wallace stomped on his foot hard.

“Ow!” Bartlett winced in pain.

Luckily, Brode didn’t hear Bartlett’s comment.

“A suitable partner? If you’re serious, I might be able to introduce someone,” Brode said earnestly.

Wallace clapped his hands and beamed. “That would be great! Anyone is fine. Even one of your ex-girlfriends would do.”

Brode looked stunned.

Celeste immediately shot Wallace a sharp glare.

“Wallace!”

Wallace raised both hands. “Haha, just kidding! No need to get so scary, you two.”

Celeste, worried about how Brode would react, quickly changed the subject.

“Forget introducing anyone to this rude man! It would only ruin your reputation, Brode. More importantly, what happened with yesterday’s incident?”

“Incident?” Brode furrowed his brows, unaware of what had happened the night before.

Celeste explained, “Lord Ernst was attacked by someone.”

Brode’s face turned pale instantly.

“What? Attacked? You mean Lord Ernst of the Lynbrick Duke family?”

Wallace had been observing Brode closely. Seeing him react so strongly, he smirked inwardly but spoke in a lighthearted tone.

“Yes, Lord Ernst of the Lynbrick Duke family. But actually, it turns out it wasn’t an attack, Celeste. He accidentally stabbed himself. In the back.”

Celeste was unconvinced.

“Huh? That’s ridiculous. How does someone stab their own back?”

Lianne also clenched her fists and nodded vigorously.

Wallace glanced at Lianne’s tightly clenched hands and sighed before responding casually.

“He was drunk and doesn’t remember.”

“What?” Celeste turned to Bartlett for confirmation, but he only gave a wry smile.

Lianne, looking anxious, asked in a trembling voice, “Wallace, forget whether he was drunk or not. How bad was his injury? He collapsed—was the wound deep?”

Wallace could tell she was genuinely worried about Ernst. He felt a bitter pang in his chest but pushed it aside and spoke in a reassuring tone.

“Not as bad as we thought. The royal physician checked him, and despite all the bl00d, the wound was shallow and not in a critical spot. The Lynbrick family picked him up soon after. By then, he was already able to speak. He even invited Bartlett and me to visit him next week.”

Brode listened with a serious expression.

“So you’re saying Lord Ernst got drunk, stabbed himself in the back, and was injured?”

“That’s right,” Wallace replied smoothly, though he didn’t believe it himself.

Brode fell into deep thought, then looked sharply at Wallace.

“Are you serious?”

Wallace didn’t answer. He simply smiled confidently.

Then, Brode suddenly turned to leave.

“Excuse me, Celeste. I just remembered something urgent. I must go.”

“Huh? Urgent? Lord Brode?” Celeste called after him in surprise.

But Brode seemed lost in thought and quickly walked away without answering.