- Who doesn't know that this professor conducts weekly tests? Everything is written in the curriculum.
Tilia looked at him as if she had seen a mad dog, and then quickly grabbed her bag.
- Don't talk to me. It's annoying.
Then, as if disgusted that he dared speak to her, she walked away coldly.
Left in the lecture hall, where only the smell of flowers was in the air, Ilex sat, staring blankly at the empty seat next to him.
Ah, the curriculum. Exactly. It was a piece of paper with this information.
Only now did he realize that his words must have seemed like a transparent excuse to her to simply start a conversation.
And the truth is that she was absolutely right.
"......"
Like a domestic dog being kicked for the first time, Ilex stood frozen in shock, unable to shake off the daze of the unexpected blow.
***
After that he wandered for a long time. The observation journal he kept about Tilia, where he jotted down pages of notes every day, remained untouched for three whole days.
The shock was so great. The heartbreak and pain were vivid. But at the same time, a feeling of injustice flared up inside him.
Why?
Lying face down on the bed like a dead fish, Ilex suddenly straightened up and ran his hand over his already unkempt face.
He understood why Tilia was annoyed. She sincerely despised men who flirted with her.
What he did was a mistake, very similar to the behavior of the men she hated. He admitted that he deserved her contempt.
But still it didn't deserve such hatred.
Ilex clenched and unclenched his fists in frustration.
He had been watching Tilia closely for a long time, so he knew for sure.
The hostility she showed towards him was too deep for a simple attempt at conversation.
Like a wildlife researcher, Ilex classified Tilia Ambrose's levels of hatred.
By his calculations, he should only have reached level 2.5 on her dislike scale. He only made one mistake, and even that was a relatively minor one—something that could be overlooked with a little leniency.
At the very least he should be called a "really annoying bastard."
But in her beautiful green eyes he saw Level 5 signals.
Why? What have I done to deserve the same disgust as Gregory Myers? What exactly did I do?
His body sank onto the bed as if it had collapsed. He covered his eyes with his hand and exhaled heavily, as if trying to push all the air out of his lungs.
She couldn't quite grasp his feelings. He buried them deep, like a mole, hiding them in a place where no one could reach.
It is also unlikely that she noticed his tireless observations. Even that insufferable Cecelia Clayton never noticed his secretive surveillance.
It wasn't that his loyalties were revealed. And it’s not that his secret surveillance, hidden from prying eyes, was discovered.
Then why...?
Ilex's broad shoulders sagged with despondency.
Samuel Jennings was better. At least he admitted it. At least he was rejected after trying.
He couldn't forget the way those green eyes looked at him - as if he were a bug with its insides falling out.
He lost again without even getting a chance to fight.
***
Only a week later, Ilex finally learned the true reason for Tilia's hatred of him.
Only after overhearing a conversation about himself from his closest friend Tilia, he was able to put everything together.
Rumors. Of course, that was the problem. She heard widespread rumors about Ilex Davenport at the academy and because of them, she began to hate him.
His engagement was arranged on the basis of mutual benefit, but Cecilia Clayton turned out to be a truly disgusting woman.
From a very young age, she craved him. She didn't just have her eye on him as a groom - she wanted to own and completely control him.
Naturally, he ignored her. Even the father's reproaches that he should treat the bride properly went in one ear and out the other.
But when her usual tantrums didn't work, Cecilia, increasingly desperate, resorted to even more insidious methods to assert her ownership.
The most notorious scoundrel of the Royal Akansis Academy. The most outstanding womanizer.
All the nasty rumors about him were spread by Cecilia Clayton, who sought to monopolize him - even if it meant destroying him.
He always knew that these dirty rumors spread like wildfire behind his back.
But he never cared. He never felt the need to correct them.
These rumors never affected him in any way. For that matter, he even found them quite useful sometimes.
The rumors that spread widely due to his indifference actually gave him freedom.
Sometimes some crazy girls would approach him, handing him keys or similar trinkets, or scum who thought they were like him, pretending to be friendly. But it was enough for him to ignore them.
He preferred the position of an outcast, one whom no one approached. It was nice to lie alone on the quiet shore of the lake.
This was the case until, for the first time in his life, he felt the desire to look good in front of a girl his age.
Even knowing that it was his own negligence that contributed to the spread of these rumors, Ilex gnashed his teeth in frustration.
He had never cared about his reputation before, but now, suddenly, he did. He regretted not putting an end to this sooner.
He had to fix this. He had to deny it. He should have attacked Cecelia Clayton and forced her to admit the truth.
He had lived his life as if nothing mattered, indifferent to everything, and now that indifference had come back to suffocate him.
But regret, no matter how deep, always came too late.
He knew all too well how stubbornly Tilia stuck to her opinions once they were formed. Because of this, he couldn't even bring himself to offer a single excuse. Like a fool, he could only circle around her, unable to say a word.
***
“Young master, your complexion is terrible.”
Benjamin Rogers, the butler of the Essentine estate, peered anxiously into the face of his young master.
Ilex, lounging like discarded clothes on the couch in the elegant living room, answered without even opening his eyes.
- Mind your own business.
Despite the rude remark, the old butler showed no signs of being offended. He just continued to look at Ilex with a worried expression on his face.
Finally, after holding this gaze for some time, Ilex took a deep breath and sat down.
- Coffee.
- Yes, I'll bring you some warm tea.
The butler's response was equally brazen. One of the experienced maids who had been listening to their conversation immediately turned and headed towards the kitchen.
- What kind of owner is this who can’t even drink a cup of coffee?
Annoyed, Ilex grumbled, but made no move to shoo away the butler or the maids. No, he couldn't.
Everything on the Essentine estate was his grandfather's precious inheritance.
The Davenport family owned several estates, but among them, only one estate Ilex truly considered home - Essentine. This was the only place where he knew the names of the servants.
Preston Davenport, the late Duke and Ilex's grandfather, was the man who helped cement the Davenport family's position as one of the most prestigious noble families in Acansis.
He quickly hired professional managers for the family business, minimizing losses from unsuccessful investments. Politically, although he was far down in the line of succession, he sided early with the first princess, recognizing her as a strong candidate for the throne, thereby ensuring his influence.
However, despite all his excellence as a duke, he failed as a father.
Ilex looked up at the mantelpiece in the living room, where a family portrait hung - a picture from that rare time when the family of the previous duke was more or less harmonious.
Former Duchess Agatha Davenport sat in a chair with a gentle expression on her face. Next to her, in another chair, sat the powerfully built previous Duke. Behind them stood the current Duke Edmund and his younger brother Kenneth, keeping a barely noticeable distance between them.
Ilex's gaze slid over his father's tense face and settled on the man standing next to him, smiling warmly.
Kenneth Davenport, an uncle he had never met, died in an accident before Edmund inherited the dukedom.
The young man in the painting, forever frozen in his youth, had a kind smile that touched something in Ilex's chest.
Blonde hair and blue-gray eyes. Even without these features, they were remarkably similar.
Perhaps this was why his grandfather, who had ceded the duchy early to his eldest son, cherished his second grandson as if he were his own lost child.
In a family where cold indifference seemed to run in families, his grandfather was the only one who showed him love.
He was the only one who praised Ilex for his excellent results in exams, the only one who saved him from the barn where he was locked due to Gilbert's cruel tricks.
If there was one person in the entire Davenport family who truly loved him, it was his grandfather.
Only much later did he realize that his grandfather's affection only fueled the deep-rooted inferiority complex of his father and brother.
Now looking at the portrait of a once great family left with only one heir, Ilex slowly opened his mouth.
- I want to visit my grandfather's room. Is she ready?