Peach of June - Chapter 2

First, Duke Julien Renal captivated me at first sight. He is a very handsome man. Duke Renal, who is tall and has broad shoulders, has a sharp nose with a ferocious hard jawline like a god of war.

His clean face lines, as if drawn with a single brush, are too perfect, and a bit cold. However, the pupils hidden in the shadows created by the eccentric high eyebrow bones gave off a surprisingly pure light.

Even though I knew that he was a warrior who made a great contribution to the First Imperial War, I wondered if that person could kill a single person with those sweet eyes.

Because I have a strict father, I always have an ideal type of a sweet and kind man, and I fell in love with him at first sight.

His black eyes shone gently like glass from time to time, depending on where he placed his gaze. The cold and languid gaze made those gorgeous eyes look even better.

The very next day upon arriving at the Riverrun Island, he gave me a large, succulent, coveted peach from his territory.

“Do peaches grow on Riverrun Island?”

Julien Renal asked.

“No. I’ve never tasted it. I’ve heard of June peaches, which are said to only be found in the Renal’s estate,” I answered.

“It is so soft that it cannot be trimmed with a knife. You have to peel the skins by hand.”

Julien Renal went out to the garden. Clean water was flowing from the statue near the fountain where Julian carefully washed his hands. Then he peeled the peach by himself – unlike a nobleman.

“Your hands will get dirty.”

“It’s okay.”

He didn’t care even though the juice was dripping and his hands were getting sticky.

The noon light came into the drawing-room in June’s middle of the day.

The sun was shading his face, making it difficult to see his expression.

White, cold hands carefully peeled off the peach skin and put it directly into my mouth.

As I took a bite of the peach, his long fingers lightly touched my lips.

It was the first time I had such intimate contact with a man. I can’t forget that moment.

“It’s so delicious. Sweet,” I said.

He smiled softly. It was only because of his smile that the sunlight at noon in June was so bright.

“There is a saying that if you eat the peach of June, you will live forever,” he said.

“Are you already proposing? Do you want to live with me forever?”

He laughed without answering. It was a fresh smile.

A picture of the future unfolded in five seconds in my mind.

The Duke of Renal proposes to me.

I marry him and become the Duchess of Renal.

The two of us pick peaches every June in Renal’s estate.

Our children, who resemble Duke Renal’s black eyes, come to Riverrun Island every summer to play in the lavender fields, and Duke Renal smiles brightly and sits next to me, peeling peaches for our children.

It was a picture of me living happily by his side forever.

Imagination spreads its wings very quickly. But the wings were soon broken. He didn’t really care about me.

The Duke of Renal did not do much courtship with me. No, he almost acted like he was avoiding me.

The peach was sweet and delicious, but he wasn’t at all, contrary to his first impressions.

Did I do anything wrong while eating the peach?

Or was it that he was excited and came to courtship with a peach, but I wasn’t really his type?

For three months, the Duke of Renal never spoke to me. He always locked himself in a separate house, and even though he occasionally came out, he was alone in the lavender forest and strolling through the garden.

When he ran into me on the promenade, he barely greeted me and left in a hurry to the point where I was embarrassed, and when I entered the drawing-room and sat there, he then got up and hurried off to the study.

Sometimes when I look up at his room from the garden, I could see his face staring this way from the window, perhaps looking down at the scenery of the garden. But when our eyes met, he immediately drew the curtains and closed the windows. He must hate me.

Why the hell did you come here?

Did you come here to pretend to be courting because you needed a political marriage with the Riverrun family?

Why did you give me the peach then? Still, you had to pretend, so did you give me one as a gift?

Why did I bring up the topic of the marriage proposal?

When I think of that time, my face turns red. I was shy at first, and then I hated him for not being so interested in me, and even though I didn’t do anything wrong, his behavior of disappearing when I saw him as if he was avoiding dirty shit was disrespectful.

Eventually, I stopped paying attention to him.