After I, a Penniless Noble, Entered a Fake Engagement with the Most Elegant Duke’s Daughter at the Academy, For Some Reason She Started Showering Me with Love

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Chapter 07.3: Asking My Fake Fiancée Out on a Date

The next day, after school—

I headed to the rose garden.

As always, Yuri was there, calmly sipping her tea.

Seeing her in her usual spot filled me with relief.

And when she noticed me, she blinked once before greeting me in that familiar voice.

“Welcome.”

She poured me tea, too—

A routine that had started ever since we met.

Normally, this would be the part where she started chatting nonstop, or scooted closer with that smug smile of hers.

But today, Yuri quietly returned to her seat and lowered her gaze.

That awkward tension still lingered in the air.

And I wanted to fix it somehow.

But no matter how much I racked my brain yesterday,

Someone like me—who didn’t understand a girl’s heart at all—had no idea how to fix this uncomfortable mood.

So, after much internal suffering, I forced myself to say it.

“…Wanna go on a date?”

Yuri’s eyes narrowed in disbelief, as if to say, What on earth are you talking about?

That skeptical glare of hers hit me like a blade—slowly chipping away at my confidence.

I pressed my tongue to the back of my teeth to stop it from trembling,

And awkwardly turned my gaze away, trying to explain.

“W-Well… I mean, even if it’s fake, you’re technically my fiancée, right? So I thought… maybe doing that kind of thing would help. You know—showing it off for appearances and all.”

“…I’m not going to argue with your logic, dear husband.”

Despite her words, Yuri’s gaze was sharp and filled with doubt.

Cold sweat slid down my forehead.

No matter how much tea I drank, my throat still felt dry.

“You’re quite talkative today. And oddly proactive. Didn’t you used to be against making our engagement public?”

“N-Not really…?”

“Your voice cracked.”

Yuri pointed it out immediately, and I quickly raised my teacup to hide my mouth.

But I knew that reaction only confirmed her suspicions.

Still—

Being suspected, while also knowing she was right to suspect me—

There was no way I could keep a straight face under that kind of pressure.

I couldn’t meet her eyes.

I sat still, shrinking into myself, until her soft sigh hit my ears like a ripple.

“…Honestly. You’re being unusually stubborn. I wonder whose idea this was?”

“…”

So she did figure it out.

Her sideways glance felt like a silent accusation, and my throat tightened.

I mean, even I thought it was weird to suddenly ask her on a date.

So of course Yuri would question it too.

I wasn’t even fully convinced myself.

…Seriously though, is this really going to work, dorm matron?

I couldn’t help but recall the advice she gave me yesterday:

“If you want to lift a girl’s mood, take her on a date. Show her a good time in different places, and I’m sure your relationship with Miss Yuliana will naturally go back to normal.”

When I first heard that suggestion, my honest reaction was, “Seriously?”

I was skeptical, to say the least.

At first, I planned to take the dorm matron’s advice with a grain of salt.

But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with any better ideas.

So it came down to this:

Should I wait and hope time would magically fix everything…

Or take a gamble on the dorm matron’s “date plan,” even if it had no solid basis?

After agonizing over it, I decided I wanted to resolve things sooner rather than later.

So I went with her advice—

Mostly because I figured a fellow woman’s perspective would probably be more accurate when it came to Yuri.

Honestly, I couldn’t tell if I should feel embarrassed for depending on such vague reasoning,

Or disappointed in myself for being so useless in the first place.

Trapped in a situation I couldn’t handle on my own,

I sighed inwardly, heavy and deep.

“…Your motives and explanation are vague at best—but fine. I’ll go.”

“Huh? What?”

Caught up in my own thoughts, I completely missed what Yuri said.

When I lifted my head and looked at her, she was clearly annoyed—

Her lips twisted in that unmistakable pout of hers.

“Dear husband, were you even listening to a word I just said?”

“Sorry.”

Yeah, it went in one ear and right out the other.

“Good grief… It’s like your mind’s not even here today.”

“…You’ve been like that for days now.”

“Hmm? Did you say something?”

“N-Nothing!”

Her smile alone was enough to make me flinch.

I quickly shook my head side to side.

Even complaining under my breath felt like a dangerous game.

“Listen properly, will you? I said I understood.”

“…Huh? Understood what?”

“Are you a bird, dear husband? Do you forget everything after taking just three steps? No, wait—you’re sitting, so you didn’t even take any steps. How am I supposed to describe someone with a memory worse than a bird? Even with my vast vocabulary, it’s a real challenge, fufu.”

“Could you not call me an idiot in such a roundabout way?”

“You’re an idiot, dear husband.”

“…That doesn’t mean you should just say it outright either…”

Even if the insults were coming from a beautiful girl,

I wasn’t exactly into verbal abuse, thank you very much.

That said, I had completely zoned out—

So yeah, I had no excuse. I deserved the scolding.

While I sat there quietly accepting her words,

Yuri let out a small breath, like she was finally relaxing a bit.

“I said I’d go on the date with you.”

“…Really?”

“I don’t mind.”