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With a vacant expression on her face,

Even Eleanor, who looked like a fool, was incredibly cute. Ignoring Eleanor, Dmitri and Daphne began walking back towards the annex.

Meeting Eleanor and expressing gratitude to her were important tasks for both of them.

Before the Changbaek couple returned to the West, there was something they needed to confirm about the interaction between the North and the West.

However, the shadow cast long under the blue-tinted marble pillars seemed inexplicably stifling.

“They make quite a lovely pair.”

Quietly following behind him, Daphne spoke to Dmitri in her usual emotionless voice.

“W-what?”

Startled by the absurd statement, Dmitri stopped in his tracks and turned around abruptly.

Despite his intense gaze, the blonde beauty facing him exuded a cold aura as usual, hiding her emotions behind a blank expression and merely scanning Dmitri up and down.

“Well… compared to Your Highness, Eleanor may seem delicate, but… well, there wouldn’t be anyone suitable for Your Highness’s large stature anyway.”

“Wait, Daphne?”

“Moreover, Eleanor has just started standing up from her seat, so she might gain even more weight than now.”

“Daphne. What are you talking about?”

Caught off guard by the scrutinizing gaze running down his sturdy body, Dmitri was thoroughly perplexed.

Looking at him with disdain, Daphne replied in a subdued voice.

“What am I saying? Your Highness and Eleanor make a good match. So, when will Your Highness confess to Eleanor?”

“C-c-confess!”

A completely mismatched exclamation, more fitting for adolescent girls, escaped Dmitri.

Having served Dmitri for nearly a decade in the frozen lands of the East without ever hearing such words from the lord, the short blonde hair beneath his chin swayed slightly as it brushed against his jawline.

“Your Highness. Haven’t you also taken a liking to Eleanor?”

“No! What do you mean, ‘liking’?”

“That’s why you handed her the handkerchief yourself. And didn’t you also wave your tail in front of Eleanor?”

Frustrated, Dmitri loosened the cravat tightening around his neck, his face flushed red.

He moved towards Daphne, ready to confront her immediately, but all that came out beyond his lips was a defeated sigh.

“Well… that’s true but…”

Expressionless, or rather, those strangely gleaming blue eyes left him speechless, unable to counter her argument.

As she pointed out, he had approached Eleanor first and handed her the handkerchief.

And it was true that he had thought of Hildegarde when looking at Eleanor’s appearance.

“Hildegarde’s excuses won’t work. Besides, Your Highness, don’t you carry a plain handkerchief without any embroidery separately?”

She was right.

At least Dmitri was not a man indifferent to passing women like others.

He always carried a plain handkerchief with no embroidery that he used when meeting women along the way.

Exhaling deeply under his black hair, Dmitri responded.

“Well. Still, Eleanor is out of the question. You know it too, Daphne. Our current situation… Can a lady like Miss Eleanor, raised like a princess, endure the insignificant chill of the Duke’s cold air?”

“Since the beginning, it has been said that Western women are as strong as Northern men. Just look at Eleanor Youngae’s sister, the daughter of Count Beauran. Isn’t it evident?”

Dmitri retaliated with a flicker in his eyes at Daphne’s appropriate example.

“Daphne, if you try to seduce their brother, I might end up dead because of him.”

“Surely you wouldn’t consider harming Lady Alenia’s precious brother-in-law—”

“Oh, really! Brother-in-law!”

However, it was Dmitri, not Daphne, who ended up raising his voice.

“Moreover, it seemed like Youngae also had some feelings for His Grace.”

“I-is that so?”

“She didn’t even return the handkerchief and didn’t hold it close to her chest, did she? Despite claiming amnesia, Youngae is undoubtedly a noblewoman. She would understand the significance of a handkerchief bearing the family crest.”

A ray of enlightenment briefly crossed her momentarily puzzled face upon hearing this, but Dmitri soon shook his head vigorously.

“No, no matter what, it can’t be. Marriage. There is still so much to do. Right now—”

Saying this, Dmitri chose the option of leaving Daphne behind and fleeing.

Watching the retreating figure of her lord, Daphne relaxed her cold expression she had hidden from Dmitri and smiled to herself.

“Your Grace is quite something. I hadn’t even mentioned the word ‘marriage.’”

#.

On the opposite path of the garden where Daphne secretly smiled at the departing Dmitri, Christian brushed aside his disheveled golden-brown bangs with his hand due to the blowing wind and spoke.

“To think we can see the famous townhouse of the Beauran family. And to be personally invited by the Baroness Chambertin.”

His bold voice was directed towards his longtime friend walking beside him, but his olive-colored eyes were focused not on his friend but on the ladies dressed in their finest attire around them.

Unfortunately, as always, Christian’s advances were merely one-way traffic, and despite his sticky gaze, the ladies around him only had eyes for the handsome silver-haired man standing next to him.

“I told you. I owed the Baroness a small favor.”

Brushing off the intense gazes from the women towards himself as if they were bothersome, Julian slowed his steps to match his friend’s pace. Ignoring even the slightest interest from the women, he looked pitifully at Christian extending his hand in greeting.

“Offering greetings to uninterested ladies, even. How pathetic, Christian.”

“Yeah. You should have seen the faces of that woman and her foolish nephew.”

A mix of indifference and annoyance adorned Julian’s handsome face, soon replaced by a cold smile.

“Indeed, if it was such a spectacle, the West must have distanced itself from the Empress, right?”

“Most likely. After all, a couple cherishing a daughter so dearly.”

“Poor prince, left to suffer needlessly.”

At his friend’s exaggerated sympathy, Julian chuckled.

“Hah. Saying the prince is suffering needlessly. Not the words one would expect from an orphan like you.”

“It’s just a saying. He wasn’t someone who could emerge from a dreadful marriage like theirs, in both mind and character.”

“Well, if he had been born into a simple noble family instead of the royal family, he might have been put to good use under someone else.”

As they exchanged various conversations, the two men passed through the darkened garden until they reached the entrance of the annex where a sticky waltz rhythm flowed.

“Are you Mr. Julian Valatier?”

A lady with ivory-colored hair blocked their path, though it clearly ended with a question.

Her clear voice and violet eyes seemed full of conviction in response to her own question.

Yulrian, as if annoyed, casually nodded his head and passed by Oejeni.

It was something he was used to.

As he got off the carriage and walked here, Yulrian realized that the woman who had stopped him on the way and made him stand still was not alone with Oejeni.

Behind his indifferent red eyes, Christian approached the ivory-clad lady with a friendly smile instead of Yulrian.

“Miss, what’s the matter? That brat is always like that, so don’t mind him-”

“Sir Yulrian de la Vallatier. I have something to tell you.”

Nevertheless, Oejeni didn’t stop walking towards Yulrian and shouted loud enough to attract the attention of those around him.

“I apologize for not introducing myself due to the lack of formality. The girl is Oejeni Loelsear, a maid in service to Lady Eleonore.”

Upon hearing that name, Yulrian’s steps came to a halt.

Yulrian turned around and looked at Oejeni, who was still bowing towards him.

“Lady Eleonore’s maid? When I met her before, Lady Eleonore was alone.”

“We have been close since our childhood in the hometown. As a gesture of goodwill from the Countess, we have recently come up from the west to serve the lady.”

Yulrian glanced subtly at Christian.

While he might not understand how to manipulate a woman’s heart, Christian was sharp enough to realize if the woman’s words were true.

Judging by the way her auburn hair swayed up and down, it didn’t seem like the lady in front of him was lying.

“So why did Lady Eleonore’s maid stop me?”

“I have come to deliver a message that I must give to you, sir. Can we talk privately?”

His crimson eyes flashed as he stared at the lady in front of him as if he could devour her.

“Privately? Even if I hear the story alone, Christian here will eventually find out.”

“It doesn’t matter. Whether I ask you not to speak or not, you won’t listen to such words anyway.”

She spoke with strength in her voice, but the lady in front of her did not show any sign of shrinking. In fact, her violet eyes were sparkling brightly.

“Christian, wait here for a moment.”

“Just a moment, Yulrian. What if this is a trap aimed at you?”

“No matter how lacking my personal power may be, I can’t let a fragile lady like her defeat me. I won’t go far, so wait here for a while.”