Chapter 1
Bastian’s Decision
In the salon, where a slow, lazy piano performance drifted through the air, a card game was in full swing.
Between the hazy cigarette smoke floating in the air, laughter rose and fell, and glasses clinked as drinks were poured again and again.
On the game table, scattered cards, game chips, colorful macarons, and jewel-like gummies rolled around together. Crystal plates piled with green grapes, jamón, and pickled olives sat among heavy whiskey tumblers and slim champagne flutes, all lined up in messy disorder.
As always, the best “snack” for the people drinking, laughing, and chatting wasn’t food at all.
It was Marie S. Ferdina.
The gossip-maker of high society, and the troublemaker of House Ferdina.
A complete parasite of the social world, with an empty head but endless greed, someone who poured all her passion and energy into doing every kind of cruel thing.
In other words…
A piece of shit.
“Have you noticed we haven’t seen that piece of shit lately?”
“Oh my, Rita! Your language is far too harsh for a saint.”
“Come on, Madam! We’ve all been enjoying ourselves together. Are you really going to be the only one who makes me look like trash now?”
“I’m joking, I’m joking.”
The ladies burst into giggles. Laughing so hard they got thirsty, they each raised their glasses and refreshed their throats with sweet champagne.
“Still, now that you mention it, it is strange. For her to turn down parties and everything.”
“You haven’t heard the rumor?”
Lady Retasia, Baroness Letasia, whose beauty mark on her lips was especially charming, grew excited at the thought of sharing some entertaining news. She fluttered her fan quickly.
“They say she pulled Miss Bere’s hair again. Right in the middle of the city.”
“Oh dear! Again?”
“Tsk, tsk. If she behaved that shamelessly, she should stay quiet for a while.”
“Stay quiet? If she knew what shame was, she wouldn’t be a piece of shit in the first place. No, that’s not even the main point. The gentleman in white was there at the time. He tried to stop the disturbance and got dragged into it, but then that little piece of shit actually started screaming that her wrist was broken, rolling around on the ground.”
“My goodness! How disgraceful!”
The ladies listening looked shocked, but underneath their expressions was a sense of boredom.
That level of cruelty was within expectations, so it wasn’t fresh enough.
After all, when had the greedy Marie Ferdina ever not tormented a young lady even slightly better than herself?
What they were waiting for… was something more satisfying than that.
They all wanted, with one heart, for the righteous hero to finally crush the wicked, unruly mare so she would never stand again.
“From the gentleman’s point of view, his fiancée was, in broad daylight, grabbing someone else’s hair and causing a scene in the street. Of course he would try to pull her off right away. Even if he used a bit of strength, would he really break a delicate lady’s wrist? Would the young Grand Duke of Bastian ever have that kind of character?”
“Exactly. We can all vouch for the gentleman in white’s excellent character.”
“Of course. There’s no way he would’ve done such a thing.”
The noble ladies nodded, each adding a word of praise for the gentleman in white.
“Because there were so many people watching, he probably settled it properly on the spot… but I suppose he must’ve been truly furious. Our Colonel.”
With her upper lip lifted into a smile that emphasized the beauty mark, Baroness Letasia revealed her delight openly as she delivered the punchline everyone had been waiting for.
“They say Bastian is finally going to throw Ferdina an official letter of annulment.”
***
Ferdina of yellow spring. Mahel of green summer. Bastian of white winter.
Three ducal houses granted middle names by the royal House of Anacra, which represented the red autumn of harvest and abundance.
The three pillars that held up the kingdom.
And among them, white Bastian carried noble blood through close ties to the Anacra royal family.
It was a true military house, famous for producing the legendary knight Thalia, who had once been renowned as a Sword Master.
Sirius W. Bastian was the heir to House Bastian, and the world called him the Gentleman in White.
Noble lineage.
A strong and upright character.
A striking appearance.
And unique, unmatched ability.
It was almost too simple of a description for a man with everything, but to the citizens of Anacra, that title held immense pride.
As if to say:
Your country doesn’t have Sirius Winter Bastian, does it? But we do.
“How long are you planning to tolerate that filthy piece of garbage?!”
A middle-aged woman’s shrill voice rang sharply through the wide reception room.
Beneath golden hair that looked as if it had been made from all the light in the world, her spotless forehead creased deeply.
How could it not?
His aunt, who had married out long ago and taken another family name, rushed over whenever she had a chance and interfered like this in the family’s affairs.
It looked bad to outsiders, and in every way, it was a headache.
While Countess Padgett confronted the Duke of Bastian, her older brother, with veins bulging in her neck, the actual hostess of the room, the Duchess of Bastian, couldn’t even open her mouth and only fidgeted restlessly.
For the lady of a noble house, there was hardly anything more important than the heir’s marriage.
But the Duchess always reminded herself that she was only a stepmother, and because of that, she treated the eldest son with excessive caution.
So even now, she couldn’t bring herself to step forward.
An overbearing aunt meddling too much.
A timid stepmother who couldn’t hold her ground.
A father who didn’t seem interested in mediating between them.
And, on top of everything, the topic he least wanted to hear spoken aloud: his fiancée.
In this suffocating air, where everything from start to finish was uncomfortable…
Only Sirius, the person at the center of it all, remained calm, like the quiet of a frost-covered dawn.
McKenzie, the secretary standing in the corner like a scolded child, glanced at the young duke’s profile and muttered inwardly:
This is bad.
At first glance, his expression seemed unreadable, as if he were watching the situation without interest.
But the chill quietly leaking out of him made his twisted mood obvious.
Still, the elders seemed too focused on the issue itself to worry about the young duke’s feelings.
“And so?”
The Duke of Bastian scolded Countess Padgett in a stern voice.
“Are you telling me that Sirius, who is no ordinary commoner, should break an engagement arranged between noble houses?!”
“If she were simply stupid, perhaps we could tolerate her. Even a beast that doesn’t understand words can be trained if you discipline it harshly enough.”
At the words discipline it harshly, the Duchess’s shoulders flinched.
Everyone was focused on the loud Countess, so no one noticed the Duchess trembling.
Only McKenzie, standing behind them, saw it.
“Considering Ferdina’s wealth, it’s a waste, yes, Brother. But Marie Ferdina is insane. Just how far does she plan to drag down the honor of our precious heir? The old saying is true, isn’t it? You can handle a foolish woman, but you can’t handle a crazy one.”
At those excessive words, the Duke of Bastian cut her off with a visibly displeased expression.
“Watch your mouth, Clara. To disgrace Ferdina is no different from disgracing the kingdom’s three ducal houses… and the kingdom itself. Do you not understand that?”
“Brother, the one disgracing Ferdina is Marie herself! You know what they call her in high society!”
The Duke finally let out a deep sigh and rubbed his forehead with his thumb, as if he had a headache.
He wasn’t unaware that Marie’s behavior had gone beyond what could be covered up with a few words.
Even before Clara came rushing over, loyal vassals and respected elders of Bastian had expressed serious concern.
But this was not a good time to proceed with an annulment.
The previous Duke of Ferdina had passed away suddenly a few years ago.
The new Duke of Ferdina inherited the house in an unstable position.
As one of the kingdom’s three pillars, Bastian had a duty to help the young and inexperienced Duke of Ferdina establish himself properly.
If nothing else, for the sake of his late friend.
“Brother, I know what you’re worried about. You were close with the late Duke of Ferdina, and I also formed a friendship with the late Duchess, so of course I understand. That’s exactly why I’m saying this. That girl is a germ rotting the kingdom from the inside. If you don’t cut her off quickly, she’ll make our family… and this entire country… sick to death.”
“You exaggerate too much.”
“If you don’t cast her out, you’ll end up missing the days when you could still call it an exaggeration.”
With a confident expression that seemed to demand agreement, she turned to look at Sirius.
Countess Padgett flinched at his icy blue eyes, so cold it felt like frost might drip from them. She forced an awkward cough.
“Ahem.”
Then she turned her reddened face away unnaturally, as if her pride had been wounded from letting her fear show in front of the Duchess.
“Fine. We haven’t heard the opinion of the person who matters most. Sirius, do you want to annul the engagement?”
“As if there’s any need to ask! After all the humiliation Marie has put Sirius through!”
“Clara. Stop interrupting. Be quiet.”
After receiving that stern warning, Countess Padgett pressed her lips together and stepped back.
Everyone’s gaze gathered in one place.
Sirius’s neatly shaped lips, pressed tightly together, moved slowly.
“My wishes are not important. If you make the decision that benefits the family, I will follow it.”
Hearing his son’s answer, the Duke of Bastian fell into deep worry.
He was his own child, but he was too rigid, too closed off, so much so that he hardly felt human.
The only time Sirius ever showed any cracks in that coldness was when he became entangled with his troublesome fiancée.
Because of that, the Duke of Bastian didn’t entirely hate Marie Ferdina.
His wife seemed to prefer a more proper and modest young lady as a daughter-in-law.
But since his two sons were both so cold and blunt, the Duke believed that at least his daughter-in-law should be lively and unruly.
Of course, Marie Ferdina went beyond being merely “lively.”
She had too many extreme sides.
He couldn’t ignore her reputation, but was there anyone else who desired Sirius as purely as she did?
Marie wasn’t dazzled by wealth or power.
Without calculating anything, she looked at Sirius himself.
People whispered that even the great House Bastian couldn’t easily break the engagement because Marie was a “saint.”
But the truth was different.
The Duke of Bastian valued Marie’s devotion, the pure love that had stayed beside his son for eight years, like a frozen winter mountain.
Whether Sirius approved of the relationship or not, if he showed even the smallest sign of wavering, the Duke intended to push the engagement through to the end.
But eight years meant nothing now.
Even while discussing whether his engagement should continue, Sirius showed not a single trace of emotion.
Marie had tried…
But in the end, she had failed to win Sirius’s heart.
I should have married them off long ago, without worrying about the situation…
But what good was regret now?
A long silence fell.
Then, as if he had made up his mind, the Duke nodded.
“McKenzie. Send word to Ferdina. Tell the Duke of Ferdina that there is something urgent we must discuss, and that I wish to see him as soon as possible.”
