“Damn it—who the hell is that bastard anyway?!”
Noah stood alone in the rear garden, fuming as he slammed his fist into the wall.
Just moments ago, when Karia’s divorce had been finalized, the atmosphere had been wonderful. The entire townhouse had been so festive that people were raising celebratory drinks in broad daylight.
And then suddenly—he showed up, talking about wanting to come back to her side, splashing cold water all over everything. Who did he think he was?
What was even more infuriating was Karia’s attitude.
‘Unfortunately, all my guard positions are already filled. I have no particular reason to take you in.’
‘I believe Your Grace knows my abilities better than anyone.’
‘That’s true.’
She alternated her gaze between the man kneeling before her—someone named Higeon or something—and the Black Night Mercenary Corps, especially Noah. And as always, Noah’s bad premonitions were never wrong. With a perfectly calm expression, she made a proposal that was downright cruel.
‘Then let’s do this. Sir Alkestrah and my current guard, Sir Trantes, will duel. If you win, I’ll hire you. If you lose, you return to the princess. How does that sound?’
Higeon glanced at Noah, then accepted her proposal without hesitation. His confident attitude made it clear he believed this would be an easy win.
Of course, Noah was confident he could flatten Higeon’s nose without much trouble.
But Karia’s attitude hurt far more than the duel itself. He had stayed by her side, solved dozens upon dozens of her requests, planned things together with her, laughed and cried with her.
So how could she treat him like nothing more than a hired hand?
“Tch!”
“Do you think the wall’s going to collapse like that?”
Karia’s voice came from behind him as he vented his anger on the innocent wall.
Noah already knew she was approaching, but he deliberately didn’t react. Realizing that he was openly sulking and had no intention of hiding it, Karia let out a deep sigh.
“I know that man’s abilities. There’s no way you’ll lose to Higeon.”
Higeon?
The moment she called the man by name, irritation flared up inside Noah.
“Oh, really? Funny—he looked awfully confident for someone you say will lose.”
“Well, he does have confidence in his skills. But he’s no match for Sir Trantes.”
“Noah. Call me Noah.”
Someone gets called by their real name, while he gets addressed by a fake surname? And that’s even though she already knows it’s fake!
“Noah.”
Hearing her call him by name, Noah softened a little despite himself. After all, she believed in his victory, and that alone gave him a small, smug sense of pride.
“Feeling calmer now?”
“If you thought he was going to lose anyway, why give him conditions at all? You could’ve just rejected him outright.”
“Ah, well, that’s true, but…”
Karia could have easily refused Higeon on the spot. So why had she acted as though she was considering him, even setting conditions?
She studied Noah’s curious face for a long moment before answering in a flat voice.
“He was my first.”
“Y-your first…?”
For an instant, Noah’s mind went completely blank as countless thoughts flashed through it. Perhaps realizing how oddly it sounded even to herself, Karia brushed her chin and added an explanation.
“When I lived as an illegitimate child in the grand ducal house, life wasn’t easy. Subtle disdain from family, quiet harassment from servants. I was always lonely, and it felt like I had no one on my side in the world.”
“Even your father treated you that way?”
“Of course. He was the source of my loneliness.”
And of all my misfortune. Clicking her tongue once, Karia continued in the same emotionless tone.
“One day—when I was fifteen, I think—my father assigned me a newly appointed knight as my personal guard. That was Higeon. I’d never had anyone serve me before, and he’d never served anyone, so we were a perfect practice pair. Spending time together… wasn’t bad.”
“And what, exactly, did you like so much about him?”
“Everything. He never looked down on me or dismissed me. And since I always had a knight at my side, the servants couldn’t toy with me anymore. And well… he was quite handsome, wasn’t he? To a fifteen-year-old girl, how dependable would a knight who always protected her seem?”
She delivered it like a joke, completely devoid of laughter, making it impossible to tell whether she was serious or mocking her younger self.
Noah listened, his sulky expression unchanged.
“But after about five years, once I’d grown completely used to him, the princess must have noticed. She was never one to tolerate seeing me happy. She immediately ran to my father and asked him to give Higeon to her.”
“That’s awful. Seriously.”
“It is. She’s always been a truly rotten girl.”
Karia had even begged her father—the grand duke—shedding tears for the first time since childhood. But in the end, he sent Higeon away.
Princess Seribis had carelessly remarked that Karia and her guard looked too close, that anyone might mistake them for lovers—and that was enough.
In the end, the grand duke gave Higeon to the princess and assigned Karia a different knight. He was older and more experienced, but she simply couldn’t accept him.
“Of course, I understand Higeon’s position. As a common knight, it would’ve been hard for him to refuse a transfer. But I believed—at the very least—that he wouldn’t want to leave my side. I thought what we had meant something. So I went to him and tried to stop him. Do you know what he said?”
“…No.”
“He thanked me for being an illegitimate child. Said that staying cooped up in the mansion with me had felt like rusting away every day, but now he finally had a chance to succeed as a knight. He said it was a relief that I was someone easy to abandon.”
Fine. Let’s say everyone wants success. Let’s even say someone could say that to a girl who trusted and relied on him, tearing her heart to shreds.
But if he had even a shred of conscience, he shouldn’t have talked about coming back. And certainly not strutted back so shamelessly the moment she gained a title.
“And seeing him act so proud about returning makes me furious, imagining just how foolish he must have thought I was. Simply rejecting him won’t calm this anger.”
Skill? Yes, he did have talent with the sword. As the son of a knightly family without an inheritable title, he wouldn’t have made it into the grand ducal knights otherwise.
But a knight is a blade and shield for their lord. Looking down arrogantly and declaring he’d choose his master at will was unforgivable—no matter how great his talent.
And Karia wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
“So… you want me to take his head?”
“That won’t be necessary. Winning will be enough. And then I’ll listen to that thing you’ve clearly wanted to say to me for a long time. If possible, I’d like you to win overwhelmingly.”
Smiling, she added, “If you can.”
Noah grinned back and confidently told her to just watch.
And not far from the two of them, there was another person standing nearby.
He hid behind a wall like a guilty man, but just because he couldn’t be seen didn’t mean he couldn’t hear their conversation.
“…You could’ve at least yelled at me, demanded an excuse.”
Higeon clenched his empty hand in the air. He knew, of course, that his words back then had wounded Karia—he’d meant them to.
But so much time had passed since then. He’d thought her anger would have softened. He’d hoped that, out of old affection, she might at least ask for a reason.
It wasn’t that he truly believed she’d take him back. He knew that would be a miracle. But he wanted her to know that his heart had always followed her—that perhaps it might ease even a little of the pain he’d caused.
“Is there truly no chance…?”
From the moment he saw the cold eyes looking down at him in the dining hall, after he’d kissed the back of her hand, Higeon had already foreseen the ending of this farce.
If what she wanted was to see him humiliated, then so be it.
After all, he had returned to atone.
“Oh my, really? Your name’s Alice? How old are you this year?”
“Alice is five!”
“My goodness, you’re so smart! How can a five-year-old be this clever, huh?”
Alcard played with Alice as if she were an infant, making exaggerated cooing sounds. Delighted by his over-the-top praise, Alice beamed brightly.
Even when she tugged at him with all her strength, Alcard didn’t stumble like the servants or Red did. Since Andion didn’t actively play with her, Alcard was, from Alice’s perspective, the ultimate toy.
Watching Alice jump up and dangle from Alcard’s arm, Andion clicked his tongue with a disgruntled look.
“Jealous that your sibling’s been taken?”
“Ah… Count. That’s not it.”
“Oh? Then what is it?”
“Simply that, without knowing the nature of Mother’s relationship with Sir Alcard, I judged it inappropriate for them to be too close.”
When Count Lowell spoke, Andion immediately erased his displeased expression and replaced it with a polite smile. Seeing how quickly the child’s expression changed, the count clicked his tongue unconsciously.
“You’re far too clever for your age.”
