On the surface, men like Langdon — and a few others — looked up to Lucas. Deep down, however, they harboured feelings of inferiority and quiet disdain. They were currently overwhelmed by his wealth and boldness, but were they truly lacking in any way?

If they set their minds to it, surely it was only natural that they, too, could acquire a prized ornamental flower like that?

But before Langdon could reach her waist, a sharp crack rang out, causing him to turn his head to the right.

“Urk!”

“You’re a vile excuse for a man.”

Cordelia’s breath came in ragged gasps as she clenched the hand that had just hit his face.

Having been beaten by her mother as a child, she abhorred physical violence. But this was an injustice. Standing up to it was the right thing to do, especially with men like this who could not understand reason, no matter how gently it was spoken.

Especially with men like this, who could not be reasoned with. Sometimes, a slap in the face was the only language they understood.

“Shame on you. You call yourself an acquaintance of Lucas’s, and this is what you think of me? To treat me like some mistress off the street—do you truly hold me in such low regard?”

“Haha, madam! You speak as if you’re still something grand.”

“…What?”

Cordelia’s eyes widened in fury, but the drunk man only scoffed louder, finding her reaction laughable.

“If you really knew how filthy Lucas gets when he makes money, you never would’ve married that bastard. He kills people, ropes in your own family—surely you know by now?”

“……”

“Women just go crazy for money, that’s all it is… Whether you’re a noble lady or a street wench—what’s the difference, really?”

Langdon grinned, drunk on the anticipation that he might soon see this noblewoman cry.

Those violet eyes, glistening beneath thick lashes—those rosy lips beginning to tremble—he could already imagine the sight.

“…Ha. So that’s all you can come up with to insult me? It just proves you had a pampered upbringing, too.”

“Wh-what…?”

But when Cordelia looked at him with icy contempt, Langdon stammered unintentionally.

She was the kind of woman who always smiled as though her face had been painted with the finest brush made from the softest animal hairs.

He’d thought she would cry easily. But facing her now felt like facing his own mother — it was an overwhelming experience.

This was a side of Cordelia that hadn’t been seen in quite some time.

She had always been taught to treat servants with kindness and courtesy, and ever since crossing the ocean, she had maintained this façade for the sake of fitting in.

However, when others strayed from what was right, it was only proper that she, knowing better, should correct them with firm authority.

“You’re right. I did consider money when I got married.”

“Haha, I knew you’d admit—”

“But don’t marriages in our world always begin with the families calculating benefits before anything else? I’m sure your mother married that way too, didn’t she?”

“Ha… no, I mean—”

“And in the future, when you marry and take your bride with a dowry, if I’m just some lowly woman, then that would make you nothing more than a client paying for a filthy transaction.”

And as for herself, truthfully…

If Lucas had been honest with her about why he resorted to such vile methods to earn money, she might have been willing to listen. She understood that there were situations from which you couldn’t escape.

If he had told her anything at all from the beginning, she might have been prepared to face it.

But even at that moment, Langdon’s face flushed a deeper red.

“Ah, seriously.”

He was stunned. The way she spoke—smoothly, rapidly, with elegant precision—caught him completely off guard. Even in his drunken state, this had spiraled in a direction he hadn’t expected.

“I don’t care how high and mighty Lucas acts, huh? That bastard has the nerve to strut around after shacking up with some bastard child—!”

“That’s quite the story, Langdon.”

“…!”

At that moment, Langdon flinched violently and stumbled backward at the sight of a shadow falling over him.

And it wasn’t just Langdon who was startled.

Cordelia, with her back against the door, hadn’t even realized Lucas was approaching, too fired up to notice anything behind her.

‘How much did he hear?’

Her heart pounded with a strange tension, but Lucas, for his part, looked perfectly composed as he strode toward Langdon.

“L-Lucas…!”

“Sounds like you were having a fun little chat with my wife about my birth.”

Lucas smiled, leisurely stepping toward the retreating prey.

“What was it about? Let me in on it. I’m curious.”

“N-no, I—I was just…! Hic!”

In an instant, Lucas seized Langdon’s wrist with crushing strength.

The very hand that had tried to reach for Cordelia earlier was now gripped so tightly that blood circulation was cut off almost immediately.

“Uuurgh!”

“Let’s meet at Eisner tomorrow, Langdon.”

“Lucas, this is a misunderstanding—”

“Yeah. Now shut your mouth, mutt.”

Lucas whispered so low only Langdon could hear.

However, to those who heard it, it was as if a bolt of lightning had crashed straight out of Hell, chilling them to the bone.

Lucas nodded to the attendants waiting in the hallway. He had let the groveller off the hook because he had found his grovelling amusing, but he should have crushed him there and then.

As he turned away, he casually rubbed his stiff neck. Having to stoop to meet the eyes of a man so much shorter than him, even for a brief moment, had caused him great discomfort.

Amidst the chaos, Cordelia remained disturbingly silent.

The fact that someone within his own social circle still dared to lust after her made him realize just how much of a fool he had been.

“Sigh, my lady. Are you all righ—”

But the moment Lucas faced Cordelia, he stopped mid-sentence, eyes narrowing.

Cordelia was looking up at him with a gaze full of resentment—for the first time. He had arrived in time to prevent her from enduring something worse, and yet she looked at him like that?

“I was going to ask if you were all right, but it seems you still have enough strength to glare at me.”

“……”

“What on earth is the matter?”

“You want to know why?”

Cordelia hovered between a bitter laugh and a grimace before clenching her jaw.

“Because I was humiliated—by someone who calls himself your friend.”

“I admit he’s a fool and apologize for that, but is that reason enough to lash out at your husband who came to defend your honor?”

“Because in the end, this is your fault. You’re the one who made a mockery of me—you’re the one who made me look like a fool in front of your friends…”

The conversation she’d overheard in the Eisner office came rushing back.

Though Lucas had admitted to it afterward and his words had diverted her attention, the stench of their debauchery had always left a bitter taste in her mouth.

But wasn’t it Lucas who gave them the right to look down on her in the first place?

Lucas, however, let out a slow smile.

“That’s right. I’m the one who made a fool of you. Of course you’d want to marry someone with money—even if he’s a bastard commoner—just to live a little less miserably. That’s why you didn’t ignore my proposal.”

He reached out and softly stroked her cheek, but Cordelia quickly took a step back.

“No! I—I truly…!”

“Cordelia. You already admitted that you married me for gold coins. Saying something different now will only make it more pitiful.”

Lucas spoke in a lazy, almost mocking drawl. Cordelia bit her lip.

She had only said those words to put Langdon in his place, yet now they were being thrown back at her.

What difference would it make to claim otherwise now? That she had fallen for him? That she’d accepted the marriage because of her feelings?

Emotionally, she was already a defeated soldier.

Her love had been torn to shreds in a matter of moments.

It was time to accept that there was no going back.

“…Yes. That’s right. When I accepted your proposal, I did consider the money.”

“Ha.”

“Don’t forget—it’s because you ruined my family.”

Lucas let out a mocking smile, as if he’d expected nothing less.

Of course.

This woman, who hadn’t even recognized that he was “Luke,” could never have truly accepted his proposal with sincerity back then.

“It’s rather refreshing, having such honesty between husband and wife. If I’d known, I would’ve paid you in promissory notes instead of wasting all that time.”

He added languidly as he looked at her.

“Go home and calm down. I can’t be seen in public with a wife who’s looking at me as though she wants to kill me.”

Cordelia turned her back on him without offering so much as a final glance at the man who now felt like nothing more than a stranger.

She hid her burning palm in her other hand and stepped outside the building.

The pitch-black May night greeted her.

The attendants followed in silence behind her, so she made no sound either.

But even before this, Cordelia had always preferred to cry quietly.

The searing tears traced the curve of her cheeks, dripping from her jaw in hot, ticklish droplets.

And every time a tear fell with her faltering steps, she thought to herself—

‘It would have been better if I had never met him.’

‘We were never meant to meet.’