She felt the urge to step back but resisted. Instead, she looked down at his muddy hand. The hand that was once clean couldn’t grasp her in the end. It only clawed at the empty air and retreated. Water droplets kept falling on his noble face and pale cheeks.

“Your Highness, Duke.”

After a long silence, Hyacinth spoke first.

Ethan Erentis, with a face that had completely crumbled, stared blankly at her. His ashen eyes whispered a story. A language that Hyacinth couldn’t understand—couldn’t grasp.

If reason was a seventy-year-old elder, emotion was a seven-year-old child.

Not very obedient. So Hyacinth tried to delve into the Duke’s deep gaze. The falling raindrops were bothersome, but she observed the Duke without wavering.

The more their gazes intertwined, the more the Duke crumbled.

His red-rimmed eyes drooped, and his neat lips were tightly closed. His trembling cheeks. His throat moving harshly. All signs of impending tears.

But at the same time, Hyacinth was certain that the man was still not crying. Ethan Erentis might have been someone who never learned how to cry…

“Why are you here, lady?”

It was Hyacinth who called out, yet it was the Duke who expressed curiosity. In a voice that was already shattered and cracked, Ethan Erentis continued calmly.

“The weather is bad. Please go inside first.”

“Then why are you out here, Duke?”

The Duke quietly hid his mud-stained hands. His appearance was already a mess, and it had been a while since he’d been caught.

“I, I mean… I came out because I had something to do.”

“Without an umbrella?”

“……”

“Why don’t you send a servant?”

“……I have to find it myself.”

The man, who was lost in thought for a moment, corrected his sentence.

“It has meaning only if I find it myself.”

“What are you looking for?”

“Please go inside first, lady. I’m worried you might catch a cold.”

When Hyacinth stubbornly crossed her arms, the Duke finally confessed as if surrendering. He thought he would hold out longer, but surprisingly, he gave in quickly. Even while glancing at her with concern, he was restless. His efforts to send Hyacinth back inside were almost desperate.

“A ring… I’m looking for a ring.”

“A ring?”

“…It’s a keepsake.”

The Duke gestured towards the inside as if to say, ‘Now, go inside.’

“Please go inside, lady. The wind is getting colder.”

“I just came out for a walk.”

In this weather? The Duke slightly furrowed his brow as if silently questioning her. Regardless, Hyacinth maintained a brazen expression.

“Wherever I am, it’s none of Your Highness’s concern.”

“Lady…”

“Moreover, this is Tyche’s garden. I can be wherever I wish.”

Unable to argue against her stubbornness, the Duke hid his hands and fidgeted. Unlike her, he looked like a drenched wild animal without an umbrella.

Drops of water dripped from his silver hair.

Hyacinth just stared silently. The man, who had been staring endlessly at the muddy garden floor, finally nodded. With a somewhat gloomy face and worried eyes, he whispered quietly.

“If you wish, lady.”

“Yes. I wish it.”

“If it gets too cold… please go inside.”

“I’ll manage.”

Her words drew a line, sounding rather harsh even to her own ears. Unlike the flinching Hyacinth, the Duke accepted it calmly. After bowing his head briefly to her, he knelt down again without hesitation.

He began searching for the ring, dirtying his entire body.

Even though it was raining. Just as he said, even though the wind was damp and chilly.

Hyacinth gripped the umbrella handle tightly as if she might crush it. Seeing the Duke’s disheveled appearance, a mix of complex emotions surged within her, and she had to bite her lips hard.

Ethan Erentis’s entire body was getting covered in mud. It felt like watching someone struggle in quicksand. Silently, quietly, as she just watched, Hyacinth suddenly turned around and tilted her umbrella.

To look at Tyche’s window.

As expected, she found someone who looked like her gazing down from there. It was too humiliating to admit, but Bridget Erentis certainly had a similar appearance to her.

Dark red hair. A slender figure. A similar height.

Bridget Erentis looked down at her.

Having rarely experienced being looked down upon by someone—except for family—Hyacinth naturally felt irritated. What are you looking at? As she stared back coldly with that question in her eyes, Bridget Erentis tilted her head slightly.

A playful gesture.

It seemed to ask how she liked the terrible scene she had created. The action even looked like a boast, which was utterly absurd.
Hyacinth spun around gracefully and discarded her umbrella.

Meanwhile, Ethan Erentis continued to search for the ring diligently. Covered in filth, his dignity as a human being was trampled. The inherent dignity that any sentient being should possess was shattered. It was a blatant demonstration of how prolonged violence could destroy someone.

…Pathetic.

Feeling pity for that man, a reaction she never wanted, made her even angrier. Hyacinth strode towards the Duke without hesitation.

“Lady?”

A bewildered face. A voice that sounded foolish.

“Let me help you.”

Hyacinth replied coldly, rolling up her sleeves.

“It’s fine. This is not something for you to concern yourself with, lady.”

“Consider it a favor.”

“No need for you to dirty your hands…”

“Where do you think it might have fallen?”

The Duke’s expression turned infinitely sorrowful. If she kept insisting, he might actually cry. Unwanted kindness is violence, they say, and this was exactly that. Hyacinth pondered briefly and came to a clear conclusion.

Right now, she wanted to inflict violence on the Duke.

She needed to see the man cry. It had to be her, not Bridget Erentis, who made him cry. It was the first time in her life that she realized she had such a twisted side.

“I’ll start over there. Let’s hope it hasn’t fallen into a deep puddle.”

“Lady, please…”

Without a word, Hyacinth knelt down and began searching.

She didn’t know how much time had passed.

The rain occasionally intensified and then suddenly weakened. Dirt got under her nails, turning them black. Her palms stung, probably because they had been scratched. Since it was her own stubbornness that got her into this, Hyacinth didn’t complain. She only anticipated getting scolded by Seina later for her mud-covered bliaut.

How many hours had passed?

By the time the rain almost completely stopped and the gray sky began to regain its original color, the incident concluded.

It was Hyacinth, not the Duke, who found the ring first. The ring lay there, pressing down on fresh green sprouts.

Is this it? Hyacinth picked it up quickly, her face brightening.

Then she was taken aback.

It was a far more significant item than she had anticipated. In the center of the shiny surface was the Duchy of Trisel’s crest. The intricate craftsmanship and the gold color made it clear to anyone that it was a valuable heirloom.

Isn’t this the ring that the Duchess of Trisel passes down? Why is such a ring here?

The ring that should be on the Duchess of Trisel’s finger… Ah, so that’s how it is. Understanding the situation, Hyacinth cursed inwardly. It was an expression she had never used in her life.

“Duke.”

“…Lady. Are you cold? Please don’t overexert yourself and go inside…”

“Is this it?”

When she held out the ring on her palm, the Duke slowly stood up and approached. He looked even more wretched than her. His eyes, seemingly devoid of focus, hinted that he had been living in hell every moment.

Ethan Erentis’s gray eyes met hers. Although he needed to check the ring, his gaze first scanned her face, unable to touch it, just staring.

“You…”

A sigh escaped his lips.

“You had no reason to dirty yourself…”

“…”

“There was no reason for you to get dirty because of me…”

“But thanks to me, you found it. Is this the one you’ve been looking for?”

She raised her palm higher, almost to his chin, and only then did the man’s gaze fall on the ring. His mud-stained hand took the ring. Despite his desperate search, his demeanor was surprisingly calm.

“Do you want it?”

An unexpected question.

The question was so astonishing that Hyacinth doubted her ears. Want what? This heirloom?

“…What?”

“Do you want this?”

“What, are you proposing?”

Hyacinth asked in disbelief, but the Duke quickly and firmly shook his head, which irritated her.

You offer the ring first, and now you say no! I don’t need it either!

“…I… I don’t dare to wish for you to.”

“Okay.”

“…”

“The rain has stopped now. Let’s go inside and show Tyche this miserable state of ours.”

Though she didn’t want to get scolded, it was better to return with dignity if they had to go back. Hyacinth straightened her back and looked around the palace.

The red-haired figure who had been watching them from the third floor was gone. It was fortunate for both Bridget Erentis and herself. If she had still been watching, Hyacinth would have run up and confronted her in her muddy state.

She was sure she could do it.

As she quietly looked up at the rain-stopped sky, the sun was already setting in the west. The end of the day was approaching. It was time for the fragrant spring night to begin.

She was about to take her umbrella and start walking, determined to leave the Duke behind and head inside first. But then she felt a hand grabbing her sleeve, and Hyacinth glanced back.

“Why… why did you help me?”

The tone was accusatory, and Hyacinth frowned.

Because you looked so pathetic, she couldn’t say that right to his face, so she deliberately snapped back coldly.

“Does it bother you that much that I helped you, Your Highness?”

“No, that’s not it…”

“I didn’t want to roll around in the garden on a rainy day either. My clothes are all ruined.”

“…”

“But the lost item seemed too precious to you, so I helped. What kind of conversation is this?”