Ariana scuffed the ground lightly with the tip of her shoe and murmured.

“Aren’t you far too busy for this?”

“I came at Quentin’s request. He said he’s been too busy lately.”

“You’re seriously overworking my brother.”

She grumbled, puffing out her cheeks in protest.

This was an attempt to hide her embarrassment, but she realised too late that it had come out sounding childish.

Kenneth, of course, had noticed. He was already watching her with that familiar look—sharp, amused, and far too perceptive.

“Quentin’s the one who got all excited about expanding the business, It’s not like I pushed him into it.”

“Hm.”

“You should be grateful I didn’t lead him down a degenerate path, like gambling.”

“Yes, you’re right.”

Ariana knew she couldn’t deny it.

‘After all, our family has benefited the most from the Clifford.’

The House of Aberdeen had barely managed to stay afloat in the capital until Kenneth partnered with Quentin in business. From that point on, their fortunes had taken a sharp turn upwards.

Kenneth nodded slightly, silently gesturing for her to get into the motorcar.

He seemed as calm as if he were picking up an eight-year-old child, not an eighteen-year-old girl.

Feeling his gaze on her, Ariana quietly climbed into the motorcar.

‘Although etiquette has become far more relaxed compared to our parents’ generation…’

She didn’t expect sitting two handspans away from him would make it so hard to breathe.

Then, unexpectedly, Kenneth was the first to break the silence.

“I hear you’ve been doing quite well in your studies.”

“Pardon?”

“Quentin told me. Especially with foreign languages.”

He gave her a faint smile and studied her as though she were a child performing a trick. Ariana’s cheeks burned under his gaze.

“It’s… nothing worth bragging about.”

She couldn’t possibly admit that it was because of him — that her curiosity about Kenneth had driven her to work hard enough to be top of her class.

“Really? He wouldn’t stop talking about it, so I couldn’t help but become curious.”

“…”

“Just how good are you, exactly?”

It felt as though his eyes were lingering on her lips. The thought made her knees tingle.

Ever since they first met, Ariana had always felt tense in Kenneth’s presence.

She couldn’t chat the way other girls did around boys. In fact, she struggled to express herself at all because she was always preoccupied with what others might think.

But this time, she couldn’t let him bear the full weight of the silence.

Forcing herself to speak, Ariana replied.

“I do like the subject, but finishing schools don’t exactly teach it at an advanced level.”

“Hm.”

“I doubt I’ll have much use for it after graduation. I’ll be married off soon enough anyway.”

“Is that so?”

Tap, tap.

At that moment, Kenneth began to tap his long fingers rhythmically against his knee.

Ariana glanced at him through the window, out of the corner of her eye. He looked impossibly composed, his movements fluid and graceful — almost frustratingly so.

Then, his reflection in the glass asked, in an offhand tone:

“Do you have someone in mind already?”

“That’s something Mother will decide. I’ll simply follow her wishes. I don’t think about it beyond that.”

If things had gone as expected, she would have had a fiancé by now. But Josephina kept putting it off.

“Things are too unstable right now. We can’t risk betrothing you to just any low-born pest.”

That had been Josephina’s answer. Her tone had been filled with scorn, as always—but Ariana hadn’t disagreed.

‘The rumors say court politics are worse than ever. Everyone’s keeping their heads down because of it.’

Although the Empire proudly proclaimed an end to the barbaric era of warfare, rumours circulated behind closed doors of nobles and businessmen hiring assassins to eliminate their rivals.

This was a shadow born of a world in which money had become more powerful than honour.

Even Crown Prince Andrew himself remained unwed.

Kenneth, too.

‘Still… with all those glowing articles about him every day, there’s no way there aren’t marriage proposals.’

The thought lodged in her throat, making it difficult to breathe. Anxiety prickled beneath her ribs.

She had always admired him from afar, but now that he was close, he seemed further away than ever. It was as if he would vanish the moment she reached out to him.

Josephina’s familiar warning echoed in her ears:

“Ariana. Just stay still. Every time a girl opens her mouth, the man takes a step back.”

Ariana had always followed her mother’s teachings without question.

Above all, she wanted to be a good daughter.

To be loved.

But this time, because of Kenneth, Ariana spoke up.

For the first time in her life, she felt an impulsive desire to see how someone would react.

“Still, on the day of graduation, I’d like to ask someone I like to come and see me.”

“…”

“And maybe we could go to the opera together that night. That would be nice.”

She tried to sound bold, but faltered at the end, her words crumbling into a flustered stammer.

The humiliation hit her all at once — she wanted to disappear on the spot.

Letting her hair fall to veil her burning cheeks, Ariana whispered.

“Would you come?”

Her heart felt like it might explode, and her limbs ached from the pressure. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

She didn’t even know what kind of reaction she was hoping for.

Then came a deep, undeniably teasing voice laced with amusement.

“Ariana Aberdeen. Don’t you think a proposal like that should be made when the driver isn’t listening?”

“…..!”

Only then did she panic and turn to face the driver.

Although silent, the driver — an elite servant trained in discretion — had surely heard her entire pitiful attempt at flirtation.

She wanted to fling open the door and roll straight into the road. That would be less embarrassing.

When the motorcar finally stopped, Ariana hurried over to the door.

It was as if angels were calling to her from inside.

However, the driver had not fully opened the door yet and she banged her shoulder hard against the frame.

“Ugh!”

“Sigh… Ariana.”

She nearly hit her forehead too, but Kenneth caught her arm just in time, pulling her back gently.

This meant she stumbled right into him.

Her back pressed against his chest.

The sheer humiliation of it all made her tremble.

“All that debutante training… completely wasted.”

“This isn’t… I didn’t mean to…”

Ariana suddenly felt like crying, like a little girl who had been told off at a ball.

She had never made these kinds of clumsy mistakes before.

Not anywhere else.

Only when it came to Kenneth.

Always with him.

As he stepped out and held his hand out to help her out of the motorcar, a faint, unreadable smile played on his lips.

Her heart, which had once yearned for death began to race all over again.

“I’ll think about it.”

“…..!”

“I suppose I’ll have to check Roger’s schedule.”

From that point on, Ariana couldn’t remember what she had replied.

What she did remember was being utterly unable to meet the driver’s gaze.

With her head buzzing as if she had the flu, Ariana kept thinking the same thing over and over again.

‘No. Kenneth Clifford couldn’t possibly be serious.’

He teased her constantly.

Without Quentin around, the two of them didn’t really have a connection.

There was no way Kenneth had meant it.

He always seemed relaxed, often making sly jokes, but his smile never gave anything away.

And yet—

That impossible thing had actually happened.

***

On the night of her graduation, Ariana sat in stunned silence in a private box at the opera house.

She wore a pale lavender evening dress with a faint silver shimmer, and her hair and nape were adorned with glittering jewels.

At first glance, she looked every bit the proper young lady.

But her face was frozen stiff.

‘This can’t be real.’

This was the same man who laughed when they first met and said that she was small and young.

He was the one who told her not to make proposals when the driver was around.

And yet, Kenneth Clifford had come.

He had even taken her to the opera she had timidly suggested.

When she confessed what she had done and asked him in that way, Ariana braced herself for Josephina’s wrath.

She fully expected to be whipped for making such a shameless offer, like a silly girl selling smiles.

But instead…

“That’s not a bad idea. It could be useful.”

Her mother had shockingly agreed to the outing with little resistance.

‘Did she secretly hope that something would come of it between me and the young viscount?’

Whatever the reason, here she was—alone with Kenneth in the dark for at least three hours.

And while Ariana was stiff with nerves, Kenneth was as relaxed as ever.

‘Did he… truly come here of his own will?’

Or was he simply enjoying the clumsy flirting of a young girl for fun?

One moment, Ariana wanted to scream and run away.

The next, she found herself wishing that time would stop altogether.

Perhaps her distracted thoughts had been all too obvious, though.

During the interval, Kenneth finally called her out:

“You haven’t been paying attention at all.”

“That’s not true.”

In truth, she found his face, right beside her, far more captivating than that of the male lead on stage.

But she couldn’t say that, so she stubbornly pressed on.

“I was paying attention. Really.”

“Oh? Then tell me, what do you remember about the proposal scene?”

“Well, it was a proposal, so the most romantic part must have been when—”

“Didn’t you see the prima donna shoot the male lead?”

“… Ah.”

“You definitely weren’t watching.”

Ariana opened her mouth to argue, then fell silent.

The lights had dimmed again and, although the velvet curtains softened the glow, the private box was still cloaked in shadows.

Kenneth was watching her quietly, and she felt impossibly close to him.

“Ariana.”

His voice slipped through his smiling lips, rough and low.

It was a sound that seemed to echo deep in her spine, wrapping around her waist like heat.

‘Could he have actually meant it? Did he truly come here… because he wanted to?’

“Kenneth—”

But just then, a sharp, ear-piercing scream rose from below.

At first, Ariana thought that someone had fallen on the ground floor.

However, the screaming grew louder and deeper, accompanied by the harsh, brutal sounds of fists hitting flesh.

‘What… what’s happening?’

A cold wave of unease crawled up from her toes to her chest.

Then—

Bang! Bang…!

Gunshots.

The velvet curtain shielding the box seat was suddenly ripped open.

“Ariana, get back—!”

Kenneth stepped in front of her, shielding her with his body.

But Ariana’s eyes widened in horror, and she flew her hands up to her mouth.

“…!”

Every Clifford attendant was dead.

The once pristine marble floor was soaked with blood.

When she looked up—men in black masks stood beyond the curtain, guns trained on them.

“Die, Clifford!”

With that barbaric roar, the final gunshot rang through the theatre.