He knew that pretending to be engaged was the best cover.

It would instantly dispel suspicion and shift attention to the engagement.

Though Hans knew Marie’s decision was correct, he felt somewhat bitter.

The fact that she could so naturally cling to him and pretend to be his fiancée proved she had no feelings for him.

Right now, Marie only wanted to help her sister.

Knowing this, he felt pathetic for still having his heart flutter even in this moment.

When would he be able to be introduced to others as her real lover?

Would he forever remain just a friend?

No, wouldn’t it be fine to just stay by Marie’s side as a friend for life?

She had said she didn’t want anything like marriage.

‘But what if Marie comes to know love?’

The mere thought made his breath catch.

‘If you come to love someone else as much as I love you……’

Could I endure it?

It was painful.

The fact that he couldn’t be loved by the person he loved.

Perhaps the reason he kept postponing his confession was because he wanted to stay in the present, clinging to a small hope.

Holding onto the slight possibility that someday she might feel the same way he did.

The moment he confessed, the future before him would split into two paths.

Either Marie would choose him, or she wouldn’t.

If it was the latter, he would no longer be able to remain by her side under the name of friendship.

A confession ultimately stems from selfish thoughts.

Either dreaming of a happy future where the other person will accept, or wanting to shake off one’s feelings even if rejected.

It’s leaving the choice of whether to end this love or not to the other person.

That’s why confessions burden the other person.

‘Marie, I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable because of me.’

But the time to reveal the truth was drawing closer.

When they went to the bank, Marie would eventually find out.

That she would need to become family with Hans to inherit the estate.

At that point, he would have no choice but to confess his feelings.

Until then, he wanted to enjoy this time-limited friendship.

These moments when Marie felt comfortable with him and sometimes relied on him.

“Engaged? Miss Klein, you’re engaged? Since when?”

Marie, unaware of the man’s inner thoughts, was being bombarded with questions from her brother-in-law.

“That’s wonderful! Have you set a wedding date? Did you come today to give us an invitation?”

“Ah, well about that……”

“One question at a time. Just one at a time.”

Adelaide intervened as her husband excitedly fired off questions while her sister fumbled for answers.

“We haven’t been engaged for long,” Hans replied with composure, stepping in for Marie. “We haven’t set a wedding date yet. Since we didn’t have a formal engagement ceremony, we’re meeting with family members individually to introduce ourselves.”

Mrs. Engel, who had been watching the cheerful atmosphere with a displeased expression, inserted herself into the conversation.

“So what kind of family does the lawyer come from?”

“Pardon?”

“Since you’re marrying the Klein daughter, you must be nobility, right? From a good family too?”

“……”

“Seeing as you’re working as some lawyer, are you perhaps a younger son who couldn’t receive a title or was thrown out by your family?”

“Mother!”

Joachim called out to her in warning after her rude remarks.

She was currently irritated to the point of wanting to die.

Among the three Klein daughters, it was infuriating enough that her daughter-in-law happened to be the eldest who hadn’t received a penny of inheritance. Now the heiress who monopolized the fortune had personally graced their humble home with her presence.

On top of that, they were going around receiving congratulations from family members, which only added to her annoyance.

Proper nobles with titles or inheritances to receive don’t take up professions like this.

And not just as a hobby or pastime, but as a professional.

This meant Hans was either a child discarded by a noble family or a commoner, which made him compare even more unfavorably to her doctor son.

‘How is it that some people manage to meet heiresses while my son ended up with this utterly useless woman?’

A woman who might have a pretty face but couldn’t bear children and had no useful skills.

Just as Hans was about to speak, Marie stepped forward.

“Does family background or status really matter?”

“What did you say?”

“All you need for marriage is love. My sister and brother-in-law are living proof of that, aren’t they, brother-in-law?”

At those words, Joachim slowly broke into a clear smile.

“You’re right, Miss Klein. With love, you can overcome anything.”

Adelaide turned her gaze elsewhere.

When she had declared to her father that she would marry Joachim, she had believed the same thing.

Before long, that belief had shattered into pieces.

The end of this love was divorce.

The feelings that had once remained, even if as love-hate, had now all turned to ash and disappeared.

Not a single thread remained.

If it had been love, it shouldn’t have ended this way.

Joachim didn’t really love her.

‘And I didn’t really love you either.’

It was just a childish notion.

She had wanted to run away from home and hurt her father’s heart after he had approved of Vivian and Alfred’s marriage.

There was a time when she believed the world revolved around her.

No, she had believed that for half her life.

Wherever she went, Adelaide was the protagonist.

When she, who had been like that, was reduced to a mere supporting character in Vivian’s love story, a deep sense of humiliation came over her.

Her life, which had shone like a star, fell after that day.

She wasn’t a star adorning the sky but a shooting star that shone briefly before disappearing.

The social circles buzzed with gossip about how Adelaide, once called the “reincarnation of the goddess of beauty,” had lost her man to her sister.

When the goddess they had worshipped as untouchable was rejected by Alfred, her suitors retracted their proposals.

Though there was a stalker behind it all, Adelaide felt miserable, believing she had been abandoned by everyone, just as he had intended.

But she didn’t want to marry that stalker.

She wanted to escape from him and from the social circles she had once considered her stage.

“I love you, Adelaide.”

She believed Joachim, who appeared then, was her savior and only breakthrough.

She believed that was love.

For that moment, she could be the protagonist again.

The heroine of a romance novel who overcomes hardship and adversity to win love.

The opposition from her father and family only strengthened her belief that this emotion was love.

It was only later, after she had lost everyone and was left alone, that she realized it was neither Vivian, nor Alfred, nor her father who had ruined her—it was herself.

Even her brother Stefan, who had adored her, felt betrayed by his sister’s decision to marry beneath her station and grew distant.

Then her father passed away.

Now she didn’t know where or how to turn things back.

The first thing she could do now was get a divorce.

After finding herself, which she had lost through her marriage to Joachim, she planned to try to recover the things she had lost, one by one.

“If you’re engaged, what did you mean about working together?”

Just then, Mrs. Engel made an uncharacteristically sharp observation.

“That’s—”

“Marie is interested in law, so she’s helping out at Hans’s law office for a while. It’s like a partnership,” Adelaide defended Marie.

She couldn’t just stay silent while Marie was lying to help hide the fact that she was preparing for divorce.

Backed by her sister’s support, Marie continued with a smile.

“If I’m going to manage my assets in the future, I’ll need to hire lawyers, and if I don’t know enough, I might get framed or backstabbed. I need to understand the law to properly utilize it.”

Mrs. Engel finally conceded with a grumble in the face of the sisters’ flawless defense.

Though still dissatisfied, she had nothing more to say.

Just as they were about to catch their breath after fending off the barrage of questions, Joachim threw another one.

“But weren’t you two on bad terms?”

“……”

“When did you become so close?”

There was a hidden meaning in his words.

It was one hurdle after another.

‘Is he a detective or what? Has everyone in this household been living in deception? Why are this mother and son so suspicious?’

Marie felt like she had been summoned to a congressional hearing.

“It was only after father passed away that I belatedly realized the importance of family. Because once someone is gone, you can’t bring them back,” Adelaide said in a low voice.

Joachim nodded as if he understood.

“I came today because, now that I’ve reconciled with my sister, I wanted to ask if she could stay at our house for a few days. I wanted to spend some quality time with her as sisters.”

“What? Adelaide, a married woman staying out overnight! Absolutely not!”

“No, Mother. She came here to get permission, and it would be impolite to send her away. So, I’ll leave her in your care, Miss Klein.”

Joachim readily agreed to his wife’s overnight stay despite his mother’s objection.

Marie thanked him and quickly linked arms with her sister and Hans, turning around before her brother-in-law could change his mind.

As they headed toward the entrance, Mrs. Engel called out:

“Hey, leave your address before you go.”

“Pardon?”

“It would be troublesome if we couldn’t reach you in an emergency.”

Marie quickly turned back to the dining table on behalf of the hesitant Adelaide.

After briefly looking at the paper the woman produced, she wrote down an address.

“We’ll be going now!”

“Take care. I’ll miss you, Del. Stay as long as you like, but make sure to come back, okay?”

“Of course I will. I’ll write to you.”

Adelaide didn’t say that she would miss him too.

Joachim, who had been giving his wife an angelic, warm smile, hardened his expression after Marie’s group disappeared.

His face was so cold that he could have been mistaken for a different person.