After Angela’s debut, her adaptation to noble life continued smoothly.

She attended tea gatherings when invited and faithfully appeared at every ball, gradually making friends among the young ladies.

“Ugh. That smell. Where is that commoner stench coming from? Who would slam down a teacup so roughly?”

Of course, there were those who envied and resented her, but since she did have half commoner blood running through her veins and occasionally made mistakes, there was nothing she could do about it.

“Miss Huntley, don’t mind them. They’re just jealous.”

Lady Rossis whispered softly in Angela’s ear. The daughter of a baronial family, she had quickly become Angela’s first friend after they hit it off, and she often encouraged Angela to keep her confidence up.

“I suppose it can’t be helped that they find fault with me since I’m still lacking. Oh well.”

“That can’t be true. You’re more graceful than I am. How about going to the center of the floor to dance at times like this? There’s a line of men who want to dance with Miss Huntley.”

“That’s true.”

A heavy sigh escaped Angela’s lips as she answered. Though Lady Rossis had spoken with care to comfort her, her suggestion didn’t particularly appeal to Angela.

She had danced and conversed with men who proposed to her, hoping that perhaps someone had sent a proposal with genuine feelings, but they were all still very interested in her fortune.

‘Count Huntley must have been quite capable. Since Miss Huntley has many shortcomings, please allow me to help you from your side.’

‘You resemble Count Huntley greatly. I was also acquainted with the Count. Haha.’

‘How tragic that the Count closed his eyes so early, leaving behind such a lovely young lady. It would have been better if he had chosen a spouse for you in advance.’

Moreover, rather than seeing Angela herself, they were viewing her through Count Huntley. They subtly looked down on Angela for having mixed commoner blood.

Money might be wonderful, but weren’t they being too obvious about it?

Because of this, Angela grew sick and tired of hearing the words “Count Huntley” from her suitors.

“You’ll be able to meet someone who will truly love Miss Huntley. So let’s look for a better man.”

Lady Rossis comforted Angela at such times. She was fortunate enough to be in love with the eldest son of a baronial family chosen by her own family, so she firmly believed that Angela too would be able to meet a man she could love.

Love… love, indeed.

Upon hearing the word love, Angela’s gaze unconsciously turned toward the entrance of the ballroom.

Today too, a man with silver hair neatly combed back, gleaming under the chandelier’s light, immediately caught her eye.

The man standing in uniform, neat and restrained without a hair out of place, looked dazzlingly beautiful today as well, enough to keep drawing her gaze.

It wasn’t just her own thought, for not only Angela but other women’s glances were also stealing looks in his direction.

Eek.

The moment their eyes nearly met, Angela hastily turned her gaze elsewhere. Lately, she had deliberately avoided even greeting Dion, let alone speaking to him when they happened to encounter each other.

Part of it was because he was always with other knights due to their two-person patrol system, but it was also to keep her resolution to treat him like he was invisible.

However, when she didn’t speak to him first, he too acted like he didn’t know Angela, merely nodding his head lightly like he would to anyone else before going his way. As a result, the distance between them was growing.

It was good that her ties with that arrogant, wicked man had been severed, but…

Strangely, the more her surroundings filled with men approaching her with impure motives, the more Angela’s evaluation of Dion was shifting in a relatively positive direction.

* * *

She attended today as well, it seems.

Dion’s gaze kept turning toward only one woman. Though he tried not to look deliberately, his eyes kept drifting in that direction. Toward the woman who was chatting with other noble ladies and laughing brightly.

The woman in an elegant purple dress with her hair neatly arranged looked like a refined noble lady to anyone who saw her. When he first met her, she hadn’t looked noble at all, but she was becoming more graceful with each passing day.

Strange…

Though the ballroom bustled with many people, oddly only Angela entered Dion’s vision, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

For reasons he couldn’t understand, other women seemed overshadowed by her, appearing merely like background scenery, while Angela alone seemed to shine with light.

‘She’s so graceful and refined, why did I mistake her for a pr*stitute?’

For this reason, Dion regretted what he had done in the past. When their eyes occasionally met by chance and she deliberately turned her gaze away, his regret only grew.

“There seem to be quite a few men targeting Miss Huntley. The number of competitors is no joke, right? Of course, they’re all either poor nobles or those who won’t inherit their family estates.”

As Dion’s gaze kept turning toward Angela, Mark, who was standing beside him, also looked at her and spoke.

“They all have the same feelings, don’t they?”

Words like a sigh flowed from Dion’s lips.

“Why? Are you planning to target her too? Weren’t you not interested?”

“You said it yourself. If I just marry her, all that wealth could come into my hands. How could I pass up such a good opportunity?”

“You didn’t seem to like women much, but I guess you do like money after all. Oh my. If someone handsome enough to charm women like you is also targeting Miss Huntley, I can’t let my guard down, can I?”

Mark winked with one eye.

“No. I’d be at more of a disadvantage.”

“Why? It’s not like you to lack confidence like this.”

“…”

‘How could she like me when I did something she would hate?’

Avoiding his eyes earlier was nothing. Since Angela attended the imperial balls regularly, they occasionally encountered each other, but each time she didn’t speak to Dion, let alone offer a simple greeting.

Even though she greeted other men with smiles, when their eyes met, she deliberately and obviously turned her head away.

Since she showed such a blatant attitude telling him not to speak to her, Dion found it difficult to even offer Angela a simple greeting. He could only nod his head like any ordinary knight’s greeting.

“Haa.”

A heavy sigh flowed from Dion’s lips as he continued watching Angela. Especially seeing her smile brightly at a man who approached her and head to the dance floor together made Dion feel like his heart was twisting.

‘Is there any need to win over that woman? Having enough money would be sufficient. Then I wouldn’t feel this uncomfortable feeling I’m experiencing now.’

The unpleasant emotion soon led to a desire to protect his pride.

Though he coveted her fortune, Dion no longer wanted to cling to her while crushing his pride. Pride might become worthless in the face of money at any time, but suddenly he didn’t want to be that way in front of that woman alone.

To achieve this, Dion needed to first check how Baron Buckle was doing.

Since he had been staying in accommodations provided by the imperial court, he had no way of knowing how his brother was faring. He had also deliberately ignored it because his brother caused so many problems.

Yet the reason he decided to visit the Buckle family was that if he could receive the money he hadn’t gotten from his brother, he wouldn’t need to cling to Angela. That way, he wouldn’t have to be servile in front of money and women anymore.

* * *

Three days later, Dion visited the Buckle family estate. Since it was his first visit after their property dispute, it had been a long time.

“Dion, you came?”

Baron Buckle was nowhere to be seen, perhaps having gone out, and instead Baroness Buckle welcomed him.

“Isn’t my brother here? I came to see him.”

Just mentioning Baron Buckle darkened the Baroness’s face at that moment.

Something happened.

From her expression alone, Dion felt an ominous premonition. What kind of trouble did he cause this time?

The reason Baron Buckle had lost most of his fortune was due to failed investments.

When the two brothers’ father had written a will in advance in case of an unexpected accident, Baron Buckle, who had learned the contents of the will beforehand, had secretly invested more than half of the family fortune in a dubious business venture.