If it was a spouse promised in marriage, losing purity before marriage was acceptable, but sleeping with a man she wouldn’t marry was something that would be condemned in high society.

Therefore, having scandalous rumors with another man in such a public situation meant Angela’s honor would be completely ruined.

She had already suddenly transformed from a commoner to a noble young lady, making her a target of ridicule for some. If dirty s*xual scandals spread in this situation, the Huntley family’s honor would fall straight into ruin.

For now, it might be better to say she was Mark’s lover. If she married him, the scandal could easily transform into romance.

So they knew Angela valued the Huntley family’s honor and were trying to use this against her.

More people had gathered around them, and from their murmuring, they seemed to believe Mark’s words.

‘What should I do?’

Since no one would believe her words, Angela ultimately found herself at a crossroads between the family’s honor and her own life.

Being manipulated by such ridiculous schemes felt utterly shameful and humiliating, but there seemed to be no other way out besides those two options.

‘Miss Huntley will fall into my hands anyway.’

Dion recalled what Mark had said to him and silently watched Mark and his lover Baroness Curtin corner Angela.

It looked quite amusing to see them maintain expressionless faces while pretending not to know each other, expecting Angela to act according to their wishes if they just pushed a little more.

‘You think I’ll let things go your way?’

But the watching time was only brief. After enjoying a moment of amusement, Dion thought it was time to resolve the situation.

His conclusion was simple. He didn’t want to send Angela to that h*rny bastard. And he would use this current opportunity.

Though he was curious about what had happened between the two, he decided to lose interest. It wasn’t his concern. He just wanted to focus on using this good opportunity that had fallen into his lap.

“Did you really see the two of them together?”

Dion looked at Baroness Curtin with sharp eyes and asked.

His gaze contained silent pressure that said if she spouted more nonsense, he would expose her secret meetings with Mark right here.

“Oh, the, the two don’t seem to be lovers either. I must have seen wrong.”

Baroness Curtin immediately changed her words. Though Mark sent her silent signals asking why she was doing this, she avoided his gaze.

She seemed to have concluded in that brief moment that choosing her husband was better than targeting Angela’s fortune, which had become uncertain.

When Baroness Curtin moved according to his thoughts, Dion smiled with satisfaction.

Since she had changed her words, the claim that Angela and Mark were lovers had become Mark’s alone. If Dion took Angela’s side here, the situation would turn favorable for her.

But he had no intention of doing things Angela’s way. He hadn’t had opportunities to get close to her until now, so he had to seize this chance.

“Miss Huntley isn’t Mark’s lover but has a deep relationship with me.”

So instead of denying that the two were lovers, he claimed that he and Angela were lovers.

At that moment, everyone around turned their gaze to Dion in unison. Angela also looked at him with a flustered expression.

“Then what would you call what we saw between those two?”

One of the women standing nearby pointed at Mark with her hand and asked. From her expression, she looked like she wanted to insist Angela and Mark were lovers.

She was probably one of the instigators Mark had planted to drive Angela and Mark together as lovers.

“Didn’t you hear Miss Huntley’s words just now? She said she was harassed. Mark even reached for my lover. I knew he dated various women, but now he’s trying to steal a fellow knight’s lover. I’m the one who’s been stabbed in the back.”

“Dion! What are you talking about?”

When the plan began to go awry contrary to expectations, Mark looked at Dion with a flustered face.

“Don’t touch my lover and just manage your own lower body properly.”

He answered with a mocking voice.

Framing a colleague as a s*xual harasser wasn’t particularly pleasant, but since it wasn’t a lie, he didn’t feel sorry for Mark or guilty about it.

A report had recently come in from a woman who said Mark had sexually harassed her, so he was destined to be caught on s*xual harassment charges soon. Dion had just moved up his jail time a little.

Everything was his own doing. He should have been more careful about who he messed with.

“What crazy talk!”

Just when excited Mark was about to rush at Dion, Dion quietly informed him about the report.

“Who told you to do such things? Atone for the sins you’ve committed now.”

Knowing what wrongs he had committed, Mark lowered his fist.

“Damn it. So you’re going to send me away like this now?”

“You’re going to get caught anyway, so go quietly. I’ll help you out later when I have money.”

In that brief moment, Dion and Mark made a deal using signals only knights knew. If Mark stopped here, Dion would provide some compensation after marrying Angela.

Mark would be stripped of his knighthood and go to jail for disgracing the knight’s honor. So he had no reason to refuse Dion’s proposal.

“Angela, I’m sorry for revealing our relationship like this. I was going to say something when we had an official proposal…”

After finishing his deal with Mark, Dion approached Angela with polite and restrained behavior.

Huh?

When Dion suddenly approached her pretending to be affectionate, Angela looked at him with surprise. Soon he lowered his face close enough for their breaths to touch and whispered in her ear.

“Pretending to be lovers with me would be better than falling into Mark’s scheme. So it would be better to play along for now.”

Dion smiled sweetly with his melodious voice. He looked like he would to an actual lover.

“…”

Was this a helping hand or a new trap?

Angela pondered what decision to make. He had certainly said harsh things to her and made her feel ashamed, but he was also the person who had saved her life.

“Is there a price this time too?”

Knowing he wasn’t a man who would help without any price, Angela whispered to him quietly.

“Well, since I received a kiss last time, maybe that will do this time too?”

He tapped his lips twice with his index finger, suggesting the price would be a kiss again this time.

Seeing him respond playfully to her serious question, she couldn’t tell if his intentions were pure or impure.

‘Is he really trying to help me out of pure intentions, or is he helping because of money?’

No matter how much she thought about it, Angela couldn’t figure out Dion’s thoughts, which frustrated her. But one thing seemed certain. Rather than falling into Mark’s scheme, it would be better to take Dion’s hand.

Deciding to trust Dion, whose attitude hadn’t changed even after knowing she was wealthy, Angela nodded instead of answering.

Then he lowered his lips and kissed Angela.

Though it was a light kiss like a feather’s touch, perhaps because they had kissed once before, his actions were so natural that everyone believed they were actually lovers.

“Now they’ll believe we’re lovers.”

A satisfied smile flowed from Dion’s mouth as he received payment for his help while proving they were lovers.

Meanwhile, someone must have called the guards because Mark was caught red-handed. At that moment, Baroness Curtin’s face turned white, but she continued to ignore her lover until the end.

She had only schemed because of money, and she was just casually enjoying herself with Mark.

Dion clicked his tongue watching her.

When all situations were resolved, people around them gradually began to leave, and soon only Dion and Angela remained.

“I’m sorry. In that situation, I thought pretending we were lovers was the way to not damage your honor.”

Dion immediately offered a polite apology with the most respectful attitude possible.

“No. Thanks to you, I avoided the worst situation. Was it Sir Craven? I really hate such rude men.”

Remembering Mark’s half-n*ked appearance, Angela shook her head vigorously. It was horrible to even recall.

“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to meet with me directly. We can just pretend to be lovers in others’ eyes and break up at an appropriate time.”

“Since we shouldn’t be suspected of pretending to be temporary lovers, it would be better to have a few meetings as evidence.”

According to Dion’s words, they would just act like lovers for others’ eyes and wouldn’t need to actually meet. But Angela wanted to continue the relationship with him a bit longer, even if it was temporary rather than real.

She wanted to continue the relationship with him to confirm what had been bothering her and her own feelings.

This terribly ambiguous feeling where she couldn’t tell if she disliked him or liked him.