It was an ambiguous answer, but his actions spoke louder. He was still holding her. Lysith thought his affection level might not be 100, but it was at least 50.

She could raise the rest gradually, no need to rush. The biggest hurdle, s*x, had been passed easily.

Even if he was a ‘game character,’ she didn’t expect him to suddenly fall in love with her.

…Though she wondered if he really was just a game character.

Accepting this, Lysith nodded and imagined the scene in the banquet hall. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but it didn’t seem short. The nobles inside must be imagining all sorts of things.

Besides, thinking about the other characters she had to conquer, leaving with Ashites wasn’t the best choice. If someone who seemed to already have a partner approached them, they’d be confused.

Even if the characters she had to conquer were sane, which was another issue entirely.

Ashites was the only one affected by her passive skill, so it made sense that the system recommended starting with him.

‘If the first guy isn’t sane, does that mean the next ones…?’

She should have possessed a character in a lovely romance novel instead.

Lysith glared at the banquet hall, feeling despair. Ashites, meanwhile, seemed to have no idea what the problem was.

If a rumor spread that she was dating the Master of the Magic Tower, it would be beneficial for her. Yet, she seemed to dislike it.

Nobles usually loved anything that benefited them.

The ones he knew certainly did. But this woman kept defying that notion.

When they first met at the shop, she seemed like any other noble. But afterward, she was both predictable and unpredictable.

“Huh?”

When he lifted her lightly, she made a strange noise.

…He didn’t know he had such a type. His mouth felt dry as if he hadn’t drunk water for three days, and his heart pounded loudly.

The feeling he had before, that something was off, now made sense.

Realizing it quickly was better than slowly, but the first woman he felt affection for was at the top of the noble hierarchy…

He didn’t particularly like nobles, so it was a bittersweet situation.

Sighing through his teeth, he lifted Lysith and set her down on the floor. She seemed bewildered by his sudden kindness.

Meeting her blue eyes, he gently brushed his lips against her forehead, feeling her body tremble.

When he pulled back, she stood there with her mouth open, arms folded in front of her chest. Even that dumbfounded look seemed cute.

Chuckling, he wrapped his arm around her waist and headed towards the banquet hall, but she resisted, planting her feet firmly.

“You seriously want to go out like this? Are you crazy!”

“Just tell them we’re dating.”

“We’re not even really dating!”

“Then do you want to?”

“What?”

Wasn’t this too easy? Asking to date on the second meeting — actually the third — was ridiculous to Lysith.

“Don’t you like it?”

“It’s not about liking or disliking. We’ve only met twice. You said you don’t like me.”

“That’s true. But do we have to like each other to date?”

“……?”

Of course, she was about to say they had to like each other, but she stopped. Really? Can you date without liking each other?

Noticing her confusion, Ashites started walking. Lysith, forced to follow, felt like crying.

She fervently prayed to a god she didn’t believe in, hoping the banquet hall would miraculously be empty. Of course, it wasn’t, so she diligently covered the red marks he had left on her with her hair.

As a result, her once neat hair became a mess, making her look suspicious to anyone who saw her. But it was better than having the marks exposed.

This damn game should act like a game! It was unnecessarily realistic. Leaving the tearful Lysith behind, Ashites opened the curtain wide.

As the terrace doors opened, the nobles, pretending to enjoy the banquet, glanced sideways at Ashites and Lysith.

Ashites seemed indifferent to their stares, while Lysith pretended not to notice, subtly scanning her surroundings.

‘Dietrich…’

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, he was still there. He was easy to spot, standing out in black among the colorful crowd.

Normally, he would attend briefly and leave, but the fact that he was still there indicated how much he was paying attention to them.

As if to confirm her thoughts, she felt his blue eyes staring at them intensely, almost like lasers.

The gaze was so hot it felt like it could pierce her profile. She felt his gaze while they were dancing, but now it was even more intense. His eyes, icy in color, seemed capable of igniting a fire.

For Lysith, this meant her conquest of the male lead was going well, which should have made her happy, but the situation itself was unpleasant.

In summary, it was like this:
A cold ex-wife who had found a lover, and an ex-husband who had discovered this situation.

Normally, it would end at the point of divorce, but the problem was that the ex-wife was the player of this game, and the ex-husband was a target character. What’s more, she was aiming for the regretful man route, and judging by the current situation, it seemed she had succeeded perfectly.

And the nobles, pretending to be dignified, were curious about what happened on the terrace.

Acting strangely here would be like shouting, ‘Please devour me,’ to the social circle. Something had happened, but it was better to pretend otherwise.

Having finished her calculations, Lysith checked the position of her hair and walked, following the man who had his arm around her waist.

Glancing up at his face, she saw a shameless expression, as if he had a steel plate on his face. His composure was enviable. Lysith felt she could never be that composed in her lifetime.

Trying to slip away from his arm around her waist, she stopped in her tracks.

“What? Uncomfortable? Should I wrap my arm around your shoulder instead?”

“No… Do we really have to stick together like this?”

“Hmm…”

He glanced back briefly, then walked more slowly than before.

“Yes. It’ll be fun.”

The person behind them was, as she knew, the Grand Duke. Knowing it wouldn’t do any good, but unable to resist her curiosity, Lysith turned her head and made eye contact with him.

Startled, she quickly looked forward again, adjusting her hair. She felt cold sweat forming.

‘This damn curiosity… I need to kill it…’

If she did something similar next time, she would be the protagonist of ‘Human curiosity knows no bounds and repeats the same mistakes.’

Fortunately, the marks were only on one side, so gathering her hair to one side seemed to cover them well.

Seeing Dietrich’s face, it was clear Ashites was having fun because of him. Whether they had a bad relationship or something else, Lysith couldn’t remember any specific details about their relationship. After all, the Master of the Magic Tower didn’t visit the empire often.

In any case, Lysith had to leave the grand banquet hall with Ashites’ arm around her waist.

Leaving someone’s feelings buried in the mud.

* * *

In the banquet hall, Dietrich could hear the murmurs of the surrounding people. This had happened before, when she told him she didn’t love him.

What happened? The lady clearly loved the Grand Duke… My goodness, she’s quite capable. Did you see earlier? She was being cherished. So now…

It seems Lady Gronevelt doesn’t love Grand Duke Clonair?

Among the noisy banquet hall, those words pierced his heart like a dagger. Indeed, she said she didn’t love him. She wanted an exchange of emotions, and he hadn’t done that.

It was a simple political marriage. No love, no trust, just a union formed by the interests of noble families. The marriage was a safety measure to bring the Gronevelt family into the Emperor’s faction.

In truth, considering her position, she was more suited to be Empress. But she desired the position of Grand Duchess, and the Emperor, not wanting her as Empress, placed her in that position.

Dietrich assumed she found the Empress position too burdensome or couldn’t handle the Emperor’s personality. But at their first meeting, the wedding, he saw her looking at him with loving eyes and realized his assumption was wrong.

But at that time, he detested anything related to the Emperor.

Especially a situation where someone meant for the Emperor came to him.

To his eyes, she was no different.

A woman who should have been Empress but came to him because the Emperor rejected her. That was all she was.

Dietrich, having lost his parents early, was taken in by the former Emperor and Empress, who were close to his parents. Until he took on the role of Grand Duke, he lived almost like their adopted son. During that time, he constantly faced his inferiority complex.

He didn’t know when or where it started. Was it when he lost to the Emperor in a sword duel, or when all the praise went to the Emperor?

Naturally, everything about him was overshadowed by the Emperor. He had what the Emperor lacked, and the Emperor had what he lacked.

It was that simple.

So, he hated that she loved him too.