When she touched the silver foil with her fingertips, she suddenly felt strange. It was one of the things she never dared to use when she was the Grand Duchess. She could have used it if she wanted to, but she always used ordinary envelopes for fear of criticism from those around her.

After all, she had been a Grand Duchess in name only.

Wouldn’t it be much better to live as Lady Gronevelt? Rather than hearing the title of Her Highness the Grand Duchess, which felt like wearing ill-fitting clothes……

“I’ll read it, why not.”

At Lysith’s words, Eve subtly puffed her cheeks. Her displeasure was evident. And after looking once at Penchev, who was also radiating the same displeasure alongside her, Lysith bit her lip.

‘He’s going to tear the letter……’

It was such a sharp and hot gaze that it would have already torn the letter if looks could tear paper.

Among them, only Serena maintained her composure.

Deliberately ignoring the two, she opened the envelope with a paper knife and took out the letter, which smoothly unfolded in her hand. On the high-quality paper, which was clearly the finest, the man’s letter was written in elegant handwriting.

At first, she looked a bit dumbfounded, but then as she read through the letter with little emotion, she couldn’t hide her astonishment from the middle part.

‘……Was he that short on excuses?’

No, maybe he just didn’t know anything.

He probably didn’t know anything personally and couldn’t get any meaningful information through background checks either. Things like what she liked or was good at.

All of that was the same as what was publicly known, so the excuse seemed to be like this.

“Miss.”

“……I guess I should meet him once.”

One couldn’t live ignoring someone forever. After all, that man was also one of the four male protagonists.

And truthfully, she was curious about what he would say this time.

After neatly folding the letter again, Lysith roughly put it back in the envelope. When she gestured for stationery to write a reply, paper similar to what she usually used was handed to her.

“……Sigh.”

“……”

“Not this. Get something better.”

Despite their personal feelings, they couldn’t use low-quality paper, but Penchev and Eve had chosen such paper as if they had coordinated it.

It was only after Serena stepped in that the matter was resolved.

When she waved her hand as if telling everyone to leave now, their reluctance was amusing, but she couldn’t show this. He must have said something reasonable. While Eve’s whining could be laughed off, what was a bit scary was Penchev’s gray eyes.

How should I put it, it was the kind of look you might see from someone with nothing to lose. It seemed that his only restraint was his desire not to be disliked by her.

After all three had left her room, Lysith began to write her reply, sighing deeply with one hand on her forehead.

She had now crossed three mountains, and only the final one remained.

* * *

Letters had been exchanged between the two of them only once at most.

And on that long-awaited day when they were to meet, Lysith boarded the carriage heading to the Grand Duke’s residence.

For reference, she had already turned off the damn passive automatic ON system that would cause a commotion whenever she got close to Dietrich.

‘It feels like I’m voluntarily returning to prison, which isn’t pleasant.’

It made sense to feel that way since she was going to a place filled with only bad memories of her own accord. As she exhaled with a “whoo,” trying to shake off that feeling, Eve, who was sitting in the front seat, made a fuss.

“You don’t want to go, right?”

“I’m fine, I tell you.”

Since she had been like this all morning, Lysith just smiled it off. Why did the meeting place have to be the Grand Duke’s residence? Thinking about it carefully, it seemed like his own form of consideration.

Meeting in a public place like a café would have guaranteed them becoming the hot topic of social circles that very day, and having the Grand Duke come to Lysith’s mansion would also be too conspicuous.

On the other hand, if she went to the Grand Duke’s residence, it meant she had the Grand Duke’s permission from the start, making it the option with the least repercussions among the three choices.

If one were to force an excuse, it could be brushed off as “she left something important behind.”

“Miss, we’ve arrived.”

“I see.”

Glancing through the carriage window, she saw the rather bleak-looking grand ducal residence come into view. She seemed to have heard that places in the Grand Duchy didn’t look like this. But she had never been there, so she couldn’t know for sure.

And before the carriage had completely stopped, she could see a handsome man with black hair approaching with quick steps, almost running, from far away.

Lysith’s impression upon seeing this was simply:

‘I never thought I’d see that man running in my life……’

Eve, still with a sullen expression, quietly opened the carriage door and jumped out first. Then, as Dietrich quickly approached, he extended one hand toward Lysith, who was still sitting in the carriage.

With an expression that was hard to read, Lysith silently placed her hand on his and gracefully stepped down from the carriage with his escort.

After briefly contemplating whether to let go of his hand right away, Lysith decided to leave it as it was for now. Then, after examining her profile for a moment, the man carefully began walking toward the inside his residence while still holding Lysith’s hand, just as he had at the imperial palace last time.

For the current Lysith, this was her first visit.

Ironically, though it was her first time, it was a place that felt quite familiar and was plastered with nothing but unpleasant memories.

As expected, the Grand Duke’s residence, which she was entering for the first time since the divorce, had not changed at all.

Since she hadn’t touched anything in the first place, it would have remained the same all along.

“I greet Lady Gronevelt.”

The first person she encountered upon entering the residence was a butler with a familiar face. During her time as the Grand Duchess, he had taken quite good care of her. No, actually, in this vast place, the only one who had treated her coldly was the man whose hand she was now holding.

The servants of the Grand Duke’s residence had shown her at least minimal courtesy. If even the servants had not treated her as the Grand Duchess, she probably wouldn’t have lasted even a year.

……But the most important person would have been her husband.

“……Yes. It’s been a while.”

Well, what could she do about what had already passed? Lysith casually accepted the butler’s greeting. The place she was guided to was the best reception room located in the innermost part. It was a reception room used only for entertaining distinguished guests, and shockingly, this was Lysith’s first time entering this reception room.

The marble floor polished to a shine and the gold patterns decorated with just the right amount of splendor made the entire reception room look beautiful.

Along with decorative items placed in appropriate spots, and the chandeliers and sofas that looked like they were nothing but the finest quality at a glance.

“It’s better than I expected.”

“……Have you never seen this place before?”

The moment Dietrich’s question came out, the butler standing behind swallowed the sigh that almost escaped. Oh my, Your Highness the Grand Duke. Of all things to say……

Sure enough, Lysith’s face, which had relaxed a bit in the beautiful interior, hardened in an instant.

“No.”

“……”

As if there was nothing more to say, Lysith closed her mouth. In the atmosphere that had instantly frozen, the butler prepared tea with what seemed like the most careful skill possible.

Tea with rising steam was placed between the two people sitting across from each other in the chilly atmosphere. Only after the butler had finished his task and left the reception room with cold sweat did Lysith open her mouth.

“So… you said you wanted to learn embroidery?”

“……Yes.”

Lysith reached out and took a sip of tea.

Just how pathetic, ridiculous, and absurd was this request!

This was exactly why she couldn’t hide her bewildered expression while reading the letter.

At the beginning of the letter, he had addressed her by her name from when they were married, well…… Considering the other three men, it would be strange if one of the male protagonists were normal. So she had brushed it off thinking, this guy must not be in his right mind either.

‘Was he that short on excuses……’

In his own way, this must have been an effort too. He probably wondered if this would work after sending it. On the other hand, she wondered if there was any reason for him to be so desperate. It was natural for a regretful man to act so pathetically after letting go of what he had.

“You must have been quite short on excuses to meet me.”

“Rather than that, I thought you wouldn’t like it if I summoned you with power or used people around you.”

“……You know well.”

There was no lower her evaluation of him could go, but in any case, he didn’t want her gaze toward him to grow any colder than it already was. Thus, for Dietrich, there was nothing he could do except use an excuse that was absurdly ridiculous.