Seemingly interpreting her sigh differently, Dietrich momentarily fidgeted with his fingertips before unfastening the buttons of his coat.

“Are you cold? Just a moment……”

Previously, she would have refused, but Lysith was too tired now, so she moderately accepted his kindness. Well, the autumn night’s wind was quite chilly too.

“……Thank you.”

After expressing gratitude in a small voice, Lysith closed her mouth, and a strange silence settled between the two.

When she glanced up slightly, the affection level appeared again, instantly making her feel stifled. It was certainly a success. And above all, she hadn’t even formed a relationship with Dietrich yet, so it was positive if anything.

But why had the main quest set the affection level at 100 and presented it to her? And now that she had exceeded that 100, could she interpret the number 10000 positively?

‘No…… It’s okay. Think positively. It means no matter what I do, it will never fall below 100.’

After deliberately soothing her increasingly anxious mind and heart, Lysith dismissed the system window with a glance and wrapped the generously sized black coat around herself.

Watching her with an unreadable gaze, Dietrich broke through the gentle silence.

“……Do you like flowers?”

“Um… I don’t hate them.”

Lysith answered calmly to the sudden question. At her response, Dietrich pulled out a flower crown that he had been hiding behind his back and gently placed it on Lysith’s head.

Her eyes, which had widened slightly at the appearance of the flower crown, blinked rapidly as it was placed on her head.

“Why this……”

“It belongs to you, doesn’t it?”

I’m not sure what that means…… Lysith thought, but still touched the flower crown, which remained fresh due to preservation magic. Dietrich’s eyes sank slightly as he gazed at her.

The darkened garden, the softly glowing lights, and the woman who absorbed all the light as if to shine herself, wearing the flower crown he had given her, stood before him.

The flower crown placed on the winner’s head was mainly composed of lilies and colorfully decorated, and the moment he saw it in her hands, he thought it matched her incredibly well.

Dietrich knew the meaning of lilies, so he found it quite amusing that they were used for the hunting festival. All along, that is.

But what is affection if not treating all such thoughts as trivial, before receiving it and handing it to her?

He instinctively felt that now was the perfect time to offer an apology to her.

“I have something I really want to say to the lady.”

“Yes.”

“Rather than something I want to say, it would be more accurate to call it something I need to say.”

Listening attentively to his slowly continuing words, Lysith quietly nodded and guessed. Well, it seems he wants to apologize or something. Thinking this, she wrapped the coat around herself again.

At that moment, the man before her, who had been speaking with a tense expression, suddenly saw something, hardened his face, and instantly grabbed her forearm, pulling her into his arms.

“What are you……”

“People might think I’m eating you alive.”

Just as Lysith frowned and protested at the sudden action, a voice came from right behind her. A voice that seemed somewhat tinged with laughter yet also perfectly serious—a dark voice.

‘……Verheigen.’

When she heard his voice, Lysith squeezed her eyes shut.

The palace, this crazy palace was the problem. This damn palace was always like this!

She could clearly feel the firm arm around her waist tensing up. While Lysith, suddenly pulled into Dietrich’s arms, rolled her eyes, the conversation between the two men continued.

“……I greet Your Majesty the Emperor.”

“Yes. ……Now, why don’t you let go of the person in your arms before we talk?”

“I cannot do that.”

“Ha.”

Just a few hours ago at the hunting festival, everything had happened so quickly, and with Verheigen getting between the two of them, Dietrich had no chance to react. When she collapsed, both the imperial physician and the aide were nearby, so neither could openly show hostility, but now it was different.

This time, he spotted Verheigen immediately, allowing him to prevent the other from stepping forward and pulling the woman toward himself.

Dietrich’s blue eyes, holding Lysith in his arms, glowed intensely with vigilance.

“Why would I carelessly let her go when I don’t know what Your Majesty might do?”

“The Grand Duke overthinks too much. Don’t you think that needs fixing?”

“Thanks to that, I’m here now, so it doesn’t matter.”

His words didn’t seem particularly sharp, but the tone and atmosphere were so deadly it felt like someone might die at any moment.

For Lysith, unable to see the expressions of the two men, it was frustratingly suffocating. One of Dietrich’s arms wrapped around her waist, while his other hand held the back of her head, pulling her against his chest. She could only assess the situation through hearing.

On the other hand, she wondered why the man holding her was so tense.

‘Why is his heart… beating so fast?’

With her face buried in his chest, she naturally heard the man’s frantically pounding heart. It was beating so strongly that she could feel it throbbing beneath his skin.

Verheigen, who had been staring at Lysith’s white head like a man parched with thirst, suddenly called out to her.

“My Lysith.”

“……Yes?”

She answered but couldn’t look at him—a strange predicament.

“Who will you choose?”

“……”

At Verheigen’s question, Lysith’s wildly spinning thoughts suddenly stopped. So, this was basically… ‘Me or him?’ That kind of question.

To be honest, she wanted to go to Verheigen. In a way, it made sense. She had spent more time with him, and he had been kind to her throughout that period.

‘But……’

[Male Protagonist List]

—Dietrich Clonair: 10000/100

—Verheigen Waldheim Faeous: 10000/100

—Penchev Heinz: 10000/100

—Ashites Dinev: 10000/100

Having acquired the affection check skill, you can now constantly check affection levels from the list.

Still in Dietrich’s arms, Lysith opened the system window and, breaking the silence where even a falling needle would sound like thunder, closed her eyes tightly and answered in a small voice.

“For now, I’d like to talk with His Highness the Grand Duke.”

“……”

“……”

In the silence, as the two men quietly displayed contrasting reactions of joy and sorrow, Lysith swallowed hard.

Her choice stemmed from purely rational judgment. Both had the same affection level—numerically, probably the maximum—but Dietrich was the one with whom she had fulfilled fewer conditions of the main quest.

And since Dietrich was the one who had originally wanted to talk, Lysith suppressed her somewhat uncomfortable feelings and continued listening to the man’s still pounding heartbeat.

From behind her, Verheigen’s subdued voice rang out.

“……Very well. If that is your wish, I have no choice.”

She couldn’t guess what expression he was making. This was the first serious rejection she had given him. As she bit her lip, the still-open system window flickered slightly, drawing her attention to Verheigen’s blinking affection level.

Was it going down? Just as she thought that, the blinking stopped.

……The number remained the same.

After a brief moment, Dietrich released his arms that had been firmly restraining her, looking somewhat embarrassed.

“……Sorry for startling you.”

“Yes……”

The chilly autumn wind blew through the garden where only the two of them remained.

A silence that made it difficult for either to speak first enveloped them. Should it be called an awkward atmosphere, or a heavy one? Contemplating what to do, Lysith sighed softly and asked.

“What was it you wanted to say?”

At her calm question, Dietrich, who had been momentarily moving his lips, blurted out his words.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“……”

“I know it might seem too brazen to ask for forgiveness with just these words…… But if I don’t say it, it will be harder for you, my lady.”

It was what she had expected. But despite having anticipated it, she felt strange. Her hand gripping the coat tightened.

“During our marriage, I found you bothersome. The way I treated you… it was as if I didn’t consider you the Grand Duchess. No, more precisely… it would be more accurate to say I’ve been thinking a lot after hearing about my attitude from those around me recently.”

“……”

“I also heard you had a hard time in social circles because of certain rumors. Recently… yes, I’m also sorry for tiring you out with my misunderstandings when we happened to meet at the banquet hall.”

The apologies continued one after another, as if he was reflecting on his past. Lysith listened to his words with an expressionless face.

‘This deserves praise, doesn’t it……’

She was somewhat dumbfounded, not having expected him to apologize in this manner. He wasn’t simply saying sorry and ending it there; he was explaining which aspects he felt sorry about.

And all of it aligned with the parts that had troubled her while having Lysith’s memories. Of course, hearing this apology didn’t make the emotional knot melt away like snow, but an apology made with a clear understanding of one’s wrongdoing carried meaning and sincerity.

“……So, what you’re probably curious about is… why I acted that way.”

“Well, yes. I’ve been wondering all along. I never did anything to Your Highness.”

At Lysith’s words, Dietrich nodded slightly as if agreeing, and with a sigh, he brought up a story from the distant past. More precisely, a story that touched on his own shameful aspects.

“I mentioned before about something related to His Majesty. That I wanted to win.”