“Pardon? What exactly do you mean…?”

Alexis muttered in obvious confusion before letting out a small, disbelieving laugh.

“Ah. Have you perhaps prepared some kind of surprise for me?”

Evelyn desperately hoped Alexis would stop misunderstanding her, so the moment he finished speaking, she answered.

“Since you seem to have misunderstood me, I’ll say it again.”

“…”

“I want to end our engagement.”

That was the greatest courtesy Evelyn could force herself to offer him.

The truth was, she didn’t even want to breathe the same air as Alexis.

He had deceived her.

Whether he had actively helped blind her or simply stood by and allowed it to happen, he had done nothing, even as Evelyn coughed up blood and writhed in agony in the final moments of her life.

He had simply watched.

She couldn’t say what his role had been while Princess Camilla was systematically “cleansing” Evelyn’s family, one member after another.

“I simply can’t understand why you’re saying this all of a sudden…”

Alexis, who had remained frozen in shock for some time, finally demanded an explanation.

“After suffering through that fever, I changed my mind. I began to wonder whether perhaps there are people in this world who are simply better suited to each other.”

That much was true.

If Princess Camilla’s ultimate goal had been to be with Alexis, and she had eliminated Evelyn’s family because Evelyn stood in the way of that goal, then Evelyn could simply give Alexis to her now.

Of course, Evelyn still couldn’t say for certain whether Princess Camilla or someone connected to her had been responsible for Shion’s death.

But more than anything, Evelyn didn’t want Alexis anywhere near the second chance at life she had been given.

“Could it be…?”

Alexis stopped speaking.

He fell silent for a long while, apparently lost in thought.

When he finally spoke again, his face had taken on a frightening expression Evelyn had never seen before.

“…Have you found another man already?”

“I don’t think that’s something you have any business interfering in.”

“Ha… Not something I have any business interfering in?”

A bitter laugh finally escaped Alexis.

He must have been deeply wounded in his pride, because the veins on the back of his hand bulged as he gripped his teacup.

Before their marriage, Evelyn had never had any serious conflicts with Alexis.

That was why she had thought of him as an exceptionally gentle man and believed he was someone suitable to spend the rest of her life with.

It had taken her far too long to realize how wrong she had been.

‘Come to think of it, he really was incredibly proud.’

Looking at the ugly smile spreading across his face, Evelyn found the taste in her mouth turning bitter.

“I’m your fiancé. If I don’t have the right to interfere, then who in this world does, Evelyn? Ah… Is it that man?”

He seemed convinced that Evelyn had already found another man and was breaking off their engagement because of him.

He was clearly trapped in his own assumptions, but Evelyn had no desire to correct him.

“If some man approached a woman who already has a perfectly respectable fiancé, then he must be quite a questionable character. Clearly, he doesn’t care at all about his reputation in high society either…”

Evelyn pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed softly.

‘Honestly… Who does he think he is to say that?’

“Evelyn, you know what breaking off our engagement would mean for us. Especially when the consequences tend to fall more heavily on women than men…”

Apparently deciding that appealing to her conscience wasn’t enough, Alexis now resorted to warning her about the damage her reputation would suffer.

He had abandoned the gentle, considerate manner he had maintained until now.

‘Come to think of it, Princess Camilla must have had a difficult time too.’

Evelyn didn’t want to agree with Alexis, but there was some truth to what he said.

Even if there were convincing excuses, after Evelyn died in her previous life, the reputations of Princess Camilla and Alexis would hardly have remained spotless.

The Alyssium Empire was rather conservative when it came to matters of chastity and propriety.

So Alexis’s words were essentially a veiled threat regarding the rumors that would spread throughout high society.

But none of it worked on the Evelyn of today.

Perhaps she would have been afraid in her previous life.

After all, her reputation would have affected her family as well.

While the nobles of the capital spent their days laughing and enjoying peaceful, comfortable lives, her father and brother were enduring one brutal day after another on the battlefield.

She had never wanted to bring shame upon them.

That was why she had always conducted herself properly and been careful with her words and actions.

But now she had seen with her own eyes, through the memories of her previous life, that her relationship with Alexis would ultimately lead to her death.

And she had also obtained a clue suggesting that Princess Camilla might somehow be connected to the deaths of her family.

Compared to all that, what did a little thing like her reputation matter?

That was why Evelyn wanted to distance herself from Alexis as quickly as possible.

If she did, perhaps she would never attract Princess Camilla’s attention in the first place.

Of course, that didn’t mean her hatred for the two of them had disappeared.

It simply wasn’t time for revenge yet.

“I don’t have anything else to say.”

Evelyn decided it was best to leave before Alexis could continue with whatever this was, persuasion or perhaps a sermon.

“I’ll be going first. I have somewhere else to be afterward.”

She had just begun to rise gracefully from her seat when Alexis suddenly called out in a loud voice.

“…Evelyn, wait!”

***

The door of the coffeehouse opened.

A tall man stepped inside.

Several nobles who had been chatting with their companions stole glances at him.

Perhaps he was a nobleman they knew. If so, they might as well exchange greetings.

But before they could get a proper look at his face, the man pulled his hat lower, concealing it even further.

His clothes were somewhat more relaxed than a complete formal suit, but he was certainly not dressed so poorly that he would have been out of place in a coffeehouse.

“My lady, look over there.”

A noblewoman covered her mouth with a white fan and whispered.

“He’s remarkably handsome. Just which family does that young lord belong to?”

The man certainly possessed a physique rarely seen among the nobility.

Most noblemen who weren’t called away to war tended to eat well, leaving their faces gleaming with excess and their stomachs rounded like balloons.

Yet there was something about this man that made it difficult to simply dismiss him as a knight.

Rather than the rough, almost savage air characteristic of knights, he possessed the arrogance and languid elegance of an aristocrat.

Every step he took radiated confidence.

His back was perfectly straight, his posture immaculate, yet there was a certain restraint about him that reminded one of a soldier.

It was impossible to say exactly what he was.

But one thing was certain.

He was either a member of a noble family that had yet to establish itself in the capital, or someone from a wealthy merchant family.

The primary customers of coffeehouses were nobles.

Otherwise, they were frequented by wealthy merchants and scholars.

As long as one could afford the price of a cup of tea, which was nearly as expensive as a meal at a high-end restaurant, the doors of a coffeehouse were open to everyone, noble or commoner alike.

“Still, why is he trying so hard to hide his face…?”

The noblewomen each clicked their tongues in disappointment.

Even from the sharp line of his jaw visible beneath the brim of his hat, the cool yet beautifully shaped line of his lips, and the tip of his nose peeking out slightly, it was obvious just how extraordinarily handsome he was.

“Are you meeting someone, sir?”

At the waiter’s question, the man looked around the room before elegantly shaking his head.

“I’ll show you to a table.”

The waiter gestured politely toward the back of the coffeehouse.

There was something mysterious about the man.

Without even realizing it, the nobles found themselves following his movements with their eyes.

The lingering gazes fixed upon him finally scattered when the coffeehouse door opened wide once more.

Evelyn Ceres, the only daughter of Marquis Ceres, whose name was renowned throughout the Empire as a war hero, walked inside.

At that moment, the man’s previously indifferent eyes widened slightly.

“It has been a long time, Lord Osment.”

When Evelyn approached and greeted him, Alexis raised his head.

The moment he realized that the person addressing him was his beloved Evelyn, a smile appeared on his previously expressionless face.

“…It truly has been a long time. How have you been feeling?”

A noblewoman watched the two of them in silence before whispering to her companion.

“They’re absolutely adorable together.”

“They’re at that wonderful stage in their relationship.”

Another noblewoman nodded before adding,

“Is there something going on between Lady Ceres and Lord Osment?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard? I believe they’ve promised to marry.”

“Really? I’ve been shut away in the territory for so long that I’m rather behind on the latest gossip. Still, if she’s the only daughter of Marquis Ceres, surely she could have found a more advantageous match…”

“Perhaps nothing can compare to having her mother personally arrange the marriage…”

Even though they didn’t want to, whispers drifted in from every direction.

The man with the hat lowered over his face, Kassian, slightly furrowed his brow.

“Evelyn, wait!”

A rather loud voice rang throughout the coffeehouse.

Naturally, the attention of many people, including Kassian, turned toward them.