Then Louelle’s voice came from outside. Fazel jumped up.

“Ah, really bothering people over nothing.”

“Louelle, come in.”

“You’re still not asleep?”

Louelle was surprised that Fazel was waiting for her.

“I was worried.”

“Huh?”

“Just.”

Fazel was startled when his true feelings came out and closed his mouth. He didn’t want to let her know these feelings. When he tried to speak honestly, he felt strangely embarrassed and his chest grew hot.

He shook his head at himself, feeling like he was acting like a child.

“I was just worried because you didn’t come back until late.”

He couldn’t say he’d been worried and anxious that the engagement might break.

Without saying that he wouldn’t have agreed to an engagement so easily if it weren’t Louelle, Fazel approached her.

“Did the conversation go well?”

“I was firm.”

After saying that, Louelle stared at Fazel.

“Fazel is better after all.”

“What is?”

“Fazel is more handsome than Jinmen.”

After saying that, Louelle gently touched Fazel’s head.

“Jinmen asked if I’d consider changing my fiancé to him.”

Fazel nodded.

“Let’s go inside and talk.”

Louelle’s story seemed like it would be long. Fazel gladly let Louelle inside.

“You were drinking tea.”

“It just happened.”

He couldn’t say it was because his heart felt stifled.

Fazel bit his lip, unable to understand why he was like this.

“Will you give me a cup of tea too?”

“Just a moment.”

Fazel slightly warmed the teapot with magic. Louelle watched the sight with curiosity.

“When Grand Mage Loctaron comes next year, you’ll be even better at magic, right?”

“Of course.”

Fazel said matter-of-factly.

“From now on, there will be men who approach me like Jinmen. There will be women who approach you too.”

Fazel looked puzzled.

“Women approaching me?”

“You’re the son the Duke acknowledges. So you can’t say there won’t be women who approach you.”

Louelle said matter-of-factly.

He didn’t know if there would be, but Fazel listened to Louelle’s words for now.

“So let’s make a promise.”

“About what?”

“As long as we don’t have feelings for other people, we’ll keep our loyalty no matter who approaches us.”

“So you rejected him in the end?”

“Of course. I have loyalty.”

At Louelle’s words, Fazel felt genuinely relieved.

His anxious feelings disappeared and he became comfortable.

“Okay.”

Fazel could finally relax and smile.

He wanted to trust Louelle.

And his trust became reality.

“I’m glad I made you my friend.”

Fazel said sincerely.

The person called Louelle was so humanly trustworthy.

* * *

Latelas spoke to Esran with a kind smile.

“Lady Louelle is very beautiful.”

“She resembles my wife and grows more beautiful each day, which is troublesome. But I’ve already decided on her fiancé, so that’s one less worry.”

“Is that so?”

“I want Louelle to become a Count.”

That was the way to live safely, avoiding the Emperor’s eyes.

“That’s why Fazel is perfect.”

His status wasn’t too low, and it was appropriate. And even though he was an illegitimate child, he was a son acknowledged by his father the Duke, so it was decent enough.

“Aren’t you a little disappointed?”

Latelas subtly tested Esran. Since Esran had already guessed, he shrugged.

“That’s the best method.”

Esran didn’t fall for Latelas’s intentions. He just spoke calmly, indicating to him that he was satisfied with Fazel.

After Esran left, Latelas silently looked at his teacup.

After a while, he heard a small sound.

‘Is that Jinmen?’

He must have talked with Lady Louelle. In terms of conditions, his son was better than Fazel.

Actually, the accident was coincidental. But when he saw the carriage crest and realized it was the Asnel family, he thought heaven was helping him.

His son might have results. Honestly, if Louelle welcomed a man of too high status, it would be troublesome, but wouldn’t a Marquis be fine?

Everyone in high society knew that Louelle had blocked Nertian’s approach partly because of his personality, but also because she feared the Emperor’s eyes.

Jinmen would become a Marquis. And if he combined territories with Lady Asnel later, there would be tremendous advantages. Especially at a time when the household was a bit short on cash, a family as wealthy as the Asnel family was more than welcome.

Expecting his son’s success, Latelas tilted his wine. Then the door opened and Jinmen entered.

“She’s really stubborn. I barely held back my irritation.”

Jinmen roughly ran his hand through his hair.

“Why won’t the Lady listen?”

“Did you fail?”

“She won’t budge. What exactly do I lack compared to that illegitimate child?”

Saying that, he gritted his teeth.

“Did you say that to the Lady too?”

“I didn’t cross that line.”

“Good.”

Latelas was relieved.

“You must not cross that final line. By approaching like this and leaving room, when her mind changes, she’ll think of us.”

Latelas nodded and patted Jinmen’s shoulder. His breathing was rough because things didn’t work out, but it wasn’t something to scold his son about.

Latelas comforted his son, thinking the opportunity would come again.

* * *

Louelle sat with Fazel chatting warmly, then felt sleepy and tried to return to her bedroom. Fazel also tried to go back to his room to sleep.

“Didn’t the Marquis’s son ask to be friends?”

“He did.”

Louelle recalled that memory and shook her head.

“I can see his ulterior motives, so what kind of friend? I don’t like it.”

Louelle said flatly, waved her hand at Fazel, and walked into her room. Seeing Louelle enter her room, Fazel relaxed his expression.

It seemed things had concluded well.

Fazel also tried to return to his room to sleep. But then someone walked slowly. Fazel sensed a presence and quickly turned around.

“Fazel, you’re still not asleep.”

Esran looked at Fazel with a flushed face. Realizing he was drunk, Fazel tensed slightly. He’d often seen drunk adults fighting with each other.

Esran had never done that, but his wariness was instinctively triggered.

“You don’t need to worry that much.”

After saying that, he smiled at Fazel.

“It’s good that I confirmed Louelle didn’t fall for it.”

“Count, did you come here knowing this might happen?”

“That’s right.”

Esran looked at Louelle’s room.

“There’s no guarantee this kind of thing won’t happen again in the future. She needs to practice repelling such temptations and keeping the promises and contracts she made herself.”

At Esran’s words, Fazel was momentarily speechless. He’d done this to watch his daughter’s actions and growth.

“You can relax now too, right? Louelle won’t break the contract on her own. If something like that happens, she’ll talk to you about it.”

Esran waved his hand and entered his room.

Left alone, Fazel came out to the garden for some air. The garden was empty, seemingly everyone had gone to sleep.

Spending this quiet time alone made his heart peaceful.

‘Phew.’

When his mother brought him from the Duke’s household, she said not everyone in the world was bad.

“That’s right.”

Louelle naturally values promises. She knows to keep contracts naturally.

Why wasn’t the Duke’s household like that?

The place where Louelle was felt so kind and warm. He didn’t want to return to the cold and frightening Duke’s household.

The engagement period would end when they graduated from the Academy. If he could stay in this world until then, his heart wouldn’t break like before.

If he strengthened his heart here, even if he returned to the cold world, he knew this wasn’t all the world had to offer. He felt he could endure it knowing he could return to the warm world anytime.

In a way, he was grateful to Louelle.

Even though he’d made a mistake, she didn’t kick him out of the territory and treated him like a real friend, which made him feel this way.

“Hah, it’s really not cold.”

Thinking that, he smiled quietly.

Even if the engagement ended, he wanted to be someone who could stay by Louelle’s side. Because as a friend, Louelle was too good.

Suddenly thinking of Jinmen made him uncomfortable.

“It’s partly because I feel like Louelle might waver toward another man.”

But even aside from that, one side of his chest wasn’t comfortable.

“Ah, well. I’m probably worried because of trauma.”

Fazel didn’t think deeply. Learning the identity of his uncomfortable feelings would be a story for the distant future.

Because the slowly budding emotion hadn’t fully bloomed yet, Fazel didn’t realize that Louelle was slowly beginning to fill his heart.

* * *

Aegis looked at the letter. Count Asnel would arrive in the capital soon, so they should set a meal time. Since he said he’d contact them when he arrived in the capital, they would come soon.

“Duke, are you really going to grant Fazel the Count title and territory?”

The girl standing before him asked. The girl with long brown hair tied up, pursing her small lips as she asked, was a girl the Duke cherished.

“Why? Are you upset that Fazel, who you betrayed, is doing well?”

She closed her mouth.

“It’s not like that. Fazel is a lowly illegitimate child.”

“But now he needs acknowledgment.”

After saying that kindly, he gestured to the girl. Then the girl approached and lowered her head to him. At his gentle touch, the girl relaxed her stiff expression.

“Aserene, knowing that, stay quietly with your mother on the day the party is held.”

Aserene’s blue eyes sparkled.

“Can’t I attend?”

“That’s right. No matter how much I cherish you, you’re my courtesan’s daughter, aren’t you?”

She wasn’t even the Duke’s real daughter.

“I’m sorry. I was too greedy.”

“You understand well. I’m letting it go because it’s you.”

Aserene bowed her head, then closed the door and came out.

“Of all people, Fazel becoming a Count.”

Aserene leaned against the door and thought of him.

The Duke’s illegitimate child.

He was just that kind of existence, but after catching Louelle’s eye, he became royalty’s fiancé. Fazel’s position had changed too much, and those who had tormented him trembled in fear.

“I did nothing wrong.”

Aserene bit her lip.

It wasn’t her fault, it was Fazel’s fault for standing out.

“But why is Fazel a Count?”

The Emperor would grant the title directly. Aserene didn’t like this series of events.

Fazel was just an illegitimate child, yet he received the Duke’s acknowledgment and got a decent fiancée from a good family.

Irritation welled up.

It annoyed her that a boy she thought was beneath her was rising up and going to a high place.

Aserene trudged back to her room. In the room, maids were drying her mother’s hair. She’d been looking elsewhere, but when Aserene entered, she smiled at her daughter.

“Did you meet the Duke?”

“I did. But Mother, did you hear?”

“About what?”

“Fazel is becoming a Count.”

“I know.”

Aserene’s birth mother Rositaine said in a light voice.

“Can’t you just become close with him again?”

She whispered to Aserene.

“Fazel is a lonely boy. If you approach him, say you were wrong, and whisper the right words, he’ll fall for it too.”

Rositaine told Aserene to do to Fazel what she did to the Duke.

Aserene’s ears perked up at her mother’s words.

‘Right, Fazel was weak to kindness.’

Didn’t she know his weakness well?

Aserene nodded and smiled.

‘Right, let’s manipulate Fazel again like Mother said. Let’s steal the wealth he’ll gain.’

Aserene thought that.