Fazel returned home and opened the door silently. Suran, who was watching her son trudge along from behind, grinned.

“Isn’t it fortunate?”

Louelle accepted the bouquet. And she told him to put it in a vase. When Fazel heard that story, he felt relieved yet his heart wavered.

Why wasn’t Louelle angry? Why didn’t she throw away the bouquet?

She must have been very upset. But she smiled kindly and spoke to him. She seemed so considerate and kind, accepting his apology.

“Not everyone in the world is like the people who tormented you at the duke’s house.”

He knew Suran’s words were right. But even after leaving the duke’s house, he hadn’t met anyone ‘different’ from them there, so he couldn’t help but doubt everything.

Fazel shook his head.

“It’s because of public opinion. Of course, the people at the duke’s house didn’t care about such things.”

Fazel sighed then stared at Suran.

“Lady Asnel is smart, so I think I need to study. Today we covered a lot, so she’ll probably catch up to what I’ve learned quickly.”

“I’ve often heard that Lady Louelle is outstanding.”

Saying that, Suran looked at her son.

“But there are many people like that at the academy. So you need to think of it as competing with people like Lady Louelle.”

At her words, Fazel bit his lip and nodded.

Fazel recalled what happened today. He remembered Louelle smiling prettily as she received the bouquet from him.

Suran gave him a book.

“This is what we’ll study tomorrow. Preview it.”

“Of course. I’ll do it perfectly.”

“Lady Louelle might preview too.”

At those words, Fazel’s eyes wavered. He didn’t know how much she would preview, but he wanted to study more.

He quickly opened the book even before Suran left. And he immediately concentrated on studying.

That night, the light in Fazel’s room didn’t go out until late.

* * *

Paper rustled as it turned. I seriously examined the applicants’ documents, flipping through them one by one.

“Not good enough.”

Most were skilled people, but many had no connections. If I was paying this much for lessons, naturally they needed both connections and skills, but if they had connections their resume wasn’t appealing, and if their resume was appealing they had few connections.

So this is why hiring people is difficult.

I looked through countless resumes, filtering and filtering. Eventually, unable to find anyone I liked, I swept back my hair in frustration.

“My lady, at least have some tea.”

Marlene approached from the side and set down a teacup on the desk.

“Mm?”

After tasting it, my eyes widened. It was truly a new flavor. Since it wasn’t tea I’d had before, I stared at the teacup once then looked at Marlene.

“What tea is this?”

“It’s a new flavor, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. What tea is this?”

Marlene smiled and brought over a container with tea leaves. When she opened the lid, the fragrant smell of tea entered my nose.

“The Count specially bought this tea for you, my lady.”

He’s been praising me for doing good work lately. So he prepared this event.

I smiled and lifted the teacup, savoring the new tea. Not too sweet, not too bitter. Since it fit my picky tea preferences perfectly, I was very satisfied.

‘He’s such a romantic.’

Father truly loved me. He quietly filled what I wanted, just like now. My heart swelled and I regained energy to work.

“But why are you suddenly learning swordsmanship?”

Marlene asked curiously. Her asking meant Father’s confidants in the castle were also curious.

“Curious about the reason?”

“Yes.”

It couldn’t be helped. In the empire, it still wasn’t common for young ladies to learn swordsmanship. Unless you were becoming a knight, you didn’t get close to swords. For exercise, they mainly did dancing or horseback riding.

So when I said I’d learn swordsmanship, Father and his confidants’ reactions were strange. Should I say they had looks like ‘Is there really a need to learn?’

Father said I should also learn to hire people through this opportunity and left choosing the swordsmanship instructor to me. That’s why I was looking at documents like this.

“For my health.”

That’s what came out first.

Actually, the biggest reason was wanting to learn swordsmanship together with Fazel, but I didn’t say that.

“You could exercise by dancing too.”

“I’ve danced a lot. I’ve memorized all the common dances in the empire.”

This was true. I’d learned dancing since childhood and now became the young lady who danced best in this area. And I needed swordsmanship more than dancing.

If I just asked to teach Fazel, Father would never allow it. The direction of me doing it and Fazel joining was appropriate.

“Now it’s time to learn swordsmanship.”

Saying this, I looked at documents until an instructor with the conditions I wanted appeared.

Asnel was quite far from the capital and didn’t border any frontiers, so the possibility of war was low. But Father recruited skilled knights to prepare for any possibility. For that reason, Count Asnel’s knight order was quite skilled.

Having them teach was also a good method, but that alone wasn’t enough. What I wanted was a swordsmanship instructor connected to the imperial family.

‘Besides, Fazel is outstanding.’

Fazel later became the second strongest in swordsmanship after the male lead. As such, he needed to take someone with considerable power as his master so Fazel would have opportunities to enter the Imperial Knight Order or equivalent places later.

Fazel’s dream was entering the Imperial Knight Order. If you entered the Imperial Knight Order, you got paid a lot and your status was guaranteed.

Naturally, becoming an Imperial Knight required skills from the academy’s swordsmanship department graduates. Being a noble on top of that was even better.

I’d like him to just live as my husband, but Fazel was someone who developed his abilities and achieved self-realization, so that would probably be difficult.

So I’d help him achieve what he wanted.

Father silently granted my request. He seemed to think I wasn’t doing this thoughtlessly.

I gently tapped the desk with my finger for a moment.

My habit that appeared when pondering.

While flipping through documents, I was surprised to see a familiar name.

“Why is this person here!”

“Why?”

“The person I wanted finally appeared.”

I smiled and showed the document to Marlene.

“Trean Arnold? Surely not Sir Arnold?”

“Who else would it be besides him.”

Trean Arnold.

He rose to vice-captain in the Imperial Knight Order, so even those who didn’t know swordsmanship knew his name.

According to the original story, he was supposed to become the male lead’s master.

But how did he end up here?

Either way, this was an opportunity. The male protagonist was such an outstanding person with lots of money, so he’d find another master.

I thought lightly and grabbed the document.

“Have you chosen?”

“I’ve chosen perfectly.”

Saying that, I jumped up. Since I’d decided on someone, it was better to handle things quickly. With light steps, I went to report to Father that I’d found someone I liked.

* * *

Father was working in his office. I heard the scratching sound of turning paper and was considering coming back later when Father lifted his head and asked.

“What is it?”

“I’ve chosen the master to teach me.”

Then Father tilted his head.

“Who is it?”

When I handed over the document, Father read it carefully.

“Sir Trean Arnold. Recently, the Arnold family must be suffering from debt.”

“How did you know that?”

“Rumors spread in the capital.”

Probably discreet rumors.

Father had many connections in the capital, so he knew social circle affairs well. He propped his chin with one hand, looked at the document, then grinned.

“He might be clumsy at teaching. It would be his first time teaching swordsmanship to someone, so are you really okay with that? He has skills, but that doesn’t mean he teaches well.”

Father worried.

“I’m just learning for self-defense, so it’s fine.”

“Right. But isn’t Fazel different?”

I flinched at Father’s words.

“Aren’t you going to learn together with Fazel?”

“How did you know? I was going to tell you later when I had a proper justification.”

“Well, it’s easy to guess if I look at what you’ve been doing lately.”

Father said that, stood up, approached, and patted my head.

“Aren’t you completely absorbed in that boy Fazel lately? I guessed when you suddenly said you’d learn swordsmanship.”

Father smiled broadly. I quickly turned my head. My cheeks burned with embarrassment.

“Since he’s the boy my daughter likes, I’m watching too.”

At Father’s words, I asked what I’d been curious about all along.

“Father, you don’t oppose Fazel?”

“How long do people live? You have to live doing what you want. Especially marriage or romance should be with people you want to be close to, right? I investigated separately and he doesn’t seem like a bad guy, so I liked that. He seems to have skills too.”

Father spoke casually, but joy welled up in my heart.

“Father is really wonderful.”

I smiled brightly.

“Most importantly, he’s the man my daughter wants. Since I hear he uses magic too, I like him even more inside.”

As expected, he didn’t just not oppose.

Honestly, if you can use magic too, you’re suitable as a count’s son-in-law.

I looked at Father.

Before possessing this world, I could never assert my opinions. My mother and father had decided my life. They pressured me to marry someone I didn’t want.

That’s why Father, who believed in me and gave me freedom like this, was precious.

In this place, I was feeling happiness I didn’t know before possessing.

I calmed my surging heart and buried my head in Father’s embrace.

“Thank you.”

When I leaned in, Father patted my head.

“Does Fazel know how lovely my daughter is?”

Father laughed quietly.

“To Fazel, I’m probably still a strange young lady.”

“That’ll change soon.”

Father said that and pressed my soft cheek with his hand.

“He’ll learn how amazing my daughter is. He’ll probably fall for you and flounder.”

Father spoke like he was certain.

“I hope it turns out that way.”

I wanted to make Fazel fall for me, but that wouldn’t be easy.

My goal was to get along well like friends, then gradually make his heart lean toward me and make him my man.

“My daughter has too little confidence.”

Father is such a doting parent.

I didn’t believe everything Father said.

The problem is everyone around me praises me.

For now, Fazel’s master problem was solved, so the concern was how to draw him in.

If I forced him to participate with the reason that you need swordsmanship to pass the academy, Fazel wouldn’t be able to refuse, but I thought it would be nice if he could join happily.

‘Ah, whatever.’

I’ll just ask him to learn together.

“How will you persuade Fazel to learn? Are you planning to speak honestly?”

Father seemed curious about my thoughts, so I smiled.

“I won’t be that obvious.”

If I did that, Fazel might be wary and suspicious.

Father looked at me with curious eyes. I raised my index finger, waved it, and said.

“You’ll know if you watch.”

Saying that, the next day I sat in the study room first and waited for Fazel.

‘Ahem.’

I felt like a hunter waiting for prey after setting bait.

After some time passed, the door opened and Fazel entered. Under the sunlight, his golden eyes looked especially magnificent today.

Whenever those deep eyes turned toward me, I felt subtle emotions, and today too my heart was beating at his gaze.

‘Whew.’

Calm down.

I can’t mess things up being captivated by his appearance.

Marlene also says her mood improves every time she sees Fazel, and I think I know why. A face that makes you admire it every time you see it.

To hunt, you need to show bait.

But if you show it too openly, the prey runs away.

I grinned and spoke kindly to him.

“Fazel, welcome.”

Even at my affectionate words, Fazel was blunt.

“Good to see you today too, Lady Asnel.”

He called me by my family name every single time. Should I say I could feel his determination to never call me by my first name?

I want to change that someday too.

“Fazel, did you understand everything?”

“You mean the last lesson’s content?”

“Yes, I don’t understand this part.”