Finally finding an exit at the dead end, Marquis Lavernia asked in a cheerful mood.

“Come to think of it, I heard you’re in the process of divorce, are you going through with it without canceling?”

Of course, no one told him that the exit was a dog hole.

“I suggested canceling, but she said no, so we’re going ahead with it.”

And the fact that there would be a thorny path outside.

“That’s a shame.”

“We plan to remain friends.”

At Magnus’s words, this time Marquis Lavernia let out a deflated laugh, like he was seeing something ridiculous.

That’s because he believes that, unless in special circumstances, friendship between men and women is almost impossible.

“If one of you remarries, even that won’t last. That’s how relationships between men and women are.”

So he advised somewhat arrogantly.

Because he was a pro who had been through thick and thin in the realm of romance to win Charlotte’s heart.

“We can still meet even if we remarry.”

But Magnus, somewhat displeased by that resolute statement, managed his expression and rebutted.

At the same time, Marquis Lavernia pouted his lips.

“Sure. Occasionally at social gatherings.”

In reality, Marquis Lavernia had done everything for Marchioness Charlotte.

It wasn’t that she was originally so weak as to be bedridden like this.

Her health started to deteriorate gradually after giving birth, but basically, she was strong.

So what was strong, you ask? Her sharp tongue.

During his days at the academy, Marquis Lavernia was somewhat of a playboy, that is, close to not stopping women who came and not chasing those who left.

Given his looks, there was never a shortage of women around him.

And Charlotte despised a person like Marquis Lavernia, like she was looking at a beast.

When Marquis Lavernia tried to return something of Charlotte’s that he saw fall by chance, she snapped at him like this.

“I’m sorry, but could you not talk to me? I don’t converse with beasts. I might catch a disease.”

That day, for the first time being genuinely despised by a woman, Marquis Lavernia was overwhelmed with shock.

Being called a beast was a problem, the mention of disease was a problem, and the fact that she picked up the pen he had kindly retrieved with the tip of her fingers and threw it in the trash was also a problem.

Anyway, after that, while chasing after her trying to make her fall for him somehow, he ended up falling for her instead.

Having started off on the worst foot, Marquis Lavernia went through quite a long period of endurance, efforts, iron walls, abstinence, various methods of courtship and expressions of affection, a time so poignant it couldn’t be heard without tears, and finally embraced her in his arms.

In any case, to that extent, it wasn’t wrong for Marquis Lavernia to call himself a ‘romance pro’.

So Marquis Lavernia advised.

“My daughter, I can support her well for life if need be, but you……”

He shook his head.

Friends, such a thing couldn’t be possible.

Because Marquis Lavernia had reached enlightenment from the moment he realized his feelings and recalled Charlotte’s contemptuous face.

He cut off all the women around him.

In other words, he really had no female friends at all.

“Men and women can’t be friends. Their positions and situations are different.”

The frog in the well said.

“So give up on maintaining a good relationship and think about finding someone new and remarrying. You can’t leave the position of duchess vacant for long.”

The frog in the well didn’t know that the tadpole with hind legs wasn’t as lacking in trust as his former self.

“No, gender doesn’t matter. If hearts truly connect, as friends, it’s possible to…”

“A friend of the opposite s*x with truly connected hearts?”

Marquis Lavernia scoffed with a confident voice.

“What would your duchess say? And Serena won’t see you separately once you’re married. So just sort out your feelings well.”

Magnus was left speechless at this bolt from the blue.

Because this was his first properly formed friendship.

“Is there no way? I want to be friends.”

“How about canceling the divorce?”

“She said she doesn’t want to.”

“That’s the part you need to work on. No, but you don’t love my daughter, do you?”

Marquis Lavernia said, quite disapprovingly.

Magnus couldn’t bring himself to answer and kept his mouth shut.

“What exactly is love?”

Because he had never been in love before.

Marquis Lavernia, despite being quite tipsy, poured more whiskey and tilted his glass at this rather cute question.

“Thinking about them even when you don’t see them, wanting them to smile only at you, wanting to punch any other man they smile at, feeling strange and your heart racing when they keep avoiding you, not feeling bored even just looking at them all day, wanting to touch and hug them, feeling proud when you know something only you know about them, feeling uncomfortable when they cry in front of you, but also feeling good thinking they only cry in front of you.”

He spoke quite elaborately, unlike his usual self, drunk on alcohol.

Magnus, who had been listening quietly, downed the whiskey glass in front of him in one go.

Something hot scratched his throat as it went down.

After thinking for a moment, he nodded.

“It seems… similar.”

Magnus lost his judgment to the poison Marquis Lavernia had passed on.

“I thought about her even when I couldn’t see her.”

For the past month and a half, he thought about her whenever he was in the mansion.

He pondered how a human could live so comfortably in a pigsty, and when she didn’t come out for a month, he wondered if she was even human.

“She cried while apologizing in front of me, and I felt uncomfortable.”

Magnus thought.

His heart pounded wildly, feeling chilled at the thought of what kind of trouble she might cause next.

“Just looking at her, I’m not sure about not being bored because I haven’t tried it, but…”

Marquis Lavernia blinked once.

“I did feel strange when she avoided me.”

It felt like an immature rival who used to growl at eye contact suddenly matured and wouldn’t even make eye contact.

“As for other men… I haven’t seen her do anything but sneer at them, so I don’t know.”

Magnus couldn’t imagine a scene like that well.

Because Magnus wasn’t idle enough to imagine something he had no expectations for in the first place.

However, what remained most intensely above all else was…

“I’ve seen her genuine smile once……”

It was when he conveyed his words honestly.

Magnus thought of the expression she had made then.

He realized for the first time that day that Serena could make such an expression.

When he abandoned the direct and rough language he had been using and lowered himself to her level unlike himself.

That face, with cheeks flushed bright red, eyes wavering and lost…

Certainly.

It tickled somewhere in his heart.

‘But it didn’t beat fast.’

It was just that his heart felt ticklish, and he wanted to thump his chest.

That voice, unable to make eye contact and asking if it was really okay with her head bowed shyly, was something Magnus had never heard before.

To the point of being greatly shocked.

Since then, Serena didn’t strongly refuse his suggestions.

She did refuse things she disliked, like withdrawing the divorce or him offering to just give her money, but she didn’t refuse other help he offered.

‘This might be somewhat special.’

Magnus thought.

“Hey, Duke. Have you ever imagined Serena marrying another man?”

“No, I haven’t.”

There was no need to think about her marrying another man in their marital relationship.

“Then imagine it now. How would you feel if Serena divorced you and got married?”

Despite the sudden question, Magnus nodded as he said and imagined.

Serena sending him divorce papers and not long after, sending a marriage proposal saying she’s getting married.

She cleanly divorces and marries someone else. It would just be the person standing next to her changing, but…

‘Marriage not long after divorce?’

It’s impolite. There’s no consideration or manners for the other party. Thinking that way, he felt a bit angry.

If she gets married right away like that, how ridiculous would he look to others?

“It’s outrageous.”

“…Huh, is that so?”

Marquis Lavernia said with a slightly deflated expression.

It was an expression where any expectation had disappeared.

“Yes, it’s outrageous to send wedding invitations not long after divorcing without even observing the proper etiquette.”

‘What kind of setting is that…?’

Marquis Lavernia asked back, dumbfounded.

“Then you don’t mind if she marries after an appropriate period?”

“Yes, that’s her freedom.”

Even if she marries, Serena would probably use separate rooms with her new husband like now, dislike him for coming near, and maybe just have a meal together occasionally.

Compared to that, he could help with business and have meals together if she wanted.

They could even drink in the same room.

Something he could never do with the original Serena.

‘Even if she marries, I, as a friend, would be above someone she just met recently.’

Magnus, who had never had a proper married life with Serena, thought quite confidently.