“It is a shame, but since you have made a promise, I suppose we must let you go. I hope we can meet again, Lady Leonid.”

“I-I hope so too.”

Barely keeping herself from stumbling over her words, Irina nodded.

Only after exchanging several more reluctant farewells was Irina finally able to leave with Logan.

“If it makes you uncomfortable, you don’t have to send her a letter.”

The moment they were some distance away, the duke spoke.

However, Irina shook her head.

“I don’t know about the others, but Lady Wheeler seemed genuinely kind.”

Her voice was quiet with exhaustion.

Winfried naturally leaned closer to hear her.

“When I struggled to speak earlier, she was very considerate of me.”

“Hey, Logan Winfried.”

An irritating voice intruded upon the pleasant one.

“How could you?”

Kaal’s expression was fierce.

How he had overheard their conversation was anyone’s guess.

“How could you try to send me back to sea again?”

“You heard that?”

Logan regarded Kaal with an impressed expression.

“The navy is fortunate to have a man with such exceptional hearing in its ranks.”

“You—!”

Kaal nearly exploded, but apparently conscious of everyone watching, he lowered his voice.

“…Of course I heard. I spent two miserable years aboard a ship—more than two years—and now you expect me to return after only four weeks on land?”

Kaal ground his teeth.

“You might as well curse me! Go on, curse me!”

“Four weeks seems long enough before returning to sea. If you remain on land too long, you may suffer from land sickness.”

“I will… not!”

The two men continued bickering until they felt someone staring at them and turned their heads.

Irina stood there all alone, watching them intently.

“Ah, dear.”

Kaal immediately straightened his posture.

Sweeping back his hair, he flashed his white teeth in a charming smile.

“My apologies for the late introduction, Lady Leonid. I am the Duke of Winfried’s one and only friend, the third son of House Fedrick, and Admiral Kaal Fedrick.”

He lightly kissed the back of Irina’s hand and winked.

“Please, call me Admiral Kaal.”

“…….”

Irina did not respond.

She merely stared at Kaal.

‘…What is this?’

Under her strangely observant gaze, Kaal froze awkwardly, unable to complete his greeting or stand up straight.

People usually reacted in one of two ways when he behaved like this.

They either accepted his greeting naturally or became flustered.

Most people he encountered fell into the former category, but he had been certain that Irina would fall into the latter.

After all, she had chosen to attend Viscount Percy’s donation gala as her first social gathering. Judging by the way she had interacted with others earlier, it was clear that she had spent most of her life away from noble society — for reasons unknown to Kaal.

Contrary to Kaal’s expectations, however, Irina did not blush or become flustered.

She simply continued to stare at him.

Just as he began to feel awkward beneath her unwavering gaze, Logan stepped in.

“Kaal, my foot.”

Taking Irina’s hand back from him, Logan lightly shook his head.

“Libertine will suffice.”

At Logan’s words, an expression that clearly said, ‘I knew it,’ crossed Irina’s face.

“Libertine…!”

“Yes. A libertine and a lecher.”

Logan went one step further.

Irina’s already large eyes widened even more as she slowly edged backward toward Logan.

“That isn’t true!”

Forget everyone watching them.

Having been branded a libertine and a lecher in the blink of an eye, Kaal raised his voice.

“It isn’t!”

“Truly? Can you swear to that without the slightest shame?”

“…Not exactly.”

The libertine and lecher immediately lost his nerve.

“Isn’t this the age of free love? I merely had a few romances….”

“It was hardly only a few.”

“At least I never cheated on anyone. Nor did I ever pursue someone who was already spoken for!”

“Isn’t that the bare minimum?”

As they bickered, Kaal felt someone’s gaze.

When he turned, he found Irina still watching him from behind Logan.

“What are you going to do about this?”

Kaal nudged Logan’s side with his elbow and whispered,

“She actually believes you and is wary of me now.”

Only then did Logan turn toward Irina.

“It’s all right. He is my friend.”

Kaal had expected him to set the record straight.

Instead, Logan merely confirmed that they were friends.

Kaal groaned.

Amused by the sight, Irina laughed softly.

Only then did she lower her guard and step forward.

“I am Irina Leonid. You two must be very close.”

“We have been friends since childhood.”

Kaal shrugged.

“Though it is somewhat unfortunate that we both spent our childhoods following our fathers around battlefields.”

“Battlefields?”

“Yes. The Fedrick marquisate lies directly beside the Winfried duchy.”

Not only did the Marquisate of Frederick border the Duchy of Winfried, it also possessed a large port.

This made it the perfect place for smuggling grain.

Consequently, the Marquisate of Frederick was attacked almost as frequently as the Duchy of Winfried.

“We frequently carried out military operations together, so we saw each other often.”

“He was practically the only person I could socialize with.”

Logan added ruefully.

“I see.”

Kaal watched Irina nod.

‘Hmm.’

From the moment she entered, he had thought so: Irina Leonid was undeniably a remarkable beauty.

She had pale skin, clear eyes, a softly rounded nose and red lips.

However, she did not possess the kind of dazzling beauty that captured everyone’s attention at first glance.

Rather, hers was the kind of beauty that made people want to look at her more closely.

‘Why has she never appeared in society before?’

Even if Count and Countess Leonid had gone off to war, they should have appointed a godparent or guardian for her.

Therefore, there should have been nothing preventing her from making her social debut.

‘If she had held her debutante ball this year, society would have had a new belle.’

Didn’t her arrival change the atmosphere in the room completely earlier?

From the moment Logan and Irina entered, conversations had fallen silent one by one.

People hid their faces behind their fans and pretended not to stare, all the while secretly following the pair with their eyes.

If the duke had not been standing beside her, they would undoubtedly have forgotten all decorum and rushed over to speak to her immediately.

“Hmm.”

“Lady Leonid.”

A mild curiosity arose within him.

“Forgive my impertinence, but may I ask who your godparent or guardian is?”

“…My guardian?”

“Yes. Or perhaps where you were living before—”

“That is an unnecessary question.”

Before Kaal could continue, Logan stepped in front of him.

“I believe it is time for us to leave.”

“Already? You haven’t been here long.”

They had spent considerable time viewing the paintings and artworks, but had barely conversed with anyone.

Even at a donation gala, the primary purpose was still socializing.

“I’m the only person you’ve properly spoken with.”

“That is enough.”

Whatever he meant by that, Logan turned away.

Irina, who stood beside him, naturally followed.

“You’re leaving already?”

“Please give Viscount Percy my regards, Kaal.”

With those final words, Logan left with Irina.

Before stepping through the door, Irina glanced back at Kaal and gave him a slight nod in farewell.

“They really left….”

Why had he come at all?

If it was to see the paintings, he spent surprisingly little time viewing them.

If he had come to socialize, he only properly spoke with Kaal.

And what about if he had come to introduce Irina to society?

‘That was far too brief as well.’

They had practically left as soon as they showed their faces.

“What was that about?”

Kaal rubbed the back of his neck.

Glancing around, he noticed that everyone was hurriedly averting their eyes.

Whispers were already spreading rapidly through the room.

They were undoubtedly discussing the beautiful young woman they had never seen before, and the duke who had arrived with her.

Among those whispering excitedly were several of Sainer Florence’s acquaintances.

‘Well, I still have no idea why that bastard came here.’

But there was one thing that Kaal knew for certain.

Something interesting was about to happen.

***

‘I was smiling?’

After returning to the townhouse, Logan mulled over Kaal’s words.

He had smiled without realizing it.

But was that not only natural?

‘Anyone who saw her would have smiled.’

Her eyes had been dark with tension, and her lips pressed tightly together as she swallowed her sighs.

Then—

“Wow.”

She had brightened in an instant, like a child seeing the sea for the first time.

‘…Anyone would have smiled as I did.’

On the contrary, they would have smiled even more broadly.

Anyone who compared the current Irina to the girl she had been just a few months earlier would have smiled with pride.

This was true not only compared to her life in the slums, but also compared to her behaviour when she first arrived at the estate.

‘She was so wary of everyone.’

Logan pressed firmly beneath his eyes.

Despite assigning Delphia — the liveliest and most sociable of the Winfried Knights — to stay by Irina’s side, blood was spilled on the first day.

Even after Irina had calmed down, she became wary the moment she saw Logan.

Perhaps she had heard the rumors about him, because soon, fear began to show beneath that wariness.

Even afterwards, Irina seemed to be adjusting well, but she never truly managed to do so.

She tried in her own way, but traces of her past were evident in everything she did.

Whenever she heard a loud noise, her body would shrink instinctively before her eyes darted around.

If she was told to rest without being given any work, she would lower her head as though she had done something wrong.

But now, she smiled.

Although it was still somewhat awkward, she could finally smile brightly.

She spent her days bustling from place to place, wandering through the garden and working her way diligently through books.

How delightful she had looked today as she eagerly explained something he already knew!

‘She barely even reacted when she first heard her own name.’

How could he not smile?

“…….”

Lost in thoughts of Irina, Logan brushed a hand across his mouth.

He was no longer smiling.

‘There’s nothing wrong with smiling.’

But it could not go any further than that.

It must never become anything more.

Logan set aside the documents he had been working on and walked over to the window of his office.

The Winfried townhouse was built with its eastern and western wings facing each other across a central garden.

Logan’s office was in the western wing and Irina’s room was in the eastern wing.

‘Only one window is lit again tonight.’

Logan sat on the windowsill with his arms crossed, gazing at the only illuminated window.

It belonged to Irina’s library.

What could she be doing?

According to Delphia and Viscountess Helpriton, she practiced reading and writing, and completed her assignments without fail every single day.

Was she doing the same right now?

‘She could afford to take one day off.’

Or perhaps she was thinking about the paintings she had seen that day.

The light from her window seemed to linger in his eyes somehow.