Usually, she could have acted naturally, pretending to just be passing by. But not today. She was too tired, sleep-deprived, and her back hurt. And he was walking too fast.

“Ugh.”

Just as she awkwardly adjusted her posture due to her aching back, the door swung open. There he stood in the doorway, his face bright without a single shadow due to the abundant sunlight.

Ah.

She was done for.

The slight smile that had remained on his lips despite brother’s mischievous teasing now froze dryly. His blue eyes looked down at her as stiffly as the naval uniform he wore.

This was the first time she had observed him this closely. Though he was a close friend of her brother, he had little connection to Karina. They had only exchanged casual greetings once or twice in passing.

And now here was his friend’s sister, eavesdropping on a private conversation. She would surely appear as someone despicable, losing even the minimal respect that might have remained.

‘I should have gotten off the carriage a bit later.’

If she had just looked for the butler at the entrance, she wouldn’t have encountered this situation.

But regret always comes too late, no matter how quickly you feel it. The situation was already like spilled water.

Karina didn’t need anyone to tell her how strange she must look, standing awkwardly in the hallway at this moment.

‘What are you doing?’

Dominic’s coldly shining eyes were saying exactly that.

“Ah… um.”

Karina rolled her eyes. Dominic’s piercing gaze was too intense.

“Um. Hello?”

Oh well, whatever. She offered a greeting to break the awkward atmosphere, though it didn’t quite fit the situation. As Karina waved her hand slightly with an awkward smile, Dominic’s face began to flush red from his neck to his ears.

The heat was so intense she could feel it beyond his skin.

“Ah!”

It happened in an instant. Dominic roughly grabbed Karina’s wrist and entered a nearby suitable room. There were many rooms in the Count’s mansion prepared for guests.

Thump thump. Because of Dominic’s quick pace, Karina had to almost run to keep up.

Dominic opened a door at a reasonable distance from Lucas’s room and took Karina inside. And creeak. He closed the door.

“Ouch. That hurts.”

His grip was so strong that it left white marks on Karina’s delicate left wrist. As Karina massaged the grabbed spot with her right hand, Dominic had only one thing to say.

“Did you hear everything?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked if you heard everything.”

A face flushed red. Though she had known about this man for quite a while, this was her first time seeing him so agitated. Karina blinked innocently.

“I’m not sure what you’re asking about.”

“Just now, didn’t you eavesdrop on our conversation in the hallway?”

“What? Me? Not at all. I was just… passing by.”

Karina even shrugged her shoulders as if truly wronged.

“Of course, I did hear Brother Lucas’s laughter. You must have been having an interesting conversation.”

Her wide-open eyes showed a genuinely innocent light. Her reaction wasn’t just of someone wrongly accused, but of someone who truly didn’t understand what was being said.

But Dominic continued to stare at Karina without any change in expression.

“Lady Crawford.”

“Yes.”

“You seem to have forgotten who I am.”

The formal address that had been consistently using ‘I’¹or ‘저’ which is humble and polite. In the previous sentence, he used ‘내가’ which is casual or informal changed. Karina’s body flinched at the authoritative atmosphere.

“I am the son of Marquis Winchester, the Naval Chief of Staff. I work with your brother at the Operations Command.”

Slowly, he added.

“My job is to sort through information flooding in from various countries, separating the lies from the truth, and formulating strategies. You don’t seem to understand how familiar I am with lies, that’s why I’m telling you.”

His eyes, looking down at her with arms crossed, had already made their judgment. Karina pondered for a moment at his reaction.

Should she pretend not to know once more?

Or should she apologize?

‘That might be better.’

After all, he would be connected with her brother for a long time. From the Crawford family’s perspective, there was nothing to gain from being at odds with the Winchester family.

However, what came out of her mouth was completely different from what she had thought.

“If you’re so sure, why are you asking?”

Karina also got heated up at his attitude, which oddly resembled interrogating a criminal. Already drowsy and thinking slowly, her rational judgment became clouded as anger welled up.

“…What did you say?”

Dominic slowly closed and opened his eyes as if dumbfounded. But what shocked him even more was Karina’s glaring eyes.

She had the same appearance as Lucas. Platinum blonde hair so light it seemed white, and eyes that seemed to mix blue into green.

However, in those eyes that clearly resembled his friend’s, Dominic saw the sea. They held the color of deep water that one could only see when sailing on a ship in the vast ocean.

To the speechless Dominic, Karina systematically explained her situation.

“Yes, I heard. You should have checked if the door was properly closed. How could anyone not hear while passing by when you were talking so loudly? But don’t misunderstand. I happened to hear it, I didn’t deliberately listen.”

“You say you didn’t listen deliberately. Then why did you lie at first? You said you hadn’t heard anything.”

“That’s…! Sometimes you need to pretend not to see what you’ve seen, or not to hear what you’ve heard, right? I thought this was one of those times. You could call it basic manners in human relationships.”

“The world calls that lying.”

“It sounds a bit harsh when you call that. If you’re going to call it a lie, at least add a modifier.”

Several childish arguments went back and forth. Coming to his senses at Karina’s responses that didn’t let a single word go unchallenged, Dominic gave a hollow laugh.

“So you’re aware that you lied. Well then, what kind of modifier could possibly be needed for a lie?”

“A white lie.”

Karina’s gaze steadily met Dominic’s.

“People call it a white lie. It’s a lie you have to tell because you don’t want to make the other person uncomfortable. So you should apologize to me.”

“Apologize?”

Dominic stared at Karina in disbelief.

“What exactly should I apologize to you for, Lady Crawford?”

“For dragging a lady by the wrist into a room alone like this. For treating someone like a criminal without hearing the whole story. And for now condemning me as a liar.”

“Ha.”

An incredulous laugh escaped through Dominic’s lips.

“You just said it’s basic manners to pretend not to know something to avoid making others uncomfortable.”

“That’s right.”

At her raised chin, Dominic felt his irritation surge.

The story about Olivia was Dominic’s weakness that he never wanted others to discover.

Olivia Lindid.

His childhood friend who grew up with him had at some point become known as the lily of society, capturing the eyes of many men.

He was one of them.

Her neat and luxuriant brown hair. Warm green eyes. Kind and gentle personality. She was a woman impossible not to love in every way.

In contrast, Karina Crawford… she was like an exact opposite of Olivia Lindid.

Brilliant and sparkling platinum blonde hair. Her blue eyes, more sophisticated than warm, were beautiful enough to rival Olivia’s.

But so what?

The contents beneath that exterior were completely subpar.

She was a woman who frequently sparked rumors with men, causing no end of worry for her brother Lucas. Yet without any shame, she seemed to flaunt it, changing men with increasingly shorter intervals — a fact known to everyone in society.

Due to his innate nature, Dominic could not possibly like someone of Karina’s character.

Especially the way she easily gave and withdrew her affection from anyone — such fickleness was something he would never understand until his dying day.

‘I thought she at least had some proper manners.’

His already low opinion of her dropped even lower. The fact that his weakness, which he wanted to hide from others, was discovered by none other than Karina made Dominic feel ashamed.