Chapter 8 (Part 4)

“Can you tell me who the person you have feelings for is?”

“N-Next time.”

Reina, startled, diverted the topic. The Duke’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her.

At that moment, Duke Lennox fell into a deep dilemma about whether to intervene in Reina’s life. After all, wasn’t it a parent’s role to correct their child if they were heading in the wrong direction?

He had to make her give up her feelings for a man who had a fiancée.

“No, Reina. Even if you dislike it, I must intervene.”

“Are you really going to do this?”

“If you can’t tell me who it is, doesn’t that mean it’s someone you can’t proudly reveal? I don’t know what kind of scoundrel you’ve fallen for, but I can’t allow it.”

“He’s not the kind of man you think he is, Father.”

“Then why can’t you reveal it openly?”

“There’s a reason. There’s a bit of a problem, but once it’s resolved, I’ll tell you.”

“What problem? So he does have some flaw, doesn’t he? That’s why you can’t say it openly!”

“He has no flaws. …The person I have feelings for is Commander Patrick!”

Unable to hold it in any longer, Reina finally confessed the truth to Duke Lennox.

“…I had suspected as much.”

“What?”

Reina was taken aback, not knowing that Duke Lennox had already suspected it.

Knowing who it was but still opposing it forcefully meant he would never allow Patrick to be her partner. Realizing this made her heart sink.

“Could it be that you’re opposing it because you know Patrick is engaged to Lady Berkshire?”

“Do I need to know such trivial matters?”

The fortunate thing was that the Duke still didn’t know the full circumstances of Patrick’s engagement. Now Reina had to persuade her father using the fact that Patrick’s engagement was a fake and would soon be broken off.

She cautiously opened her mouth, watching the Duke’s reaction.

“I know why you oppose my relationship with the Commander. It’s because he has a fiancée, right? Don’t worry. The engagement will soon be broken. I was going to tell you once it was broken, but you kept doing unnecessary things, so I had no choice but to tell you now.”

“Why maintain an engagement for five years if it’s going to be broken soon?”

“His fiancée has someone she loves. To protect their relationship, they pretended to be engaged.”

“If he truly loved you, he would have broken off the engagement long ago. Why has it dragged on for so long?”

Duke Lennox looked puzzled.

“We only confirmed our feelings for each other recently. Since the engagement has lasted five years and Baron Berkshire doesn’t know it’s a fake, he needs time to prepare. That’s why it’s taking a bit of time to break the engagement.”

“I can’t understand young people these days.”

Duke Lennox felt like he was realizing his age. He clicked his tongue.

“So? Reina, do you want to be engaged to Commander Patrick?”

“Of course.”

“Does he feel the same way?”

“Yes.”

Reina answered confidently. Seeing her confident demeanor, Duke Lennox hesitated for a moment.

How should I take this situation?

He wondered if he should go along with Reina’s wishes, or should he try to persuade her to follow the necklace.

Regardless of the reason, he valued the current situation, so even knowing Patrick’s circumstances, he wanted Reina to marry Earl Selkirk.

But seeing Reina’s defiant attitude, he felt that forcing his thoughts on her wouldn’t work.

‘Forcing her to break up with a man she admires might only provoke rebellion.’

He recalled what the Duchess had once told him. Seeing Reina’s current attitude, he realized it wasn’t wrong, so he needed to calm down.

What Reina needed now wasn’t a forceful stance but gentle persuasion. Only with kind words would she perhaps listen to him, so the Duke spoke in the calmest voice he could muster.

“No, I’m against it. Reina, you may not realize it now, but even if you feel like you love Commander Patrick, getting closer might only make things more awkward.”

Reina felt flustered, thinking the Duke saw her as an innocent daughter who knew nothing.

“Don’t worry. Whatever the outcome, it’s my responsibility to handle it.”

“Are you confident you won’t regret it?”

“You’re asking the same question as Earl Selkirk. Yes. I will never regret it. So please trust my choice. It’s my life, so I should be the one to choose, right?”

Reina answered with a look of conviction.

Duke Lennox, having failed to persuade her, wanted to respect Reina’s choice, which was different from his own, but he couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling, making it difficult to respond readily.

Perhaps because his belief in the necklace was firmly entrenched in his mind. That was the biggest reason he couldn’t easily accept the current situation.

He still believed in the power of the necklace. Thus, he feared that Reina, who liked Patrick so much now, might suddenly change her mind.

What if their inner compatibility didn’t match and they ended up breaking up? That was the problem.

He didn’t want his daughter and the commander of the knights to end up in an awkward relationship. Rather than that, he should play the villain and forcibly separate the two before it happened.

However, this could potentially cause even bigger problems. If a rebellious Reina decided to sleep with Patrick out of spite, it would be disastrous.

If they ended up having a passionless encounter, their feelings might cool off!

Although Reina’s feelings were not light, he had to consider the possibility that after experiencing intimacy, she might later want to try being with Earl Selkirk. Given her tendency for curiosity, that was a possibility.

If she then compared the two….

No, that couldn’t happen!

Why did Reina have to get entangled with the people around him of all things?

Both Patrick and Earl Selkirk were invaluable talents that Duke Lennox couldn’t afford to lose. Each was performing their role well, raising the prestige of the Lennox family.

Therefore, he didn’t want to lose Patrick, nor did he want to give up on Earl Selkirk.

In the current situation where he couldn’t afford to lose either, he couldn’t immediately decide whether to respect Reina’s opinion or dismiss it. It was still a matter he needed to ponder.

“Let’s talk about this another time. I can’t say anything right now. I need time to sort out my thoughts.”

Just as he was about to postpone the decision and end the conversation, the door to the study burst open. There was only one person who would open the door without knocking – Lilith!

Thinking the same thing, Reina and Duke Lennox simultaneously sighed deeply and looked towards the door. But standing there was not Lilith, but an unexpected person.

Patrick Marionus. It was him.

“What is it? Didn’t the meeting just end? Do you have something more to say?”

Duke Lennox frowned, feeling displeased by Patrick’s rude behavior.

“Apologies for the rudeness. But I heard something I couldn’t ignore, so I came in.”

“What did you hear?”

“I heard that Lady Reina and Earl Selkirk are getting engaged.”

“The engagement hasn’t been decided yet.”

Duke Lennox scrutinized Patrick with a disapproving look.

A man who had never shown a disheveled appearance was now losing his composure and acting on instinct when it came to Reina….

It was the first time seeing this side of him, and it was amusing. But that didn’t mean he immediately accepted Patrick as Reina’s match.

“Since you’ve confirmed your curiosity, why don’t you leave now?”

“My story isn’t over yet.”

“Then continue.”

“I admire Lady Reina. So I wish to seek permission for our relationship.”

Duke Lennox was at a loss for words at Patrick’s sudden confession. His mouth hung open, unable to utter anything. Then, regaining his composure, he spoke.

“Are you saying this out of the blue? Sir Marionus, are you not considering your position? Aren’t you supposed to leave for the border with the rear guard this afternoon?”

“I couldn’t contain my anxiousness. How could I stay still when it feels like Earl Selkirk might take Lady Reina away?”

“Isn’t the order wrong? You have a fiancée, so why are you saying such nonsensical things to her?”

“The engagement will soon be broken off.”

“Anyone can say that. When Lady Berkshire came to see my wife, she didn’t seem to have any intention of breaking the engagement.”

Duke Lennox had always seen Patrick as someone who moved with a plan, rarely acting on impulse.

So now, Duke Lennox felt like he no longer knew who Patrick was. The man before him seemed completely different from the one he knew, appearing unfamiliar.

In this situation, it was natural for his trust in Patrick to wane. Bursting into the study without resolving the engagement issue, driven only by urgency….

Who would have thought he would act without considering the consequences?

“If I become free from the engagement, would you acknowledge my relationship with Lady Reina?”

“If there’s nothing to hinder, there’s no reason to oppose. But I can’t give a definite answer.”

Duke Lennox deliberately gave an ambiguous reply, curious to see how Patrick would react.

“Understood. I will break off the engagement immediately. No, I will call Lady Berkshire here. I will break it off in front of you.”

Patrick’s resolute answer widened the eyes of both Reina and Duke Lennox.

“After maintaining the engagement all this time, you suddenly want to break it off?”

“It’s not sudden. I was just giving Lady Berkshire time to prepare herself. But if it continues to put Lady Reina in a difficult situation, there’s no reason to consider Lady Berkshire any longer.”

For the first time, Reina realized that Patrick could be so cold-hearted towards a woman. Well, it was probably that coldness and ruthlessness that allowed him to become the youngest commander of the knights.