Chapter 32

“D-……d*mn it!”

Toward the man, who was fumbling indecisively, Seorin jerked his chin toward the outside. His drunkenness gone, the man fled with steps even faster than when he had followed Kina.

“Are you all right?”

Though he spoke with concern, he did not come close to Kina. It had been the same before, and now too, if he stayed too close, it could give rise to misunderstandings.

“Th-thank you.”

Kina’s legs gave out, and she sank down where she was. The two hands she had placed on the floor were trembling faintly. Wrinkles naturally formed in Seorin’s brow out of distress.

“I will tell the Commander.”

“No! I’ll just be more careful from now on…….”

Kina hurriedly stopped Seorin as he abruptly turned to leave.

“With people like that, being careful won’t help.”

“I’ll take a maid with me from now on. Then it’ll be fine, right? ……Please?”

The pleading look in her eyes clearly meant that he absolutely must not tell Raon. But why? Seorin could not understand, yet he turned back from where he had been about to go.

“How many times…… has something like this happened?”

It was absurd. No one should dare treat the Duchess like this. Yet it also meant no one had cared. They had likely all gone around gossiping among themselves that she was a Duchess who had not even been able to hold a proper wedding.

“It’s the first time.”

Toward Seorin, who still looked doubtful, she added that it was true. And it was. There had never been a man who came at her so frighteningly like that. But there was no guarantee there would not be one again. She really might need to consider traveling with a maid from now on.

“I’ll stand outside. Come out when you’re ready.”

Seorin gave a slight bow toward Kina, then stepped out of the lounge. Only after he went out and closed the door did Kina let out a long sigh of relief.

Seorin stood before the door. He intended to wait until Kina came out. If he had followed his heart, he would have tracked down that bastard from before and humiliated him even if he had to tear his clothes, but he held himself back. It seemed likely to turn into a big matter that she wanted hidden.

‘If you’re married, shouldn’t you protect your wife?’

He even felt a little irritated at Raon as well, for not having been by her side in a situation like this. Just as he was inwardly vowing that if it had been him, he would never have done such a thing—

He heard the sound of a door opening not far away, farther inside. It was a sound he could hear only because, like during the war, he was staying as sharply focused on his surroundings as possible. The one who came out from there was Raon.

In Seorin’s heart, irritation and relief crossed at the same time. Then someone came out following after Raon. Seorin, who had been about to acknowledge them, lowered his hand. The one who came out with him was Bersha.

Seorin was so startled that he immediately turned his head away and hid. Since they were heading in a different direction, they did not see him. They would probably use the staircase hidden from people’s sight. It was just like……

“It looks like an affair.”

Judging only from the situation, that was how it appeared to him. Seorin’s gaze naturally turned toward the lounge where Kina was.

If those two were indeed continuing to meet, then the only explanation for Raon marrying Kina was that it had been to conceal things from other people’s eyes.

“Wasn’t it supposed to be a marriage of convenience?”

Wearing a bewildered expression, he stared toward the place where the two had disappeared.

* * *

“If you also want to dance, Deputy Commander, you may do so.”

Kina said that because she felt sorry that Seorin, at an event meant for the Knights, was staying only beside her. She felt bad for making him worry over her at an occasion that ought to have been enjoyable.

Besides, she herself did not much enjoy dancing. But Seorin might be different.

“I have no hobby of dancing gracefully. I’m not of noble birth.”

“Ah……. I didn’t know.”

Worried that perhaps she had touched on a sore point for him, she looked at him carefully, and he smiled.

“I don’t mind, so please don’t worry.”

Afraid she might make another mistake, Kina quietly looked toward the center.

“In any case, Madame, do you not really enjoy dancing that much either?”

Seorin smiled at Kina, who looked at him as if asking how he knew.

“I’ve seen you a few times at balls. I remembered because you seemed similar to me.”

When he became part of the Imperial Knight Order, he had been granted a knighthood, but the habits ingrained in him from childhood were not easy to correct. He had wanted to impress women who approached him favorably, but because of his awkward behavior, he failed time after time. So at some point, he had come to dislike dancing.

As a result, he decided to think that noble young ladies would not especially welcome someone like him, who was only a knight by title. And naturally, Kina, who did not seem to like dancing either, had caught his eye, and he had often observed her.

“Fate really is amusing.”

The two of them, neither of whom enjoyed dancing, might perhaps have been close by each other before. At the time, even if they had crossed paths, they had been strangers. Yet now she was receiving Seorin’s help. Though they kept a little distance to avoid misunderstandings. Ever since he had stood beside her, the teasing and pestering she had always received had disappeared.

“It really is true. Maybe I should have tried a little harder.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s nothing.”

Seorin laughed lightly. The regret that, when Raon had first brought up Kina to him, he should have pressed him a little harder, was likely because of what had happened today.

*

“They look close.”

Chris, having returned to the hall with Raon, said that as he looked at Seorin and Kina. Though they were speaking at a proper distance from each other, the two seemed to have grown rather close in that short time.

“They suit each other quite well in many ways.”

From Chris’s point of view, it was not a bad match at all. In family background, in looks, neither of them was particularly outstanding nor particularly lacking. Moreover, once he ascended to the throne, he intended to officially acknowledge the relationship between Raon and Bersha, so it did not seem like a bad idea to find Kina a match in advance.

Perhaps because of Chris’s words, Kina’s face—brighter than usual and brighter than before—caught Raon’s eye. As she made eye contact while speaking, covered her mouth with a hand, and slightly bowed her head with a laugh, Seorin did not take his eyes off her. His gaze and actions were clearly different from how he reacted to Bersha.

Versha stood not far from them. Unlike in the lounge, where she had seemed startled, she looked fine now.

“The rumor…….”

“The Crown Princess…….”

The voices were very small, but they were still heard by Raon, who had deliberately kept his ears open. Only then did he notice the nobles exchanging words among themselves as though sharing secrets.

Their gazes flickered between Bersha and Kina. And Raon as well. That alone made it more than easy to guess what kind of conversation it was.

“What do you think?”

Chris added quietly, meaning those two. Raon’s face gave no sign of whether he too had heard the same talk. Then again, whether Chris had heard it or not did not matter.

“Please refrain from such remarks. She is the woman who has become my wife.”

He spoke deliberately a little louder and more firmly. Leaving behind Chris, who looked taken aback, Raon walked toward Kina. The moment he arrived, the conversation between Kina and Seorin stopped.

“I’m sorry I was late.”

“It’s all right.”

Though she gave the same answer as usual, she glanced sideways at Seorin. It was a gaze that seemed to be measuring the atmosphere. At the very moment one of Raon’s brows faintly drew together without his even realizing it—

“You came back too quickly, but I kept her company.”

It was Seorin’s voice.