“From what I hear, the only thing you have to show for yourself is your temper.”

Then he leaned back against the backrest with an arrogant gesture.

“Now I see you also have a tongue that works quite well.”

How poorly had the previous Karin spoken that this was noteworthy? Karin clicked her tongue inwardly.

“I’ll apologize for being late. It wasn’t because of traffic – there was a problem with the carriage just as I was about to depart, so I was delayed replacing it.”

“I see.”

“Probably the handiwork of someone who doesn’t want this marriage. Just like you and I don’t want this marriage, other people won’t want it either.”

At those words, Karin frowned slightly.

“Why is that? If you and I marry and eventually talk about merging our houses comes up, wouldn’t that be good for others?”

“You know one thing but not two. But I’m not your tutor, so is there any need for me to tell you more?”

“Of course you should tell me. We don’t want this, but we’re temporarily in the same boat – what’s the point of hiding it? Showing off?”

When Karin pointed this out, Luke made a “hmm” sound and crossed his arms.

“Don’t you know just from thinking about both houses’ history?”

“Yes, yes. This foolish girl was ignorant. Even considering both houses’ history, with my head injury making me unable to remember properly, how could I recall it clearly? How terribly rude of me to ask for instruction. Is that better?”

The sound of one of the maids swallowing could be heard. The other attendants were also watching the two in extreme tension.

Luke chuckled.

“Right, of course. You even banged up a head that wasn’t good to begin with. Then I have no choice but to tell you.”

Then he uncrossed his arms and took on a slightly more serious expression.

“Hurion and Aselidia were originally friendly houses. The distance between our houses came about partly due to each family’s circumstances, but also because of those who sowed discord between us. These people are still profiting by exploiting the poor relationship between our houses. They can’t help but hate the idea of our estranged relationship being mended through forced marriage. Do you understand?”

“So all they’re doing is sabotaging a carriage?”

“That’s a warning. That if you try to get closer to me any further, if you try to go through with this marriage, they’ll cause more trouble.”

“Are both ducal houses so easy to deal with? Easy enough for spies to infiltrate and scheme however they please?”

Luke shook his head.

“I wanted to see who would express dissatisfaction most actively. I deliberately loosened security a bit.”

“…Did you catch them?”

“Well, I imagine they’re probably traveling down some river in a sack by now, but I don’t know the details since it’s not my business.”

That sent chills down her spine. He was saying they’d been identified and killed immediately. She could understand why Rachel had called him ‘despicable and ruthless.’

What if living with this kind of person meant she’d end up in a sack too?

“You seem to be having some interesting thoughts, but I have no intention of stuffing someone like you in a sack and making problems bigger.”

Luke pinpointed exactly what she was thinking. Karin looked up, startled.

“I wasn’t thinking that.”

“It was written all over your face. And to me, you’re more the type I’d rather just… disappear on your own, rather than put in a sack.”

He seemed quite disappointed that Karin hadn’t died from her head injury. Karin glared at Luke.

“The feeling is mutual, Your Grace.”

“Well, either way, it’s His Majesty’s strict command so we have no choice but to marry, unfortunately. Anyway, let’s get to the main point.”

Luke looked at Karin with eyes that had become even more chilling than before. It was enough to make Karin flinch involuntarily.

“Why did you want to see me?”

“Ah- well.”

This was awkward.

She had planned to meet Luke, casually push Alicia forward and say ‘Why don’t you get along with her?’ But the atmosphere wasn’t right for that, Alicia was a married woman, and Luke wasn’t even glancing at Alicia standing behind them as a maid.

Wasn’t there some way?

Just then, a maid entered the reception room carrying fresh tea and refreshments. The one who received it happened to be Alicia.

As a maid took the tray Alicia had brought, her hands slipped and she dropped it.

Crash!

With a sharp sound, the tray fell and rolled around while teacups and tea service shattered, sending fragments and hot tea water flying in all directions.

“Ah!”

The maid screamed in surprise. Then her face suddenly turned red and she slapped Alicia’s cheek.

Smack!

“Can’t you hold one thing properly?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Alicia bowed her head and apologized even though it wasn’t her fault. Seeing this, Karin frowned, stood up, and approached them.

“No, Miss.”

“Why are you hitting her when it was your fault? Anyone can see you’re the one who let go?”

The maid’s face flushed red. She moved her lips hesitantly then bowed her head.

“I’m sorry. I was so flustered…”

“Right. Don’t make a big scene in front of a difficult guest – apologize.”

“…Sorry.”

The maid apologized in a truly reluctant tone. Karin glanced back.

Was there any reaction…?

But Luke’s eyes were indifferent. He was looking this way, but didn’t seem very interested.

How could this be? This was supposed to be the meeting between the male and female leads?

“If you’re done with your little show, I’d appreciate it if you’d sit back down.”

Karin turned toward Luke in bewilderment.

“Little show?”

“Image recovery in front of me, something like that, isn’t it?”

“What would I use image recovery with you for?”

Luke shrugged.

“How would I know what’s in an immature young lady’s mind? When I can’t even tell if your memory loss is real or fake, I don’t know if this is some scheme to make a fresh start in front of me.”

“Ha.”

She laughed in disbelief. The attendants’ expressions also soured. Luke was now openly insulting Karin by suggesting she had hurt herself and was pretending to have lost her memory.

“Excuse me, Your Grace. You don’t have friends, do you?”

“More than you do, I’m sure.”

“Really? Even if Your Grace lost all your money and title and that handsome face and became a beggar, you have that many friends who would stay by your side? You’ve lived life properly. If not, I apologize. Though how you live isn’t really my concern.”

Karin was thoroughly sarcastic.

“Since Your Grace has so many friends and has lived life so properly, I trust you’ll treat me very~ well after marriage too. Well, I might go there and claim I lost my memory from injuring my wrist or getting hemorrhoids, but you’ll embrace all that with your broad magnanimity, won’t you?”

“If you have more to say, go ahead.”

Luke didn’t sound angry at all. Rather, he was looking at Karin like she was some curious animal.

That gaze made heat rush to the top of her head.

“Ah, right, more to say – well, since you probably won’t listen once I leave this place, I should say it all. But what more do I have to say to you? Anyway, having to marry you is truly, truly the worst – there’s nothing else to say. I’ll take my leave now.”

And instead of sitting back down, Karin walked straight out of the reception room.

Luke quietly watched her retreating figure and chuckled.

“How amusing.”

“What are you going to do after making such a scene?”

Adrian was so dumbfounded he couldn’t even get properly angry and just said that.

Karin was hanging her head low in front of Adrian and Rachel.

She had messed up.

“You should have covered for the maid’s mistake, but taking the servant’s side… And then even attacking the Duke of Aselidia over it.”

“Stop it. That Duke of Aselidia was quite rude himself.”

Rachel took Karin’s side. It felt exactly like when a deputy manager would take your side when getting scolded by your boss at work.

“That fellow being unreasonable and selfish was always the case, but Karin…”

She sounded like she had been an unreasonable and selfish child too.

“The child must have had her reasons.”

“If that fellow tries to gain the upper hand in various matters during the marriage because of this incident… Sigh.”

Adrian looked like his worries were mountainous and gestured for Karin to leave.

“Go to your room.”

“Yes, I’m sorry. Father. Mother.”

Karin politely bowed and left her parents’ room dejectedly.

“Haah…”

Just like Adrian said, Luke might use this incident to nitpick and make various demands in this marriage arrangement. Whatever those might be, they wouldn’t be good for Karin.

She should have been more patient.

Her temper had suddenly flared and she couldn’t control it. As Karin sighed deeply and walked down the corridor with her maids, a knight who had been standing by the side of the opposite corridor hesitated then approached her.

“What is it?”

The guard knight in front of Karin stopped him. The knight looked at Karin and knelt right there.

What’s with him? Why is he doing this?

“Your Ladyship, I came to thank you for protecting my wife. Thank you so much.”

The knight bowed his head deeply and practically prostrated himself before Karin. Even in her confusion, Karin worked hard to remember and pulled out his name.

“Oh, so… Anton?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“About Alicia… Right. Well, it wasn’t Alicia’s fault. It’s fine. Get up.”

Anton stood up hesitantly. Then he looked at Karin with admiring eyes.

Though not as handsome as Luke, he was still a good-looking man worthy of being called a sub-male lead.

She felt unnecessarily sorry.

Even knowing Alicia was married, she had hoped Alicia would catch Luke’s attention, which bothered her. Karin spoke to a maid beside her.

“Hey.”

“Yes, Your Ladyship.”

“Anton was my guard knight but got demoted, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“I don’t want that, so ask them to reinstate him.”

“What? Miss, that’s-“

The maid was flustered and tried to say something, but Karin quickly stopped her.

“Can’t I even choose my own guard knight?”

“…Understood.”

“Since that’s settled, just work like before from now on.”

Anton looked at Karin with disbelieving eyes. Then he instantly bowed so deeply his forehead nearly hit the ground.

“Thank you, truly thank you, Your Ladyship!”

“Yeah, get up and go do your work.”

Karin answered listlessly and headed back to her room.

After returning to her room, removing all her jewelry, changing into comfortable clothes, wiping off her makeup, and even kicking off her shoes, Karin sent all the maids out of her room and flopped down on the bed.

Would it be better if she just did nothing and stayed still?

Every time she tried to do something, it felt like obstacles appeared. She tried to introduce the female lead to the male lead, but the female lead was already married, and when she met the male lead, she ended up hurling insults.