The King’s gaze, which had passed over Lucilia, changed to one of satisfaction when it reached Aaron.

“I hear you’ve settled matters in Demre?”

Even though he had summoned Aaron immediately upon his arrival in the capital and received a report, the King feigned ignorance and mentioned it again in front of everyone.

The King praised his achievements and marveled at Aaron’s capabilities.

“I couldn’t help but be amazed by your decisive judgment.”

“You flatter me.”

“Thanks to your impartiality, there won’t be any disturbances for a while.”

“I merely carried out what I learned from my father’s teaching that judgment should always be fair and just.”

Aaron was quite brazen, no less than the King.

Having been forcibly confined within a framework under Marquis Teneri, Aaron had always felt the institutional limitations.

That’s why he had desperately proven his abilities to win the favor of the King, who was higher than the Marquis. Under the King’s support, he finally achieved his dream of independence that had once seemed so distant.

Feeling the Marquis’s sidelong glance, Aaron barely suppressed a laugh.

The party began with the distinguished guests gathered in the banquet hall raising a toast, commemorating the meaning of Founding Day.

Someone raised their voice and pointed to Lucilia.

“I heard that a special person is making her debut into society today? I would like the protagonist to grace the beginning of the banquet. What do you all think?”

Aaron’s words about this being Lucilia’s debutante stage became reality.

She had prepared herself to dance with Aaron in front of everyone.

But when it actually came down to it, she couldn’t help but gauge Aaron’s mood.

Her eyes slid surreptitiously upward diagonally to take in Aaron.

Surprisingly, she couldn’t find even the slightest change in him.

His slowly blinking eyes were utterly relaxed, and his closed lips were as languid as if basking in the afternoon sun.

Having risen rapidly as an outstanding talent, he must have been invited to all sorts of banquets and danced countless times with noble ladies.

She couldn’t tell if he was indifferent because of his extensive experience or if he was simply bored.

Surely this wouldn’t be his first time.

While thinking it certainly wouldn’t be, she asked casually.

“Have you danced before?”

Even after asking, she felt embarrassed by how absurd it was.

He would surely snort at her for asking such a nonsensical question.

“No. I haven’t.”

His voice entered her ear canal only to bounce back out.

Wait, did he just say he hasn’t?

Did he really say he hasn’t? Really?

Lucilia looked straight at him as if she had never been embarrassed.

“You haven’t?”

“I simply answered ‘no’ to a question about whether I had, but is that so surprising?”

“Well, not exactly…”

Anyway, since it was his first time, she should ask something else.

Should she ask if he disliked that she was his first partner?

That would be too childish.

Since he was her husband, he would comply whether he liked it or not.

Lucilia, completely forgetting the people watching with bright eyes, drew in a breath as soon as Aaron changed the angle of his body.

The conversation didn’t continue further.

Her heart pounded at the thought of moving together to the melody.

Lucilia took his outstretched hand with trembling emotions.

As the music began, the two showcased only basic movements with stiff postures, as if they had never experienced pleasure before.

Far from arousing interest, they only provoked laughter.

Still, this moment of contact with him was nothing but thrilling.

Being in a half-dazed state, she didn’t even know when the dance music ended.

Led by Aaron, she left the central stage, and only when other couples began to dance did her senses become clear again.

It was time to appreciate the nobles showing off their excellent dancing skills.

A glib voice wedged between Aaron and Lucilia.

“Lord Artnal, I’d like to borrow your wife. Will you let me have her?”

It was Duke Floi, the King’s younger brother.

He didn’t care at all that Aaron was standing right next to Lucilia.

Though his words acknowledged her as Aaron’s wife, his eyes said otherwise.

“Saint, it’s been a long time.”

Kel’s red eyes focused solely on Lucilia.

* * *

Though he had allowed it given the atmosphere…

Even when trying not to look, his eyes kept being drawn to her.

Aaron gulped down his champagne. It was already his third glass.

What are they whispering about so intimately?

Not only was the Duke presumptuous for so easily taking another man’s wife, but Lucilia’s peaceful face was even more displeasing.

Lucilia, who was always intimidated, had her shoulders wide open as someone’s familiar companion.

Meanwhile, Lucilia was busy catching up with the Duke whom she had met again.

Kel skillfully led her and smiled brightly.

“You dance quite well.”

“Me? I’d be fortunate not to step on Your Grace’s feet.”

“You can step on them as much as you like. You can even stand on them.”

“You’re still good with jokes, I see.”

Kel’s affectionate gaze caressed every part of Lucilia’s face.

“That day… I went to the monastery. When I arrived, you were already gone.”

“You mean when I was being chased by the Holy Knights Order?”

“How could I just watch our friendship disappear so futilely? If I had known my brother would spirit away the saint, I would have stormed the palace from the beginning to stop it.”

Kel’s eyes curved sorrowfully.

At times like this, he exuded an impression similar to the King, befitting the royal bloodline. His blood-red eyes harbored a dignity distinctly different from ordinary people.

Fearing someone might hear, Lucilia hurriedly scanned her surroundings. At that moment, Lucilia, who had been awkwardly continuing her foot movements, stepped on Kel’s foot.

Kel wrinkled his eyes playfully.

“Ouch!”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize for stepping on my foot once. When you were younger, you nearly cracked my forehead, remember?”

“Why do you keep bringing that up?”

Kel would come to the royal chapel on holy days to attend mass. He must have been so bored that he would often dash out of the chapel as soon as the liturgy of the word ended.

Then one day, he met Lucilia in the courtyard in front of the chapel, and abruptly sat her down on the lawn before proposing a game.

He suggested playing a forehead-flicking game as a penalty.

Kel had insisted that they set aside positions like royal bloodline or God’s person and engage in the game fairly.

Faithfully following the game rules, Lucilia discovered for the first time that day that her finger strength was tremendous.

With her face turning bright red, Lucilia glared at Kel. In response, Kel bit his lower lip gently and giggled.

“Have you been well? What I mean is… thank you for staying alive.”

Emotions welling up choked her throat.

Kel didn’t avoid Lucilia and kindly met her eyes.

He had always been like that.

Always telling her that he supported her, that he believed in her.

Feeling like she might cry, Lucilia turned her face away with an awkward smile.

At that moment, a sharp energy flew from Aaron.

As the chilling sensation pierced like a sword, Lucilia, feeling preemptively guilty, inhaled sharply.

Why does he have such an expression?

After permitting her to dance with the Duke, he seemed to be pouring out resentment and anger as if she had committed adultery.

* * *

Watching Lucilia and the Duke standing close together, Aaron fell into untimely anguish.

He didn’t know when heat had begun to bubble up in his previously numb heart.

Aaron’s expression, as he watched with wide eyes, changed moment by moment.

‘Is she… smiling shyly now?’

‘Well! Now she’s even trying to cry?’

His delusions coiled and reared their heads, eventually reaching the point of suspecting whether the two had shared feelings during her time as a saint.

That feeling was so unsettling that it felt like rubbing a handful of sand into his heart.

Aaron hooked his finger into the tight cravat knot and widened the gap.

Though his breathing seemed to ease, the damned hand that caught his sight made his temper flare again.

Wasn’t the hand covering Lucilia’s waist excessively sleazy?

Either her waist was unreasonably slender, or the Duke’s hands were disgustingly large.

The sight of a part of her body fitting so fully into the Duke’s hand was quite unpleasant to see.

When one thing displeased him, everything about the Duke became disagreeable.

His smirking lips and sly eye smile, his weightless eye corners and greasy voice, his unnecessarily tall height.

There was nothing dignified about him anywhere.

In contrast, Lucilia…

She was a figure that concentrated diverse beauty in one place.

Every time she danced, swaying her voluminous dress, her silver-white hair fluttered along with it.

The bright red rubies shone brilliantly along her moonlit hair, but what shone even more was Lucilia herself.

The Duke, who had monopolized her, looked like a victor, and the noble men drooling over her looked like predatory wolves.

Who would have known that Lucilia’s captivating beauty would provoke such anger?

As he glared fiercely, Lucilia looked in his direction and flinched.

It seems she’s finally noticed her husband.