It felt as though cold water had been poured over her.

Dearlin immediately lifted her head at Rian’s cold, almost hurtful words.

Rian stood before her, looking down with an expressionless face.

She had never expected him to say anything nice.

However, hearing him dismiss her sincerity so easily left her speechless.

“R-Rian, I…”

“You don’t need to say things you don’t mean. I never expected anything from you in the first place.”

Rian handed the sword hanging at his waist over to Simon as he spoke.

He had already long since looked away from Dearlin.

“It wasn’t a lie…”

“Dearlin.”

She murmured quietly, following Rian as he walked onto the estate without hesitation.

She thought that no one had heard her.

But apparently, Rian had.

His footsteps suddenly stopped.

Not wanting to miss the opportunity, she hurried over and stood beside him.

“Dearlin.”

“…Yes?”

Rian turned his head slightly to look at her.

After taking a slow breath while staring into the violet eyes looking up at him, he finally spoke.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay quietly in your room?”

The moment Rian stopped walking, Dearlin found herself unable to suppress the hope rising inside her once more.

Even when he called her name, she still hoped.

“What?”

But the moment his next words reached her, her eyes shook violently again.

A sharp ringing seemed to echo through her ears.

“It seems my words mean nothing to you.”

“……”

“Otherwise, there’s no way you’d continue acting this recklessly.”

Rian stepped closer with long strides before bending slightly to whisper beside her ear.

Though quiet, his voice was unmistakably clear even through the loud ringing clouding her hearing.

“What am I supposed to do with someone like you?”

He did not sound angry.

Rian’s voice remained completely flat.

As though this meant nothing to him at all.

“Are you still trying to test my patience?”

“Rian, I… because you came back safely… I was just relieved…”

The coldness that pierced her was akin to standing alone in the middle of a frozen winter field. Yet Dearlin still refused to remain silent.

With Rian standing so close to her now, this might be her only chance.

Did he really intend to marry her?

And if not, what exactly did he plan to do with her?

No matter how coldly he treated her, he was the only person she could turn to for answers.

“Hah… Dearlin, do I still look like your lover to you?”

But Rian let out a hollow laugh before roughly dragging a hand through his hair in irritation.

His eyes looked utterly exhausted with her.

“Do I look like some pathetic dog still waiting around for you, desperately wagging its tail after losing its owner?”

“I-I’ve never once thought of you that way!”

Dearlin’s lips trembled at Rian’s brutally honest words before she finally managed to deny it.

“Stop it… If you’re never going to believe me no matter how many times I explain, then I’ll stop trying too.”

Ultimately, it was Dearlin who gave up on the conversation first.

No matter what she said, Rian refused to believe her.

Deep down, she knew that continuing the conversation would achieve nothing.

They could no longer speak to each other honestly.

They could not resolve the misunderstanding that had festered between them for so long.

Now, all they seemed capable of was hurting each other.

“How amusing. Anyone listening would think I was the one who abandoned you.”

Rian laughed coldly at Dearlin.

By the time Dearlin opened her mouth to answer, he was already walking far ahead.

“Haah…”

Dearlin didn’t follow him.

She didn’t know what she would say if she caught up with him, and so she couldn’t bring herself to chase after him.

Instead, she simply stood and watched as Rian grew farther and farther away.

Before she knew it, he had reached the second floor and disappeared into his bedroom.

“His Grace has entered his chambers. Perhaps you should return to yours as well, my lady.”

“Ah… yes. I understand…”

Dearlin only began to move when Simon approached her and confirmed what she already knew.

She could hear the maids’ mocking laughter and hushed whispers behind her.

They didn’t seem to care whether she could hear them or not. Their malice was obvious and unmistakable.

Dearlin clenched her teeth and pretended not to notice.

She did not want them to realize how much their words affected her.

Above all, she refused to give those who had already mocked her so cruelly any reason to laugh at her again.

‘I should have endured it a little longer…’

As Dearlin climbed the stairs, she was consumed by regret.

She should never have argued with Rian in front of the other maids.

She knew it was too late for regrets, but she could not stop telling herself that she should have handled everything more calmly.

If she were ever given another chance to speak with Rian, she promised herself that she would choose her words more carefully next time.

Meanwhile, Rian — who had ignored her tearful gaze before retreating to his room — sighed with weariness the moment the door closed behind him.

He had sworn he would never trust her again.

He made that vow the instant he learned that the woman he had searched for like a madman for five long years was going to marry someone else.

The emperor had told him to let her go, saying that everything between them was over.

Had Rian thought about it rationally, he would have realized that the emperor was right.

They had never been officially engaged.

He had no legitimate claim on her and no valid reason to object.

He could simply have accepted that their love from childhood had ended long ago.

However, Rian had never intended to do so from the outset.

“Dearlin is the woman who will become my wife.”

It had always been that way.

He could not bear the thought of her becoming another man’s wife.

This was why he had persuaded the emperor to allow him to invade the Kingdom of Orva.

The emperor also considered Orva to be a thorn in his side, so he did not strongly oppose the invasion.

“D*mn it…”

Even now, the memory of the day he saw Darlin again was enough to make his blood boil.

From the moment he saw her, he wanted to rip the wedding dress off her body.

Even after slitting the wrist of the man who dared to hold her hand, his fury had not abated.

How dare he!

How dare that man covet something that belonged to him?

Rian placed the document bearing the temple’s seal on the desk.

It was the official decree annulling the marriage of Dearlin and Arthur.

With the High Priest’s seal also stamped upon it, its legitimacy could not be questioned.

Sinaster was the only surname that could ever follow Dearlin’s. As Rian stared down at the document with grim satisfaction, Dearlin’s face naturally surfaced in his mind.

How long had it been since he last saw her at the Sinaster estate?

Compared to the last time he had seen her, she had grown far more mature.

Even setting aside his personal feelings, she was undeniably beautiful.

Whenever he saw tears threatening to gather in her violet eyes, his chest would tighten so painfully that he could barely breathe.

It was Dearlin who had betrayed him first.

She was the one who had abandoned him and chosen another man.

So he could not understand why she was looking at him like that now.

In fact, part of him resented her for it, wondering if she truly believed that tears alone could fix everything between them.

“Your Grace, it’s Simon.”

“Enter.”

Simon stepped into the bedroom carrying water and a damp handkerchief.

“I’m relieved to see you returned safely.”

“…Mm.”

Even Simon, who had served both Rian and House Sinaster for many years, did not know exactly where he had gone.

He was curious, but he did not ask.

Among Rian’s servants, there was an unspoken rule. Never ask questions until the master chooses to speak first.

Without a word, Simon watched as Rian drank the water.

“How has Dearlin been?”

Once again, it was Dearlin.

“…She has been doing well.”

Truthfully, Simon could not say whether Dearlin had truly been doing well or not, but he gave the answer he knew Rian wanted to hear.

“Your Grace, do you truly intend to let Lady Dearlin continue staying at the estate?”

Simon disliked Dearlin. He knew that she and Rian had once shared a deep and genuine bond, but to him, that was all in the past.

There had been a time when he himself had sincerely treated her as the future Duchess of Sinaster.

He had never doubted that the two of them would eventually marry.

However, it was Dearlin who had been the first to walk away from their relationship.

Seeing her now occupying the Duchess’s bedroom as though nothing had happened, after marrying the King of Orva, filled him with disgust.

In his eyes, she would only tarnish the proud, prestigious name of House Sinaster.

“Do you dislike Dearlin that much?”

Even though Simon’s eyes showed that he knew the answer, Rian still asked the question.

Simon simply lowered his head.

That alone was answer enough.

Rian said nothing.

Instead, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, tapping his fingers lightly against the desk.

“Simon.”

Rian finally spoke again after a brief silence.

Simon raised his head.

In his eyes lingered a strange sense of expectation as he waited for the next command.

“Prepare for the wedding.”

It was an order that completely crushed Simon’s hope that Dearlin would soon be thrown out of the estate.