Listening to conversations mixed with profanity along with the foul smell of alcohol made her face naturally scrunch up.

Diana waited until the men got more drunk, then reached toward her pocket and pulled out the hairpin.

She unfastened the button just like Edwin had instructed her. Since it was sharp like a broken glass shard, she could gradually cut through the rope with it.

Since it was quite soft cargo, it didn’t seem like she would die even if she jumped down with it. Various loads were placed on top of the cart, including a fairly thick blanket. The rolled-up item was thick enough to protect Diana’s body if she fell well.

‘Should I have learned how to fall without getting hurt?’

With such thoughts, Diana fell to the ground while holding the blanket. In case she might scream, she bit down hard on the blanket with her teeth.

“Ugh!”

The blanket hit the ground first, but that didn’t mean Diana’s body was unharmed. The blanket bounced and she had to roll around on the ground together with the blanket.

Her body was scraped on the rough ground and bleeding, but rather than thinking it hurt, she felt strongly that she didn’t want to be caught by those men. Just when she was having such thoughts, someone lifted Diana’s body.

Thinking she might have been caught, Diana lifted her head and barely managed to hold back a scream. Edwin was looking at her with a face covered in blood.

“Are you alright?”

She wasn’t alright, but she seemed much better than Edwin’s condition.

Diana was so shocked she lost her voice and nodded her head instead of answering. Edwin, who had been examining her physical condition, frowned like he was in pain.

“I’m sorry. This is my negligence.”

It wasn’t particularly pleasant to hear an apology from a man whose head was bleeding profusely. Rather, her heart filled with guilt.

“Are you badly hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

She barely managed to open her mouth that wouldn’t open and asked, but Edwin answered with an indifferent face like it was nothing. However, the moment he put Diana down, his body swayed.

“Sir Edwin!”

She tried to support his body, but since he was so solid, Diana’s strength wasn’t enough. Just when they were both about to sway and fall together, she suddenly felt Edwin’s body become lighter.

Wondering what had happened, Diana lifted her head and saw the vice-captain of the Winchester house running toward them. He quickly supported Edwin and said,

“My lady, are you alright? I was wondering why you were returning later than usual, but what on earth is this situation…!”

Confirming the appearance of someone familiar, Diana felt relieved and the strength left her legs as her energy drained.

“My lady!”

With the sight of the vice-captain supporting her body, Diana instantly lost consciousness.

* * *

“This is all my fault.”

Diana was greatly shocked by the sight of Edwin kneeling before Duke Winchester and apologizing. Why should he have to ask for forgiveness with his head wrapped in bandages?

The culprit of this incident was Diana. Hadn’t she been kidnapped while trying to run away after shaking off Edwin? Yet Edwin was taking all the blame upon himself.

“Don’t punish Edwin. This happened because I was being stubborn!”

Diana immediately ran to her father and clung to his arm, pleading.

“It’s also his role to act so that you don’t behave stubbornly.”

But her father’s attitude was firm. No matter how much she begged, he intended to punish Edwin.

Originally he should have been expelled from the knight order, but thanks to Diana sitting down hard on the floor and crying loudly, Edwin was punished with a month’s salary reduction and community service. It could be said that it changed to a lenient disposition under the excuse that her father couldn’t break Diana’s stubbornness.

Looking back now, she could see that Duke Winchester had deliberately punished Edwin so that Diana would reflect on her mistakes.

His prediction was correct. Even that punishment was a great shock to Diana, so she came to deeply feel her wrongdoing and reflect on it. She felt the weight of being a person of the Winchester family.

“Sir Edwin. I’m sorry. Because of me, you got punished.”

She went to find Edwin later to apologize, but she had no confidence that he would forgive her. Diana hung her head, unable to meet his eyes.

“No. I’m the one who should be sorry. Everything was due to my negligence.”

“I won’t act selfishly again. So please don’t… hate me too much.”

‘I would hate me too.’

Even if Edwin hated her, she had nothing to say. But Diana hoped he wouldn’t do that.

“How could that be? It’s enough that you’re safe, my lady. And I hope you’ve reflected on this incident. How heavy the responsibility you bear is.”

“I will.”

Diana, who hadn’t cried even when she was kidnapped, finally burst into the tears she had been holding back. She felt so sorry, and she was ashamed and embarrassed of herself. She felt like hiding in a mouse hole if there was one.

Edwin gently embraced her. In his arms, she cried loudly, not even knowing that his knight’s uniform was getting soaked.

Edwin smiled at her like everything was okay. Seeing that, Diana’s heart pounded wildly. She thought at this rate, nothing would be left of her.

For the first time, she felt a halo from Edwin, who had only seemed annoying until now. She knew he was handsome, but this was the first time he seemed to glow. No matter how far away he was, his presence was clear enough to see, and only he entered her vision.

On this day, Diana learned her own heart for the first time. That she had fallen for Edwin.

After deeply realizing her mistake, she tried not to act against her father’s words. And whenever she had free time outside of that, she went to the training grounds whenever she had a chance.

“Where is Sir Edwin?”

“He went to the imperial palace today.”

“Where is Sir Edwin?”

“He went out today on His Grace’s orders. If you keep calling Edwin’s name like that, it will wear out.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

Since rumors had already spread in the knight order that Diana liked Edwin, there was no need to be embarrassed. So Diana could leisurely respond to the vice-captain’s jokes.

Realizing that it wasn’t easy to meet Edwin even if she frequently went in and out of the training grounds, Diana gave up on meeting him. Instead, she decided to express her feelings in other ways.

“This is a gift.”

“I’m sorry. I cannot accept it.”

Diana bought things Edwin might like and gave them as gifts, but he rejected all her presents. The only thing he accepted was a single handkerchief that Diana had embroidered herself.

“Since it contains your sincerity, my lady, I will gratefully accept it.”

Happy that he had accepted a gift for the first time, Diana embroidered several more handkerchiefs and gave them to Edwin as gifts, but he rejected all the rest. The handkerchiefs she couldn’t give him had to be given as gifts to other knights.

‘How can I make him accept my heart?’

No matter how much she thought about it, there seemed to be no way to win Edwin’s heart. Since she had shown such immature behavior, winning his heart would be impossible, but she didn’t want to give up like this.

After that, Diana went to the plaza to buy a gift for Edwin and happened to see knights from the Winchester family buying items at a weapon shop.

“Edw…”

When she saw Edwin’s figure, she felt happy. Just when she was about to call his name with an excited face, she froze.

Edwin looked unusually excited, and a young female clerk was sticking close to his side, smiling with her eyes.

Whether it was because he was having a conversation with the female clerk or because he was choosing a sword, just seeing him smile made her feel like her heart was making a crashing sound and breaking.

It could have been an insignificant conversation. But anyone could see that the clerk’s expression showed she had feelings for Edwin. At that moment, the fire of jealousy blazed fiercely in Diana’s heart.

‘You said you weren’t popular with women… You liar!’

She never thought she would feel this way just from him having a conversation with a woman.

But at the same time, she felt depressed. The fact that she couldn’t monopolize Edwin felt bitter. Her mouth went dry and every time she swallowed, she felt gritty like she was chewing sand grains.

‘It would be nice if he became my knight alone.’

Since it was her first love, Diana couldn’t control her feelings. Her jealousy wasn’t at a level that could be passed off as cute.

Unable to handle her overflowing emotions, she went to the training grounds that evening and impulsively revealed her feelings to Edwin.

“Please become my knight alone.”

It could be said that she expressed her feelings indirectly without being able to reveal that she liked him.

Although Edwin belonged to the knights of Duke Winchester’s house, becoming Diana’s exclusive knight had a different meaning.

Since his main duty would change to escorting Diana, his salary would also increase and his work would become easier, so Edwin wouldn’t lose anything either.

“I’m sorry, but that won’t be possible.”