But she knew her own worth too well. Her confidence and arrogance soared high. No ordinary nobleman could meet her standards.

Even before her debut, Arete had already marked Duke Kais Elmano as her match of equal standing. She invited him to every ball hosted by the Ramona family and made sure to appear at every event he attended, constantly striving to catch his attention.

But no matter how hard she tried, all she received was complete indifference. This only made Arete more obsessed with him.

Meanwhile, several years passed, and her once numerous noble suitors gradually decreased. Even Count and Countess Ramona, who firmly believed their daughter would receive a proposal from Duke Elmano, grew increasingly weary.

When Count Ramona, unable to bear it any longer, threatened to send her to a convent if she didn’t quickly find a proper match, disaster struck.

A group of creditors stormed into the count’s residence, clutching a handful of promissory notes signed by the Ramona sons.

The debt accumulated by the two brothers who had fallen into gambling was beyond what could be managed even if they sold everything they could. Rumors of the Ramona family’s complete ruin spread instantly, and soon they couldn’t even borrow money.

That’s when Marquis Markiz stepped forward, demanding marriage to Arete on the condition that he would pay off all the remaining debts of the Ramona family.

No matter how outstanding a beauty Arete might be, it was impossible for a normal marriage proposal to come to a family buried in debt, let alone with a dowry. At best, she might become the second wife of an elderly nobleman or end up with some low-ranking noble hidden away in some corner.

Count and Countess Ramona welcomed the proposal from Marquis Markiz, who was not only extremely wealthy but also influential in society, even though it was for the position of a second wife.

Arete cried and refused to marry Marquis Markiz for three days and nights. But she couldn’t ultimately turn her back on her parents drowning in debt and her eldest brother who had been taken by gamblers.

‘This is the last time. Just this once, help me be alone with Duke Elmano. If it doesn’t work this time, I’ll truly marry Marquis Markiz. Please, Father.’

It was an opportunity she barely gained by desperately clinging to her father, who initially jumped up saying he could never deceive Duke Elmano.

But Duke Elmano mercilessly crushed her final chance without even pretending to consider it. His eyes showed no emotion whatsoever while looking at Arete, who was crying pitifully with trembling shoulders.

“Responsibility? What responsibility? Why blame me for your father’s incompetence, your brothers’ delinquency, and your foolishness? Haven’t I rejected you enough? I think even a dog would have understood after being rejected that much.”

Arete doubted her ears at the duke’s voice that fell like frost.

No matter what, to compare her, a noble lady, to a dog…… a dog.

Her enchanting lips parted in surprise, and tears rolled down her wide eyes, but the duke showed no hesitation in uttering cruel words.

“If you still don’t understand, let me tell you one last time. Get out of my sight right now. Just for daring to set foot in this office without my permission, I want to grab that useless head of yours and twist it off in one go.”

He had always been cold but still maintained impeccable courtesy.

Seeing Kais snarling with language one would use with worthless servants, Arete turned deathly pale.

Her vision, blurred with tears from the terrible humiliation, faded to white until she could see nothing. This was truly the end. Thinking this, she felt fearless.

Arete bit her trembling lower lip and began frantically undoing the front of her dress. Since she wore only a simple dress without a stomacher over her chemise, just a few gestures were enough to reveal her voluptuous br*asts bouncing out.

“I don’t care anymore whether you embrace me or not. Anyone who sees this will think you’ve tarnished a lady’s honor. So you’ll have to take responsibility for me one way or another.”

Arete, blocking the door, shot Kais a sharp glance.

She thought that even the ice-cold Duke Elmano would have to touch her when faced with a half-n*ked woman, and she calculated that he wouldn’t be able to throw out a noble lady exposing her flesh outside the door.

So all she had to do was hold out long enough for people to believe something intimate had happened between them.

“A lady’s honor……”

Kais let out a dry laugh and approached Arete closely. Then he tilted his handsome face at an angle.

Watching Kais’s face drawing nearer, Arete gently lowered her eyelashes.

Yes, Duke Elmano, you’re a man after all. Come on, kiss me. Knead my full br*asts and ravage me wildly. I guarantee it will be incredibly good.

But Kais didn’t desire her slightly parted lips or her br*asts heaving with anticipation. He merely gripped her arm tightly wrapped in her sleeve.

“Didn’t you already throw that into the gutter when you snuck in here?”

“Aack!”

Kais flung Arete’s arm away violently. Pushed by his rough hand without any consideration, Arete screamed and tumbled to the floor.

Kais grabbed the office doorknob without sparing a glance at the fallen woman.

“Hmph! You don’t know how to embrace a woman. Are you a eunuch or a coward? Or both? Just try walking out like this. I’ll spread it all over society that the great Duke Elmano is a eunuch who can’t perform as a man!”

Arete spewed venomous words at the back of his head. But Kais merely nodded as if pleased.

“Good. I’ve been annoyed by women throwing themselves at me all the time, so that’s an excellent idea.”

“I mean it. I’ll really spread rumors everywhere. I’ll make everyone in society whisper that Duke Elmano is a eunuch!”

Without further response, the office door opened and then slammed shut.

A moment later, the voice of the mercilessly cold man came from beyond the door.

“Willis, find Count Ramona who’s hiding around here like a rat and tell him. The jewel he brought isn’t worth three hundred gold or even a single penny, so he should take it back immediately. Also, don’t forget to warn him that if he tries such a trick again, he’ll face severe consequences.”

“Yes, master.”

The last thin thread of hope had been completely severed. Arete, whose body and heart had been carelessly discarded, lay face down on the cold floor and wept bitterly for a long time.

It was about an hour later when Count Ramona wrapped his worn-out coat around Arete’s shoulders and secretly slipped out the back door of Elmano Castle.

* * *

Womanizer, lecher, pervert, scoundrel, bastard……

Even using all the filthy words in the world wouldn’t be enough to describe Kais’s father, Drake.

The Elmano family, which had been with the Empire since its birth and beginning, was Bayaroman’s most prestigious family. The Elmano family, which had long been an excellent example to Bayaroman nobles with its lofty family traditions and immense wealth, had Drake as its only blemish and greatest disgrace.

A troublemaker since childhood, he enjoyed alcohol, women, and gambling from his early teens, hanging around with street ruffians.

His personality was also eccentric; when in a bad mood, he would swing his fists at anything in his path. He would carelessly mutter dirty curses and harass any woman he saw with vulgar taunts—no trace of noble dignity could be found in him.

The only fortunate thing was that he was the second of the duke’s three sons. He had an excellent older brother who would inherit the dukedom and a younger brother who was just as proper.

But that “fortune” didn’t last long. His father passed away, and Drake’s older brother, who had inherited the title of duke, lost his life in a carriage accident along with his grown son. The deceased older brother had only three daughters left, who couldn’t inherit the title.

Losing an excellent duke in a sudden accident was shocking enough, but having the second son, Drake, suddenly inherit the title was like a bolt from the blue for the family elders.

No matter what the order of succession dictated, they couldn’t place Drake, the scoundrel of society, in the duke’s position.

The family tried to use the fact that Drake hadn’t received proper successor training as an issue to place his younger brother, Bator, in the dukedom.

But Drake, blinded by the enormous wealth of the Elmano family and the immense power a duke would wield, didn’t care at all about the family’s well-being. He had not the slightest intention of passing this excellent opportunity to his younger brother.

‘Damn it, what’s the big deal about what a duke does? I’ll just make Kais do all that stuff.’

Before the family elders could act, Drake gave a large share to the imperial palace and the High Priest’s office and swiftly inherited the title of duke.

Then he pulled Kais, who was receiving knight training, locked him in the office, and dumped all the duties a duke should properly perform onto his fifteen-year-old son.

Drake, who became duke solely out of his own greed when no one wanted him to, wallowed in depravity incomparably worse than his previous dissolute life.

Kais’s mother, shocked by her husband’s behavior, left this world less than a year after becoming the duchess. With even his interfering wife gone, Drake behaved with unspeakable debauchery.