“The night air is chilly.”

The Marquis’s thick coat wrapped around Arinne’s shoulders. A heavy fragrance that seemed ready to crumble enveloped her.

It was a damp rose scent, like stems and leaves pulled out whole and crushed.

As soon as he sat facing Arinne, the Marquis buried his face in both hands.

“You look tired.”

“I am tired.”

He spoke with a sigh mixed in, running his dry hands over his face. After sweeping his hair back behind his forehead, he spoke self-deprecatingly.

“It’s always like this. Nothing goes the way I want.”

Arinne watched him quietly. The disheveled bangs falling forward made him look more desolate and loose.

“Nothing works out for me either, even though I live as I please.”

Arinne said without emotion, lowering her gaze to the side.

“Ha. That’s quite the consolation.”

He replied with a pfft sound, like air escaping.

“I’m glad if it consoled you.”

Arinne shrugged her shoulders lightly.

“I can’t figure out what the problem is.”

The Marquis spoke in a weary voice.

Reports kept coming in about unrest at the border, and going back and forth to the imperial palace during Thanksgiving was work too. 

On top of being exhausted, even the children wouldn’t stay quiet. They went out on their own causing worry, and today they even had a huge fight.

Recalling the daytime commotion, the Marquis sighed involuntarily.

“What on earth…”

The Marquis stopped speaking and stared blankly at Arinne. The only thing that could be called an anomaly was that woman.

“…”

That woman who suddenly appeared was seeping into this house at a suspiciously fast rate.

“Do you have something to say?”

“Yes. I do.”

He answered immediately, like he’d been waiting.

He wanted to confirm Arinne’s identity. He wanted to clarify who she was and employ her.

Whether as a nanny or tutor. Or anything else.

“When will you tell me what you were going to say? I want to hear that first.”

The Marquis recalled Arinne returning with Jade during the day. It was like watching the glorious scene of an isolated comrade on the battlefield returning with another survivor.

And he couldn’t forget Jade’s face at that moment.

An unguarded appearance. A face that even looked somewhat happy…

That was an expression Jade only showed to Calon. Seeing that face, the Marquis was certain.

He had to keep Arinne here.

“Ah, that.”

“Yes. Please tell me.”

That’s why the Marquis needed to know what Arinne wanted. He could give anything—gold coins, jewels, a mansion, land, whatever.

“I had business but it’s gone.”

“Pardon?”

His expression turned stupid. He’d planned to give her double whatever she asked for. Then he’d offer her a position.

But she said her business was gone.

“…Why?”

The Marquis asked back, unable to hide his bewilderment. There was even a strange sense of betrayal.

“Because I changed my mind.”

“That’s too much.”

Arinne tilted her head to the side.

‘What does he think I was going to say that makes it “too much”?’

It was a proposal that would have shocked him if he knew—suggesting they have a plausible marriage with no love or responsibility, just enough to cause a scandal.

“Can’t you tell me…?”

“No. I can’t.”

Having decided to return to the east, she couldn’t fall for that forlorn face anymore. If she kept looking, she might fall for his face.

Since meeting the Marquis, Arinne had thoroughly realized she was weak to handsome men.

There are things beautiful because you can’t have them. That was the Marquis of Carentium. He was a man beautiful when you couldn’t have him.

Thinking it over, the very idea of marrying him was absurdly impulsive. Moreover, a remarriage the children didn’t want? It made no sense.

‘D*mn Noah…’

Arinne slowly closed and opened her eyes, gradually regaining her reason.

“May I say what I have to say first?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“You said you came from the east? Where in the east did you come from? What’s your surname? Are you really unmarried? Did you really come to the capital to see Thanksgiving? Are there other reasons? How long do you plan to stay at the marquis’s estate? What do you consider appropriate living expenses? Answer one by one.”

“…Wouldn’t it be better if you asked one at a time first?”

He poured out questions—did he even breathe while speaking?

‘From marital status to living expenses? Is he trying to arrange a marriage? When he’s not even going to marry me himself?’

Arinne scrutinized his face with suspicious eyes. What kind of meddling was this? She wondered if that man was toying with her.

But the Marquis had a surprisingly serious face.

“Yes. Then, Lady Arinne from the east. Where in the east, from which family?”

At the sight of him actually starting to ask one question at a time because she said to ask one by one, Arinne lost her fighting spirit.

“Why are you curious about that?”

Marcedea was the east itself. It would be faster to find places that weren’t the ducal family’s territory.

With her departure imminent, there was no need to reveal she was the Lady of Marcedea.

Arinne smiled broadly. Her eyes caught the moonlight and shone a deep violet.

“Did I do something wrong? I feel like I’m being interrogated.”

“N-no. I’m just… curious about many things… I got ahead of myself. I apologize.”

The Marquis hastily apologized. After reading her expression, he soon faced her resolutely.

“I want you to work as a caretaker for the children. Whether as a nanny or tutor.”

“…Huh.”

Arinne was at a loss for words. She’d come to the capital thinking she might boldly try marriage once, and now instead of becoming the Marquis’s wife, she was about to become the Marquis’s employee.

“That’s unfortunate. I don’t have such talents.”

“That can’t be true!”

Arinne flinched at his suddenly raised voice and pulled his coat to cover herself.

“Didn’t even Jade open his heart to you?”

He paid no mind to Arinne’s defensive attitude.

“I’m going back to the east soon.”

“What do you mean?!”

The Marquis’s eyes widened. He pressed down his body that was trying to rise and gripped the table hard with both arms.

“Weren’t you staying until Thanksgiving? Why are you leaving already? Stay for several months!”

He poured out words urgently, pressing Arinne.

“Calm down.”

Arinne spoke in a calm voice, like when comforting Jade.

The Marquis, who’d half-risen then returned his body to the chair, awkwardly brushed off the table dust on his hands.

“Tell me what you want. I’ll do anything.”

“Quite the passionate courtship.”

Though it was absurdly funny that the purpose was ‘employment’ rather than ‘marriage.’

“If you’re here, I feel like my children and I could change…”

How much had he even seen of her? She felt some kind of blind faith from him.

Arinne leaned back against the backrest and crossed her arms. His coat draped over her shoulders wrinkled following her movement.

“Marquis. Do you know who I am?”

Arinne sighed lightly. At this point, she had no choice but to tell him.

“How would I know when you haven’t said?”

He would have known with even light background checking. This man was an honest person who listened as told and saw as shown.

Arinne took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“I’m ‘Arinne’ from ‘the east.’ Most of the east belongs to my family. Does anything come to mind?”

At her words, the Marquis’s brow furrowed deeply in a vertical line. His face showed he didn’t understand why she was speaking so evasively when she could just say it directly.

“The landowner of the east is Marce, dea…”

The Marquis stopped speaking. Only then did her purple eyes enter his vision.

Like her hair color, her eyes were also a light purple that could look gray at a glance.

Her grayish-purple eyes showed a vivid violet only when facing someone directly.

“No way… that can’t be…”

“Sometimes impossible things do happen.”

Arinne rose from her seat and approached him. Taking off the coat and placing it back on his shoulders, she spoke in an elegant voice.

“Does that answer your question?”

“But, no, so you’re saying you’re the Lady of Marcedea? Wait. My lady. Ah, no, Lady.”

The Marquis couldn’t continue his words.

He just kept repeating words like ‘no,’ ‘so,’ ‘therefore,’ ‘the Lady,’ ‘my lady’ like something broken.

“What will you do if the kids grow up like me? Try harder yourself. You’re their father, not me.”

Arinne curved her lips gently. The Marquis’s gaze was fixed blankly on her lips.

“Lady…”

“I’ll help where I can while I’m staying. Though I don’t know if it’ll be helpful.”

Arinne found it funny that she, of all people, was saying this to him.

“So go check on the children right now to see if they’re sleeping well.”

“Right now?”

Still, as a child who became an adult in a father’s absence, couldn’t she give this much advice to someone trying to be a father? She thought something like that.

“I’ll count to three.”

“Just give me time to think…”

“One.”

“Lady…!”

“Two.”

“I-I’m going!”