“What rudeness is this!”

Meanwhile, in the first-floor lobby, the Marquis stood alone, facing off against three knights in dress uniforms.

The uniforms, white with purple accents, announced they were knights of Marcedea.

“Forgive our rudeness.”

The knight at the front pulled his chin back slightly, expressing regret to the Marquis.

“The Lady isn’t some runaway child. I don’t understand why the Duke is acting this way.”

“The Duke views it as running away.”

“……”

His expression became awkward.

It was strange to treat Arinne, who wasn’t some freshly-turned adult, like a teenager who’d run away from the ducal house.

Her departure was foreseeable, and it wouldn’t be strange whenever she left.

There was no need to raise his voice to stop them. He just had to let her go.

‘But……’

The Marquis clenched his fist.

“Is this the Duke’s will?”

“Yes. Please step aside.”

Frowning, he stretched out his arm to block the knight turning toward the stairs. Despite his interference, the knight remained firm.

“The Lady is an adult. She can decide her own affairs.”

The Marquis spoke firmly, staring straight into the knight’s eyes.

“After confirming the Lady’s wishes, I’ll personally escort her to the ducal residence. You should return.”

Though they’d only known each other about a week—an ambiguous relationship—the Marquis was certain of one thing.

She would likely resent the Duke’s orders and the knights’ actions.

“Marquis Carentium. We must escort the Lady. That is our duty.”

“Protecting my guest and driving out uninvited visitors from my estate is my duty.”

Two men in different positions locked horns.

“How presumptuous.”

The Marquis raised one eyebrow crookedly, showing his displeasure.

This should have been enough to make them back down, but though the knight before him hesitated under his pressure, he still didn’t retreat.

Truly a knight of Marcedea. The Duke had chosen well, sending knights with such nerve.

Ordinary men wouldn’t have even considered barging into an estate where he stood firm, Duke’s orders or not.

“Who ran away?”

A low voice tinged with faint fatigue and irritation descended over their heads.

The gazes of those in the lobby turned upward.

“A-Arinne.”

“My Lady. We’ve come to escort you.”

The knights all knelt toward Arinne in unison.

These men who’d held their heads high before the Marquis, fearless like those who don’t know to fear tigers, showed considerably more deference before Arinne.

After all, she was also a ‘Marcedea.’

Arinne silently raised only her arm, palm down.

The knight who’d been confronting the Marquis most closely immediately climbed the stairs.

He was fairly familiar to Arinne. The second or third son of Count Bordeaux, a branch family member.

“Was it Myle?”

“Yes. Myle Bordeaux, second son of Count Bordeaux, greets the Lady. I’m honored you remember me.”

Arinne accepted Myle’s escort and began descending the stairs at a leisurely pace.

“What did the Duke say?”

“A week has passed, so please come. He said nothing else.”

Arinne moved her lips in displeasure.

‘No wonder the knights were so easily shaken off when I came to the capital.’

The Duke strangely knew Arinne well in these matters. The fact that he pretended not to know while knowing everything, then came to catch her the moment the week was up, showed just what an insufferable old man he was.

“Word seems to be spreading that I’m at the Marquis’s estate?”

“Not enough to concern yourself with.”

“So word did spread. That’s why he’s being so unreasonable?”

The Duke only interfered with Arinne as head of the family.

As long as she didn’t greatly damage the family, he let her do as she pleased, whether she beat or broke anyone.

“We’ve taken measures to prevent further spread. You needn’t worry.”

“Why would I worry?”

Arinne answered in an annoyed tone.

Normally this would have been welcome news. She’d decided to go to the capital with the childish, impulsive hope that being on many lips would let Noah hear news of her.

But anger gradually cools, and realizing marriage with anyone was impossible with such feelings, everything now felt tiresome.

Thinking about facing the Duke over this matter already gave her a headache.

Actually, the Duke’s position wasn’t her concern—this matter was only unfortunate for the Marquis. She was leaving after creating another scandal for someone already sick of gossip.

‘No, wait. Should I really feel sorry?’

Technically, the Carentium side brought her to the Marquis’s estate, and she’d only stayed a few days.

The spreading rumors were his fault for not controlling his servants’ mouths.

The Marquis probably had immunity to scandals too, so they could both just consider it stepping in filth once, unluckily.

‘Fine. Problem solved.’

Having concluded things to suit herself, Arinne felt lighter.

“Arinne.”

“……”

When she’d nearly finished descending, the Marquis climbed a few steps and extended his hand toward Arinne.

Arinne released Myle’s hand and took the Marquis’s.

His hand, which had seemed to hesitate momentarily, gradually gained strength.

Arinne looked at him questioningly, but the Marquis avoided her eyes and focused only ahead.

“You said I was kind, right? At first I thought you were teasing me.”

Arinne spoke first to ease the tense atmosphere.

“Are there people who use that as mockery?”

The Marquis grumbled needlessly out of regret.

“You never know. Even if they don’t use it to mock, some people use it as an insult.”

“What strange people.”

“Indeed.”

Arinne bit her lip slightly then released it.

Just a few more steps and it would end, yet this moment felt endlessly long.

“You……”

She paused briefly to catch her breath. As her feet stopped, the Marquis’s feet stopped too.

“You’re a good person, Marquis. You’re a much better person than I am.”

She continued speaking calmly, like uttering long-prepared words, and stepped forward again.

“I am not a good person.”

He answered heavily with an unchanged expression.

Arinne glanced at his profile. She suddenly wondered what emotions might lie within that well-composed face.

“You were a good person to me, so that’s enough.”

The Marquis was a delicate and sensitive person. The word ‘kind’ truly suited him better.

For Arinne, ‘kindness’ was no longer Noah alone.

Meeting the Marquis, the ‘kindness’ she’d always associated only with Noah finally gained a different definition.

“The children will be upset. It would be good to say goodbye, but they’re nowhere to be seen—like they’re playing hide-and-seek.”

Even after descending all the stairs, he escorted Arinne to the carriage.

Arinne wished the path to the carriage would never end.

She’d grown attached to him and the children already. Perhaps she’d miss them a little.

“Thank you for everything.”

Arinne greeted him, pulling her hand from his grasp in front of the carriage.

“And,”

Arinne’s gaze turned back. The moment her fierce eyes reached them, the knights, starting with Myle, immediately knelt on one knee.

‘If we don’t escort her, the Duke will kill us; if we do, the Lady will kill us!’

At least to them, Arinne ‘Marcedea’ was more frightening than Lawrence Carentium, called the Empire’s Shield and war demon.

“I’ll leave their punishment to you, Marquis.”

“They only did their duty. If we must blame anyone, hmm……”

A subtle playfulness crept into his voice.

“I should receive at least one mine.”

“Just one? There are three knights, so one per two makes three you should receive. The Duke may be embarrassingly stingy, but he has plenty of money.”

Her eyes instantly softened, noticing he was joking to lighten the mood.

“Please be sure to repay today’s rudeness someday.”

After exchanging words a few more times, the two couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter.

Only then did the knights realize the two had been teasing them.

Their faces, grown haggard in moments, amused Arinne.

“Are you really okay with letting them off?”

“Yes. It’s fine.”

Arinne had truly intended to punish the knights.

But that man, generous unlike his reputation, chose to mess with them appropriately and let it go.

“You have the kind of personality that gets taken advantage of anywhere, Marquis.”

“Needless worry. You or I, hup……!”

He stopped speaking and drew in a small breath.

Arinne smiled slightly at his natural reaction and straightened his shirt collar.

“Live selfishly.”

Only after Arinne withdrew her hand did the Marquis release his held breath.

“Thanks to you, it was an enjoyable time. Give my regards to the children too.”

“Arinne! Wait a moment.”

The Marquis reflexively grabbed Arinne’s wrist.

In the corridor, in the garden. And now too. Whenever she tried to distance herself, he urgently reached out every time.

He was probably someone who’d lost something precious, she guessed.

Similar to how she constantly doubted others’ hearts, he too likely had his own wounds.

“Lawrence.”

“……”

He worked his mouth briefly, then spoke with a fairly resolute expression.

“Lawrence. That’s my name.”