‘Of course Devon would have been happy since things went the way he wanted. But with father being here, he wouldn’t have been able to handle important matters like an engagement ceremony on his own……’

Devon’s reaction was obvious without even seeing it. If Devon had been alone at the marquis’s residence, it wouldn’t have been surprising if an engagement ceremony had proceeded without her and Arsen’s consent. However, now Marquis Evansi was there, wasn’t he?

‘This means father also approved the engagement ceremony. Perhaps the engagement ceremony was even father’s idea.’

Richard and Giselle were trying to do something, and to prevent it, they played the “engagement” card. This was the most plausible hypothesis Lydia could think of.

Well, if Richard hadn’t tried to interfere between Arsen and her, that would have been stranger.

“Father used a strong move. Richard must have done something.”

Lydia observed Arsen’s reaction. This wasn’t her plan. She had intended to use the fake engagement to extract as much as possible from both sides.

“When we go to the capital, we might really have to hold an engagement ceremony. What should we do, Sir?”

“Isn’t it fine if we do?”

Lydia was surprised by Arsen’s calm response. She told him they might have to get engaged when they returned to the capital, but his expression suggested he saw no problem with it.

“No, are you really okay with this? We’d have to hold an engagement ceremony, you know? Wearing formal attire, inviting guests, holding a banquet, we’d have to do all that?”

“It’s fine. I started this expecting this level of variables.”

“……You do know what an engagement ceremony is, right?”

“I do. It’s a ceremony promising marriage.”

When he first read about the engagement ceremony in the letter, Arsen was a bit taken aback. But it wasn’t an unpleasant surprise.

His heart raced, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable pounding. Rather……

“Was this not part of your plan?”

Arsen observed Lydia, who had frozen in place.

“If so, I’ll think of a way to avoid the engagement ceremony.”

Though it would be difficult.

“That’s not it, I just feel like I’m being a burden to you, Sir.”

Lydia hastily waved her hands in dismissal. Arsen furrowed one eyebrow, as if he didn’t quite understand Lydia’s dispirited words.

“An engagement ceremony isn’t that big a deal, but it still leaves a mark. Later, when you find a woman you really want to marry, it might bother you.”

You could explain the circumstances of the engagement ceremony to the person involved, but there’s nothing you can do about spreading rumors. You can’t grab each person individually and explain the situation.

So the gossip would continue to follow, and while someone who’s turned their back on social circles might not mind, someone who needs to remain active would inevitably be bothered. Especially the woman.

If the person he loves gets hurt by such things, Arsen would worry too, and in the end, he might regret going through with the engagement ceremony.

Even after this explanation, Arsen still looked like he didn’t understand.

He seemed to have comprehended the meaning of her words, but didn’t understand why she needed to worry about all that in the first place.

“Unnecessary worry.”

Arsen dismissed Lydia’s concern in one sentence.

“Right now, the only thing you should worry about is your health. In your condition, you’ll have trouble getting to the capital, let alone attending an engagement ceremony.”

He lectured about the importance of eating well, resting well, and taking medicine properly before leaving. As if Lydia’s health was truly his only concern.

“He’s really different from how he looks.”

Lydia murmured, recalling Arsen feeding her medicine.

His hands were large and rough enough to kill flies, but the fingers that wiped medicine from the corner of her mouth, though rough, were considerate.

‘Yet he looks like someone who wouldn’t care if a child fell beside him.’

Setting aside his good looks, Arsen was, how to put it, somewhat cold and detached in appearance. From a certain perspective, he even had a somewhat frightening impression.

Was it because of his expressionless face? Or his thick eyebrows? Or his masculine jaw?

Or perhaps it was due to his large build. The Black Wolf Knights were generally big men, so it wasn’t noticeable when he was among them, but in places like balls, Arsen was quite tall.

Even standing among other men, he stuck out by a head, making him easy to find.

Perhaps that’s why Lydia from her previous life failed to recognize Arsen’s true worth. Lydia liked kind and gentle-looking faces. Arsen wasn’t that type of handsome man.

But as it turned out, he was warm inside. Considerate and also kind.

When Lydia took her medicine, he would hold the medicine bowl for her, and when she grimaced at the bitterness, he would put candy in her mouth.

Not only that, but he took care of Lydia in many small ways. Seeing just this, it might seem that Arsen was especially considerate only to Lydia, but thinking about it a little more, she knew that wasn’t the case.

How could the knights be loyal to him and the people in the border trust and follow him if he was only kind to Lydia and cold to others?

So Lydia concluded that Arsen, unlike his appearance, was a kind person.

* * *

“Aaagh!”

“Tch.”

Arsen’s wooden sword struck David’s side as it passed. David clutched his side and rolled around, but Arsen clicked his tongue as if the sight annoyed him.

“Your side is always open.”

Regardless of whether David was in pain or not, Arsen pointed out his weakness and ordered him to get up.

When David protested that he should just kill him instead, saying he couldn’t spar anymore, Arsen gave him one cold glance and called out.

“Next.”.

“Such a heartless man.”

David pitied himself as he watched Arsen’s back, heading towards the next spar, but Arsen didn’t look back.

“It’s nothing new that the commander is so cold.”

Kedrick came over to help David up, commenting on Arsen’s coldness, but Arsen didn’t particularly care.

Why? Because it was true.

“Women must hate that. What does Priestess Lydia see in our commander to like him?”

When the word ‘Lydia’ came out of David’s dissatisfied mouth, Arsen paused.

“He’s not like that with Priestess Lydia. What do you take our commander for? A socially awkward person?”

Just call him socially awkward outright.

Arsen finally turned around and glared at Kedrick with a fierce gaze, but Kedrick withstood that look with his thick muscles.

To be fair, Arsen was quite devoted to Lydia.

He not only visited her every day to check on her illness, but also went all the way to Count Wonde’s territory to obtain medicinal herbs needed for Lydia’s treatment.

The problem was that Arsen didn’t show any of this to Lydia at all.

If he visited her when she was sleeping, shouldn’t he at least wait until she woke up to see her face? Or at least let her know he had been there?

However, he kept the fact that he had visited a secret, fearing it might worry her.

Lydia was also unaware that Arsen had gone to Count Wonde’s territory to get medicinal herbs.

Kedrick was about to go crazy with frustration. He should show off by saying, ‘I did this much for you!’ to capture Lydia’s heart, but instead, he kept everything a secret!

Well, there’s a reason he’s called socially awkward. That’s why he’s socially awkward.

Kedrick sighed as he watched Arsen enter the mansion.

* * *

“Bruce, we need to change the schedule. It would be better to depart earlier.”

“Wouldn’t that be too much for the priestess if we leave early?”

Once the victory ceremony schedule was set, Arsen also began planning the journey to the capital.

At first, he had decided to delay the departure date until Lydia recovered as much as possible and then travel quickly.

“No, I think a long carriage ride would actually be more strenuous.”

Wellington’s medicine seemed to be effective, as Lydia was recovering faster than expected. However, it was difficult to say she had completely recovered.

“It would be better to rest along the way than to spend all day in a carriage.”

Arsen changed the schedule to depart earlier, making sure that the daily carriage travel time wasn’t too long.

“Understood. Then I’ll discuss with Sir Kedrick to rearrange the schedule.”

Arsen rarely changed his decisions, but since a patient was traveling with them, Bruce accepted it.

After leaving Arsen’s office, Bruce went to find Kedrick.

“Let’s take a rest day here.”

“I think we could reach this point without resting in between.”

After discussing the details for more than an hour, they headed to his office with the report.

However, despite their lengthy discussion, Arsen quickly scanned the report and said,

“This is too tight.”

“Excuse me? You think this is tight? Commander, at this pace, it’s a vacation, a vacation.”

“We have a patient traveling with us. Rework it.”

“……Is the patient on their deathbed? From what I can see, it’s not that serious.”

“……”

After pushing the report back toward Kedrick and Bruce, Arsen picked up another document.

It was a silent pressure implying that he had no intention of hearing their objections, so they should go out and revise the report.

Leaving with a dissatisfied expression, Kedrick clenched his fist and muttered that he would create a schedule that even an eighty-year-old could handle.

As a result, a genuine eighty-year-old ended up following this schedule.