Perhaps someone who grew up surrounded by evergreen trees would have eyes that shine that brightly.

Seren thought so and pressed her lips firmly together before they could part.

Even in the dim light, the green of Aillen’s eyes was striking.

Holding her gaze, Seren lifted her glass. The liquor that brushed her lips was gently sweet. As she lowered her gaze to the cup, she could see Aillen’s face shimmering faintly on its surface beneath the muted glow.

Yes.

This journey had not been planned.

In her entire life, Seren had never once acted without careful calculation.

***

Her fiancé, Calix Aeinham, arrived half-drunk just as she was leaving the warehouse after inspecting the newly arrived goods.

Despite having her coat collar raised, the wind still cut sharply at her throat that day.

“Madam Vice Guildmaster.”

“What is it?”

Her tone—flat, without inflection—might have seemed cold to others. But her secretary, long accustomed to it, remained unperturbed.

“Mr. Aeinham has arrived.”

Ah.

Seren suppressed the sigh threatening to escape her lips in the cold and instructed her secretary to inspect the shipment again.

The secretary, familiar with her behavior in such situations, quietly withdrew without a word.

Seated inside the waiting carriage, Seren instinctively lifted a hand to her temple.

Whenever her fiancé appeared, a headache inevitably followed.

She had known Calix since their early teens, when their families first started spending time together. Since then, their connection had endured stubbornly, like a thread that refused to break.

In her twenty-seven years — brief, depending on how one measured such things — he had been her greatest complication.

Beneath his polished manners and refined appearance, he was stubborn to the core. Headstrong. In other words, he was the very image of a pampered youngest son.

At least he had learned to mimic the decorum suggested by his appearance as he grew older.

But never in front of her.

Perhaps, after knowing each other for so long, he believed there was no need to maintain the pretense around her.

She almost wished he would pretend in front of her, too.

If he had, accepting her engagement to Calix might have been easier.

“In the future, you will marry the youngest son of the Aeinham family.”

That was what her mother had told her when she first met Calix.

At the time, Seren had simply nodded.

Had she known how deeply she would come to regret the engagement, she might have tried to run away.

Back then, she had been too naive. Too obedient.

If only that temperament had endured. But as the wedding date drew closer, she found herself bristling at the slightest provocation — even the slightest touch of wind against her skin.

Calix had always been irritating, even when they were just friends, yet she had once found their relationship bearable. After the engagement, however, even that fragile goodwill crumbled like dry autumn leaves beneath her feet.

The carriage lurched violently, as though the wheel had hit a stone. Seren dragged a hand through her hair, trying to calm down.

Whether it helped at all, she could not tell.

‘If not for the family business.’

She let out a quiet breath.

The Aeinham family owned the largest general goods business in the North. In Rinamoth, the largest city in the region, they owned more than ten shops of various sizes.

Given this, it was only natural that such a family would seek an alliance with hers, the managers of the North’s largest trading guild. From their perspective, that partnership was probably the real goal all along.

But her family’s situation was not so simple.

If they had plainly told her to endure it for the sake of the household, she might at least have been able to accept it.

“Ha…”

A hollow laugh escaped her every time she thought about it. She rubbed at her mouth, looking weary.

She remembered declaring that she wanted to support her elder sister, the guildmaster, by living her life alongside her and managing the trading company. What had her mother said?

“You act as though you need no one, but that is only because you have never truly allowed anyone into your heart. If you continue living that way, you will not even realize when loneliness takes hold—you will simply find yourself alone.”

She had heard those words before she left for boarding school. She had heard them then, and again afterwards — and still hears them now.

She had never truly understood them.

What had followed?

Something about how it wouldn’t matter if she divorced and returned home; she just needed to let someone into her life.

It was not the damage to her reputation that she feared in the event of a divorce.

She simply did not want to marry Calix.

Her mother had spoken as though anyone would suffice. Yet she must have known that Seren had no desire to share her daily life with anyone, Calix included.

Perhaps that was precisely why she had chosen Calix.

An alliance with that family was not one Seren could casually refuse, and her mother must have known she would not risk defying it.

But was she really such a reckless wastrel that she needed to be tied up like this?

As she asked herself this question, the carriage came to a halt.

The door opened as she adjusted her clothes. Stepping down, she immediately felt the cold air dishevel her hair.

“Miss, you’ve arrived.”

The servants bowed in greeting. Unable to respond to each of them individually, Seren merely inclined her head and continued on her way.

Her footsteps echoed more sharply than usual as she entered the drawing room, where Calix was waiting for her.

A man who had always maintained a proper appearance since graduating from the boys’ academy was now sprawled across one corner of the sofa, his shirt loosened and disheveled.

He reeked of alcohol.

“If this isn’t even your own house, you could at least sit properly.”

Leaning against the doorway, Seren spoke without meaning to, her tone edged with irritation. But Calix showed no sign of comprehension.

“Huuh… Aillen… What is it about me that she dislikes so much…?”

Then he started to cry.

At first, Seren narrowed her eyes, wondering if he was putting on a show. But before long, she could hear the unmistakable sound of genuine sniffling.

Her headache threatened to return.

She took the small bell from the top of the cabinet and rang it.

“Yes, Miss.”

“Move that to my sitting room.”

She gestured toward Calix with a careless flick of her finger, as though indicating nothing more than an object, then turned away without the slightest hesitation.

“Yes, Miss.”

She was about to leave when she paused, turning back to add,

“And bring a bottle of wine. A twenty-eight-year Hines should suffice.”

If she had to deal with Calix—worse, a drunken Calix—then it was only fair that she, too, had wine.

“Thank you for your trouble.”

After lightly patting the servant’s shoulder, Seren ascended to her room before the chill from outside could even settle into the corridor.

***

“Seren… I met someone there—there, I tell you—someone unbelievably beautiful. Do you hear me? So beautiful. It was a beautiful place. Titt Village, Titt… Aillen…”

“Yes. It would be helpful if you realized that was the fifth time you’ve said that.”

Seren clicked her tongue softly as she refilled Calix’s glass. The wine’s fragrant aroma rose gently into the air, ready to be savored, but Calix swallowed it down as though it were cheap ale.

Her brows knitted together in irritation.

It was better for him to drink himself into oblivion than endure his endless rambling. At least when he was drinking, his mouth was occupied.

Relishing the silence, Seren lifted her own glass and inhaled the wine’s bouquet deliberately as she brought it to her lips.

But Calix, wiping his mouth with his sleeve like an uncouth drunkard, launched back into his slurred monologue.

“Did you see her? Those green eyes – it’s as if she’s stolen the color of fresh spring leaves. And her bright, almond-colored hair — under the southern sun, it shines like a field of wheat. A field of wheat. A field swaying in the wind…”

He went on to say that she looked as though she had been kissed by sunlight itself.

For once, these weren’t just words he’d repeated countless times before, and Seren considered listening to him.

But then Calix suddenly threw his head back and shouted the same line again.

“She was beautiful!”

“Yes, yes. I understand. It seems that spending time with artists has improved your ability to express yourself. If you were so eager to boast, you should have sought out one of your friends instead of coming to me.”

He was far too drunk to take in a single word. Calix’s head lolled from side to side. Grimacing as though the entire world were spinning wildly around him, he struggled to stay upright.

“Her personality, too… Ah, I don’t know her well, but she was bright… Her laughter—it rang like a clear sky… And yet…I never imagined she would reject me so completely. A proposal from me of all people…”

As he ran an irritated hand through his hair, Seren heard a word that grated on her ears.

She lifted her head sharply.

The pleasant warmth of the wine left her at once.

“What?”

“Seren, I have nothing to offer. Why would she reject me? Hm? I’ve thought about it endlessly, but I still don’t know. It’s driving me mad. Should I have revealed my family name? I just wanted her to see who I really am…”

“Wait. Say that again. You proposed to that woman—and she refused you?”

“It was Aillen. Aillen.”

“Yes. Aillen.”

Calix sprawled across the sofa, filling it entirely. He resembled the discarded clothes she had once seen strewn across her sister’s bedroom floor.

Seren’s brows drew together as she tapped her fingertips against the table like piano keys.

If she pressed him too quickly, he would just repeat himself like a broken wind-up toy. So she waited.

“I was rejected. Cleanly. Decisively…Seren, am I truly that undesirable? Not even worth a second thought?”

“And what do you expect me to say? How would I know?”

Her reply came sharper than intended. In truth, she genuinely did not know.

But Calix, undeterred by her tone, barked back.

“How can you not know? You’ve known me for so long. Do you see me that way too? Am I so worthless?”

“At the very least, watching you behave like this would drain whatever goodwill existed.”

Calix let out another wail and collapsed face-first onto the sofa.

‘I’ll have the covers stripped and washed tomorrow.’

Even as the thought crossed her mind, her blue-gray eyes gleamed with sudden clarity.

An idea flickered through her.

“Calix.”

“What now? I don’t see why you’d speak to such a pathetic man.”

The pout on his lips nearly drew a scoff from her.

“Did you tell her you’re engaged?”

“…No.”

“That is precisely why you were rejected.”

“How is that—”

Calix bristled at her tone, which bordered on contempt. It was exactly as she had anticipated.

Seren adjusted her approach, softening her voice just enough to soothe.

“This engagement was never something either of us truly wanted. We accepted it because refusing would not have led to a better alternative.”

“…That’s true.”

“Then don’t you wish to break it? To end it properly—and then propose to that woman, Aillen, as you should have from the start?”

“That’s… that’s true, but I’ve already been rejected… I said I would write to her, but my pride…”

“Is pride what matters now? You have never met anyone who compelled you to propose outright. If she moved you that far, then you must seize the chance.”

Leaning slightly toward him, Seren lowered her voice to a near whisper.

“If you meant to propose to another, you should have ended your prior engagement first. If you were not honorable about it, do you think it would not have shown? People are not so foolish.”

Though still fogged with drink, Calix stared at her blankly. Seren continued, composed.

“Perhaps that young lady sensed that you were concealing something.”

Even as she spoke, Seren found herself thinking that the woman, whom she had never met, must be very wise.

She was so wise that Seren felt a flicker of respect for someone she knew only by name.

Whether the girl had seen through Calix himself or merely sensed that something was amiss, Seren could not tell. But to suit that smooth-faced fool? That was almost impossible to imagine, especially given that he had arrived drunk in the dead of night.

Especially one who arrived drunk in the dead of night.

Unaware of the chill in her gaze, Calix remained slumped there in a pitiful state.

Seren had no intention of mortgaging her life to him.

Her mother often accused her of being too harsh on Calix and of finding faults simply because she didn’t want to marry him.

But Seren believed otherwise.

They were fundamentally incompatible.

In truth, she was incompatible with most people.

Her mother simply refused to admit that.

Seren made her point clear.

“If you break the engagement with me, explain your circumstances honestly, and then propose again with integrity—who knows? Things may change.”

Leaning back against the sofa, she allowed a faint curve of satisfaction to touch her lips for once.

Despite his heavy-lidded eyes fighting sleep, a bright smile spread across Calix’s face.

This was not something that could be casually brushed aside, nor was he someone who could easily be dismissed. But they both needed only a catalyst.

They needed a reason to act on their true desires.

“Is that so? You think so?”

“Yes. One never knows what may happen.”

“But… what if she disliked some other part of me? My face, perhaps…”

Seren wondered briefly what kind of person could have left him feeling so dispirited. Yet she felt no urge to flatter him. She slowly swirled the wine in her glass. The crimson liquid swirled around, forming a small vortex.

Meanwhile, Calix muttered to himself, as though gathering his resolve. Suddenly, he sprang to his feet.

“You’re right! How could I give up so easily? Then I shall go at once and—”

“And begin by breaking the engagement. For now, you should start by returning home.”

Years of experience had taught Seren that, when he was drunk, Calix didn’t entirely forget things.

Nevertheless, she hoped he would remember this night and act on it.

If not an immediate dissolution of the engagement, then at least a delay to the wedding.

A peculiar exhilaration dulled her reason.