“If I follow, it’ll just make things uncomfortable, so I’ll stay here quietly, Miss. Don’t worry about me at all and have a good time.”

“…Thank you, Rachel.”

When I only answered without getting out of the carriage, Rachel practically pushed me out. Though her energetic appearance today lifted my mood, I felt somewhat hurt inside.

‘Rachel… you pretended otherwise, but weren’t you hoping I’d get married even faster than my parents wanted?’

Just like Rachel said, Pervil Lake was a dating course for lovers. The streets were filled with couples in love. 

A woman with flushed cheeks passed by with a man whose tender gaze looked at his lover lovingly. Since I’d always experienced lonely one-sided love, seeing people in love felt fascinating.

‘What does it feel like to love each other? The same daily routine probably feels sweet, and happy laughter flows out even when the wind blows, right?’

Just as I was lost in thought, someone suddenly grabbed my hand. Thinking it was Thadeus, I turned around, but the person holding my hand was some random man.

When I made a surprised expression, the man swept back his brown hair with his burly muscular arm. 

He flashed a smile so wide his gums showed completely, but maybe because I’d been seeing Thadeus’s handsome face often lately, he seemed like a disgusting fish with eyes, nose, and mouth roughly attached.

‘I shouldn’t think such things about a person…’

I squeezed my eyes shut in self-loathing, wondering when I’d become such a terrible person. But the muscular man, seemingly thinking I was being shy, let out a boisterous laugh loud enough to burst eardrums.

“Excuse me. Might this lovely lady have come here alone?”

“Ah, I am alone, but…”

“Then would you grant me the honor of accompanying you, my lady?”

His worn-out line, something that might’ve been used at the end of the century, left me cold. I continued as gently as possible to avoid hurting his feelings.

“I’m sorry, but I have company I’m meeting with.”

“But if he’s such a terrible fellow who’d leave a lady alone like this, I don’t want to yield.”

He winked one eye and kissed the glove on my hand. Along with the sensation of lips touching the thin cotton glove, the man’s scratchy beard pierced through the glove and poked my skin. 

An unfamiliar unpleasant feeling I’d never experienced before made my skin crawl.

“I already told you. I have company.”

“Lovely lady, don’t ignore the pull of souls. I already feel the same way as you.”

“Let go of this hand while I’m being nice!”

“Your shy appearance is like a feisty cat. Of course, this side of you is plenty charming too.”

He didn’t seem like someone I could reason with at all. Maybe he was crazy. With unhinged people like this, showing them a harsh lesson was more effective than trying to persuade them with words.

When I tried to stomp on the man’s foot with my pointed shoe, unlike his dull-looking appearance, he dodged nimbly with quick movements. Plus, seemingly misunderstanding my action, he spoke with a flushed face.

“Holding hands wasn’t enough, it seems. For the record, I like proactive people like you, my lady.”

‘No, that’s not it!’

Just as my face spread with shock, a large hand that suddenly popped out from behind grabbed and twisted the hand of the man holding me. The man’s wrist bent roughly and soon a piercing scream spread out.

“Aaargh…!”

“There was still a bug I didn’t finish dealing with.”

It was an angry voice that seemed like even the flowing wind would freeze. When I turned around, I saw Thadeus’s face, angrier than usual.

‘A bug he didn’t finish dealing with…?’

I was curious, but I knew this wasn’t the situation to ask such things tactlessly. Though the muscular man had a burly body and didn’t look like he’d lose in strength at all, he couldn’t resist Thadeus even once. 

Then he let out a desperate shout.

“What crazy bastard! Do you even know who I am?”

Then his dull brown eyes that met Thadeus’s were colored with confusion. Eventually, a voice much smaller than before flowed from his mouth.

“D-Deputy Commander…?”

“Who are you to know me?”

“That’s… I’m a probationary knight who just joined the order, P-Philip Steron!”

“One of the idiots in our knight order? If I can’t even remember you, you must be so pathetic you’re not worth remembering.”

As Thadeus spoke mockingly, the man’s face flushed red. Then, seemingly realizing the situation was worse than he thought, he began frantically spewing apologies.

“I was wrong. I didn’t know she was the Deputy Commander’s lover…”

“Even if you didn’t know, does that erase the crime you committed?”

“That’s… I didn’t mean to…!”

“You didn’t mean to? Then I guess only I, who was far away, heard her tell you to let go.”

His sharp cutting words were chilling even to me. How fortunate that I don’t work with Thadeus. 

The muscular man now looked like he was about to cry. He glanced at Thadeus and bowed his head to apologize to me standing beside him.

“I’m sorry, my lady. I committed a great discourtesy earlier. I absolutely won’t do it again.”

At that sight, Thadeus smiled coldly.

“Don’t apologize pathetically. The dirty feeling from you can’t be compensated with just that.”

“Then what should I do…”

“Get out of my sight right now. For every second you’re late, I’ll add twenty laps around the training ground.”

“Yes, sir! According to the Deputy Commander’s will, this Philip Steron will disappear like the wind!”

Whether because of Thadeus’s words, the muscular man flew through the crowded masses like an arrow. On the way, he bumped into a passing person and rolled on the ground disgracefully. 

Then he glanced back at Thadeus once, got frightened again, and ran far away.

‘Ugh, I’m embarrassed for him.’

When the man completely disappeared from view, Thadeus, who’d been staring intently at my glove, bluntly tossed out words.

“Throw away that glove.”

“Why, when it’s perfectly fine?”

“Just because. It looks disgusting.”

How could a glove look disgusting? To anyone, it was just an ordinary white cotton glove. No patterns, matching everything, the common kind that everyone probably owned at least one of.

“I’m grateful you helped, but I like this glove.”

I clasped my gloved hands tightly to show him, and sparks flew in Thadeus’s eyes for a moment. Like someone who couldn’t stand it unless he removed it from sight immediately, he grabbed my hand and stripped it off in one motion.

“Huh…? What? Give me back my glove!”

“If you’re being stingy about this, I’ll buy you an entire glove shop. That works, right?”

Suddenly I remembered Rachel’s words this morning, saying neat cotton gloves suited today’s dress and insisting I wear them. As her excited face flashed by, I felt upset.

Even so, it wasn’t even his property but mine. Was it okay to treat it so carelessly?

As I reached around trying to retrieve the cotton glove Thadeus had snatched, he let out a deep sigh. Then he ripped the perfectly fine glove to shreds like paper scraps. And with a face showing no remorse, he brazenly spouted.

“Sorry. My hand slipped without realizing.”

How could hands slipping tear a glove? Each word flowed out awkwardly, like someone forced to say something. I was dumbfounded by Thadeus’s nonchalance and detestability.

“Y-You…! You dung beetle!”

I wanted to use the worst expression I could, but “dung beetle” was my limit. Even at my words, Thadeus laughed indifferently.

“That’s harsh. You’re hurting my feelings.”

Since he said such things with a face showing no hurt at all, he only felt more annoying. When I glared at his face resentfully, Thadeus continued calmly, seemingly trying to placate me.

“If another guy like that bothers you, don’t try to persuade him with words. Don’t give him any opening and just kick his lower parts until they’re useless.”

I’d heard before. That place, a man’s symbol, was their biggest weakness. I thought that might be a more effective response than trying to stomp with shoes.

But I didn’t want to readily agree with his opinion, so I maintained silence with a sullen expression. Then Thadeus spoke vulgar words with a smile on his lips.

“Ah, should I say c*ck instead of lower parts so you understand better?”

How could he say such things so brazenly when there were so many people passing by? Young ladies who’d turned their heads at the embarrassing words discovered Thadeus and blushed. 

Even while passing, they couldn’t easily look away and tried to keep watching until the end, which made me feel strangely uncomfortable.

“I-It’s not like that!”

“Then?”

“What?”

“You didn’t react much to ‘lower parts’ but you react when I say c*ck. What’s that about?”

“W-Well. Because other people are looking! It’s embarrassing!”

“Really? Then should I make it more embarrassing?”

I couldn’t understand what was going on in his head at all. How could someone with such twisted tastes be a candidate for youngest knight commander? I silently offered brief condolences to the knight order fated to be with this guy.

“I understood what you meant, so stop talking about it now.”

“How did you understand?”

“Don’t give any opening and kick that place.”

“If that doesn’t work, burst the balls completely. I’ll take responsibility for the aftermath.”

It was a horrifying scene just to imagine. How could I do such a thing with my own hands? When I squeezed my eyes shut and trembled, Thadeus laughed lowly.

“You need to do at least that much so they don’t look down on you.”

Forget not being looked down on—doing something like that might drag the family’s honor to the ground. But if I added more words here, I’d probably just get nagged, so I nodded roughly.

“Fine. What are we doing today that you called me here?”

“Not here, over there.”

The place he pointed to had writing saying it was private property where outsiders were prohibited. When I looked at Thadeus questioningly, he explained with an unimpressed expression.

“It’s one of the villas I manage. You said you didn’t want to worry about other people’s gazes.”

He’d been pretending not to care but apparently remembered my words. For a moment I almost felt grateful, but then I remembered that if Thadeus hadn’t summoned me in the first place, there’d be nothing to worry about.

‘So I shouldn’t be unnecessarily grateful.’