The Emperor left first due to an urgent schedule. A heavy silence hung over the audience chamber where the two were left alone.

‘What on earth is going on.’

There was no way the Emperor would push this marriage without reason. Especially since the Nelasidad family had been shunned from society after ‘that incident.’

A marriage proposal with such a family?

‘Well, thinking about it, it is quite a fitting combination?’

He chuckled. The imperial troublemaker and the young lady of the simpleton family. It was quite the gossip to sweep through society.

“…Hello, my lord.”

It was then that a faint voice pulled him from his thoughts. When Vincent turned his head, he saw her greeting him with a shy face.

Cheeks flushed pink and red, fingers fidgeting as if embarrassed, she showed signs of nervousness in every way.

“I am Laila Nelasidad. I have… really wanted to speak with you, my lord.”

‘Have we ever met before?’

Vincent looked her over with curiosity. His gaze passed over her violet hair with its slight reddish tint and landed on her white skin, and he was suddenly reminded of the white snow he had seen outside.

‘Her face is pretty.’

He made a brief assessment. However, no matter how he thought about it, he could not recall any memory of meeting her before today.

“You may not remember, but……”

“One moment.”

Vincent cut off her words. He was annoyed by her attempt to remind him of the past. He felt no need to listen to something he could not even remember.

‘This is a nuisance.’

He thought, slowly taking out a cigarette and putting it to his lips. The intent of that damned Emperor leaving just the two of them was obvious. It was his trick to have them build a rapport while they had the chance.

Vincent had not the slightest intention of playing along with the Emperor’s wishes. He liked the freedom of being tied down to nothing, and in that sense, marriage felt like a form of confinement.

“I’ll be going now.”

He walked out of the audience chamber with wide strides. The expression of the attendant who had been brewing tea, and the startled face of young lady Nelasidad, briefly flashed past him.

“…Hoo.”

Vincent chewed on the cigarette between his lips as he walked down the corridor.

“What am I going to do.”

He tried to turn the stiff gears of his mind, but his long un-oiled head simply would not work. His thoughts were nothing but a foggy overload. D*mn it, he had no idea how to handle this situation.

‘Laila… was that her name?’

He suddenly stopped walking. The image of young lady Nelasidad staring at him in apparent surprise came to mind. Her refined and graceful appearance was exactly that of a typical noble young lady. And quite a modest type at that. He gave a short laugh and cleared the thought away. She was clearly the complete opposite of him.

“I’ll need to consult Hedwell.”

Vincent muttered to himself, resuming his stopped steps. Even if the Emperor pushed the marriage recklessly, what could he do if the person himself fled? Vincent was even considering running away in the dead of night if it came to it.

“My lord, just a moment!”

Laila, who had followed him at some point, stepped in front of him and blocked his path. Vincent was stopped in his tracks, unable to go forward or back, as she spread her arms wide. In the meantime she let out a shallow breath and steadied herself. Then she began rummaging through the inner pocket of her dress.

“Now what is this supposed to be……”

Vincent was flustered and dumbfounded. Even with his experience at late-night social gatherings, this was his first time seeing a woman rummaging through her skirt in the middle of a corridor. He had no immunity to this.

“Would you please stop—”

He opened his lips with a serious face at the same moment a handkerchief was held out before him.

“……What is this?”

The handkerchief had his family crest, the Loardy crest, embroidered on it.

“I made it for you, my lord.”

She answered steadfastly, even as her eyelashes trembled faintly. Her white skin was flushed as if it might burst into pink flame, and her clear eyes sparkled with anticipation.

Vincent, without thinking, paused his gaze on her softly moving lips, and absentmindedly received the handkerchief. The fabric that touched his hand was soft and smooth.

“Why would you give me this……”

Just then, the sound of murmuring and approaching footsteps could be felt. As the steps grew steadily closer, Vincent came to his senses.

‘Is she naive, or is she cunning.’

He gave a dry laugh. The timing was impeccable.

“The craftsmanship seems lacking, but the scheming is an art.”

He remarked coolly.

“Take it back.”

He had not the slightest thought of getting entangled with her in the current situation. He held the handkerchief back out to her.

“B, but for your lordship……”

She bit her lip, seemingly flustered. Her face, flushed red, looked as if it might burst at the slightest touch.

“…I don’t need it.”

His throat felt strangely dry. Vincent let out a flat voice and pressed the handkerchief firmly back into her hand.

“Ah….”

She looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment, yet she bit her lip and held it in. That was a relief. He utterly detested crying women. It was just as he turned away without a second thought.

“What is the meaning of this?”

A low voice cut in without warning. When he turned his head, he saw a man with golden hair.

Vincent’s expression crumpled the moment he recognized who it was. Ethan Douglas, heir to the Prime Minister’s family and leader of the White Knights Order. A lofty, proud man who was famously known for never sparing a glance at women, and always brought up as a point of comparison.

“Is it the conduct of a knight to treat a woman’s sincerity so carelessly?”

And yet this upright and incorruptible man was, for some reason, speaking to him. His angry voice carried a fury directed at Vincent.

‘What is this?’

Vincent raised an eyebrow. He looked back and forth between Laila and Ethan, who had stepped in front of her as if to protect her.

‘Ah, so that’s how it is?’

A hollow laugh escaped him. Lecturing someone in front of the woman he likes. He found it rather irritating.

“This would be none of Sir Douglas’s concern, would it? Go on your way.”

Vincent said casually.

“It is not wise to interfere in the affairs between a man and a woman. Is that not so? Young lady Laila and I may soon become husband and wife.”

He called her name with familiarity. Ethan’s eyes shook for a moment with shock. His face looking as if he had been struck with a hammer, Vincent slowly pulled the corner of his mouth into a smile.

It was quite entertaining to see the White Knight, who had never been rattled by anything, look so crushed.

“Well, if you want a love-triangle fight, you are welcome anytime.”

Vincent glanced sideways at the group approaching from the other direction and shrugged his shoulders. A young lady in tears standing between two men. It was the perfect setup for the kind of gossip society loved.

“Watching a rumor get blown out of proportion seems like it could be entertaining in its own way.”

Vincent chuckled. Gossip and rumors had always followed him around.

The Emperor’s troublemaker, society’s libertine. Adding one more to the list did not seem like much of a problem.

What did it matter what others babbled about? Life was already too short to enjoy even without worrying about that.

“Fun things are always welcome.”

Vincent grinned, showing his straight teeth. It was a genuine feeling, without a shred of falsehood.

***

“Marriage? Do you think I’ve lost my mind?”

Just one week prior, the situation had seemed to be wrapping itself up like that. Vincent had said something about being husband and wife in front of her, but he had absolutely no intention of getting married. He had only said it because Ethan’s face, twisted with jealousy, had been worth seeing.

‘The problem is when the Emperor forces this marriage……’

In that case, he had been planning to flee the empire if it came to it. It was not that he particularly disliked her. He simply liked being free, and he would have refused just the same if a marriage proposal had come with any other woman.

“…….”

He quickly cleared his thoughts. He utterly detested anything complicated. Vincent gulped down the drink in his hand. As the feeling of intoxication set in, his mind grew hazy. At the same time, he felt as though he were drifting through the sky, and he laughed to himself. He took out a cigarette and put it to his lips.

“Ah, the smell.”

His close friend Hedwell, who had stepped out briefly and returned, wrinkled his nose at the thick cigarette smoke. Then he spotted Vincent and made a face.

“……Are you drunk?”

“There is an island far away.”

Vincent answered in a drawn-out, languid tone. Hedwell furrowed his brow with an expression that said, that guy is drunk. Oddly enough, Vincent was more manageable when drunk than sober. Even his drunken habits rarely changed.

“Someday I will cross the sea.”

Sure enough. Hedwell nodded.

Vincent is twenty-three years old. He and Hedwell had been close friends for ten years, since the age of twelve. The talk of the sea was something Vincent had spoken of like a habit since the very first time they met.

“It seems like it would be pleasant if the water swallowed me up to the very top of my throat. My body might just sink down like that.”

He chuckled and lay down on the couch. Hedwell shook his head.

“You might as well do it right now. If you left, I would finally be free.”

Hedwell, who also served as Vincent’s lawyer, suffered no small headache cleaning up after him. If it were not for the large sums of money he was given, he would have quit long ago. If only his family had not been in debt on top of it all.

“I have too much to leave behind for that.”

Vincent shrugged.

“Right, congratulations.”

Hedwell made a dumbfounded expression. Insufferable man. It was not an empty word. Vincent Loardy,  he was truly something else.

He was a member of the imperial family yet bore not a single responsibility, and on the contrary, even while dragging the imperial name through the mud, he received the Emperor’s favor.

‘He really is something else.’

Hedwell laughed hollowly. The Emperor had cherished his sister, the imperial princess, dearly, and because of that, even after Vincent’s mother had married Duke Loardy, he had not stripped her of her princess title.

Vincent was the legitimate heir of the ducal family and, as the son of an imperial princess, a proper imperial grandson. After the late Duke and Duchess had passed away, he had become Duke Loardy.

‘And what good does it do.’

Hedwell clicked his tongue at Vincent, drunk in the middle of the afternoon. His tangled ash-gray hair stuck out in all directions, and the liquor stains left on his white shirt like medals looked slovenly. And yet his face was so exceptionally handsome that he remained popular with women. Hedwell made a sourly cold expression.

“Someday I want to live the life of a wanderer.”

As Vincent said something so undeservedly indulgent, irritation showed naturally on Hedwell’s face.

“Yeah, you lunatic.”

“Lunatic, what an excessive compliment.”

Vincent laughed freely, and Hedwell shook his head. It was better to say nothing at all. Vincent Loardy. He was the world’s most irredeemable troublemaker.

After drinking as if his life depended on it like that, Vincent did not come to his senses until late evening.

“Vincent, I heard you’re getting married?”

It was the appearance of another close friend, Viscount Milian.

“……What nonsense is that?”

Vincent blinked his eyes blankly. Perhaps he had been letting his guard down all along.

Until the moment he learned that His Damned Majesty the Emperor was arranging a wedding without informing the groom himself.