Kieron found the situation he was facing extremely annoying. In fact, it was more than just that. It was downright irritating.

What on earth were they thinking, sending those two together at this hour?

He made no effort to hide his discomfort as he looked at Princess Lorelei, who he had once thought might have at least one decent idea.

“If you make your displeasure that obvious, even I start to feel a little awkward, Duke Ambrose.”

“I did not think Her Highness, as intelligent as she is, would fail to foresee at least this much.”

“I’m not a god, Duke Ambrose. How could I possibly know everything that goes on in people’s hearts?”

Lorelei lifted her shoulders in a shrug. Truly, a shameless woman.

Kieron clicked his tongue, once again thinking he had done well to refuse when the emperor had pushed for a marriage between him and Princess Lorelei.

“So, what brings you here?”

“What else? I came to see you, Duke.”

“Is that all?”

There was no way that slippery creature had come all this way just to “see his face.”

Just as Kieron was staring at Lorelei with clear displeasure—

“Aren’t you being excessively discourteous to Her Highness?”

Franz of the Council of Elders, who had kept his mouth shut until now, knit his brows. He was the oldest among Ambrose’s elders, and just as stubborn as his age suggested. As the council’s ultimate decision-maker, he was not someone one could treat carelessly—yet whenever he spoke, Kieron always felt an urge to contradict him.

Kieron turned his gaze on him.

“Her Highness does not seem particularly bothered.”

“Oh, of course not. I’m perfectly fine, Lord Franz. This is just the duke’s own way of showing familiarity, after all.”

He had essentially asked what business it was of his, in a disrespectful tone, yet this shameless princess seemed intent on turning Kieron’s stomach, spouting outrageous nonsense as if she had planned it.

A sign of familiarity? From whom to whom, exactly?

“I would ask you to choose your words more carefully, Your Highness. I have never formed any private bond with you.”
“Still, we almost ended up engaged once. Isn’t that a bit cold of you?”

“It seems you’ve forgotten that I am already married.”

What an absurd game to play with a man who already had a wife.

Kieron stared at the princess in sheer disbelief.

“Good. Since the subject has come up, all the better, about that marriage.”

Franz finally opened his mouth, to explain why they had appeared together in such an absurd pairing.

“It’s been nearly three years since you married, and yet there is still no child. Isn’t that a problem? And according to rumor, the two of you have never once shared a bed.”

“…Ha. Are matters between husband and wife also something I must now report to the council? I was under the impression they belonged to a strictly private sphere.”

In other words—

They had heard the rumors, and to confirm them they had brought the woman who might otherwise have been sitting in Ariadne’s place. But what business was it of the council’s, regardless of what had happened between him and his wife?

Kieron felt a surge of rage blast up to the top of his head as his entire body went cold, as though someone had poured a bucket of ice water over him.

Had they really brought her here to show that they wanted to cast aside Ariadne and marry her instead?

He turned to Franz with a distorted, bitter smile.

“I have no intention of having children. I don’t care to pass on the same misery I went through to my own child.”

“What? Misery, you say!”

“As head of a house, if I’m not granted even a single proper right and all I do is work myself to death, am I a lord or a slave? Do you not think that’s miserable?”

“Mind your tongue, Duke!”

The truth was that he didn’t want children.

Was it because his parents had treated their own child like a burden to be passed back and forth? Or was it because, despite being a duke, there was so little he could control?

He wasn’t sure. What he did know was that he didn’t want to pass on his burdens to a child. If he could choose freely, he would rather marry into another family as a live-in son-in-law.

However, if he did that, all the years he had spent fighting to protect his family would have been for nothing.

If he was forced into that position, he would rather end his family line entirely.

Given the promise he had made to the Marquis, doing so would be easy.

“If you had any sense of guilt, Lord Franz, you wouldn’t be saying such things here. The fact that you’re speaking so freely can only mean you feel no remorse toward me.”

“It is only natural not to transfer rights to an unworthy successor!”

“Keep your voice down. The ‘unworthy successor’ you’re talking about is very sensitive about how others see him.”

Who could say? If this matter ever reached His Majesty the Emperor or the Marquis of Peyton…

Kieron’s lips twisted into a sharp, bitter smile. Everyone knew that the heir of House Ambrose was struggling to rebuild what had fallen apart.

They also knew that he had yet to be fully acknowledged by the council as the true head of the house.

However, following his marriage, the stability of his household had improved, leading many to believe that he had finally been recognized.

This was precisely what the council had promised Peyton and Kieron when they accepted the marquis’s precious daughter and her enormous dowry.

Instead of honoring that agreement, however, the council had repeatedly delayed the transfer of rights.

Their excuse?

That Kieron had still not ‘established himself’ within the house.

If Marquis Peyton ever found out that, after taking everything it could, the council was now shirking its responsibilities…

Franz’s face drained of all color, frozen in pure horror.

“Are you… are you trying to threaten the council?”

“The ones doing the threatening right now are the council, my lord.”

As Kieron watched Franz tremble at the prospect of this reaching the Marquis, he felt a twisted mix of satisfaction and disgust.

They were a ducal house, yet here was one of its senior retainers quaking in fear at the prospect of the Marquis’s wrath.

The Marquis of Peyton’s influence was indeed formidable. He commanded power in both the light and the shadows, and everyone knew it.

But was that truly enough to make the retainers of a ducal house cower before the might of a marquess?

To quake at the mere suggestion of his displeasure?

The sight of Franz only darkened Kieron’s mood further.

He made no secret of his displeasure as he looked back and forth between Lorelai and the trembling man.

“If you’re finished, you should go. I have work to do.”

He was just about to leave his seat when—

“Even so, isn’t a woman who cannot bear a child considered gravely flawed?”

Princess Lorelei, whom he had assumed was only here to lend weight to their intimidation, finally opened her mouth.

It was such an utterly absurd remark that Kieron let out a low scoff and turned his gaze toward the princess.

“What exactly do you mean by that, Your Highness?”

“Just what I said. If Lady Peyton has a flaw, wouldn’t it be better for the sake of House Ambrose to send her back?”

“And for Your Highness to take her place?”

“…I didn’t say anything like that.”

“But it isn’t a thought you’ve ruled out.”

When he said this mockingly, Lorelei averted her gaze. She had considered it, but was too embarrassed to openly admit it.

Kieron let out a dry, humorless laugh as he looked back and forth between the two arrogant intruders.

Was all of this really happening simply because there was no child?

Had it never once occurred to them to consider their own actions?

“Your Highness, my wife will become your sister-in-law. As you know, the Peyton siblings are very close. Would the Peyton family truly remain silent if people said that you took your sister-in-law’s place?”

The whole situation was confusing enough, but it was something else entirely that unsettled Ariadne most.

Kieron Ambrose’s attitude.

It was as though he were defending her. As though he were trying to protect her.

Until now, Kieron had always acted as if she had done something terrible. As if everything was her fault. As if all the resentment he felt towards the world should be directed at her.

But why now?

“I never said I was going to take her place!”

“That’s exactly what you’re implying. You change your words very easily, Your Highness.”

If Peyton were to turn his back on the imperial family, the very foundations of the empire would crumble.

The Emperor had only one child who was fit to succeed him, but he was still far too young.

For now, most of the political power was concentrated in the hands of the eldest princess, Lorelei. However, if Marquis Peyton were to openly shift his support to someone else…

It would be a battle she could never win.

Not even Princess Lorelei would stand a chance. She wasn’t foolish; she knew that much.

In order to secure the throne against her younger sister, Princess Sylvia — who would soon form a powerful alliance with the influential Marquis Peyton through marriage — Lorelei needed a husband whose standing equaled or surpassed Peyton’s.

And it seemed she had set her sights on him.

He was a duke with military power, someone even Peyton could not easily dismiss. He could be molded into a puppet monarch, providing her with protection without provoking dangerous resistance.

Kieron looked between the two of them, amusement curling cold and derisive across his face.

“If you wish to keep what little you already have, I suggest you keep your mouths shut. If I decide to speak… who knows what might happen to the two of you?”

Franz’s face twisted with indignation. He had also accepted favours from them. If anyone else were to overhear their conversation, it would be disastrous.

If Ariadne — so naïve and kind to a fault — were to find out, she might report everything to her father immediately.

Kieron Ambrose would not get what he deserved. People would once again start gossiping that he had achieved everything thanks to his marriage and that he had no merits of his own.

Kieron brushed his hair back and rose to his feet.

“So take my advice. Keep quiet and leave peacefully. Divorce, remarriage—one marriage in this lifetime is more than enough.”

With that cold dismissal, he stood up.

And the moment he did—

He found himself staring straight at Ariadne, who was standing by the open doorway.

***

“Why would they suddenly come here? Jay, do you have any idea?”

“Uh… well. If my lady doesn’t know, how would I know…?”

On the way back to her room, Ariadne repeatedly asked Jay the same question.

She had tried to find out what was going on herself, but both Derrick and Herald had stopped her, leaving her with no answers.

But that didn’t make her confusion disappear. Even after changing out of her clothes, she continued to mutter the same things under her breath.

“Why? Why would they come?’ Is the council now trying to refuse to acknowledge my husband? Are they trying to break the promise they made before the wedding? Or are they trying to reunite His Grace with Her Highness the Princess?”

“Ehh? My lady, what are you even saying?”

Jay practically jumped in place at that.

Ariadne, too deep in thought to notice, suddenly rose to her feet.

“I think I really need to go there myself.”

“What? But the head butler told you to please stay put…”

Jay tried to stop her as soon as she stood up. She thought it would be better — and safer — if she just stayed where she was.

But Ariadne wasn’t the type to see the bigger picture.

In a situation like this, it was precisely now that the mistress of the house needed to assert her authority. With a determined expression, she looked into the mirror once more.

“I look fine, right?”

“You always look fine… Are you really going?”

“Yes. I’ll be back.”

Resolute, she headed straight to her husband’s reception room—

and there, she heard something she never expected.