After talking to Sylvia, Ariadne spent some time alone, deeply contemplating divorce and remarriage, as well as the social atmosphere surrounding both.

As these were issues she might face herself one day, she couldn’t simply turn away from them.

So she kept asking herself: What would I have done? How should she respond if she wanted any freedom from the judgement of high society? Was Sylvia the only one who thought this way?

Like a fledgling just beginning to open its eyes to the world, everything felt new, strange, and fascinating. Once the thoughts began, her curiosity spread unchecked.

How did people live after divorce? Did they form their own social circles? How had the princess learned so much about all this?

Ariadne was curious.

Curious and unsettled.

She had never realized just how vast the world of knowledge truly was. Once she grasped one idea, however, another question naturally followed, and then another.

Before her marriage, she had never thought about any of this. Back then, she had been too busy trying to hide her inadequacies to consider learning. She rarely read books or opened her lesson books.

Now, however, she was drawn to a kind of knowledge that didn’t require her to compare herself to anyone or demand anything of her. She could learn it simply because she wanted to, without needing her parents’ permission.

She was married now and her home was the Duchy of Ambrose, not the Marquisate of Peyton.

This small, simple fact made her feel strangely excited.

‘If such things existed… then how much more might there be? Would I be able to learn even more if I wished?’

“You seem deep in thought.”

She had been so lost in her musings that she forgot there was someone sitting before her. Ariadne quickly pulled herself back and looked at Kieron across the table.

“Ah, it’s just… The conversation I had with Her Highness today left quite an impression.”

“Didn’t you say you always discuss the same things with the princess?”

“Yes. Normally, yes.”

The topic was always the same, yet today felt different.

Ariadne explained what Sylvia had said and admitted that she had never considered such things before.

“I feel like I don’t know anything at all.”

“…Why would you think that?”

“Well… I don’t understand most things when people talk about them.”

She had never thought about any of these things before, nor had she ever understood them. So, of course, she knew nothing.

Ariadne shrugged slightly as she admitted that she had recently started wondering why she had accepted her own ignorance for so long. With a faint, somewhat self-mocking smile, she confessed:

“I used to think that managing the household was enough for a family’s mistress. But now I’m realizing that being a mistress means paying attention not only to the household, but to society as a whole, too.”

The responsibilities of a noble household were never confined to what happened within its walls.

Rumors about the family circulating through society, forming networks that expanded the house’s influence, and maintaining dignity and prestige through interactions with other families were also the duties of a mistress.

However, during her bridal lessons, Ariadne had focused solely on the estate’s internal affairs. She believed that everything else was far too difficult for someone like her, someone lacking in confidence and intelligence.

Besides, she had assumed that her husband would handle anything concerning society, that all she needed to do was stand quietly beside him like an ornament, smiling gently.

Most noblewomen dressed beautifully so that their husbands could show them off with pride. Despite not having been raised by a mother who did that, she had fallen into the same belief.

Not being as intelligent or perceptive as her mother, she simply followed what other women did — or at least half of it.

However, as she spent more time discussing various matters with Kieron, and listening to the princess and her brothers, she began to wonder if her assumptions had ever been right.

Trying to follow even half of what others did?

Not a terrible idea.

Beautifying herself to enhance her husband’s reputation?

Although she disliked anything flashy, she believed she could endure it for his sake. But that had been her mistake. She had overlooked one simple truth: not everyone shared the same expectations.

If she had married an ordinary nobleman, her assumptions might have been reasonable.

Many people believed that a woman’s duty was simply to keep the household peaceful, manage the servants, and spend the rest of her time pleasing her husband.

But Kieron was different.

So were her brothers and father.

They didn’t want their wives to be on display for the world to stare at. They respected the fact that their wives had their own wisdom and ways of doing things.

Kieron, for example, had never once forced her to attend social gatherings.

Yes, part of the reason was that he knew little about etiquette himself, but he had been required to attend events. His decision not to go or to bring her was his way of protecting her from becoming prey.

It wasn’t because he disliked her. Nor did he look down on her. If there was one difference between her father’s family and Kieron, it was this.

Her father and brothers expressed their thoughts and feelings naturally and easily, whereas Kieron struggled with such things. But that was something she could understand.

It was something she could wait for.

Some people might have found that frustrating, even unbearable. But she wasn’t one of them. She was grateful for that.

This gratitude brought with it a clear realization: her earlier beliefs had been deeply misguided.

Initially, she had thought she could help Kieron.

She had lived a comfortable life and, although technically everything she owned belonged to her father, she had always had plenty.

She had received a respectable education and had diligently taken bridal lessons in preparation for marriage. But the help Kieron needed was none of those things.

Although he had never said it outright, he must have needed someone who could stand beside him, both at home and in the wider world.

He needed someone who could support him, speak their mind, and help their family to thrive. By the time their marriage had entered its second year, she believed she was utterly useless to him.

But the truth was simpler: their expectations had differed. Neither of them had understood what the other truly needed.

Realizing that made everything suddenly clearer.

Now she finally knew what she had to do.

Looking at the man sitting quietly opposite her and listening attentively, she gently asked him a question.

“What kind of person do you need, Your Excellency?”

“Someone I need…?”

But one mistake was enough.

Ariadne did not want to repeat the same error as before, so she asked him honestly.

Kieron took a moment to think before answering slowly.

“Well… I suppose I wanted someone who could somehow resolve a situation.”

“Someone who could resolve a situation?”

His answer was unexpected.

Could he resolve things?

Had he wanted that kind of help all along, something entirely different from what she had imagined? She couldn’t make sense of things right away, still turning his words over in her mind, when Kieron shook his head, as if sensing her confusion.

“It’s nothing serious. When I was young, I used to think that way. I used to think it would be nice if someone could clean everything up perfectly for me, whether that was the Senate, my family, or the political world.”

He spoke slowly, as though each word scraped against something difficult inside him.

Looking back now, he said the idea had been ridiculous.

Eventually, he learned that his problems were his alone to solve, that no one else could solve them for him. By the time he was preparing to get married, he was confident that he could handle everything himself.

“I survived a war that everyone said was impossible, and I came back alive. Even though our family still had countless issues to deal with, I believed I could take care of them all. I wanted to.”

He admitted that this was probably why he hadn’t liked Ariadne back then. She made everything he thought he could accomplish alone seem effortless simply by existing.

Yet she kept turning her heart towards him, as if expecting something from him that he had no intention of giving.

“I thought my life had become difficult because I’d been dragged into some foolish young lady’s love affair.”

“Well… it’s not entirely wrong.”

“It’s not completely right either.”

He shook his head.

He realized far too late that everything depended on his willingness to accept things as they were.

Trying to do everything alone had been selfish. Some problems could only be solved with the help of another person. In that sense, he said, Ariadne had done her utmost in their relationship — more than enough.

“I didn’t realize it at the time, but now I do. You worked hard.”

Kieron said it, his gaze slipping away as though the words embarrassed him.

It had simply been his ignorance, not a lack of value in her efforts, a lesson he had learned far too late. His tone sounded like an apology, though he never actually said the words.

But Ariadne understood, and she smiled.

“Thank you for telling me honestly. I really thought I hadn’t done anything at all.”

“If I made you think that… then I apologize.”

He said it awkwardly, still unable to meet her eyes.

That, too, was so very like him.

Ariadne’s lips curved with a soft, warm smile.

“We can just do better going forward. Even being able to talk like this means we’ve already improved so much.”

In response to her words, he nodded slightly.

He must have been thinking the same thing, but acting otherwise.

Ariadne was grateful that they were slowly learning to communicate with each other in this way. Because of this, she found herself looking forward to what lay ahead even more.

“Oh, and—”

As she thought about it, another misunderstanding from earlier today came to mind.

“About the suggestion you made last time… about sharing a bed.”

The consummation he had mentioned, a proposal she now wondered if he might have made out of consideration for her.

But the moment she brought it up, his expression hardened.