1.

A black horse entered the riding grounds.

Sunlight pouring through the transparent ceiling made the honey-colored blonde hair of the woman sitting atop it shine even more brilliantly. Her red top and black bottoms revealed her waistline and long legs, provocatively displaying her slender figure.

Her slightly upturned eyes and snow-white face exuded an aristocratic atmosphere. But what made her most beautiful was her confident, bright smile.

“Clara!”

Clara Brock. That was the name of the woman who commanded every gaze in the Willingham Riding Grounds, the woman called the free golden goddess of high society.

Men were captivated by her beauty and excellent horsemanship, while women had their eyes stolen by her confidence and commanding charm.

Clara was well aware that people stared at her when she rode. She knew her horsemanship was excellent.

However, recently she’d been feeling a strange gaze. That gaze alone was different from the others.

‘What, again……’

An ominous gaze quickly swept over her body. It was a gaze so persistent it made her skin crawl.

Clara whipped her head around. A man with coal-black hair was reading a daily newspaper.

Then, the man’s gaze, which had been pretending to rest on the newspaper, moved. And through the naturally hanging strands of hair, his gray eyes met hers. The two gazes intertwined.

His ash-colored eyes, which looked cold, were gleaming strangely. The captured gaze remained bound, stretching on.

How rude. Clara gripped the reins tightly, then released them. She thought about stopping her horse and confronting him, but the gaze would naturally break once the distance grew anyway.

But the unpleasant feeling didn’t disappear. Did that man not even know how to hide his blatant stare?

He appeared to be in his early to mid-twenties, with very broad shoulders, and judging by the length of his legs extending beyond the table, he seemed quite tall.

His skin, glimpsed briefly, looked very fine-textured and smooth, as if he exercised regularly. The muscles firmly positioned on his arms and forearms as he turned the newspaper pages were also impressive, yet all he did was sit on the terrace, reading. Occasionally drinking tea while staring at her with gloomy, languid eyes.

She’d never once encountered him while riding. That meant he either rode before she arrived or rode after she left.

The riding grounds was a place to come ride horses, not to kill time. If he was done riding, he should go home.

He was someone who used his time very leisurely. Or perhaps he was the type who only knew how to spend money while playing around. Either way, he was definitely the type she hated.

“Clara, over here!”

A woman with chestnut hair waved happily at Clara. At the sound calling her, Clara’s pale green eyes turned direction.

But only one person’s gaze changed direction. The man’s gaze was still fixed on Clara. With those same gleaming eyes, sweeping over her beautiful body……

“I took my usual course, but did I arrive too late?”

Clara dismounted from her horse with a light movement. An intensely piercing gaze clung to the back of her neck, making her skin crawl, but she deliberately ignored it.

“No, I came early.”

Olivia spoke loudly in a voice unable to contain her excitement.

“Why? Did something happen?”

Clara stroked the mane of her beloved horse once. At the affectionate touch, the handsome black horse nuzzled her.

“Thank you for today too.”

Clara gave Nyx’s nose a light kiss, then handed the reins to a staff member.

“I checked my horoscope this morning, and it said something truly amazing is going to happen to you!”

Olivia showed Clara a monthly magazine as she spoke.

“And here I was, wondering.”

Clara exhaled lightly and replied.

“No, this time it’s real. This month, a wave of change is coming for Scorpios! Look, see here!”

Olivia smiled mischievously and pointed her finger at a corner of the monthly magazine.

[ The silver moon shines upon you. Bright light becomes a new wave that crashes over you. Your yin energy will reach its peak, making it good for radiating charm. Fate circles around you, so stay alert and watch your surroundings.

Enjoy, but be careful. It may differ from what you wished for. ]

Clara’s brow furrowed slightly as she read the passage.

“That’s just generic talk. You came early and waited just to show me this?”

“No, it’s not generic. It means you could have a fateful encounter this month. That means you’ll get married soon!”

Clara couldn’t even sigh looking at her friend with sparkling eyes. Now that they’d reached a certain age, everyone everywhere was talking about love. It was a subject that didn’t interest her.

“You know I’m not interested in that stuff.”

“That’s only because you haven’t had any romantic luck come your way yet.”

Olivia shook her head in a definitive tone. She was obsessed with astrology and attributed everything to luck and fortune-telling.

“Even in Elizabeth’s Lunatics Luna, it said Scorpio’s romantic luck is at its peak this month. I’m telling you, you’ll meet a man to share passionate love with.”

Lunatics Luna was an annual publication by a famous astrologer named Elizabeth, a book Olivia bought every year.

Clara narrowed her eyes and stared at Olivia. Horoscopes were superstition anyway. They were what anxious people used to pin their hopes about the future on, giving them meaning.

“You heard something.”

“Me? What? From whom?”

Olivia blinked her brown eyes.

“Ah, sorry. I must have been mistaken.”

Seeing her innocent friend’s expression, Clara immediately realized she’d guessed wrong.

“What did you think you were mistaken about?”

“Don’t even get me started. Mom said if I don’t start attending social gatherings, she won’t let me come to the riding grounds anymore. Asking if I’m going to end up dating horses at this rate. She’s nagging me so much to date and look for a fiancé.”

“Count Brock too?”

It had been half a year since Clara showed her face in high society, and her mother started pressuring her to meet men.

The reason Clara had been able to hold out until now at twenty-one years old, immersed in horseback riding without getting engaged, was all thanks to her father, Count Brock.

‘Daughter, I must be getting old. You should start looking for someone trustworthy too.’

But Count Brock, who cherished his only daughter and said he’d never give her to those pitch-black men, changed his opinion after suffering from high fever and a terrible cold last year.

‘Right, you need to meet people to know whether they’re trustworthy or not, don’t you? Who said anything about marriage? Just date a little. That way you can distinguish whether a man is marriage material or not, right?’

At her husband’s changed attitude, Countess Brock excitedly chimed in from the side.

Clara understood her parents’ intentions well. They worried about their only daughter who would be left alone when they passed away.

“Father’s even more frantic.”

Unlike her mother who only nagged, her father tried to directly find a trustworthy son-in-law candidate.

“He even said he’d put out an advertisement if I keep being stubborn. A fiancé recruitment ad…… Does it really need to go that far? What do you think?”

“Yeah, you should get married now.”

Olivia affirmed matter-of-factly.

“You, really…… Haah……”

Clara let out a long sigh. She really didn’t want to. Would it be too selfish to marry a few more years later?

The image of her father pretending to be sick and lying down came to mind, making her uncomfortable.

“Why not think of it as a good thing? Whether you do it later or now, it’s something you’ll have to do eventually, right?”

She agreed it was something she’d have to do eventually. Unmarried women were often treated as if they had some defect in aristocratic society. Her pride wouldn’t tolerate being treated that way.

Clara reluctantly nodded.

“But putting out an advertisement is still a bit much, isn’t it?”

“Then, since your romantic luck is overflowing, why don’t you look for someone yourself this time? They’re around you.”

Olivia raised her hand and called a staff member, ordering a quill pen and ink.

“Well, first, tall, and looks don’t really matter, right?”

“Yeah. It’d be nice if he’s tall, but I don’t mind if he’s the same height as me.”

“Come on, you’d still hate it if he was shorter than you.”

“Would I?”

Clara imagined standing side by side on horses with a lover. It would probably be unpleasant if his upper body was shorter than hers.

“He should at least be taller than me.”

“I’m telling you, for men it’s height and shoulders.”

Olivia laughed in agreement.

“But still, the most important thing is being good at riding horses, right?”

“Of course. Ideally, someone I can enjoy horseback riding with.”

That had been Clara’s long-held ideal type.

A man who rides better than her.

Perhaps the reason she hadn’t been interested in engagements or marriage all this time was because there was no one among her peers in the kingdom who rode better than her.

“Oh, right. I also hate stuffy people.”

Clara exclaimed urgently, adding another condition. They should at least be able to converse properly. Olivia nodded and scribbled the words.

“It’d be even better if he resembled our Nyx.”

Clara muttered absentmindedly.

“Are you crazy! Say something that makes sense!”

Olivia screamed in horror.

* * *

The massive chandelier brightly illuminated the space. The elegant tea house was filled with the somewhat sharp sounds of string instruments and conversation.

Young noblemen and women in their prime enjoyed pleasant conversations in a cheerful atmosphere while savoring tea and simple desserts. This gathering was for unmarried nobles, a social event aimed at finding potential marriage partners.

Various relationships were forming during what could be considered either a long or short period of time. Men and women who felt attraction paired off for conversation, some showing potential for romantic development. Others seemed engaged in childish love quarrels.

They were doing their best even in this artificial situation, as if locked in cages for mating purposes.