Duke Andrew deliberately exaggerated his voice.

“……”

Despite the excessive verbal abuse, Aaron couldn’t say anything and just hung his head.

Seeing this, Duke Andrew felt a rising sense of victory. Finally, he burst into boisterous laughter that filled the entire shop.

“Stop talking nonsense, Duke Andrew.”

Until a clear, crisp voice interrupted.

“Who dares call my words nonsense!”

Duke Andrew’s rising mood sank at the low voice that struck his eardrums. Grinding his teeth, he turned his gaze to find whoever dared to interrupt his entertainment.

And there, familiar green eyes glared at him.

“Me.”

“You…… You!”

The beautiful appearance that calmed anger at first sight, the flowing golden hair, and above all, the insolent way of speaking.

“You’re that woman who rudely spoke to me on Etoile Hill without knowing your place!”

Duke Andrew’s already loud voice grew even louder when his eyes met Eileen’s.

“Tsk. Your voice is disgustingly loud, you know I can hear you just fine without that?”

“What……! You have no respect!”

Unable to control his anger, Duke Andrew began pointing and cursing. Nevertheless, Eileen paid no attention and slowly approached Aaron.

He was still hanging his head with a pale face.

‘How nice if he were just a bad person like in novels.’

Foolishly just taking the abuse like this.

Words she wanted to say swirled in her mouth, but Eileen swallowed them all. She walked that short yet long distance and stood before Aaron.

Despite being a much larger man than herself, right now in her eyes, he looked infinitely small and weak, like a child.

And the moment she saw his face, memories she had forgotten resurfaced.

— Han Suyeon. I heard she lost her parents in an accident when she was young.

— Really? How pitiful. No wonder she’s so mean. What’s so hard about showing someone your homework, right?

— It’s okay, Suyeon. It’s okay.

In a world where there was no one completely on my side, I covered my ears and comforted myself. I liked that moment because I couldn’t hear anything, and it felt like someone was on my side.

“Duke Aaron. Please bend down a bit.”

She felt an impulse to do for Aaron now what she had done for herself then. She wanted to tell him that in this moment, she was on his side. Eileen lightly exhaled and pulled on Aaron’s jacket sleeve.

“……Eileen?”

Once again, a ray of light leaked into the pitch-black darkness. Just like on Etoile Hill, Eileen was reaching out her hand toward him. Aaron lifted his bowed head and met her eyes.

“I can only use one hand because I need my crutch, but.”

Eileen’s warm touch wrapped around Aaron’s right ear. Then, bright colors began to spread throughout Aaron’s world that had been filled with pitch-black darkness.

“Don’t listen to that person.”

The voices that tormented him, the shackles that bound him, all disappeared as if they had never existed when Eileen’s touch and voice passed by. It was so amazing that Aaron felt like he might cry.

“Duke Aaron, let me say it one more time.”

“……”

“You didn’t kill your parents.”

Eileen’s green eyes held only him. Facing that fact made his heart tickle.

“If you understand, nod your head quickly.”

What was this unknown feeling he kept experiencing?

He couldn’t answer that question, but he felt he could answer Eileen’s. Aaron slowly nodded.

“Then wait here. I’ll make sure that person never talks nonsense again.”

When he nodded, a smile spread across her face.

Despite being much smaller than him, she spoke such bold words like a knight.

Aaron couldn’t believe this situation and laughed out loud.

“……Why are you laughing? Duke, do you not believe me?”

“No, I believe you.”

“……You’re not lying?”

“No, I’m not lying.”

Vitality began to return to Aaron’s once empty eyes. Though the day had started terribly, he felt a strange sense that it wasn’t such a bad day after all.

“Then I’ll be back. Wait right here. Right here.”

Aaron felt a strange feeling that everything would be fine if Eileen was there.

“You there, the person who has a hobby of talking nonsense.”

Eileen’s somewhat exaggerated voice echoed throughout Patisserie de Monston. Drawn by that sound, the gazes that had been fixed on Aaron and Duke Andrew shifted to Eileen.

“Wh-what did you just say!”

“Oh my. I didn’t say it was you, Duke Andrew. Do you have something to feel guilty about?”

When Eileen mocked him with a highly sarcastic tone, Duke Andrew’s already red face turned even more flushed.

“I don’t know what you were whispering about with Duke Aaron! But this time I’ll fix your manners. Don’t expect me to be as generous as last time!”

“Yes, yes. Please do so if you can.”

Eileen sneered and let out a small laugh.

“Are you playing games with me now!”

The sound of grinding teeth, the crash of breaking dishes, and the screams of people filled the space like a chaotic trio.

“How dare you…… How dare you!”

The shattered dish, unrecognizable in its broken state, rolled around near Duke Andrew’s feet. Despite the dark red liquid flowing profusely from the cuts caused by those fragments, he seemed not to notice, consumed by rage.

“My, the dishes here are limited editions from de Wellington, so they must be quite expensive.”

“Wh-what! You don’t seem to understand the situation. I am Duke Andrew, head of the Partz ducal family of the Bereut Empire!”

“I don’t care about that. But I do know that you broke a very precious dish that Count Luke designed page by page specifically for Patisserie de Monston.”

At Eileen’s words, snickering laughter flowed among the people. But it quickly died down under Duke Andrew’s fierce glare.

“How dare you mock a duke. Your entire family will not escape severe punishment!”

First, the gazes directed at him, then Aaron, and Eileen.

Duke Andrew met each person’s gaze slowly and growled in a low voice.

“Duke Andrew…… Do you perhaps not know who that person is?”

In the silent space, a woman’s urgent cry was heard. That cry quickly reached Duke Andrew’s ears.

“Hmm? Who are you?”

When Duke Andrew turned his head toward the voice, Baroness Rose stood there with a pale blue face.

“Baroness Rose. Do I need to know who that woman is?”

“That person is Lady Eileen of the Ceres family!”

When Baroness Rose’s cry echoed throughout the room, the shop instantly froze as if cold water had been poured over it.

“Ha.”

What broke the frozen atmosphere was a clicking tongue followed by Duke Andrew’s long sigh.

He moved his head back and forth with his eyes closed and a disinterested expression, as if he had heard something absurd.

“Do you think I would believe what a mere baroness says?”

Duke Andrew’s words dripped with mockery. Afterward, no matter how many times Baroness Rose expounded on Eileen, all that returned was Duke Andrew’s dismissal and sarcasm.

“Well. Her appearance might be comparable to the rumored beauty of the Ceres family’s lady.”

“She really is Lady Eileen.”

“I won’t believe such nonsense unless Duke Kyle or Duchess Lia confirm she’s their daughter. As if someone so unrefined could be a lady.”

Such nonsense.

Duke Andrew snorted.

Then he strode over to Eileen and grabbed her shoulder.

“I hope you’re prepared.”

“……Ugh”

Perhaps because it was filled with hatred, her seized shoulder hurt. Eileen tried to shake off his hand, but her strength was no match for his.

— Eileen, if ever a man who doesn’t know his place says something to you, kick him in the middle immediately, and Dad will take care of the rest, understand?

Eileen smiled lightly at Duke Kyle’s words flashing through her mind.

‘I have no choice.’

Duchess Lia would be horrified if she heard, but there was no other way.

Eileen put strength into her uninjured leg. However, before she could even raise her foot, Duke Andrew flew away with a loud boom.

“How dare you.”

“……Duke Aaron?”

“Touch Eileen’s body?”

Aaron’s voice, resonating deeply, was chilling to the point of raising goosebumps. Aaron hid Eileen in his shadow and looked down at Duke Andrew, who had fallen to the floor.

“Yes. After killing your parents, do you want to kill me too! You murderer! Murderer Aaron de Monston!”

“Stop talking nonsense! If you’ve never lost parents in an accident, keep your mouth shut!”

Duke Andrew’s final words, shouted desperately, made Eileen lose the noble courtesy she had barely been maintaining.

“Lady Eileen, it’s alright now.”

“How can you say it’s alright now? Duke Andrew, apologize to Duke Aaron immediately!”

She couldn’t understand why she wanted to take Aaron’s side so badly.

But……

She knew for certain that she didn’t want to see Aaron’s hurt face ever again. Eileen glared at Duke Andrew and shouted.

“If you won’t apologize, I’ll use that power you love so much to crush you!”

“Power? Do you think you’re the Emperor or Duke Kyle?”

Duke Andrew struggled to his feet.

“Didn’t you hear Baroness Rose tell you who I am earlier?”

“Don’t spout words you can’t prove! If someone as unrefined as you is the Ceres family’s lady, then I am the Emperor!”

At that moment, along with Duke Andrew’s shout, the sound of clicking heels echoed. Eventually, the owner of the sound stopped in front of the three people in disarray.

“Why is the shop so noisy? What happened?”

Duke Andrew was rolling on the floor, Eileen was fuming in Aaron’s arms, and Duke Aaron was comforting Eileen.

Duchess Lia tried to understand what had happened during her brief absence, but she couldn’t make sense of it at all.

“Haha! Indeed, God was on my side!”

Duke Andrew, realizing the owner of the voice echoing through the tense space was Duchess Lia, burst into triumphant laughter.

“Duchess Lia, you’ve arrived just in time. That woman over there is impersonating your daughter!”

“What? What on earth are you talking about? More importantly, the blood……”

Duchess Lia slowly moved her gaze along Duke Andrew’s fingertip. At the end of that gaze stood none other than Eileen.

“Impersonating? That child is……”

“That woman was damaging the honor of the Ceres ducal family! I witnessed it myself!”