Before Duchess Lia could finish her sentence, Duke Andrew’s triumphant voice cut her off.

He shouted at Eileen with eyes gleaming with frenzied delight.

“Yes, if you’re really Lady Eileen, prove it!”

A vile, snickering laughter filled the shop. I’m still the winner, and you’re the losers. The victory he faced again was so sweet.

“M-Mom!”

“What? Afraid of being caught?”

When Eileen stammered and called for Duchess Lia, his victory seemed even clearer. How should he deal with that woman?

His upturned lips, laden with vileness, showed no signs of coming down.

Until he heard Duchess Lia’s next words.

“My goodness, my daughter! What on earth happened?”

“What……?”

“Duke Andrew. Why are you saying such strange things about my daughter impersonating someone and damaging honor?”

The fall happened in an instant.

Duchess Lia’s steps moving past him toward Eileen and her voice dripping with affection instantly brought down his upturned lips that previously seemed endlessly high.

The moment she saw Duke Andrew’s face harden, Eileen pointed at him with her finger and made a crying face, as if she had been waiting for this.

“Mom, that man……!”

However, unlike her sobbing voice, her upturned lips formed a perfect winner’s smile. Eileen left Aaron’s shadow and fell into Lia’s arms.

“He cursed at me! He hit me! And he called Duke Aaron a murderer!”

Eileen’s whining appearance, so different from the person who had bravely confronted Duke Andrew just moments ago, brought terror to the people.

“Oh my. Really?”

That terror was amplified even more thanks to Duchess Lia, who comforted her daughter while looking at Duke Andrew with a smiling face.

“Eileen, my dear. Can you wait here for a moment?”

“Yes!”

Eileen looked down at the trembling Duke Andrew with her head tilted slightly, as if she had never been sobbing.

With mockery in her expression, as if asking, ‘Who’s the winner now?’

Looking back and forth between Eileen and Duchess Lia, Andrew seemed to have forgotten how to speak, and merely wore a dumbfounded expression.

Duchess Lia called to him in a gentle voice.

“Duke Andrew?”

“……”

“Would you be so kind as to come to the Ceres residence right now and repeat those nonsensical words you said to my daughter in front of Kyle and me?”

I’m ruined now.

No other thought came to Duke Andrew’s mind. He had no choice but to accept his downfall.

As if Duke Andrew’s answer didn’t matter anyway, Lia immediately turned her head to look at Eileen. Her eyes mixed with affection, apology, and concern.

“Daughter, we’ll have to have our date another time, won’t we?”

“Yes! Next time, come with Dad!”

Duchess Lia’s hand stroking Eileen’s hair was filled with love.

“Duke Aaron. I’m sorry, but could you come to the Ceres residence in about an hour?”

“Yes, Duchess Lia.”

“And will you treat us to strawberry cake next time?”

“Of course.”

Anything for the two of you.

Aaron politely greeted Lia and then gently took Eileen’s hand and kissed the back of it.

“I seem to always be indebted to you, Lady Eileen. Thank you very much. Oh, and I didn’t get to tell you earlier……. The hairpin suits you very well. It seems my effort in choosing it was worthwhile.”

When Aaron’s lips touched the back of her hand, Eileen’s face began to turn increasingly red.

This is just a greeting. A greeting!

No matter how many times she repeated this to herself, her flushed face wouldn’t easily subside.

“Was that perhaps your first kiss on your hand as well?”

“N-No!”

When Eileen’s face turned bright just like that day when he accidentally kissed her for the first time, a playfulness gently raised its head in Aaron’s heart.

“Then it would have been a true honor.”

“It wasn’t!”

“Oh my. How disappointing.”

At Aaron’s words, Eileen’s ears turned red, and she floundered before pulling her hand away from him and running to Lia.

I wish she would show this side only to me.

Aaron broke into a bright smile at the amusing thought that once again dominated his mind.

* * *

“Kyle.”

“Hmm? Lia?”

Duke Kyle, who had been reading in the garden, took his eyes off his book at the affectionate voice calling him.

“Lia. You said you were spending time with Eileen, why are you back so early?”

“While on a date with Eileen, we encountered an unwelcome visitor.”

“Unwelcome visitor?”

The particularly emphasized word irritated Duke Kyle.

“Lia, will you tell me what that means?”

“Gabriel, bring him in. And bring Eileen too.”

In response to Duke Kyle’s question, Duchess Lia nodded lightly and then ordered Gabriel, who was standing at a distance.

“Madam, I’ve brought him.”

“Duke Andrew?”

Duke Kyle tilted his head and looked back and forth between his wife and Duke Andrew.

“Oh, it’s been a while……. Duke Kyle.”

What’s going on here? His eyes were filled with questions as he looked at the two people.

“Our Eileen will tell you the story.”

“Eileen?”

What on earth could be the connection between Duke Andrew and Eileen?

Just as Duke Kyle’s curiosity deepened, Eileen, changed into comfortable clothes, arrived in the garden.

“Eileen, why is Duke Andrew here, and why did you return so early when you went out on a date?”

Tell me quickly, tell me.

Duke Kyle urged his daughter, feeling an inexplicable sense of unease.

“Eileen, tell him exactly what you told me earlier.”

“Yes, Mom, I will.”

Eileen cleared her throat and lowered her long eyes pitifully. Having completed all preparations, Eileen slightly nodded to Duchess Lia and then grabbed Duke Kyle’s collar.

“Dad, that man……!”

“That man?”

“He cursed at me! He hit me! And he called Duke Aaron a murderer!”

“……What?”

With a thud, the book Duke Kyle had been holding fell limply.

“I heard that Duke Andrew also spoke rudely to our precious Eileen on Etoile Hill.”

“……Ha.”

“Oh, and I heard he even threw our precious Eileen to the ground then.”

At Duchess Lia’s words, Duke Kyle’s face instantly turned cold.

“Is that so? Eileen, go to your room and rest. Dad will take care of this.”

He took a moment to steady his breath, then sent Eileen away with a bright smile, telling her to go rest in her room since she must have had a hard time.

Only when Eileen was out of sight did he slowly rise from his seat.

One step, two steps.

As Duke Kyle, with his expression turned cold, drew closer and closer, Duke Andrew’s heart pounded, producing an abnormal beating sound.

“Duke Andrew.”

“Wh-what is it, Duke Kyle.”

“Is all of that true?”

Duke Kyle’s voice asking the question was utterly calm. However, his eyes dripped with killing intent.

“You see, Duke Andrew, I don’t particularly enjoy flaunting my power and wealth.”

“……Ugh.”

The veins on Duke Kyle’s hand, which gripped Duke Andrew’s shoulder, began to bulge red.

“However, for exactly two people…… If someone were to lay hands on our Eileen and Lia……”

“……I-I’m sorry, Duke Kyle……. Let me explain carefully, please calm down.”

The arrogant attitude he had shown when shouting at Aaron was gone, leaving only a weak Duke Andrew trembling before overwhelming power.

“I intend to flaunt my power and wealth without reservation.”

“D-Duke Aaron!”

At this rate, he wouldn’t even be able to collect his bones. Duke Andrew shouted desperately to escape the terror closing in on him.

“Hmm?”

“Yes, I was only trying to give advice to Duke Aaron, who lost his parents, as an adult……! I was absolutely, absolutely not deliberately making such a mistake toward your daughter, Duke Kyle……!”

If he claimed that Aaron had caused his daughter to be involved in this matter, all the blame would fall on Aaron. Having reached this conclusion himself, Duke Andrew spewed words without even taking a breath.

“Advicing to someone who lost his parents, as an adult.”

“Y-Yes. Don’t you understand, Duke Kyle? In the spirit of the three ducal families leading Bereut well……!”

“I see.”

When Duke Kyle nodded as if agreeing, a sigh of relief naturally escaped from Duke Andrew’s mouth, thinking he was saved.

“Duke Andrew seems to have a hobby of talking nonsense.”

Of course, that sigh was quickly swallowed back.

“Yes, I too lost both parents in an accident when I was young, so why don’t you give me some advice as an adult?”

“Th-That……”

“Can’t you do it for me?”

The corner of his mouth curled up to one side was now even frightening. Duke Andrew bit his lips repeatedly, trying to drive away the fear.

“Madam, Duke Aaron has arrived.”

But that fear grew even larger thanks to the servant’s voice announcing Aaron’s arrival.

“Welcome, Duke Aaron.”

“Hello, Duke Kyle.”

Duke Kyle’s expression welcoming Aaron was incredibly gentle, making it hard to believe he was the same person who had been dripping with killing intent just moments ago.

“This is sudden, but I have something I want to ask you, Duke Aaron.”

“Yes, please speak.”

“I no longer want to hear even the name Andrew. So I want to expel him from the Partz family and, while we’re at it, banish him from Bereut. What do you think, Duke Aaron?”

“D-Duke Kyle……!”

Duke Andrew grabbed Duke Kyle’s collar in disbelief, but he looked down indifferently and pulled Duke Andrew’s hand away.

“A wise decision.”

“Duke Aaron!!”

Unlike the two calm men, Duke Andrew’s face turned deathly pale.

“What immediately comes to mind are charges of assault, treason……. What do you prefer?”

“Do you think expulsion is as easy as you say! I am the head of the Partz family……! Do you think the family head can be easily expelled!?”

“You don’t know, Duke Andrew. The Ceres ducal family can do anything. That much is very simple.”

When Duke Andrew was reflected in Kyle’s blue eyes, the clear fact that ‘there is nowhere left to escape’ was firmly imprinted in his brain.

In the end, he hung his head helplessly.

After that day, no one saw Duke Andrew again. However, no one asked what happened to him, and no one was curious.

Only rumors circulated in high society that he had been expelled from the Partz family and fled abroad.