He seemed like he would grab my chin roughly and ask, “It’s not you, is it?” I thought he would fiercely demand, “Who the hell are you?”

“Since when?”

Click, a metallic sound rang out. The man asked as he picked up a cigarette from the silver case on the bedside table.

Olivia slowly opened her tightly shut eyes. For a moment, her whole body shivered at the cool temperature of the eyes she met.

“With Edgar.”

The relief that she hadn’t been caught was short-lived.

“Tell me.”

He pressed her as he loosely held the cigarette between his lips. His downcast gaze was both indifferent and not.

“Was it before the divorce?”

“No. You know better than anyone that’s not possible.”

“Then, since when.”

Though his expression hadn’t changed, coldness seeped into the man’s voice.

“Since it stopped being your business. Is that enough?”

As if refusing to back down, Olivia didn’t avoid his gaze. Johan stared down at Olivia blankly.

“Not Edgar.”

What business is it of others who someone dates? It’s not for an ex-husband who’s even engaged to interfere.

Strength entered the bright blue eyes that stared directly at Johan.

“That’s for me to decide. Not you.”

Her pale face was quite stubborn. Johan didn’t like that stubbornness.

He bent over, reaching out the hand he had thrust into one pocket.

Startled, Olivia jerked back as if she’d encountered a pervert. But he was just reaching for the matches on the table.

‘Hold me.’

The voice of his wife clinging to him seductively tickled his ear.

Though her see-through lingerie was not much different from now, the contents inside felt as unfamiliar as if she had become a different person.

The man who shouldn’t get entangled was extremely tall.

Olivia, who had flinched in surprise, turned her head as if avoiding him. His large fingertips groping for the matchbox on the bedside table came into view.

“!”

Following the man’s neatly extended fingers up to his straight wristbone, the word ‘Patek’ on top of the round coal dial glinted in the light.

It was Olivia Blanchet’s birthday gift. Unbelievably.

“W-why are you wearing that?”

Shocked, Olivia even stuttered.

“Because I received it as a gift.”

Johan said nonchalantly. Olivia was dumbfounded by his shamelessness. A gift is one thing, but…

“Give it back.”

“Why?”

The man’s expression was sharp as he sank into the chair. Bewildered by his attitude, Olivia blinked her bright blue eyes.

“It’s not proper for your fiancée.”

It seemed like he might mock her, asking if the person who gave the gift knew that. Of course, there was an excuse since she didn’t know they’d divorce.

“We’re not in a relationship where that matters.”

Johan said expressionlessly.

Propriety.

He had no propriety to show a woman who married with another man in her heart.

So he had no hesitation in facing those eyes sparkling like a clear summer lake.

Unaware of this, Olivia was simply perplexed. Good heavens, how could such a man exist?

“Then you must have a conscience.”

“I don’t.”

He answered, pausing his motion to light the match.

Putting the matchstick back in the box, he tossed it onto the bedside table with a thud.

“Give it to me.”

Olivia Blanchet’s memories were all there was about Johan Leopold.

Though she hadn’t looked into everything in detail, she thought it was good they divorced.

She also thought she never wanted to get involved with such a rude and shameless man again.

She wanted to quickly get the watch back and send him out of the room.

“It’s my money anyway. Olivia.”

Johan stared blankly at the woman who had been his wife.

The present her, changed like a different person, caught his eye more. It was also fresh that the woman who used to cling to him crying now only thought of running away.

She was the wife who said she was jealous of his watch and wanted to become the watch on his wrist.

The woman who used to ramble on about loving him like eternally flowing time, now…

So he didn’t want to give it back even more. He had no intention to.

“I’ll pay for it.”

“I must have given you too much alimony.”

It was money he had given her anyway. His wife seemed to have momentarily forgotten that fact.

“You said you loved me.”

And the past where she had loved him too.

The color drained from Olivia’s face as she had been boldly talking back.

Her long, densely packed eyelashes soon trembled.

Beneath them, her clear eyes were piercingly blue. Were her eyes like this? They were terribly lovable and pretty.

Her unfamiliar appearance of boldly talking back without avoiding his gaze or whimpering subtly irritated his nerves.

He was reminded of the past. On a day before their wedding, his wife who whispered love with her face blushing bright red, unable to even meet his eyes.

“You said you loved me. Olivia.”

Olivia’s heart fluttered at his deep voice.

His gaze, turned sharp, dug into Olivia’s eyes as if to devour them. It was burdensome to maintain eye contact.

But she didn’t avoid it. Because she was not Olivia Blanchet.

“Now… I don’t.”

She no longer loved him. That was all.

No, she had never loved this man in the first place. To her, he was just a man she had met only twice.

“So that watch. Give it back.”

His wife, who had thrown herself into that passionate emotion, spoke coldly as if discarding it indifferently, as if it really meant nothing.

It was no different from how Johan carelessly blew out cigar smoke.

His chest ached. It wasn’t just because of the whiskey.

Johan, who usually could control his thoughts without distraction, had been having trouble with that lately.

Especially if the subject was Olivia Blanchet.

Johan opened his eyes that had been closed.

“So.”

Johan, who had been listening to Morris’s report, deeply inhaled the cigar smoke.

The cool night breeze that was chilly for early summer weather mercilessly scattered the hazy smoke.

“That letter was indeed the one Marquis Lancelot had written in a similar situation before.”

Johan’s sharply chiseled face looked tired. He slowly stroked his chin with fingers loosely holding the cigar.

“Princess Anblyn is behind it.”

“The coachman is denying it, but circumstances suggest so.”

“The witness who saw Olivia.”

“Disappeared right after the commotion. Still…”

Johan’s gaze fell on Morris standing blankly.

Of course it wasn’t a kind look, so Morris felt wronged, as if he had become the most useless person in the world.

It was already 2 AM.

It was Morris who had run around frantically interrogating the coachman and rooting out and investigating informants in the hotel. He wished for some recognition.

“I should see the princess.”

Johan muttered as he tilted the bottle to his empty glass. His dry eyes were detached.

Kidnapping, false imprisonment, defamation, obstruction of business. Weren’t these insufficient?

As payment for daring to turn the culmination of 4 years of time and investment into chaos.

Johan drained his glass in one gulp.

‘Now… I don’t.’
‘So that watch. Give it back.’

Olivia’s voice echoed in his ears.

Those cold words touched Johan’s trigger. Since the trigger was pulled, it was now only a matter of time before it exploded.

Through the dim window, the Lancelot Hotel, brightly lit from head to toe, came into view.

Johan put the cigar in his mouth.

The first night at the Leopold Hotel, where no one could sleep, was deepening.

“I’m disappointed, Anne.”

Crown Prince Alex’s eyes were fierce. No matter how much he cherished his sister, he couldn’t take her side this time.

Why did she have to mess with him of all people.

“It’s Johan. Duke Johan Leopold. The one you messed with, Anne.”

“I told you I have nothing to do with it.”

Anblyn’s voice was as calm as could be.

Her elegant appearance, lightly lifting the teacup handle, was no different from usual. She was like a white peony in a vase.

“Anne.”

“I don’t understand why everyone is treating me like this. Brother, you’re supposed to believe me. Aren’t you?”

Anblyn’s eyes, which met Alex’s as she lowered them slightly and slowly raised them, were moist.

They were filled with resentment, as if she was terribly wronged.

Alex sighed.

This was the Anblyn that he and his father had raised with only affection, feeling sorry for her losing her mother at a young age.

“Tell me the truth. Only then can I help you.”

“It wasn’t me. Why do you think I would do such a vile thing?”

Anblyn looked at her brother with a hurt expression.

She was doing this knowing he was weak to such expressions. The anger in Alex’s eyes faded.

“I’ll ask one last time. Are you sure you have nothing to do with this?”

“I don’t know anything about it.”

Anblyn, who answered calmly, shifted her gaze to the transparent glass window. The sparkling stream of the grand fountain was refreshing.

It was around this time 4 years ago. Back then, when the world was green with the freshness of early summer, when she was lovers with Edgar.

Looking back now, they had a big fight over nothing.

Angry, she went down to the detached palace in the southern city, but Edgar brought her back to his side in his own way.

‘I will respectfully escort her back’

The carriage heading to the detached palace suddenly changed direction because of the letter Edgar sent to the coachman.

She didn’t know she would use that handwritten letter she had kept like a precious treasure in this way, but all she had to do was deny it.

She had already prepared a culprit to testify that they stole it and plotted this, so Anblyn had nothing to fear.

Given the massive hush money paid, there was no way her name would leak from anywhere.

She was just unbearably angry that she had become a suspect without any results.

Who would have thought the duke would have placed surveillance on his divorced wife?

The duke’s unexpected action that she couldn’t anticipate was the cause of the failure.

“It’s time for my practice.”

As if she had nothing more to say, Anblyn stood up.

“Your opponent is Johan. And Edgar too.”

Looking at his sister whose thoughts he couldn’t read, Alex felt stifled. He pressed his eyelids as he continued speaking.

“You should hope they are as merciful as I am.”

If they wanted to protect his sister, they were men who could place the responsibility on the Brit royal family and more.

To cover up Anblyn’s misdeeds, Alex might have to accept unreasonable conditions.

“I hope you act wisely.”

Alex, who swallowed a deep sigh, got up from his seat.

After the crown prince left, Anblyn glared somewhere beyond the glass window with wide eyes.

To think they couldn’t even properly carry out such a simple task.

Anblyn started biting her fingernails.

Now her future depended on how thick the loyalty of the maid who had sworn allegiance to her was.