At this point, the marriage of Grand Duke Lyssenford and Lady Ostaine had become a matter of utmost interest.

First of all, the groom was handsome, and the bride was pretty. The groom had many tragic stories, and the bride was a well-raised only daughter and wealthy heiress.

And on top of that, the groom’s close friend is the queen of social circles, and she fought with the bride?

And the queen of social circles went to see the Grand Duke and was kicked out in a rage, is that right?

This was no different from the most interesting performance in the world, where you’d be a fool to miss even one detail.

It was already interesting enough with just the Duchess of Monde, but when Beatrice Lavallee herself stepped in, Klein went into an uproar. Everyone was dying to know what would happen next.

Did the Duchess of Monde apologize to the Lady? What conversation did Lady Lavallee and the Grand Duke have that made Lady Lavallee rush out in just 2 minutes? What conversation did the Lady and the Grand Duke have afterward? They were so curious!

Since everyone has a bit of voyeurism, even the Emperor, whose face was half-paralyzed because of the Empress, was about to ask. He couldn’t ask his nephew who had fainted at the mention of marriage due to his dignity, so Peon was the easy target.

Even though it happened in the imperial palace, the fact that he’s asking Peon means the Emperor’s ‘ears’ didn’t do their job properly this time. Peon remembered everything faithfully.

“It’s a marriage arranged by Your Majesty, so we must be faithful to it.”

Peon said nonchalantly and looked at the Emperor with eyes that said, ‘Isn’t that right?’

The Emperor, who had talked about not betraying faith and not coveting others’ things while mentioning the Empress and dirty blood, had nothing to say to this.

He only thought that Beatrice Lavallee was no longer a useful hostage to Peon. Well, the Emperor didn’t care since the hostage would now change to the Ostaine family.

“Yes, you should have a different mindset now that you’re getting married too.”

The Emperor just nodded, thinking that this guy is changing again now that he’s getting married. He was a bit satisfied too.

There wasn’t much Peon could say in front of the Emperor. He couldn’t even ask about his mother’s condition, which he was most curious about. That would only irritate the Emperor.

But if he didn’t ask at all, the Emperor would call him an unfilial son. It’s too tiring to cater to the whims of an always arbitrary and capricious absolute ruler.

“This marriage should go well. Kaella must be upset. You should comfort her well.”

Ah. It’s not the time to ask about his mother’s condition yet. Just by the fact that the conversation topic kept going to Kaella and his marriage, it seemed there was no change in the Empress’s condition.

As it was expected, Peon withdrew without asking further. His mother’s condition probably won’t improve much in the future. That aside, as Peon left the Soleil Palace, he quietly sighed.

‘Comfort her, he says.’

If he goes to Kaella now and apologizes again, all he can say is ‘I’m sorry my mistress made you uncomfortable.’ He had lived a trashy life like trash. He left the suffocating Soleil Palace and walked aimlessly.

He was very tired too. Since returning after the regression, the only time he had properly rested was when he was with Kaella, who was hiding in the conference room while preparing for the Keruzhan envoy reception.

Kaella, whose face turned red when he playfully threw his shoes at her, was very lovable. Was she too dear to him to notice then? Come to think of it, Kaella wasn’t the same as before even then.

His throat tightened and his breath was blocked, so Peon kept walking aimlessly.

‘Is she crying again?’

What should he do if she is? Someone should comfort her, but he was immediately disqualified as he had no right to do so.

When Kaella was young, she would grab onto his clothes, plop down, and cry loudly.

He had to wipe her tears, hug her tightly, and even dust off her clothes before she would finally take his hand and stand up, but since coming to Lyssenford, she hadn’t shed a single tear in front of him. There’s no way that crybaby lady didn’t cry at all. She must have been hiding somewhere to cry.

“How vulgar, what is this……”

Yes. Just like this.

Peon immediately suppressed his presence. The back of the Empress’s palace, where there were no people at all, was once filled with the sounds of children playing, but now only lush trees stood guard. From a place where no one had passed for nearly 20 years came the sound of someone crying in irritation.

Leaning against a huge oak tree, Kaella had indeed taken off her shoes and was hugging a bowl full of strawberries and blueberries.

Too annoyed, she sniffled and looked to the side, then picked up the cream container meant for dipping and poured the whole thing into the bowl.

The sound of her slapping the bottom of the cream container with her palm was irritable. It might be a bit undignified, but since she brought the whole container instead of scooping out a little cream into the bowl, it didn’t matter anyway.

“……It looks delicious.”

Kaella sniffled and wiped away her tears. She knew it wasn’t worth crying over. After all, she had won this time.

It’s annoying that she fought by breaking all the beliefs she had held so far and calling Beatrice ‘sister’ and Peon ‘brother’ without hesitation, treating him like a lover. And ending up getting married to Peon again was just an inevitable thing.

But even though she knew it in her head, her eyes seemed to be broken as tears kept falling. Kaella took a big spoonful of berries mixed with cream and focused on chewing and swallowing it thoroughly.

The spring strawberries and blueberry preserves that could only be tasted in Klein, along with the soft and rich cream, were the best comfort.

Especially for someone who had starved to death longing for foods that could never be eaten in cold places, there was no greater comfort than this.

“It’s delicious.”

It’s really delicious. With the fragrant strawberry scent, sweet and tangy blueberries, and a whole container of rich cream poured in, there was nothing more delicious than this.

A bride-to-be hugging such fattening food and eating a whole bowl would be unthinkable in Klein’s social circles, but Kaella didn’t care. She had to do everything she wanted before dying.

For example, not losing to Beatrice and scratching back equally, not holding back and getting angry at Peiron, or eating everything she wanted before starving to death.

Kaella, who had scraped the cream container clean with a wooden spoon, looked down at the dented fruit bowl and mumbled.

“No peaches?”

If peaches were cut and added, it would be incredibly delicious.

In that cold northern tower of Lyssenford, she recalled peaches with their sweet aroma and dripping juice, and plums so ripe their sourness had almost disappeared. She had to eat it all before being dragged to Lyssenford.

At that thought, Kaella put down her spoon with a clatter. Having starved so severely that her life was in danger before drinking poison and dying, she was crazy about food.

But just thinking about going to Lyssenford made even her insane appetite drop.

Her heart soars to the high sky and plummets to the low ground several times a day. Too exhausted to gather her thoughts, Kaella leaned against the tree and closed her eyes.

In the end, it all seemed to be her fault. Because she wasn’t Beatrice, because she wasn’t as bright and pretty as Beatrice, because she wasn’t from Lyssenford, just because Kaella was Kaella…

But what could she do about being born this way? If born like this, is it wrong to like someone or do her best to fulfill her duties?

Kaella frowned deeply as she opened her eyes and looked ahead.

“What?”

She unintentionally asked in a sharp voice to the one who had appeared quietly among the thick trees.

Normally, Kaella would never have done so, but with her face swollen from crying, shoes thrown haphazardly, sitting plumped down hugging a bowl of fruit and cream mess, and encountering an unwanted fiancé, there was no way her words could come out nicely.

“Did you come to confront me? What did ‘sister’ say when she went to see ‘brother’? So you came to get angry?”

Having used it once with Beatrice, these terms came out effortlessly this time. Switching between terms of address and cutting off the polite speech endings she had been carefully using, but what did it matter? Kaella was doing as she pleased.

“…Want to eat some peaches?”

Peiron, looking at Kaella with reddened eyes and huffing with an unreadable expression, suddenly held up what he was carrying.

In his bare hands, beaded with moisture, was a bunch of clean, well-washed peaches. They were so large and ripe that the peach fragrance wafted over to Kaella several steps away.

She looked alternately at the peach platter and Peiron with a childlike face. This time too, he was matching her way of speaking. Kaella answered with an expression that looked like she might burst into tears if touched.

“I want to.”

Still treating her like a young sister, Peiron came over with a slight smile and sat down. The platter piled high with peaches was quite large, and there was a fruit knife placed in it.

“Shall I cut them and put them in for you?”

“Yes.”

Kaella held out the bowl she had been hugging. Instead of the lady who had never used a knife, Peiron took the fruit knife and began cutting the juicy peaches into small pieces.

Kaella couldn’t wait and picked up a freshly cut peach to eat. It was very sweet and melted in her mouth. A fantastic taste.

Peaches he cut fell onto the wooden spoon. Kaella ate them a few times before muttering.

“I have no intention of interfering between the two of you.”

“There’s nothing to interfere with.”

Peiron, who was strangely accommodating to the capricious Kaella, replied.

“I don’t mind if you have an heir with Beatrice.”

At those words, Peiron’s hand, which had been cutting the peaches into bite-sized pieces, stopped. Kaella looked up a little late. He was staring at her intently.

“No. That won’t happen.”

Unexpectedly, he cut her off, even turning serious. For an Ostaine lady to say such a thing, she had to swallow all her pride, yet he was being so serious. How embarrassing. Kaella lowered her gaze again.

“I just want you two to be happy.”

Though it was a mischievous heart pushing their backs, knowing Beatrice would never do that.

“That’s not the happiness I want, Kaella.”

Kaella didn’t answer and ate a spoonful of fragrant fruit pieces mixed with cream. With her cheeks stuffed to bursting, she chewed and then said another word.

“Anyway, brother doesn’t want this marriage either. I know.”

“You don’t want this marriage either.”

“Yes.”

Kaella, with the spoon in her mouth, nodded as she watched the chopped peaches falling into the bowl.

“And I’m just a dog who only looks at Beatrice, whom I kicked out today?”

“Yes.”

Kaella, who had been nodding diligently, belatedly raised her head.

“You kicked her out?”

“You’re not denying the ‘dog’ part.”

She took out the spoon she had been holding in her mouth and asked.

“You kicked her out?”

Peiron didn’t answer, just looked at her blankly, then neatly cut the peach into pieces.

“Why?”

To her gaze that clearly couldn’t understand, he had nothing to say. To her, he was always just that kind of guy. A dog who’s fixated only on Beatrice and doesn’t know how to look elsewhere, making a big fuss.

“We’re getting married, why make more of a fuss.”

“I don’t mind if you do.”

“Then why were you crying?”

Peiron pointed with his eyes at Kaella’s red and swollen eyes.

“Because I became a woman fighting with her husband’s mistress.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. There’s nothing we can do about it now.”

Inevitably, he would ignore her, and she would quietly die in the cold of Lyssenford. Quietly, without anyone knowing.

“It’s not your fault, brother.”

The marriage wasn’t his fault.

“It’s not my fault either.”

What happened after the marriage wasn’t Kaella’s fault.

“What can we do? Let’s just live carelessly.”

Regardless of what Peiron did, Kaella intended to live carelessly and die.

“How carelessly?”

“Well, just… His Grace the Grand Duke will do what he needs to do…”

“And Her Grace the Grand Duchess will do what she needs to do?”

No. I’ll just die.

Kaella swallowed the words she wanted to say. She could never be honest with Peiron again.

Pretending to be a nice little sister with no power and no threat to him might at least ensure she wouldn’t die painfully. She was already cowering and prostrating herself before him, but she didn’t feel her pride was hurt. She had no pride in front of Peiron.

“What do you think Her Grace the Grand Duchess should do?”

His voice was quite gentle. It was as if he was going along with a much younger sister, but strip away one layer and there was no interest in her at all, just gauging whether she was truly a useful card or not. She knew.

“Nothing different from now. I’ll just stay still and not pay attention to you, brother.”

I won’t do anything, so please just don’t kill me painfully. Dying of starvation was terribly painful.

Kaella was a herbivore lying on its back, exposing its belly in front of a carnivore. A trembling herbivore, begging to have its breath cut off in one go.

“You mean I shouldn’t pay attention to you either.”

“You never paid attention to me anyway.”

How long had that gaze full of slight moisture, excitement, affection, and interest followed her? Peiron quietly looked into those blue eyes that had dried up.

Those eyes no longer clashed with his. Even meeting her gaze was a privilege. A privilege given to Peiron that would never be given again.

“Kaella.”

His coolly gentle voice called her as if to tempt her. No matter how much Kaella tried to escape, she was always completely caught by the attention he threw her way as if doing her a favor.

“You know so well that I’m a [censored], so why do you make such easy assumptions?”

Kaella held her breath and only moved her eyes upward. A hand wet with sticky juice held out a somewhat large piece of peach flesh to her. The sweet smell was strong up close. It would be very sweet if swallowed.

“If I paid attention to you. That would truly be [censored] behavior, wouldn’t it?”

Clatter, the wooden spoon hit the bowl.