The jealousy towards the duke and the anxiety that he might lose Christine to him rekindled his possessiveness towards her, which had temporarily subsided. Christine Sapiel Yusten – intelligent, thoughtful, devoted, and beautiful. She loved him. She was his. She was his fiancée.

Although until recently, all her virtues had seemed annoying and troublesome, and her beauty seemed insignificant compared to the splendid Danae. But isn’t that a feeling all long-term lovers experience at some point?

So a momentary distraction was no big deal. He was planning to choose Christine in the end anyway.

Yes. She is mine.

Having rationalized this to himself, he bent down to pick up the pen he had thrown away earlier. To quell this jealousy and anxiety, he needed to write a letter to Christine right away. He needed to receive a reply filled with her love for him.

Leonard wrote Christine’s name at the top of the letter and began to fill it with all the sweet words he could think of.

“Lenny!”

Just then, the door burst open and Danae Rubina Yusten, wrapped in a long robe, barged in.

Startled, Leonard’s shoulders jerked as he spoke to her approaching him.

“D-Danae. What’s the matter? I thought you were supposed to stay in your room until Duke Yusten allowed you out.”

“Did you think that would stop me? Hehe, I slipped some extra silver to the maid and coachman watching me. They grinned and let me out. …Anyway, wagging their tails for a few coins, just like stupid dogs.”

Danae answered cheerfully as she sat on his lap. Wrapping her slender arms around Leonard’s neck, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and said,

“But Lenny, why do you look like that? Oh, did I barge in at a busy time?”

“…Ah, no. I’m not particularly busy.”

“Then that’s fine. Your face doesn’t look very happy to see me. …But what’s this? Are you sending a letter?”

Danae glanced at Leonard with a not-so-displeased look and pointed at the letter on the desk. Leonard hastily crumpled it and answered.

“Ah, no. I was just doodling out of boredom while doing office work. Don’t worry about it.”

“Hmm, I don’t think so. I thought I saw my sister’s name written at the top?”

“…Th-that’s…”

“…Lenny. Why are you lying to me?”

Danae’s gaze sharpened as she looked at Leonard. Flustered, Leonard fumbled for an explanation.

“I’m sorry for lying, Danae. You’re right, I was in the middle of writing a letter to Christine.”

“Why? What do you have to say to that girl?”

“…Well, this and that. There are some things to discuss regarding Her Highness’s national marriage and such.”

“For that, the words you wrote seemed a bit too sentimental, don’t you think?”

Danae raised her eyebrows and pressed him fiercely. Slightly annoyed by her attitude, which was like interrogating a criminal, Leonard frowned. He sighed heavily as if frustrated and said,

“…Well, Christine is my fiancée. I can’t send a letter to my fiancée with just brief business matters as if I’m sending it to a messenger.”

“You’ve been doing just that until now. Do you think I don’t know? Recently, you’ve been making excuses like ‘It’s an urgent matter, so I’ll keep it brief’ and writing short letters!”

Danae snapped, unwrapping her arms from around Leonard’s neck.

Leonard’s expression went blank for a moment upon hearing this. Then he let out a short, hollow laugh and asked her,

“Danae, don’t tell me you’ve been opening the letters I send to Christine?”

“Is that wrong? It’s our family business anyway, so I should know too. Besides, I don’t know why everyone secretly sends letters only to that Christine girl as if sharing some great secret. As if the plans she comes up with in that lacking brain of hers are so great.”

Danae answered with a brazen attitude. Leonard exclaimed in disbelief at her behavior,

“Why on earth did you do that! What if Christine notices our relationship or if confidential matters between the families leak out!”

“Don’t worry, Lenny. That idiot will never know. And it’s not like you’ve been exchanging any great secrets with her. As far as I know, that stupid girl seems to discuss all the really important things with your father, doesn’t she? So there’s no problem if I sneak a peek, right?”

Danae asked back with an innocent expression, her beautiful red eyes wide open. Her face showed no sign of remorse for casually opening someone else’s letters.

Leonard stared at her blankly, at a loss for words. Usually, even when she said such things, he only found it cute, but today her pretty face didn’t look so pretty. Today, the conversation with her, who was impulsive and had to say everything on her mind, felt tedious and irritating.

Unaware of Leonard’s inner thoughts, Danae deliberately pouted her lips, showing her displeasure. But when Leonard, who should have been anxious to soothe her sulking mood as usual, showed little reaction, she quickly changed tactics and stroked Leonard’s cheek affectionately, saying,

“Ah, forget it. Let’s stop talking about such annoying things now. I’ll forgive you for lying if you buy me a bouquet of freshly bloomed white roses and a necklace with the trendy star sapphire.”

“…Ha.”

Contrary to Danae’s expectations, Leonard let out a cold laugh. He coldly shook off Danae’s arms around his neck and said,

“Who should be apologizing to whom right now? I don’t know who’s telling who to apologize.”

“…L-Lenny?”

“White roses? Star sapphire? Damn it! There’s a limit to being ignorant of the world! Do you not know what dire straits our family has been in recently? Don’t you know we had to sell even our territory to get Father out of the prison tower!”

Then Danae also jumped up from his lap and shouted at him.

“W-what! If you don’t want to buy them, you can just say so honestly, why are you getting angry at me? You’re really annoying today!”

“I’m the one annoyed by your childish attitude! …Hah. Forget it. Let’s stop talking. Please go back for today. I’m not in the mood for this with you.”

Leonard, who had been angry, let out another heavy sigh. He pressed his temple with one hand as if he had a headache and said.

Danae raised her voice at him with an irritated tone.

“You think I’m in a good mood? Ha, I’m so pissed off. Really! I’m going back to the mansion! Know that I won’t come back until you properly get on your knees and apologize for today!”

After that, Danae stomped her feet as she walked to the door. Soon, the heavy door closed with a loud bang.

“Damn it!”

Leonard cursed under his breath, clutching his head with both hands. It was overwhelming enough just thinking about the duke and Christine, but he didn’t expect Danae to grate on his nerves too. Today, truly nothing was going right. Everything was a mess.

At that time.

After finishing a simple meal, I changed into an outdoor dress and left the annex. It was easier to leave the mansion as both the duke and Danae were away. I arrived at Duke Haven’s mansion in a carriage I had called in advance through Annie. The duke’s butler, who came out to greet me, guided me to the office.

As I entered the duke’s office, I said to him, who was sitting at his desk looking up at me,

“I heard you said it’s not a sin to have unrequited love for a woman who has a fiancé? I didn’t know you were capable of saying such embarrassing things.”

The duke let out a deflating sound as he laughed and said,

“Rumors travel fast. Sit here. I’ll have the maid bring tea right away.”

Then he pointed to a comfortable chair with a backrest placed next to his office desk.

I did as he said. Meanwhile, the duke turned his chair to face me. I met his eyes, which were looking at me steadily, and said,

“When you proposed a matchmaking party as a mediation plan, didn’t your confidants object?”

“Well, both you and I expected them to object, didn’t we? If you hadn’t explained to me what you were going to do next, I would never have made such a mediation proposal.”

“Thank you for trusting me and moving according to my opinion, Your Grace. I’ll make sure to repay that trust by helping to ensure this national marriage doesn’t happen.”

I said with a grin. The duke’s stern lips also softened as he looked at me.

Knock knock.

“Your Grace. Are you in?”

At that moment, the sound of knocking on the office door was heard along with the voice of Oliver, the duke’s aide. Instead of answering that voice, the duke said to me,

“Sorry to interrupt our conversation. Excuse me for a moment.”

“It’s alright. Don’t mind me.”

I answered, preparing to stand up. If he needed to discuss matters related to the territory or the knighthood with Oliver, I was planning to excuse myself.

Oliver, having received the duke’s permission, entered the office. He nodded a greeting to me, who was standing awkwardly, then immediately approached the duke, kneeling on one knee and saying,

“Your Grace, a letter has just arrived.”

“Who is it from?”

“…Well, you’ll know as soon as you see the letter.”

Oliver hesitated before answering and then respectfully held out the letter he was carrying to the duke. At that moment, I immediately understood what Oliver meant.

White paper with gold-rimmed edges, and a red eagle seal closing the letter. It was clearly sent from the Imperial Palace.

I carefully asked the duke,