Dietrich’s footsteps heading towards the training grounds were somewhat rough.

Buzz buzz. Buzz buzz.

When had the cicada sounds ringing in his ears ever been this irritating?

He looked up at the trees placed in the corner of the garden with annoyance.

Then he roughly brushed back his silver-gray hair that kept falling down.

In the early summer weather with intense sunlight, his thin clothing immediately drew the attention of those around him.

His firm forearms, exposed by rolling up the sleeves of his very thin shirt, focused the gazes of passing maidservants.

If Dietrich had paid a little more attention to his surroundings, he would have noticed that the number of people stealing glances at him had increased.

Unfortunately, Dietrich had no room to care about other people right now.

‘Yurian knows Heidi, I mean Harpe?’

Recalling Yurian’s request to pass on his regards to Heidi, Dietrich was dumbfounded.

‘He was diligently snooping around the mansion.’

How could there be no one in the mansion that he didn’t know in such a short time?

It was clear even without seeing that he must have gone around chatting with people here and there, his clear green eyes twinkling.

So of course Yurian Delgado would know Harpe too.

He thought of the young boy with golden hair who had looked desperate.

[If you know her, could you please tell her that I will definitely be waiting?] [Am I your errand boy?] [No! That’s not what I meant…] [I don’t have time to meet her, so you can meet her directly and tell her yourself. I’m busy, so don’t hold me up.]

The anxiously trembling turquoise eyes had fallen to the floor powerlessly.

He had wondered if he had been too heartless, but he had no choice.

If he hadn’t, he would have almost asked how you knew Heidi.

It wouldn’t do him any good to let Yurian find out that he was acquainted with Heidi.

Because that child was the son of Duchess Leriana.

The child that the Duchess was risking her life to make the head of the Delgado family.

As a rival, there was no guarantee that Yurian wouldn’t tell his mother about Dietrich’s situation.

So it was probably for the best that he had left without asking how Yurian knew Heidi.

‘But when did they become close?’

However, his curiosity was not easily resolved.

Rather, Heidi’s bright eye smile flickering before his eyes was troubling him.

He entered the training grounds, which he had arrived at before he knew it, without hesitation.

When caught up in these trivial thoughts, there was nothing like swordsmanship.

He had lived his whole life with a sword, to the point where it felt strange not to hold one.

In the perilous mansion with no one to protect him, the only way to defend himself was through swordsmanship.

From the moment he had picked up a sword, the words he had heard were ‘genius’.

An unparalleled genius, a natural talent for swordsmanship.

Even among the Delgado family, which consistently produced great swordsmen, he possessed overwhelming sword energy.

That was one of the abilities he possessed.

Unlike the blunt and solid swordsmanship style pursued by the Delgado family, Dietrich’s swordsmanship was flashy and beautiful.

But if one’s attention was captivated by that flashiness, their breath would be cut off on the spot.

Everyone clicked their tongues at the ruthlessness bestowed by his flashy and beautiful swordsmanship.

‘Cruel and radiant swordsmanship skills.’

Some sneered, and some said he was cold as if he wasn’t human.

But such words were of no importance to Dietrich.

He had never picked up a sword to look beautiful in the first place.

There was nothing more contradictory than a sword swung to survive looking beautiful.

“You’re here?”

Calt, the deputy commander of the knights who noticed Dietrich, stopped his spar and approached.

“Did I interrupt? Sorry about that.”

“No, not at all. I was just about to take a short break.”

At that, the knight who had been sparring with Deputy Commander Calt also nodded his head vigorously in agreement.

It was Dietrich’s first time at the training grounds after returning from the northern expedition.

Feeling his heart relax, Dietrich took a deep breath.

The sound of clashing swords and the loud shouts of the knights.

Deputy Commander Calt quietly observed Dietrich, whom he was seeing for the first time in a while.

A beautiful young man with silver-gray hair.

He resembled yet did not quite resemble the previous master of the Delgado family whom Calt had served.

Perhaps he took after his mother, the former Duchess, more.

Calt recalled the elegant and dignified former Duchess.

‘She was a person without prejudice towards anyone.’

The beautiful woman with unique silver-gray hair was too good for the former Duke.

Until then, even Young Master Dietrich used to smile quite often.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“No, it’s just that this is the first time seeing you since the northern expedition.”

But the current Dietrich had changed so much that he could be called a completely different person.

Calt hadn’t even had the chance to see him smile, except for the occasional smile he showed when holding a sword.

“Stop staring and let’s spar instead.”

“M-Me, sir?”

“I want to do it properly today, so you be my partner.”

Deputy Commander Calt hesitated for a moment before nodding his head as if he had no choice.

“Understood.”

Among the Hareon Knights, he was the only one who could face Dietrich’s sword.

So there was no excuse to refuse.

Dietrich drew his sword and moved into the sparring area.

As his rippling silver-gray hair entered the arena, all the knights turned to look at him in unison.

“It seems Young Master Dietrich is going to spar.”

“I wonder who he will spar with today. I hope it’s not me.”

“Wait a moment, it looks like the Deputy Commander is going to be his partner.”

The murmuring among the knights gradually grew louder.

A spar between the Deputy Commander and Young Master Dietrich.

It wasn’t a common occurrence, so everyone put down their swords and paid attention.

“Alright, alright, step back a little.”

“Let me see too.”

Dietrich roughly glanced at the peering knights and took his stance.

It was a new sword he had obtained after his previous one had shattered during the expedition.

Feeling the still unfamiliar sword, he concentrated for a moment.

A dark aura began to swirl around Dietrich.

With a ringing sound, the sword resonated.

“Let’s begin.”

At those words, Calt, who had been scratching the back of his head, drew his sword.

It was a crude sword with the hilt tightly wrapped in cloth to prevent it from slipping in his hand.

But as Calt drew his sword, it began to resonate with a rumbling sound, just as Dietrich’s had.

As a blue sword energy rippled, delight filled Dietrich’s eyes.

‘As expected of Calt.’

Worthy of being the only one in the knights who could face him, Calt’s sword energy was so sharp that even Dietrich felt tense.

“Shall I come at you first?”

At Calt’s words, the dark aura around Dietrich’s sword rippled greatly.

The sword that drew a beautiful trajectory charged towards Calt.

No, it was about to charge.

If not for the bright voice that came from behind Dietrich’s head.

“What, Blaine! Is there a spar today?”

The lively and cheerful voice calling the name Blaine.

Dietrich immediately recognized whose voice it was, and his head turned back on its own.

It happened completely independent of Dietrich’s will.

‘Harpe?’

Stumbling at the sound of Harpe’s voice, which he had never expected to hear at the training grounds, Dietrich hastily changed the direction of his sword.

Calt hurriedly leaned his body to avoid the sword coming from an unexpected direction.

“Young Master Dietrich?”

The startled Calt withdrew his sword and called out to him.

But the tip of Dietrich’s sword was already pointing towards the ground.

He had completely turned away from Calt and was looking in the direction of Harpe’s voice.

“Uh? Dietrich? Young Master?”

Harpe, who spoke casually as usual, quickly added ‘Young Master’.

“Heidi. Let’s step back a little.”

The man’s hand gently grabbed Harpe’s shoulder and pulled her back.

“Young Master Dietrich. What’s the matter?”

Calt called out to him again, but his gaze refused to leave Blaine’s hand placed on Harpe’s shoulder.

Dietrich thought that he wanted to grab the hand on her shoulder and throw it away right now.

‘Where do you think you’re putting your hand?’

Was that fellow acquainted with Harpe?

The knight with sky-blue hair seemed to be the new recruit he had seen before.

From Yurian to that new knight, did Harpe even have anyone she didn’t know?

“Ah? You were in the middle of a spar. Sorry about that.”

Harpe lightly covered her mouth and gave an awkward eye smile.

It was the very smile that hadn’t left his mind the entire way to the training grounds.

But that smile was not directed at Dietrich.

And he couldn’t bear to look at Harpe smiling at someone else any longer.

Strangely, he felt a burning sensation in his stomach.

He roughly sheathed his sword and apologized to Calt.

“Sorry about that. I suddenly remembered something I have to do.”

“…Pardon?”

The startled Calt froze on the spot.

Dietrich, who usually pushed aside everything else when it came to swordsmanship, had something to do?

He felt Calt’s surprised gaze, but Dietrich left the training grounds with long strides without another word.

“Blaine! Looks like it’s over!”

“Something seems off. Why did he suddenly end it without even starting?”

Even amidst the chatter of many people, only Harpe’s voice was annoyingly clear.

He wanted to turn around right away and interrogate her about how she knew that new knight and when she had met Yurian.

‘No, why do I even want to interrogate her?’

The fact that he was having such thoughts was absurd and perplexing.

“Wait a moment!”

So he ignored Harpe, who was calling out to him, and returned straight to his office.

Without even looking back.