Clank. Ernest handed Logan a glass filled with ice and whiskey.

Offering a drink first when he doesn’t even enjoy alcohol himself.

Ernest raised his glass, thinking of those who had married before him.

‘Everyone gets anxious before marriage, after all…’

Marriage was a kind of rite of passage for the heirs of noble families.

The family’s interests took precedence over personal wishes, and love was excluded in favor of a marriage solely for producing heirs for the future of the two families and the couple.

It was no different from breeding to see a better variety.

In the end, true love or tender lovers were mere fantasies, only found in novels or as affairs in reality.

Ernest Holden swallowed the bitter drink, feeling disillusioned with marriage itself. The heat that scratched his throat spread languidly throughout his body.

“I thought Logan Redford would either not marry, or if he did, he’d choose a wife carefully calculating gains and losses like the others.”

“That’s right.”

“Miss Marien?”

Instead of answering, Logan swirled his glass lightly with drowsy eyes like a satiated beast.

As the ice clinked against the glass, Logan let out a snicker.

For a moment, Ernest’s eyebrows twitched.

‘No way, it can’t be. But that expression is the one he makes when tormenting Lord Warden…’

Logan Redford, who had been indifferent to both marriage and women in general, had only shown interest in Sidney Warden.

Though he would get angry and irritated for no reason, Logan’s eyes always followed Sidney Warden.

Recalling the desire and possessiveness in that persistent gaze, Ernest tilted his head.

‘It was just a battlefield full of men, so that’s why he was temporarily confused and shaken by Lord Warden. But after meeting Miss Marien…’

Ernest Holden carefully asked with expectant eyes.

“Logan, were you able to… with Miss Marien?”

“…?”

Logan raised one eyebrow as if to say ‘What nonsense is this?’ Undeterred by the fierce aura, Ernest lowered his gaze to Logan’s lower body and lowered his voice.

“I mean, was there no problem? You know, you couldn’t… do it with women.”

“You’re insane.”

Ernest’s eyes widened at Logan’s spat curse. He was so shocked that he gaped and even stammered.

“Really, you could? Miss Marien, ah, so that’s why Viscount Redford, ahaha, I see.”

Whether it was the alcohol kicking in, or joy that his friend had overcome his only weakness, or simply teasing… Ernest Holden repeatedly drank from his glass, reiterating ‘Is that so?’ several times.

Logan clicked his tongue as he personally refilled his friend’s empty glass.

“You’re drunk.”

“You finally found your true match. Ah, on such a wonderful day, one should get drunk.”

“True match…”

Logan’s eyes half-closed as if he quite liked the phrase, muttering it softly.

At this, Ernest sprawled on the sofa with a greatly relieved expression, lightly swirling his glass.

“Well, it’s all in the past now, but honestly, I was worried because it seemed like you had genuine feelings for Lord Warden.”

“…Me?”

Logan asked back with wide eyes, as if surprised. He was shocked by the fact that he had appeared to have genuine feelings for Sidney Warden to the point where Ernest was concerned.

In such a situation, Ernest drove the point home with a grin.

“Yeah, I even doubted your sexual orientation at one point.”

“…?”

“Don’t glare at me like that. I don’t think that way anymore.”

What use was there in getting angry at a tipsy, grinning Ernest?

Logan frowned as he filled his glass with ice. Though it didn’t particularly matter, the story of Sidney’s dream newly irritated Logan’s mood.

‘Did my past self… care about Sidney’s expression? Enough to ask such a question?’

Just raising the question made Logan feel like trash and filled him with self-loathing.

‘Unless I was crazy, to do that to a subordinate, and one I thought was a man at that… Sidney Warden. Of course, I cared about Sidney a little, no, a lot, but that was only because I liked his outstanding talent and abilities and wanted to keep him close.’

Logan snorted as he recalled the men who had lusted after Sidney.

Assuring himself that he was different from those lewd bastards, and that he had only seen Sidney as a cherished subordinate until he met Marien.

But as Ernest Holden gave specific examples, Logan’s expression clouded.

“Was it 3 years ago? You were staring intently at only Lord Warden among the soldiers running on the training ground. Not only that, you’d fly into a rage whenever Lord Warden talked with other guys, or pile work on Lord Warden to keep him right by your side. Oh, and your gaze was so hot that I really…”

“Because he was my aide.”

Ernest raised his eyebrows at Logan’s firm tone. He felt as if all his worrying about his friend was being dismissed.

“Do you think I don’t know you? Hah, I even took you to that place to check… Ahem! Anyway, it’s fortunate for both you and Lord Warden that things turned out this way.”

Logan’s face crumpled as he recalled being tricked by Ernest into going to a salon with courtesans. The pungent perfume, the revealing dresses that shamelessly exposed skin, and though it was their job, the suggestive smiles as they approached a man they’d just met…

“Just try saying such things in front of my wife. I won’t forgive you even if it’s you.”

“Why? If I say you just sat there like a block of wood… Miss Marien would like that.”

It wasn’t about what he did or didn’t do.

Just imagining Sidney in the same space as gigolos made Logan feel dizzy, as if all the blood had drained from his body.

‘If possible, it would be better if Sidney never knew…’

Logan tilted his head slightly and muttered to himself.

“Perhaps I should have killed you back then.”

And he quietly scanned around Ernest’s neck with narrowed eyes.

As if trying to shake off the chill he felt on his skin, Ernest joked unnecessarily.

“Come on, you don’t mean that. Why would I ever tell your wife about the past? Ahem, by the way, didn’t you have some business with me?”

As the atmosphere eased a bit, Ernest changed the subject, reminding Logan that he had sent Raon Lind ahead first.

“Steve Deniro, you said that guy seemed to be manipulating people as he pleased, didn’t you?”

“Did I… say something like that?”

Ernest asked back, tilting his head. Not so much feigning ignorance as genuinely having no such memory.

“If you don’t want to talk about it.”

“It’s not that. As exceptional as hyung was even when young, there’s no way he could have manipulated people. If he had, I wouldn’t have forgotten it.”

“If you say so.”

Logan showed Ernest a faint smile as he tilted his glass. Recalling the young Ernest with his pale face and tearful eyes, and Sidney in a trance-like state.

‘It doesn’t seem to be a lie, but there’s no way Ernest could have forgotten that… Is Steve Deniro really using some kind of hypnosis trick?’

Just in case, Logan continued the drinking session while bringing up old stories.

All Logan gained from enduring that boring and tiring time was that Ernest Holden avoided mentioning Steve Deniro no matter how drunk he got.

That emotion was closer to reverence than the aversion one might feel towards a half-brother.

Ernest Holden, passed out drunk, was loaded into a carriage and sent off. He had been worrying about Victoria Owello the whole time in slurred speech.

Who was worrying about whom? As Logan turned around after sending off the carriage, he staggered and lost his balance. Raon Lind quickly supported him and asked.

“Lord Logan, are you alright?”

Of course not. Blaming the slippery ground for no reason, Logan pushed away Raon’s hands. Raon spoke again with a troubled face.

“You seem to have had too much to drink. Let’s get you into the carriage.”

Mayfield Avenue, now dark, was quiet, and the streetlamps illuminated the Redford family carriage.

Logan waved his hand dismissively, exhaling deeply as if sighing.

“No, I want to walk for a bit.”

Dong, dong, dong… Matching steps with the temple bells announcing midnight, and in such a staggering state. And to think he was leaving a perfectly good carriage behind…

Logan shook his head lightly and snorted in self-mockery.

The wind from behind blew his bangs into his eyes. As Sidney Warden opened the barracks entrance, entering with the morning sunlight…

The good mood plummeted at Sidney’s indifferent face and gaze, and pulling Sidney away from mingling with colleagues to give him work… To think it was because he had feelings for a subordinate.

No. He tried to deny it, saying there was no way he had abused his authority while pretending to take care of a cherished subordinate, but.

He couldn’t deny that he had enjoyed Sidney’s green eyes blazing with anger in that moment, and the disappointed looks of the men who followed her.

Ha, what a lunatic he had been. Was that why Sidney disliked him so much?

No. Just as he hadn’t been aware of it himself, she probably hadn’t noticed either. That’s why she had said those words.