They say when drunk, one becomes a dog.

That arrogant Logan Redford, who lives on his own self-importance, acting like a dog begging for affection.

Sidney erased the image of Ben, the hunting dog who used to run and hug her, from her mind as she slightly twisted her wrist trapped in his grip.

Tightly holding her hand that was trying to escape, Logan confessed.

“…That was the first time. I swear, I didn’t know who you were…”

No, really. Who wasn’t it the first time for? This man is really… Unless he’s trying to kill someone with shame.

Sidney covered her face, which felt like it was about to burst with heat, and coldly snapped.

“Why are you bringing that up now?”

“How cold. Anyway, since I’m your superior, you accepted the marriage proposal…”

Is he not listening at all? What’s with that sullen expression and reproachful gaze?

He seemed fine when he entered the room, is he really drunk?

Sidney scrutinized Logan’s face with suspicious eyes.

Then Logan’s eyes curved into crescents, his face reddening as he suddenly embraced her. More precisely, he grabbed her waist firmly and buried his face in her chest.

“When you look at me like that…”

“Ugh!”

Startled by the sudden embrace, Sidney pushed hard against his shoulders, but he shook his head stubbornly like a child, not budging an inch.

“W-wait a moment.”

The more she tried to escape, the more Logan clung to her. He was mumbling incomprehensible words into her embrace.

“It’s already in the past. I’ll do better from now on… So…”

She asked him to let go first, but Logan collapsed onto the bed, still holding Sidney.

Then, gazing at her with hazy eyes, he muttered in a slurred voice.

“Still glad I’m your superior… Otherwise… I’d have been rejected like Lady Owello…”

“Um, Logan?”

“Heh, Sidney Warden is… so cold.”

“Are you not listening to me at all?”

“Damn that Ernest… This is all… because of that bastard…”

He laughed like a madman one moment and suddenly got irritated the next. Giving up on understanding, Sidney pretended to be asleep, and Logan also quieted down after a while.

What’s all this about? Why suddenly bring up Victoria and Ernest…

Sidney took advantage of the moment when his grip loosened with steady breathing to escape the bed.

Stepping out of the bedroom quietly, she found the servant Milo standing there.

Judging by the robe in his hand, he seemed to have been waiting to attend to Logan.

“Milo, is there a guest room?”

Milo looked at the bedroom door with a troubled expression and asked back.

“A guest room, you say?”

Should I just go home? No, acting so emotionally would be…

Sidney brushed her hair back nervously with one hand and blurted out.

“I’ll be staying there for a while.”

That was as far as Sidney could endure.

Even though Logan might render it useless tomorrow, she felt she needed to say this much now to be able to bear it.

As if reading her intentions, Milo obediently led her to the guest room.

“I’ll light the fireplace right away.”

Leaving the servant Milo’s voice behind, Sidney walked to the window. Pulling back the blue curtains revealed white snow fluttering down.

Snow again.

The night beyond the glass looks quiet and peaceful with snow floating in the soft moonlight and faint sounds of wind.

But in reality, it’s chaos itself with biting cold and relentless gusts of wind.

She knows in her head.

That Logan might have misspoken because he was very drunk, that the secret could just be her delusion… How could she not know?

But had Logan Redford, that arrogant man, ever shown such an expression before?

One wrapped in guilt and afraid of something…

Sidney startled at the pain of her nails digging into her flesh. She steadied herself against the window frame, taking a deep breath.

It’s ridiculous. Even if that’s the case.

She knows well enough that frequenting such salons is no problem in the Asnel Empire. They even keep mistresses after marriage, so what’s the big deal about this?

Sidney glared at the green eyes reflected in the glass, clenching her jaw.

Disappointment? Who was she to feel that?

The “real marriage” Logan talked about was ultimately no different from any other political marriage. From the start, it was because their convenience and conditions matched.

However.

Even if everyone lives that way, that’s after marriage.

Sidney’s lips moved, leaving a white breath on the glass.

“…We’re not married yet.”

So it’s okay to do as I please for now.

As revenge for disturbing my peaceful sleep, until this unsettling feeling goes away… That much is fine, right?

As the white breath faded, the back of the servant Milo was reflected in the window. Sidney’s eyes, which had been following him for a moment, returned to their place.

Snow was falling heavily, as if to cover the whole world.

After that, Sidney intentionally avoided Logan.

She left home at dawn and returned late from work, using the excuse of feeling unwell to stay in the guest room.

On the fourth day of living like this, Logan called out to Sidney as she was leaving for work.

“Sidney Warden, seems you’ve been going to work early these days.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“We seem to have something to talk about.”

“The Commander General called for me. If it’s urgent business, please tell me here.”

Logan’s eyes narrowed. He was clearly displeased.

But there’s nothing he can do. The Imperial Army Commander General is calling.

Sidney deliberately glanced at the clock on the wall.

Soon after, a grinding sound of teeth was heard, followed by a rough voice speaking through clenched teeth.

“We’ll talk when you get back.”

“Alright then.”

Sidney nodded slightly and left the office.

She tensed briefly at the sound of quick footsteps behind her, but someone patted her shoulder, chuckling.

“What’s this? Did you fight with the Commander?”

“No.”

“You did. You’ve been coming to work at dawn for three days, always going out during work hours. And you jump up with documents as soon as the Commander comes in.”

“Must be a coincidence.”

“Going to the Commander General with duty logs early in the morning?”

Sharp guy. Sidney folded the documents she had hastily grabbed in half and quickened her pace.

She hoped Walter would take the hint and leave her alone, but no such luck.

“Why are you going down? To see the Commander General, you need to go to the 4th floor.”

“You know.”

That she had no business with the Commander General. As he said, she just needed an excuse, doing something foolish she hadn’t done even as a child.

She resented Walter for making her say it out loud.

He was already taller than her, but looking up at him from the lower step made her feel strange.

Having her clumsy and childish defiance completely exposed, afraid of revealing the turmoil beneath…

“Anyway, you’re so sloppy. The Commander won’t overlook something like this.”

Sidney called out to Walter as he pulled her wrist, climbing the stairs.

“Walter?”

“It’s been a while since I got scolded by my uncle.”

Walter grinned as they rounded the corner of the staircase. It was a playful but somewhat awkward smile.

It doesn’t matter.

By now, she hoped Logan Redford would realize she was doing this on purpose. That’s why she was acting so careless and sloppy.

Like a child crying loudly right in front of you.

How childish.

Sidney let out a hollow laugh as she followed Walter, pretending to give in. For a moment, she felt Walter Asner’s gaze but deliberately ignored it.

As always, following the unspoken rule between them, she expected Walter to make light conversation.

But Walter Asner, instead of chattering and laughing good-naturedly, just hurried his steps in silence.

“Lord Asner, the Commander General just arrived…”

“Ah, he’s in already.”

“I’ll report right away, so please wait a moment…”

“Just a moment is fine. Today I’m here to see my uncle, not the Commander…”

“What? But still…”

“Haha, please prepare Earl Grey tea.”

Sidney watched blankly as Walter pushed past the flustered aides and flung open the door to the Imperial Army Commander’s office.

A crack.

In the solid world that Walter and she had maintained for 7 years, a fissure was forming.

Was Walter also trying to break out of his shell and into the outside world? Suddenly, she became curious about his motives and the world he envisioned.

“Ha, when I call you, you scurry away like a little rat. Now you come to me early in the morning asking for tea? Do you think I’ll believe that?”

“Wow, that’s unfair. Today I really came with pure intentions to have tea with my uncle.”

Imperial Army Commander-in-Chief, Harrison Asner. Known to all as the epitome of knighthood and widely respected, he was said to be cold and taciturn.

But like his father, Walter Asner’s grandfather and dean of the Military Academy, Wigor Asner, he would often go wild like a horse running on a hot plate in front of his nephew Walter Asner.

Regardless, Walter Asner sat comfortably on the sofa as if it were his own home, enjoying his tea.

I wonder if the tea will go down in this atmosphere. Sidney glanced at Harrison, who was huffing like an angry bull, as she picked up her teacup.

She was prepared in case Harrison Asner lost his temper and broke the table like last time.

Fortunately, more eager to send his nephew away quickly than to lose his temper, Harrison Asner crossed his legs with a ‘thud’ and spoke in an irritated voice.

“Last time you said the same thing and then barged in with Lord Redford, putting me in a difficult position. Do you know how much I was, hah, let’s not even talk about it, from Father because of that incident.”

Just thinking about it seemed to upset him. Harrison covered his face with his pot lid-sized hands and let out a long sigh.

He roughly rubbed his face twice, then glanced at Sidney with a furrowed brow.

“So, what is it this time?”

Unlike when dealing with his nephew, his gaze, openly showing displeasure, was cold and chilling.

Every time she received that look of wariness and contempt directed at someone trying to take advantage of ‘our innocent child’, Sidney reflected on herself.

Whether she had ever leaned on Victoria Owello and Walter Asner, or inadvertently sought their help.

She hadn’t, and maintaining an appropriate distance from her powerful friends was Sidney’s pride.

But she had been wrong and they were right.

In the end, for the world Logan showed her, a world where her original sin was no longer a sin, she had taken Logan Redford’s hand…

Sidney, lost in thought, snapped back to attention at Walter’s words.

Harrison Asner, no less surprised than herself, blinked his large eyes with his mouth agape.