“I appreciate the offer, but it is far too generous for me to accept.”

“No, please listen. Lord Merche, are you not in a difficult position right now? Although you are a candidate for the successor, it is nothing more than an illusion now that the true son of the lord has returned to this castle. In my view, Lord Lupinus would be fortunate not to chase Lord Merche away to some remote place, let alone show sympathy.”

This is the case with all families.

Once a clear successor is established, the remaining candidates are sent far away so as not to pose a threat to them.

If not, they could even be killed.

In fact, Merche had already been threatened with such a fate, but Louis, unaware of this, was in vain, urgently widening his eyes.

A woman so incredibly beautiful that just looking at her would make one’s mind go blank, unprecedented in his life.

How could he let such a beauty possibly die? He could not leave her like that.

He pulled out even the attendant standing behind him and recited a string of words to persuade Merche without taking a breath.

“Look. This fellow is also a bastard of our family, unrecognized by anyone and about to be cast out, but he has sworn to help me become the successor and is sticking by me like this. It’s not just empty words; I am quite a powerful person in the family. If you marry me, Lord Merche could become the future Comeo. The lady of the Fondo family, no less!”

The attendant, who was grabbed and brought out like an ornament without being able to express his opinion, grinned.

He added that it was true, that Lord Louis was truly an extraordinary person.

Rather, a chill ran down one corner of her heart at the sight.

Merche, wearing an expression so cold that not even a needle could penetrate, spoke firmly.

“I cannot accept. I’m sorry, Lord Louis.”

Louis struggled this way and that, his face flushed red, but the answer that came back did not change.

In the end, he stomped his feet fiercely, his mood greatly soured, and left the place first.

Since then, Louis proposed to Merche several times.

He tried threatening her that she would die if she did not accept his proposal, and tempting her with the position of Comeo, but the ice-cold Merche did not comply.

Even in the midst of this, time flowed like water, and before long, it was the day before Louis was to leave.

In a corner of the training ground, a figure with golden hair similar to hers but relatively lighter approached Merche, who was stroking her wolf Shakar for the first time in a long time.

It was Louis’ attendant.

“Even if you’re from a branch family, a Lupinus is a Lupinus. Treating a wolf like a child like this.”

Shakar growled threateningly.

Merche stepped forward first, concerned that the other party might be frightened.

“He’s just wary of strangers, not the kind of child who attacks recklessly.”

“He seems to like you very much, Lord Merche.”

As if he had already pledged his loyalty to someone other than the lord.

A breezy smile lingered on his curved eyes.

The attendant with deep green eyes then placed one hand on his chest and bowed his head.

“Magnus Fondo, at your service. Pleased to make your acquaintance, esteemed one of Lupinus.”

“…Merche Ashtad.”

“Ashtad. A name with a nice ring to it. It would have been nice if there were others bearing that name besides you, Lord Merche.”

“……”

“Oh my. Have I been too rude? If I have offended you, I apologize.”

He knew that her parents had been brutally murdered.

Knowing this, he deliberately brought up the subject to violate her.

Merche straightened her back slowly, sharpening her guard. He was not a good person.

“Do you have any other business with me?”

“Business, you say. Well, not really. I’m just curious about you, Lord Merche.”

“I see. What aspect of me piques your curiosity?”

“Everything. The true eldest son of this family, who suddenly fell from the sky, has returned, and at the same time, the branch family member who was nothing more than a dispensable one is being driven to the brink of death… Lord Merche, how do you plan to navigate through this predicament?”

It was a question that sounded mocking yet also seemingly sympathetic.

The smooth tone with a hint of rhythm was pleasing to the ear, like a song whispered by a skilled singer.

“If it were me, I would kill him.”

So it was even more bizarre. The terrifying words that did not match at all and the contrasting kind expression created a strange harmony.

“Even if it’s just to make my struggles for over 20 years not go to waste. Even if it’s to survive in front of the lord. I would kill the real one. That’s the only way left for me to become the fitting one in the end. As a punishment to the heartless lord who killed my parents and now tries to abandon me.”

“…I will not make that choice.”

“Why not?”

“It was never my place to begin with. If I knew the truth, it would be right to step down.”

“Ahaha… I don’t know whether to call this naive or foolish.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the expression disappeared from Magnus’ face.

He slowly approached and stood in front of her, bending his waist to meet Merche’s gaze.

Strange. How should I describe this feeling…? Merche, facing him, felt an indescribably eerie sensation.

The expressionless face with no trace of emotion looked to her like the face of someone who was terribly angry.

Magnus spoke again, looking at her.

“A position is something you seize. By snatching it from the one I desire, killing the owner, and even crushing them. Only when I obtain it and make it my own does it become my place.”

“……”

“If you want to live, choose one of the two. Either accept Lord Louis’ proposal and become his fiancée, or…”

Magnus suddenly looked beyond her, not at Merche. His words, which had been blurred, continued after a slight pause.

“Kill that lucky bastard who was just born well and take his place.”

Only then did Merche notice the sound of footsteps coming from behind her.

It was Rude. He walked toward her with gloomy, shadowy eyes.

Before Rude’s angry steps reached where she was, Magnus left with a sly smile, leaving his final words.

“If I may add my opinion, I recommend the latter. Good luck, Merche.”

She was not in her right mind at all.

All sorts of things Magnus had left behind swirled in her head, and in the midst of it, Rude, who was furious for some reason, had already come right in front of her.

“Is that bastard the one called Louis or whatever?”

“…Pardon?”

“Louis Fondo. The empty-headed bastard who proposed to you. Is that cockroach-like creature him?”

He hadn’t even sworn much lately.

Rude, who spoke roughly as if he had never done so before, fidgeted as if he was about to follow Magnus right away and grab him by the collar.

Merche hurriedly grabbed Rude’s arm.

“No. That person is Lord Louis’ attendant. So please stop, Lord Rude.”

The arm she grabbed in a hurry was packed with taut muscles, so firm that it was like a rock rather than just solid.

Rude’s Adam’s apple bobbed once as he looked down at Merche, and in the end, unable to suppress all his anger, he spilled out a badly twisted remark.

“Are you going to marry that bastard? I’m asking just in case, but you don’t think he’s better than me, do you? Think carefully. Whatever he said to you, whatever great things he promised to do for you, you can’t get married. If you try to hold his hand, I’ll break your neck first.”

“Calm down. I will not marry that person.”

“Don’t make me laugh. You’re going to leave, aren’t you? You’re going to throw away a guy like me and disappear by marrying that kind of bastard, aren’t you?”

“If you wish, I will even make a vow. What shall I stake it on? Tell me what you desire.”

“……. Swear on that wolf.”

Merche could not laugh even as a joke at the sight of him pointing at Shakar with his finger, his eyes lit up as he looked around.

His momentum was so sharp, like a blade.

Rude, so terribly angry like this, looked ominous as if he would crush someone with anything he swung at any moment.

Merche, facing him calmly, vowed, “I swear on Shakar that I will not marry Louis.”

“If you break that, the wolf you cherish will die.”

The clever Shakar bared his teeth openly at Rude, who was glaring at him.

Before he could say anything, lest the two fight this time, Merche spoke in a resolute voice.

“Go back now. Lord Rude, you must not leave your room until tomorrow. You have to hurry before the Lord finds out.”

It was questionable how he escaped through such strict vigilance, but it would be big trouble if Genovefa caught him.

He had already received a severe punishment that made his body boil with fever, and if it happened again, Rude’s body would never be intact.

As Merche looked at Rude with desperate eyes, pleading for him to go back, he turned around, muttering a few curses in dissatisfaction.

When he returned to his room by climbing the wall and crossing the window as he had left, the servant who had been pacing around the room biting his nails ran to him with an “Ah!” sound.

“What on earth are you doing, young master! Do you really want to kill me? I’m going to die because of you, young master, unable to live my life and beaten to death by the Lord!”

“Stop making a fuss. Shut up and get lost.”

“Please, young master…! You, you didn’t happen to encounter a guest from the Fondo family outside, did you?”

“No.”

He did not encounter Louis Fondo. He did see someone who claimed to be his attendant, though.

The servant, not knowing the truth, almost half-sobbed and clasped his hands together.

“Oh, Nilam, the God. Thank you for bestowing a miracle!”

It was when he was about to push the servant aside and lie down on the bed to sleep.

Someone came to the servant, handed him something, and quietly disappeared.

The servant soon approached Rude with what he had received.

“Young master.”

“What.”

“Some maid came and left this… I heard it was sent by Lady Merche?”

Merche. As soon as he heard that name, Rude sat up.

“It’s a laurel wreath. I wonder who made it; isn’t it a really unusually ugly laurel wreath?”

“……”

Rude couldn’t say a word and kept his mouth firmly shut.

The laurel wreath had returned. The laurel wreath he had given to Merche.