“Let Kisa do as she pleases.”

When the Count immediately repeated what he had just said, the nanny could not hide her surprised look. Letting her do as she pleases was completely opposite to the disciplinary policy he had applied to his daughter throughout her life.

“But Count! It’s not just about the dress. The young lady is refusing to attend the charity party as well!”

At those words, as the Count turned his head to look at Kisa, relief spread across the nanny’s face, as if things were finally going right.

However, the next words were enough to plunge the nanny into an even greater shock.

“Kisa, you don’t have to go to the party. No, don’t go.”

The nanny’s mouth fell open.

“Father…”

Joy welled up in Kisa’s chest. She vaguely sensed the reason for her father’s change in attitude.

“If you have anything to ask me, follow me to my office now.”

The Count left those words and continued on his way. Kisa hurried to follow him, but then a thought crossed her mind and she turned back.

“Nanny! Did you hear what Father said? The dress Daniel gave me, throw it away right now!”

The nanny just stared at the back of the young lady running down the corridor with a bright smile, her eyes filled with confusion. It seemed that a change she found difficult to accept had come to the Vanspelt County.

“Have you made up your mind?”

As soon as they arrived at the Count’s office, Kisa asked with an excited face, her cheeks flushed. The Count sitting in front of his desk nodded silently.

Breaking off the engagement. Something that had seemed impossible just a few days ago was now presented before her eyes.

Her clenched fists betrayed her overjoyed feelings. As much as she wanted to cheer out loud, Kisa deliberately spoke calmly.

“So are we going to notify the Lowens family of the broken engagement now?”

“I need some time. Unlike marriage, an engagement is a relationship that can be dissolved if one side wants to break it off, but to terminate it without complications, there are things to prepare.”

“What are those?”

“We need to make the broken engagement their responsibility. That way, there will be fewer troublesome issues later. Public opinion will also be on our side.”

The Count, who had so adamantly opposed breaking off the engagement, was now unexpectedly aggressive once he changed his mind. Even his long friendship with Marquis Lowens didn’t seem to stand in the Count’s way.

‘Well, he’s the kind of person who sees even his own daughter as a tool to expand the family’s influence.’

Thinking that this aspect was quite characteristic of the father she knew, Kisa asked a question.

“Could the fact that Daniel has been intimate with women other than his fiancée be a pretext for breaking off the engagement?”

“Well, that depends on how we craft the story. Actually, after you first told me about it last time, I had someone follow that guy, and he was going around quite a bit with that woman.”

“…I see.”

She had guessed he would look into various things, but to even have him followed, he was indeed thorough.

“Thanks to that guy’s brazen behavior, rumors seem to be spreading.”

She didn’t know that. Apparently, the reason people had started whispering about Kisa and Daniel’s situation wasn’t just because of what happened at the princess’s tea party.

“It would have been even better if there were one or two illegitimate children with that woman, but this is enough material. Even if Daniel claims it’s just pure friendship like he did here before, not many people will believe it. In the public’s perception, that’s a romantic relationship.”

Her feelings were a bit complicated. It was satisfying that Daniel’s brazen behavior would come back to bite him, but it was bitter to think that the person she once loved was so close with another woman.

Moreover, it was hurtful that the Count had been willing to accept Daniel’s excuses of friendship while clearly knowing this.

But there was no need to reveal these inner thoughts at this point.

“Anyway, you don’t need to worry about it, Kisa. I’ll discuss the preparations related to breaking off the engagement with Duke Hillan and handle it.”

The Count was being very cooperative, and she didn’t want to pour cold water on that.

“Thank you, Father.”

Upon receiving her thanks, Count Vanspelt rubbed his brow.

“There’s no particular reason to be thanked.”

His tone suggested he wanted to say: I didn’t decide to break off the engagement for your happiness.

“But I’m glad the engagement will be broken.”

“…Do you dislike marrying Daniel that much?”

The Count looked up at his daughter’s face with dry eyes.

“The story about falling in love with Duke Hillan at first sight, it’s a lie, isn’t it? It doesn’t suit your sensitive and cautious personality.”

Kisa remained silent for a moment, not knowing how to answer. Perhaps he didn’t expect an answer to that question, as the Count continued speaking without minding.

“Honestly, it’s not for me to say this after already deciding to break off the engagement, but considering your personality, I think choosing Daniel over Duke Hillan would be closer to happiness.”

“Why do you think that? How could I be happy marrying Daniel, who mingles with other women while having a fiancée?”

“At least you’ve known Daniel for over ten years. But you and the Duke just met a few days ago, and you don’t know what kind of person he is.”

The Count leaned back loosely against the chair.

“The Duke may be professing passionate love to you now, but who knows when he might accidentally meet another woman and fall in love at first sight. I hear he’s known for his eccentric behavior.”

“Eccentric behavior?”

“Yes, the fact that the first place he appeared after inheriting his title wasn’t an official venue but an opera house is not normal to begin with. And he even showered the opera singers with large sums of money.”

“Se… Duke Hillan did that?”

“Didn’t you know? They say he went to the dressing room right after the performance, saying he was impressed by the acting, and paid 20,000 dini each on the spot. The lead role got 100,000 dini.”

Kisa clicked her tongue at the unexpected amount. So how much was it in total?

Even her allowance, as a member of the Vanspelt family, which was considered wealthy even among the nobility, didn’t reach 10,000 dini. Of course, one had to consider that the Count was rather frugal for a nobleman.

“That’s not all. Yesterday, he went to an auction house and bought a small island in the Sisna archipelago.”

“An island?”

As she heard the detailed explanation, it turned out that the island was originally famous for being coveted by Margrave Godena, and because of this, there was a price competition during the auction, resulting in a final price more than twice the expected amount. Kisa doubted her own ears when she heard the final hammer price.

After reciting a few more instances of eccentric behavior, or in other words, wasteful spending, by the new Duke Hillan, the Count clicked his tongue.

“Because of that, the public perception of Seyerd Hillan has now become that of a rash nouveau riche, a prodigal son unfit for the noble Hillan family.”

“I, I see. I didn’t know.”

Although she read the newspaper every morning, she didn’t pay attention to such gossip, and she had fallen out with Melissa, who had been her source of social information. She had no channel to hear news about Seyerd.

It was surprising. But not disappointing. How Seyerd spent his wealth was his own business, and Kisa was convinced that he was currently acting.

The man Kisa had seen with her own eyes was thoughtful and far from having a showy personality.

‘This must be part of the script he’s written.’

Thinking about it carefully, it was indeed much more natural for a frivolous Duke Hillan to fall in love with a woman he briefly saw at the opera house and propose to her, rather than a serious Duke Hillan.

She hadn’t expected him to go this far, but the emotion that arose in Kisa’s heart was admiration, not bewilderment. How bold and thorough he was.

“I understand what you’re worried about, Father. But my feelings haven’t changed.”

Kisa met the Count’s gaze directly.

“My happiness lies with Duke Hillan, not Daniel, so please don’t worry anymore. I promise. I will live well with him.”

Only until the end of the agreed contract period. Kisa swallowed the last words. The Count didn’t need to know that their marriage was based on a contract.

“…No, you don’t know what I’m worried about.”

But suddenly, the Count lowered his voice and said.

“What’s catching my attention isn’t Seyerd Hillan’s childish acts. It’s the fact that he’s Biserk Hillan’s brother.”

“What?”

“I can’t believe that the twin brother of that Biserk Hillan is such a scoundrel.”

For a moment, her heart skipped a beat. The Count seemed to feel a kind of dissonance in Seyerd’s behavior. He was indeed not a person to be underestimated.

However, at the same time, he was also someone who tended to believe only what he saw.

“Well, this is just my groundless worry. I must have become a bit sensitive after pondering over this issue for a few days. Anyway, I’ve understood your intention well enough.”

After that, the Count told Kisa to leave, and she returned to her room.

And the conversation she had with her father that day strangely lingered in her heart.

On a certain day when Count Vanspelt was in the midst of preparing the groundwork for his daughter’s broken engagement, Kisa ventured out to the bustling streets for the first time in a while.

She had been avoiding going out since the day she learned the truth about Daniel, due to the sadness and resentment that had built up in her heart, but today she had quite an important errand.

“Hmm, which one would be better?”

Inside a shop specializing solely in handkerchiefs, Kisa was contemplating between two handkerchiefs. Either one would suit Seyerd well.

She had thought of a handkerchief as a way to express her gratitude for enabling her to break off the engagement and for the opera tickets she had received recently.

The handkerchief he had given to Kisa when she burst into tears before.

Kisa had taken it intending to return it after washing, but when they met last time, she was so surprised by the fact that he was Duke Hillan that she didn’t think about the handkerchief.

But while pondering on a return gift, the handkerchief came to mind again. What if she gifted him a new one instead?

Truthfully, she was embarrassed to return a handkerchief that had been soiled with her bodily fluids.

‘There was snot on it too…’

Anyway, as she was deliberating between the two candidates she had narrowed down after much consideration, it happened.

“I prefer this one.”

A hand that suddenly appeared from behind pointed to the navy blue handkerchief on the right.

“This one suits me better.”

Daniel, who had now positioned himself behind Kisa, grinned.