After a brief silence, Kisa finally found a response.

“You call that an explanation? I saw everything. I saw you make a knight’s oath to that woman.”

As Kisa’s gaze turned towards her, Hazel flinched, and seeing this, Daniel moved to shield her. As if protecting her from Kisa.

“Look at that. Even now, you care more about another woman than your fiancée. If this isn’t cheating, then what is it?”

“Friendship.”

“Friendship?”

A scoff escaped involuntarily.

“What kind of person makes a knight’s oath to a mere friend?”

“Why not? In ancient times, the famous warrior Kobos made a knight’s oath to his friend Ilkin, impressed by his character. He then served his friend as his lord for life, honoring that oath.”

Kisa hesitated, only vaguely familiar with the story. He often used such historical anecdotes as examples in conversations, but most were ones she didn’t know well.

“So what? Are you saying you’ll make that woman your lord or something?”

“Why not? I truly respect Hazel. She’s someone worth protecting.”

“Don’t try to disguise your pathetic love game as friendship. Kobos and Ilkin were both men.”

“Are you saying people of different genders can’t share friendship?”

“How can an emotion that makes you swear a knight’s oath, which you haven’t even done for your fiancée, be just friendship?”

“In other words, you’re saying there are limits to friendship because of gender. You still have such an old-fashioned way of thinking. Well, I didn’t expect much.”

Daniel sighed and repeatedly opened and closed the lid of his cigar case with a clicking sound.

“Between Hazel and me, gender is just a secondary factor. We interact on a more essential level. What you might call soulmates.”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

“If anything, it seems you want to paint me as a scoundrel who’s cheating on his beautiful and devoted fiancée. Do you have any evidence?”

“What?”

“Did I confess love to Hazel? Did I kiss her? Did I propose to her?”

“You made a knight’s oath.”

“A knight’s oath is just a vow you make to someone you want to serve. By your logic, are all the knights and their masters in old tales involved in that kind of relationship?”

Kisa’s voice began to tremble. She never imagined her fiancé could be this brazen.

Daniel’s definition of the oath only applied to lord-vassal or sovereign-subject relationships. Between a young man and woman, it was no different from a romantic proposal.

He was denying what everyone clearly knew without even blinking.

“You think I didn’t hear? You said meeting that woman changed your life. You said every moment was enjoyable.”

“So what? There was nothing implying I love Hazel romantically.”

“Daniel, you really!”

“It’s all a misunderstanding stemming from your preconceptions. You should abandon that outdated notion that men and women can’t be friends.”

He took out a cigar from the case he had been opening and closing, and rummaged in his pocket.

“She and I are just friends who connect soul to soul. There’s no romantic entanglement like you’re worried about, so don’t worry.”

“…I don’t understand you at all.”

“What now?”

“Soul connection? Fine, let’s say that’s true for argument’s sake. But why are you sharing that with another woman instead of your fiancée?”

Her eyes stung, but Kisa tried her hardest not to shed tears in front of these people. It was her last shred of dignity.

“An engagement is a promise of marriage, isn’t it? Is it right to be so close to that woman, even making a knight’s oath, when you have me as your life partner? How can you be so shameless?”

“Hmm, so you’re saying I should have made you my soulmate?”

“Yes, if that grand thing was so necessary to you, and it had to be a woman.”

There was a slight pause before his answer came. He had taken out a knife from his inner pocket, cut the end of the cigar, and lit it with a lighter.

“Kisa, do I really have to say this?”

“Say it. Daniel Lowens.”

The man took a deep drag of smoke.

“You’re too… to be my soulmate.”

His mouth hesitated a bit before clearly uttering the final words.

“Stupid.”

Unable to clearly comprehend what she had just heard, Kisa’s mouth fell open. Seeing his fiancée like this, Daniel scratched his head.

“Damn. I didn’t want to say this to you either. But sometimes it’s better to express things directly rather than beating around the bush.”

“…I’m stupid?”

“From my perspective, yes.”

“Your arrogance knows no bounds. I don’t deserve to hear such words. How am I stupid?”

“Alright. I’m sorry. My statement was inappropriate. You’re just on a different intellectual level from me. By average standards, you’re quite intelligent.”

That condescending tone, as if granting her acknowledgment, further fueled Kisa’s anger.

“Tell me! How am I stupid?”

“Let’s stop this, okay?”

“Stop what? You thought you could just insult me and be done with it?”

“No, I didn’t intend to insult you.”

At that moment, the third person who had been silent until now finally interjected into their conversation.

“Both of you, please calm down.”

The woman who emerged from behind Daniel made eye contact with Kisa.

“Lady Banspelt. Though you may not believe it, your fiancé and I are truly bound by pure friendship. I can swear to it.”

“…Listen. You stay out of this. This is between me and this man.”

Kisa, already overwhelmed dealing with Daniel, had no energy left to handle this woman as well. However, the gray-haired woman did not back down.

“No. I bear responsibility too, since you misunderstood after seeing me with him.”

Irritation surged. If we’re being honest, Kisa disliked her traitorous fiancé who had even called her stupid the most at this moment, but this woman was certainly not a welcome presence either.

Kisa had simply postponed dealing with issues related to people she didn’t know well. She intended to handle them after settling things with Daniel.

But this woman kept trying to persuade Kisa.

“Let’s talk first. Let’s calmly talk and clear up the misunderstanding. Right now, you’re both too emotional−”

“I said stop it!”

In the end, Kisa ended up yelling at someone she had just met today. It was the first time since she started receiving etiquette lessons as a child.

“Hey. Watch your mouth.”

The response came first from Daniel, who was next to the target of the shout, rather than from the woman herself. The way he glared immediately because that woman got scolded once.

“You watch yourself, Daniel Lowens. And you should know your place too.”

After snapping at him, Kisa turned her gaze to the woman with a surprised expression.

“Do you think it’s normal behavior to not refuse when someone else’s fiancé makes a knight’s oath to you, and to continue the same relationship? It seems you knew he was engaged too.”

“Kisa, that’s enough.”

“How dare you try to stop me with such a shameless face, acting as if you’re innocent−”

“That’s quite enough!”

Daniel shouted angrily, extending his arm between Kisa and his friend to separate them. Tall and well-built, his intimidating presence made Kisa instinctively shrink back.

A different kind of shock washed over her. Despite experiencing his betrayal several times already, she had unconsciously continued to believe that Daniel would never act so threateningly towards her.

“…What right do you have to treat me like this?”

Daniel Lowens responded irritably to the tearful question from his fiancée and childhood friend.

“I tried to resolve this nicely. You’re the one who lashed out at innocent Hazel.”

“Innocent? Who’s innocent here?”

“Enough. I don’t want to waste words with you anymore. I’ll answer your earlier question, so stop pestering me about it. Got it?”

As he said this, a crooked smile settled on his face.

“You asked what part of you is stupid? Then let me ask you one thing, Kisa. What do you think about Bart’s theory?”

Faced with this completely unexpected question, Kisa kept her mouth shut. Bart’s theory? What was that?

“You don’t know? Then what’s your opinion on the paper Griffin recently published in the Royal Academy’s journal?”

Kisa had heard Griffin’s name mentioned by people. But all she knew was that he was a renowned scholar.

“No opinion? Then surely you at least know the root cause of the trade friction that occurred between our country and Octava a few days ago?”

“……”

“You don’t know. I see, you don’t know this either.”

When there was no answer to the third question, Daniel finally wore a troubled expression.

“It’s okay. You might not know. How can everyone in the world be interested in such current affairs?”

He patted Kisa’s shoulder with his thick hand.

“It’s not a bad thing. We just have different interests. Besides, your father probably wouldn’t like his daughter taking an interest in such things.”

He smelled of pungent cigar smoke.

“But unfortunately, I can’t make someone with completely different interests from me my soulmate. It’s also hard for me to keep liking you when you just blindly obey your father’s wishes.”

Not just her fingertips, but even her toes felt cold now. No, Kisa felt a chill throughout her entire body.

“There, you understand now? So please go back. I’m not your possession. Even if you’re my fiancée, you have no right to meddle in my relationships.”

Having said that, her fiancé all too easily averted his gaze from her and looked at the other woman.

The decade-long affection had been Kisa’s alone.