What? Daniel, who was about to stand up from his seat, stopped his movement and quietly listened.

He was about to go and flip over a table if they mentioned anything about him being pitiful one more time, but unexpectedly, something completely unanticipated came out of the man’s mouth.

Duke Hillan. What about that guy who, along with his despicable fiancée, had given him a humiliation he had never experienced before?

Daniel wasn’t the only one whose eyes widened at this new topic of conversation.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Duke Hillan is a thug?”

“Hey, tell us more details.”

The other two middle-aged men urged the bearded man with an attitude of dying curiosity.

Pleased by the attention focused on him, the man began to speak with a haughty air.

“Well, didn’t I say I was in Bonzmos until about two years ago?”

“Why are you suddenly bringing that up?”

“Don’t be stupid. Where is Bonzmos? The monastery where Duke Hillan stayed is in that region.”

“Ah, so that’s where it is?”

Clicking his tongue, the man continued.

“Well, back then he wasn’t Duke Hillan, just a troublemaker from the ducal family. At first, people in our town were curious about what this precious noble young master from the capital looked like, but as time passed, they gradually lost interest. After all, the monastery wasn’t a place you could freely come and go, and everyone was busy trying to make a living.”

Although the tavern was quite noisy, Daniel could hear every word of the man’s story without missing anything, as they were so close.

“But at some point, the rumored troublemaker started to show up occasionally. At the biggest gambling den in the area.”

“Wasn’t the duke confined to the monastery?”

“And he was going to gambling dens?”

When the other two men asked in surprise, the bearded man chuckled.

“The monastery isn’t a prison, how could they imprison someone? Especially the son of a great noble family, even if he was in exile?”

The man leaned back comfortably against the backrest, lazily stroking his beard.

“Besides, from the duke’s family’s perspective, as long as he wasn’t having delusions, they probably didn’t care whether the troublemaker was holed up in the monastery praying devoutly or struggling with gambling addiction.”

According to the bearded man, people sent from Hillan periodically came to town to inquire about Seiard’s whereabouts, but they didn’t seem to impose any restrictions on his visits to gambling dens.

“In fact, the monastery side probably just cared about pocketing the large sum of money from the duke’s family. As long as he came back on time, why would they bother with unnecessary meddling?”

For a moment, grumblings about how nobles are heartless even to their own family and how clergy are even more greedy for money were exchanged over the table.

For Daniel, this was all good information, so he waited for the bearded man to provide more information about Seiard Hillan.

His intuition whispered that this would surely be useful someday.

Fortunately, before his patience ran out, Duke Hillan was mentioned again in the conversation.

“Did you see Duke Hillan at the gambling den? Isn’t he addicted to gambling?”

“What do you mean I’m addicted…”

“So did you see him or not?”

“I saw him a few times from a distance.”

The other two men, apparently highly interested in the reality of the kingdom’s most famous celebrity, eagerly sought answers from the bearded man.

Thanks to this, Daniel could hear the bearded man’s vivid eyewitness account without any particular effort.

“I couldn’t get close. He played at tables with high stakes. Even though he was exiled, he still seemed to have plenty of money, as expected of a noble.”

It was probably money from the living expenses that the Hillan ducal family provided to Seiard Hillan.

“Was he lucky? Well, I suppose he won sometimes and lost other times. But as expected of a noble, he didn’t seem too frantic even when he lost big.”

The man’s voice quieted down as if reminiscing about the past.

“He just looked… terribly bored.”

Somehow, Daniel found himself listening intently, holding his breath.

“Even though he came to gamble, he would just puff on his cigar, half-heartedly play a few hands, and always end up giving his seat to Cobi. Cobi? Ah, he was a guy who lived off the spare change he got for doing odd jobs at the monastery, but at some point he started acting like the duke’s servant. Well, I guess he could at least get some crumbs if he stuck close to him.”

The bearded man went on for a while about how terrible this Cobi fellow was at gambling, always losing the stakes that Seiard Hillan had left behind, before returning to the original topic.

“The duke would return to the gambling den after quite some time. Come to think of it, there were rumors that he was meeting a woman during those absences.”

At that moment, the eyes of the other two men widened to the size of saucers.

“A woman?”

“He had a woman?”

Woman. At that word, Daniel’s hand gripping the wine glass tightened.

“That’s what the rumors said.”

With a sardonic smile, the bearded man nodded slowly.

“I didn’t see it with my own eyes, and I don’t know who she was, but I heard the stories people were spreading. When you think about it, it’s only natural, isn’t it? A man in his prime, would he not have a lover? Especially someone with good looks and money.”

Even if he was nominally a monk, among ourselves we called him a hopeless rogue. The men laughed heartily at that.

Daniel laughed too. However, unlike their sneering laughter at others’ expense, his was a smile of triumph.

This is it. He had finally found it.

The clue that would return him to his original position, a place where he wouldn’t need to be pitied by others.

The means to awaken the chick who had mistaken its owner.

Just you wait and see how rotten the tree is that you dared to choose over me, Kisa.

Daniel, leaving his glass still half-full of wine without hesitation, abruptly stood up and strode over to the adjacent table.

“Why don’t you tip off a newspaper or magazine about this story?”

“Yeah! Wonder if you could make a hefty sum?”

“That’s dangerous talk. You shouldn’t gossip carelessly about the affairs of important people. If you accidentally fall out of favor-”

“What? Do you have some business with us?”

The men who had been laughing and chatting among themselves only blinked at Daniel’s sudden appearance.

“Hey.”

Bang! Daniel slammed his hand on the table, making a loud noise, and stared at the bearded man among the three.

“What you just said is the absolute truth, right?”

Faced with the sudden appearance of a large young man glaring at him, the bearded man was visibly flustered.

“W-what is it?”

Regardless, a plan was already forming in Daniel’s head.

One day, while the afterglow of her first date with Seiard had yet to fade, Kisa tilted her head, holding a letter.

“What’s this?”

The name written on the envelope was that of the dress shop Kisa frequently used, but there was something strange about it.

There was no reason for them to send a letter to her from there.

The dress shop where she had recently had a dress made for the engagement ceremony was a place she had visited for the first time thanks to Seiard, and even excluding that, she hadn’t needed many new dresses lately due to refraining from social activities.

In other words, there were no dresses she had reserved to purchase or left for alterations.

Aside from those two cases, what reason could the dress shop have for sending a letter, Kisa wondered as she opened the envelope to check its contents.

To Kisa, from Daniel Lowens.

She frowned from the very first line.

I borrowed a name because I thought it wouldn’t reach you if I sent it under my own name.

He seemed to be quite cunning. He had even considered the possibility that the Banspelt servants might filter out letters from her former fiancé out of consideration for their young lady.

For a moment, she felt the urge to just throw it away, but curiosity won out.

What did he want to say that made him go to such lengths to send this letter?

As she happened to be free, Kisa continued reading the contents.

I have something urgent to tell you. It’s a very serious and dangerous matter concerning the man who might become your husband.

Kisa, you absolutely must not ignore my words. I can guarantee that if you do, you’ll surely regret it later.

Let’s meet and talk first. It’s a subject too difficult to convey by letter.

I understand that given your position, it’s hard for you to meet me where others might see. Don’t worry. I’ll come to you.

Next, along with a specific date, there was an outrageously bold request.

Come to the secret door at midnight on this day, without being seen by anyone. That much should be possible, right?

I’ll say it again, this is a really serious matter. You absolutely must know this tremendous secret.

For the sake of your own happiness.

The letter ended with these rather unsettling phrases.

Kisa’s gaze turned to the desk calendar.

Whether he had calculated the timing for when the letter would reach her or by coincidence, today was the date written in the letter.

For a while, Kisa imagined herself tearing this to shreds, throwing it in the trash, and then falling into a deep sleep regardless of whether anyone was waiting for her or not.

It would be best to ignore such a letter rather than be swayed by Daniel.

She knew that better than anyone. But…

‘What does this mean?’

One sentence in the letter particularly caught her attention. It’s a very serious and dangerous matter concerning the man who might become your husband.

It undoubtedly referred to Seiard, who was expected to become engaged to Kisa soon.

A very serious and dangerous matter related to him? What could that be? Or rather, is there really such a thing?

Daniel might be using Seiard as bait to lure Kisa out.

It wouldn’t be beyond the despicable Daniel Lowens to do so.

However, for some reason, Kisa couldn’t dismiss it lightly.

Because that man had mentioned none other than Seiard’s name.