The next day, it is said that Gabriel quietly left the Hillan Duke’s residence.

Kisa prayed that God would protect his path. That he could live for himself.

And exactly one week after Gabriel’s departure, a fierce storm hit the Duke’s residence.

Coincidentally, it was the day when Kisa, whose visits had become somewhat sparse after Gabriel left as the pretext of receiving violin lessons from him was gone, visited there after a while upon Sayerd’s invitation.

“Princess Arta has just arrived.”

Gilliam, who suddenly appeared in front of the two people having lunch together in the dining room, reported in an uncharacteristically urgent tone.

“However, we tried to guide her to the reception room, but she ignored us and went to the west wing of the main building.”

Kisa knew this too, having stayed there the night before the engagement ceremony. The west wing was the area where guest rooms were located.

Immediately, Kisa and Sayerd headed to where the princess was said to be.

“Kisa, I will go and see. Please finish your meal.”

Sayerd said so, but Kisa firmly shook her head.

“I can’t just hide. I’m about to become the Duchess of Hillan after all.”

Hearing that response, Sayerd’s expression clouded with worry, but he didn’t try to stop Kisa any further.

The place where the two discovered the uninvited guest who had barged in without warning was the guest room corridor.

Princess Arta, who had been opening the doors one by one with her own hands to check the interiors, saw Kisa and Sayerd and twisted her lips.

“Well, who do we have here. The famous Hillan Duke and his fiancée, known for their passionate relationship.”

“Greetings to you, Princess.”

Even as she sneered, Sayerd offered a polite greeting without batting an eye.

“But what brings you here without notice?”

“Oh my, I committed such rudeness because my heart was too pained. But please understand. I was so desperate to see the portrait of my fiancé that haunts my heart, I had no mind for etiquette.”

With a face that didn’t look sad at all, Arta shrugged her shoulders impudently.

“It pains my heart as well that you feel that way, Princess, but unfortunately, if it’s my brother’s portrait you seek, it’s elsewhere. I’ll guide you there.”

“Oh! Is that so? But I’ll look around here a bit more. I have a feeling there might be a forgotten portrait somewhere in this area.”

Saying so, the princess roughly flung open the door in front of her.

Then, confirming that there was no one inside, she moved on to the next room.

She showed no signs of retreating until she had checked all the guest rooms located in the west wing of the main building.

Sayerd gestured to Kisa, who was watching the princess with an anxious expression, to just leave her be.

So the two silently watched as the princess meticulously searched the rooms.

It took about 20 minutes for the storm-like inspection to be completely finished.

After confirming with her own eyes that even the last room was empty, the princess approached Sayerd with unrestrained steps.

“Where did you hide him, Duke?”

“Hide who?”

“Don’t play dumb!”

As her loud voice rang out, the already tense atmosphere froze.

Sayerd dismissed the servants of the ducal family who were awkwardly standing around, including Gilliam.

When he said there were too many eyes watching, the princess also unexpectedly ordered those she had brought with her to follow the duke’s servants.

“You should go eat as well. I will attend to the princess.”

But it was when Sayerd finally said that to Kisa.

“No, stay here. The purpose of my visit to the duke’s residence involves her as well.”

“…Princess. I don’t know what your purpose is, but wouldn’t it be fine to ask me alone about whatever you’re curious about?”

“Ah, your love for your fiancée is so great. As someone who has lost her fiancé, it brings tears to my eyes.”

At that, Sayerd sighed lightly and turned to Kisa again.

“Kisa, please go now.”

“Kisa, stay here.”

Kisa’s body stiffened at the two contradictory instructions.

If asked emotionally whose words she wanted to follow, it was obviously Sayerd’s.

However, the princess was clearly her superior, and in truth, Kisa herself wanted to stay here.

She understood Sayerd’s desire to separate Kisa from the enraged princess, but…

‘The princess must have come looking for Gabriel. I’m curious what kind of conversation will take place between them.’

Kisa recalled the words Gabriel had spoken to her in the duke’s garden about a week ago.

“The most important thing is yourself. Never give up on yourself for the sake of love.”

It was advice filled with his heavy sincerity, too much so to easily agree to.

Kisa, who was already constantly concerned about him, now felt a sense of responsibility after hearing those words.

She wanted to help him not give up on himself someday, if at all possible.

It was still just a vague hope, but that was how she felt.

So she was also curious how the princess, who seemed to have noticed something, would act from now on.

The first person to raise the white flag between the two was Sayerd.

“It can’t be helped then. Shall we go to the reception room?”

To his perfectly normal suggestion, Princess Arta snorted.

“No thanks. I have no intention of chatting and laughing with you in the reception room.”

“It seems I’ve earned quite a bit of your dislike, Princess.”

“Of course. Did you think you’d hear kind words after daring to hide what’s mine?”

As the number of onlookers decreased, the princess’s attitude became even more hostile than before.

While Kisa involuntarily shrank back, remembering the scene where the princess had mercilessly struck Gabriel’s cheek, Sayerd calmly replied.

“I apologize, but I don’t understand the meaning of what you’ve been saying. What of yours did I hide, Princess?”

“Gabriel Williams!”

A cry full of anger burst from the lips of the princess who was biting them.

“Tell me where he went right now! Right now!”

Yet Sayerd maintained a face that seemed to know nothing, to the point where it could be perceived as brazen.

“Gabriel… That’s the name of the musician who stayed briefly at this mansion.”

If Kisa hadn’t secretly observed the princess and Gabriel’s circumstances from behind the annex building, she would have thought he really didn’t know about their relationship.

“I don’t know why you’re looking for him, Princess, but he has already left this place.”

“I know that. That’s why I’m telling you to say where he is.”

“Octava. He said he wanted to go there to study—”

“Lies! Gabriel hasn’t shown up anywhere he might go in Octava! Moreover, there’s not even a record of him boarding a ship bound for Octava!”

In contrast to the princess who had given up on being polite as if she had reached the limit of her patience, Sayerd answered in a polite yet calm tone.

“Then he must have gone somewhere else. I don’t know where that is either.”

“Does that make sense? You were the one who lured that bastard by saying you’d send him to Octava first!”

“It’s true that I expressed my intention to help Gabriel Williams with his studies abroad. But just a few days before he left this place, he rejected my help.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I asked, but I didn’t hear the reason. Anyway, since he didn’t say he wouldn’t go study abroad at all, I thought he would naturally be in Octava by now.”

“How ridiculous. For the past few days, no one presumed to be Gabriel or any carriage he might have ridden in has left this mansion. What do you think that means?”

“Does it mean that you had people monitoring the comings and goings of Hillan, Princess?”

“Stop playing word games! It means you secretly smuggled Gabriel out!”

A momentary silence like the eye of a typhoon fell.

Kisa stood beside Sayerd, anxiously watching the clash that seemed to have no room for her intervention.

Currently, the princess was in a state of frenzy at the fact that Gabriel had fled to a place beyond her influence, and Sayerd was so calm it was hard to know what he was thinking.

“Alright, Duke. There’s no need for us to unnecessarily exert ourselves like this.”

Arta, who had briefly caught her breath, spoke in a somewhat calmer voice for some reason.

“You’ve achieved everything you wanted anyway, right? So just tell me where Gabriel is. Actually, you. It doesn’t matter to you what happens to Gabriel, does it? You’ve achieved your goal of turning my insides out splendidly.”

“I’m sorry. Due to my foolishness, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“I’m giving up now. Taking you as my husband. I’m so disgusted just looking at your face that I don’t even want to. It seems my father and mother have already given up too? Who would stop you when you insist on marrying that woman even if it means falling out with the royal family?”

The princess pointed at Kisa and sneered.

“It’s not even funny. Going all out to die just because someone touched your woman.”

What nonsense is this?

“Were you that upset? That I invited Kisa to the tea party and humiliated her? That some of the young ladies who follow me said a few words to Kisa in anger?”

Arta’s misunderstanding didn’t shrink, but rather swelled more and more.

“Alright, alright. I’ll completely remove myself from between you two, so the Duke can live with his beloved fiancée.”

After thoroughly mocking them, the princess then muttered lowly.

“Like brother, like twin, the brothers even have the same taste in women, what a mess.”