It was quite a sudden news. Cobey, whom they had just met the other day, was no longer in the capital.

“May I ask why he left this place?”

Seiard answered Kisa’s question in a calm manner.

“I advised him to do so.”

“You did, Seiard?”

A few seconds later, Kisa let out an “ah” sound as if she understood.

“Did you send him to Ponsmoth? You convinced him to go to the Pabella Monastery and turn himself in, right?”

“Unfortunately, that’s not it.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“That was my biggest hope, but he had too much resistance to the idea. Cobey actually had a lot of complaints about the monastery.”

“Really?”

“From the perspective of the monks there, they had done Cobey a favor, but it seems he felt differently. Well, even if it’s the same thing, there’s no law that both sides have to accept it the same way.”

This was a part she had never thought about before.

Come to think of it, didn’t even Seiard, a member of the Hillan ducal family, receive glares at the monastery for not being well-behaved?

It seemed unlikely that Cobey, who hung out with Seiard without the backing of his status, would have been treated well.

The monks who had welcomed Kisa a few months ago were generally kind, but they were only a few, and it was too early to judge that they would have maintained the same attitude towards Cobey.

As a noblewoman and the fiancée of the Duke of Hillan, she had visited the place amidst some hospitality, while Cobey, who had been at the bottom of the monastery doing all sorts of errands, was in a completely different situation.

Kisa slowly rubbed her head.

“Indeed, that makes sense too.”

“Of course, someday I plan to persuade Cobey to properly face the sins he has committed. But as his friend, I don’t want to forcibly send him right away when he’s adamantly refusing.”

“I understand that feeling.”

As expected, Seiard was a warm-hearted person. Seeing Kisa, he showed a faint smile.

“Thank you for your words. Anyway, I want to give Cobey some time for now. He is in a state where it’s hard to find his former self, both his body and mind.”

Judging that recovery was the priority, Seiard had sent him to a region quite far from the capital.

“He is at one of the Hillan family’s villas there. I asked him to take on the job of managing the villa.”

“A manager?”

“Yes, it’s for the purpose of recuperation, and I thought it would be good for Cobey to learn the value of honest labor at this point. When he was at the monastery, I felt that simply serving others did not suit his temperament at all.”

“So you gave him a position and had him take on specific duties?”

“That’s right. There aren’t many people there, so there’s less chance of him clashing with others.”

“That’s true. But…”

Kisa trailed off without realizing it. She thought it might be better to keep Cobey here and have him work instead.

Seiard would also want to see his long-time friend often, and wouldn’t it be easier to keep an eye on whether Cobey was adapting well to his new life if he was close by?

She knew there were other purposes like recuperation, but the image of his joyful face after reuniting with Cobey the other day kept lingering in her mind.

“I did consider the option of having Cobey stay at this mansion.”

Seiard, with his keen senses, seemed to have instantly understood Kisa’s inner thoughts.

“But I am not just his friend, but also the head of the Hillan family. I couldn’t make the choice of bringing a criminal into the household when Cobey might cause another incident.”

Come to think of it, Seiard was right.

Kisa’s cheeks reddened a little at the thought that she had looked at the problem from too narrow a perspective.

The more Kisa learned about Seiard, the more she liked him.

Doesn’t he sincerely cherish his friend while clearly distinguishing between public and private matters?

While thinking that way, Seiard opened his mouth that he had closed for a moment.

“And to be honest, I wanted to keep Cobey far away from you.”

It was a completely unexpected story.

“From me? Why?”

“You may have felt it too, Kisa, but Cobey is fond of women. And he can never be called a moral person.”

“Ah.”

“Actually, when he was talking to you the other day, I felt a sense of displeasure.”

Suddenly, his voice dropped low.

“I don’t like other men looking at you that way.”

The reddish-brown eyes were dyed with clear hostility, then quickly returned to their original state.

“It’s strange. This is the first time I’ve felt this way while being with Cobey.”

“Seiard…”

“It must mean that I am deeply in love with you.”

Feeling shy, Kisa just fiddled with the handle of the teacup placed in front of her.

He often tends to blurt out like this without warning, and each time, Kisa struggles to find words to answer.

However, as they had officially been lovers for quite some time, there were also changes compared to before.

“I feel the same way.”

Kisa expressed her feelings honestly, albeit belatedly, in a small voice.

“I love you.”

Then a smile also bloomed on Seiard’s face.

Seeing him like that, a great sense of happiness and a very slight sense of disappointment arose in Kisa’s heart.

‘Oh no, I can’t say it.’

Actually, she was about to suggest that they go see Cobey together sometime.

Since the place Cobey was managing was a villa of the Hillan family, it wouldn’t be strange for Seiard and Kisa to visit for the purpose of a vacation.

However, Kisa was not insensitive enough to make such a suggestion to Seiard, who was showing jealousy towards Cobey.

She wanted to hear old stories about her lover, but it would be putting the cart before the horse if it hurt his feelings.

‘And to be honest…’

It might be a bit of a strange thing to say, but she was somehow pleased that he, who was always gentle and kind, openly showed jealousy in relation to her.

Suddenly, this thought came to her mind. Wasn’t the most important thing not the Seiard before he met Kisa, but the one in front of her eyes now?

Thinking that way, she wasn’t too disappointed about not being able to hear Cobey’s reminiscences.

“Kisa?”

Seiard, who had suddenly risen from his seat, looked up at Kisa.

Without giving any answer, Kisa moved a few steps and plopped down on the sofa across from him.

Right next to him. Leaning against Seiard’s firm body, Kisa quietly whispered.

“I feel like being a little spoiled.”

Oh my, spoiled. It was a surprising word even after she uttered it herself.

Kisa’s stern father, Count Vanspelt, never allowed even the slightest spoiling even when Kisa was young.

“Is that so?”

But Seiard was not the count.

Chuckling, he changed his posture and easily trapped Kisa in his arms.

“I feel like indulging you.”

At his voice tickling her neck, Kisa wriggled a little but did not try to escape his embrace.

The two shared each other’s warmth like that for a while without saying a word.

“Seiard.”

Kisa suddenly opened her mouth.

“I’m really happy right now.”

The answer came immediately.

“Me too.”

An intimate moment spent with a beloved lover. Could there be a happier time than this?

As she had just said, Kisa was truly happy.

Happy. Kisa repeated inwardly with her eyes closed.

As if not to acknowledge any other impurities.

That day, Kisa was also at the Hillan ducal residence.

While Seiard was working, Kisa sat in a corner of his office and read the newspaper.

At first, she thought her presence might be a disturbance and tried to go somewhere else, but Seiard stopped her.

It was because he wanted to be in the same space.

Having the same feeling, Kisa gladly stayed there.

Then, while pretending to read the newspaper diligently, she stole glances at him working from time to time.

‘He’s so cool.’

Seiard is always cool, but there was a magical charm to him when he was scanning documents with serious eyes or occasionally having difficult conversations with Gilliam.

When Kisa was absorbed in admiring him, their gazes met.

She unknowingly turned her head to the newspaper in a hurry.

It was quite embarrassing to be caught staring blankly at him.

Then Seiard, who had gotten up from the chair in front of the desk, approached the sofa where Kisa was sitting.

“Is there any interesting article?”

In fact, Kisa hadn’t properly read the newspaper, so she pointed to any random article.

“I was reading this.”

“This is…”

It was an article about the corpse of a vagrant found in the lower reaches of the Anne River that ran through the capital yesterday.

The identity had not yet been revealed, but according to the article, based on the knife wounds left on the corpse, it seemed that the person had died after a knife fight.

Also, due to the lack of evidence or witnesses, the culprit had not been caught yet.

There was a high probability that the culprit would never be arrested or the identity of the corpse would never be revealed.

It was not just a matter of yesterday or today.

The police in the capital were not leisurely enough to pay attention to the deaths of those roaming the streets one by one.

Moreover, it was quite common for vagrants to take each other’s lives after a fight.

Unless ordinary citizens got involved in their disputes, these incidents usually did not receive much attention and disappeared from people’s memories, leaving only a few lines of articles.

After roughly looking over the content of the article, Seiard spoke.

“It’s quite a heavy article. I didn’t know you were interested in this type of article.”

“Yes, I wasn’t originally. But today, for some reason, I thought of Cobey.”

“…Why Cobey?”

He asked, wrapping his arm around Kisa’s shoulder.