“Oh my, what’s with my expression? I was just thinking how delicious the croissant looks. Please try some, Count.”

I hurriedly used the tongs to place a croissant on his plate. He frowned at his plate and looked at me with disapproval. He felt displeased by the feigned innocence, as if telling me not to talk nonsense.

I smiled brightly and shrugged my shoulders.

Edmond let out a shallow sigh and opened his mouth.

“Today, I will accompany the Countess on her outing.”

This time, as I was picking up a croissant to put on my plate, I dropped it limply.

‘…Why you?’

Edmond wiped his mouth gracefully with a napkin and said,

“Can we be certain that the fire at the mansion the other day was not intentional? Someone might be targeting the Countess.”

Isn’t that you? I swallowed the words that were rising up.

“Besides, there are currently no knights at the mansion, so shouldn’t I at least attend to the Countess?”

He put down the napkin and sent a cold gaze.

You’re an esteemed guest.

I gave a faint smile at the gaze urging me to answer.

‘So you’re saying you’ll keep watch.’

Though I felt hurt by being openly treated as a dangerous person, it was also an opportunity to prove that I was harmless to Lilien.

Even after intercepting and reading the letter I sent to Jane, he was acting like this. He must have a meticulous nature that wouldn’t be satisfied until he saw with his own eyes.

I narrowed my eyes.

“How could I refuse when such a fine gentleman offers to accompany me? It’s an honor.”

“The pleasure is mine.”

Haha… For saying it was his pleasure, his gaze was quite fierce.

Unaware of the bloodless battle playing out over the table, Lilien clapped her hands in delight, saying it was wonderful.

“Damn it!”

Devon, who was reading his mother’s letter while embracing the bare shoulders of a woman lying in bed, suddenly got up.

He read it again with wide eyes that had been unfocused before, but the content remained unchanged.

Etricia Vuel, his wife, knew about his infidelity and had declared divorce. And she did so with unprecedented coldness and firmness.

Devon’s face turned pale, drained of blood. He jumped up, pulling up his falling trousers.

“Damn it…! Damn it…!”

He nearly fell several times, his feet tangling in the dragging trouser legs.

Until now, Etricia had never once mentioned divorce.

Even when she was scorned by him, even when Antra threw hysterics, even when she was neglected, she was someone who would forgive him if he whispered a few sweet words later, as if doing her a favor.

Always, always it had been so.

There hadn’t been a shred of doubt about her pure love for him since their marriage.

But now, divorce?

Without a word of discussion with him, the person concerned! Wasn’t this an act that thoroughly looked down on him? What did she take him for…

Angered, Devon roughly tore up the letter strewn on the bed.

He wondered what on earth his mother had been doing to let things come to this.

Even a worm will wiggle when stepped on.

The noble culture of wives enduring their husbands’ affairs, considering it a lady’s virtue to avoid divorce, was disappearing. There was no reason Etricia couldn’t declare divorce either.

Yes, declare.

Devon gritted his teeth and picked up his fallen shirt, putting his arms through it.

He had to hurry and go, embrace Etricia as he always had, shower her with sweet words, and whisper love, even if it was a lie.

Antra couldn’t do it. It was something only he could do.

“Mmm, leaving already?”

The woman who had been asleep opened her eyes slightly. Wearing a thin slip that revealed her voluptuous figure, she hugged Devon’s waist.

Devon, who had been buttoning up one by one, pushed her shoulder with a coldly set expression at her action of burying her face in his back and nuzzling.

“I don’t have time to deal with you, so get out of the way, you idiot!”

“…What?”

The woman’s eyelids fluttered. It wasn’t the kind of words one would expect from a man who had been making love until dawn the previous night.

“Why are you suddenly like this, Dean?”

One of the many aliases he had used, casually thrown out, a name he wouldn’t even remember.

Devon snorted at hearing it and picked up the torn pieces of the letter. It was to destroy the evidence.

He immediately headed for the door. The woman hurriedly tried to follow, but he coldly opened the door and walked out.

“Where are you going, Dean! Come back!”

Where was he going? Of course, to Etricia who loved him dearly, or more precisely, to the place where he could preserve everything that would fulfill his selfish desires.

With a wicked smile spreading across his face, he hurriedly called for a coachman and headed towards Jeddo.

In the carriage heading to the square, Edmond sat opposite me.

He was observing outside the window indifferently with his arms crossed. His striking appearance was accentuated by his neatly tied-back hair and simplified attire.

For a moment, our eyes met as he brushed back his bothersome bangs.

When I reflexively smiled brightly, he looked at me searchingly with emotionless eyes before speaking.

“Why did you decide to divorce Count Vuel?”

Good question. Half-hiding my face with a fan and lowering my eyes, I wiped the corner of my eye with my knuckle.

“That person was continuously unfaithful. The words he whispered to me, the affection, it was all lies.”

“Countess Vuel…”

Edmond’s eyes, which had been calmly observing me, widened.

“Your words of comfort are enough. Don’t make me feel−”

“No matter how much you poke your eyes, tears won’t come out.”

Hmm, it’s not working.

I put down the fan and blinked my dry eyes widely.

Huh, Edmond burst into laughter as if dumbfounded and shook his head. Indeed, sympathy and appeals don’t suit me.

Edmond frowned as if displeased and turned back to gaze out the window.

I glanced at Edmond from the corner of my eye and decided to change tactics.

‘If sympathy doesn’t work, then flattery it is.’

Ahem, I cleared my throat and chuckled, covering my mouth with a fan.

“Since the Count is away, the noble gentlemen out today will return without receiving even a glance of attention.”

Edmond glanced at me with cold eyes and then averted his gaze. He seemed unwilling to engage in casual conversation like during our first meeting.

“Judging by young lady Lilien’s beautiful appearance, I had expectations for the Count’s looks, but to think you’d be this outstanding. Might this be how a goddess of beauty from mythology would look if reborn as a man?”

Edmond’s eyebrows twitched. However, apart from a fleeting look of bewilderment, there was no particular reaction.

Hmm. Still, the fact that he’s listening quietly suggests it’s not too bad.

I continued with the praise as if reciting sacred doctrines, going into minute details.

Eyelashes sparkling like stars stolen from the dark night sky, silver hair shining brilliantly like sunlight on water, golden eyes so captivating they could devour the hearts of all women…

And so on, I was about to continue when Edmond let out a deep sigh and held both sides of his temples with his hands.

“Are you always this talkative?”

Oh dear. Is it backfiring? I gripped the fan with both hands and gave a faint smile.

Well, there’s a limit to praise, after all.

Excessive praise tends to have the opposite effect.

A married woman facing divorce, not an unmarried lady, might be misunderstood as throwing herself at him inappropriately and invite disapproving looks.

“I apologize. I got excited meeting Count Edmond Mifidian, the empire’s renowned general−”

Oh. But at that moment, as I lowered my eyes nonchalantly, I noticed something.

The nape of Edmond’s neck, as he turned his head towards the window, had turned red.

That man’s expression, frowning with his jaw clenched so tightly the muscles stood out, was one of enduring embarrassment.

Surely, that Edmond couldn’t be such a shy man. But even when I opened my eyes wide to look, the redness remained. A feeling of elation rose in my chest as if I had discovered a rare gem.

Well, he had spent the last 9 years in the forest and wasn’t immune to this kind of speech.

He would have been busy fighting with rugged men, so he would be even less immune to such praise.

Living solely for the goal of regaining power for his sister, he probably had no interest in beauty or ugliness, nor did he know how much value his own appearance held.

The corners of my mouth turned up slightly.

‘If he’s this embarrassed, it makes me want to tease him more. Or maybe I could use this method to drive him away whenever he follows me for surveillance?’

Forgetting my wariness of Edmond, mischievous emotions surged. Just then, the carriage suddenly stopped.

Edmond got off nimbly as if escaping, and I followed with a slight smile.

As I was about to step down the carriage steps, I hesitated.

Edmond was awkwardly holding out his hand, covered in calluses and scars. He glanced at me and frowned.

“…You know you’re making an expression as if I’m unexpectedly gentlemanly, right?”

Oh, managing expressions. I narrowed my eyes and smiled brightly.

“You misunderstand. This is an expression of admiration, wondering if there could possibly be any flaws in you.”

As I took his hand and stepped down, Edmond quickly let go and walked ahead.

“There are, flaws.”

There are? Expecting further explanation, I covered my mouth with the fan and scurried after him, but he clamped his mouth shut like a clam.

Well, who would reveal their flaws to others? It was a bit disappointing.

“Do I have them too?”

“Here.”

I pointed to the area on the lawyer’s flyer I had obtained through Rail the day before, where Rain Burton’s profile was written.

After checking the address below, Edmond made sure I was following and suddenly entered an alley.

A young girl coming out of the alley as we entered gaped at Edmond, her jaw dropping as she followed him with her gaze.

Tsk tsk, look at that poor girl unable to take her eyes off her sudden first love. If it were me, I’d at least give her a wink. Just as I was thinking what a waste his good looks were.