The king executed his father without blinking an eye.

The young and handsome man, with undisguisable fatigue showing on his face, didn’t say much.

“The same punishment shall be given to all those who deceived the royal family in alliance with the Lord of Rohos.”

Standing in a position where the bound criminals being dragged in could look up at him, the king declared this, then looked around with a dry face and pointed at her.

“The witness to prove the justness of the punishment shall be you, the child of Taeran Rohos.”

Unable to dare defy those words, Anika had no choice but to watch as her father and his friends were executed.

Since her father was quite a detestable man, she wasn’t sad, but it was the first time she had seen so many people die.

To be honest, she was also afraid that she might be executed too.

Although she hadn’t committed any crime, that didn’t mean they couldn’t punish her.

For charges could always be fabricated.

And if they executed her too, the king could have swallowed up the Rohos territory whole.

He must have known this fact as well, yet the king left her father’s territory to her.

Instead, he swept away all the private soldiers in the south, but compared to the price of a life, anything was cheap.

After that day, Anika decided to live quietly in the south.

If she were alone, she might have been able to throw her life away a bit more boldly, but she had a loving mother who would be sad if she died.

How could life not be precious when you have a beloved family?

But it seems that peace is now over. Looking up at the castle walls, Anika swallowed words she was afraid to utter.

Recently, many lords of the south had died.

For a moment, she had been tense, as the symptoms of dying with an increasingly rapid heartbeat after behaving like someone with a quick temper seemed just like a strange disease, but oddly, the number of patients didn’t increase.

And then the king summoned her to the capital as if he had been waiting for her.

Only then did Anika realize. That perhaps it was the king who had killed the lords.

The dead lords were, on the surface, those who didn’t get along with her, and at the same time, those who had grievances against the king behind the scenes.

In fact, if you think about it, these two things overlapped.

She was almost the only one among the southern power holders who supported the king, and that’s why she didn’t get along with the other lords.

Of course, even if that wasn’t the case, she had no intention of getting close to her father’s friends, but her true intentions might not seem very important to others in interpreting the situation.

But they were all dead now, and the king had summoned her.

Anika had no choice but to respond to that summons on her own feet, even in the fear of not knowing on what grounds the man would cut her neck.

If there’s one thing she could wish for, it’s that the blade doesn’t reach her mother.

Thinking of her mother, whom she had evacuated to a villa where she could immediately flee overseas just in case, Anika took a deep breath.

Anyway, if this was the fate that had come upon her, she couldn’t avoid it.

Idren thought that this composition really didn’t suit him.

The woman sitting next to Ophelia, glancing at him from time to time, must have been thinking the same thing.

Right now, he, Ophelia, and Siana, the daughter of Gilord Nevel, were having tea together.

It all started with what Ophelia had said.

“I noticed last time that Salode regularly drinks tea. I thought it wouldn’t be bad to have such time with you.”

Idren fully agreed with those words.

Of course, he spends most of his day with Ophelia now, but that was because the situation was special.

When he finished all the work he had to do, and Ophelia decided that she no longer needed to help him, their days would be separated again as before.

If he were to fight with Ophelia then… it meant he could be ignored at any time depending on the other person’s will.

If the other person heard this, they would surely think it ridiculous, but Idren was serious.

For most things in the world, and especially for things related to Ophelia, it was good to make plans in advance.

It would be too late to deal with things after they happened.

So even though he didn’t like tea, he quickly agreed to it, but…

Ophelia brought someone else from the first day.

Idren recalled the conversation they had just had.

“I’ll invite Siana too. Is that okay?”

“You mean Siana Nevel? Why her?”

“You brought her to the castle, right? So we became close… I thought it would be good to refresh her impression of you on this occasion.”

What does she mean by refreshing the impression?

It was true that he had brought Siana to the royal castle, but it was only for Ophelia’s sake.

In her previous life, Ophelia had kept Siana by her side, so he thought she might want to maintain the same relationship.

So Idren spoke his true feelings.

“You don’t have to do that. Let’s have tea just the two of us…”

“We’re going to keep having tea together from now on, are you really so stingy that you can’t spare one day for Siana?”

Honestly, that was true, but if he openly agreed, he might seem narrow-minded.

He didn’t want that, so he held his tongue, but if he had known it would turn out like this, he should have just lived as a narrow-minded person.

As he was thinking this, Ophelia asked the woman sitting next to her with her head bowed.

“Is the seat uncomfortable?”

If it were him, he would have quickly answered yes, but Siana replied in a voice that was almost inaudible.

“N-no, it’s fine…”

And Siana grabbed the teacup with trembling hands.

Idren wanted to tell her to put down the teacup and leave if she was going to respond like that to Ophelia’s kindness, but he held back.

Ophelia had said she would continue to have tea with him in the future. So he could comfortably spare one day…

“You can speak comfortably. I won’t take issue with it.”

No, no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t do that.

His hand gripping the teacup tightened. Idren believed that it was justified for him to feel this way.

Even if he could give up everything else, wasn’t it too much to have someone other than himself sitting beside her?

“Oh my, there are only seats facing each other.”

Ophelia said that, looking at the reception room chairs that he had deliberately prepared for two people.

At that time, Idren thought Ophelia would sit next to him and have Siana sit across from them. It was natural since he had purposely placed only two chairs.

His plan was to sit like that and then say that since Siana seemed uncomfortable, they should send her back early out of consideration.

That way, he wouldn’t seem so narrow-minded, and he could have the remaining time all to himself.

Anyway, Siana would be uncomfortable just by his presence, so it didn’t matter.

But Ophelia chose Siana instead of him.

“You’ll have to sit across from us.”

Idren hastily added words that deviated from his intention.

“I’ll have them bring another chair.”

“No, I don’t want to because the tea might get cold.”

“But it’s the fault of the person who prepared only two chairs, so we should give them a chance to correct it.”

“That’s what I’m doing right now.”

And Ophelia stared at him. It was a look that knew who had prepared the chairs like this.

In the end, Idren had no choice but to take responsibility for what he had done.

Still, this is too much.

He glanced at the seat that had been taken from him in a way he hadn’t expected.

Even though he hadn’t glared, Siana seemed to find his gaze burdensome and sat a little closer to Ophelia.

It was a small movement, but Idren didn’t miss it.

That’s when Ophelia spoke to Siana.

“Actually, I have a suggestion for you.”

“Sp-speak, please.”

“How about living in the south from now on?”

“Wh-what?”

It wasn’t just Siana who was surprised by those words.

Idren also didn’t know that Ophelia had been thinking of such a thing – he had thought the purpose of this meeting was really just for socializing.

Blinking her eyes a few times, Siana hastily said,

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean to question…”

“No, it’s okay to question. It can be surprising.”

Ophelia, who had spoken kindly, put down her teacup.

Idren, looking at Ophelia who really seemed affectionate, reflexively thought,

I don’t think she’s ever been this generous with me.

But Ophelia didn’t seem to care how he felt.

She continued in a still gentle voice,

“I’m not saying you have to follow my words. If you want to stay in Edegrund, you can stay. It’s just that if you live in the south, you don’t have to worry about the gazes around you.”

And Ophelia added,

“I’m not trying to pressure you, so think about it carefully because it seems like you’ve had many surprises in Edegrund so far. Don’t worry about accommodation, I know a southern lord who will treat you well.”

Ah, and it’s not about a groom, so you can rest easy about that part too.

After hearing the last words, Idren unconsciously frowned.

He wondered if Ophelia had always been such a considerate person, and it was also unexpected that she knew a southern lord.

Whether the real purpose of the meeting was to say those words, Ophelia soon sent Siana back.

In the reception room where only the two of them remained, Idren, who had moved to her side, asked,

“Did you have a southern lord you were close to other than Anika?”