It was a moment when she was descending to the lower floor, feeling the reduced staff.

“…Cloé?”

At the moment she set foot below the stairs, a familiar voice reached her ears.

The voice was familiar, but the emotions embedded within were so unfamiliar. It was something that used to be felt occasionally a long time ago.

Cloé turned her head to find Kalis with a pale face. He looked at Cloé in silence and raised his voice again towards her.

“Why did you come here without a word, and what’s going on?”
It wasn’t a momentary illusion. Kalis’s tone had indeed reversed back to the Kalis Arhen before ‘that incident.’

“I came to get the stamp for the trial. I’ll be on my way, so don’t worry about it.”

There was no need to be swayed by the belated change. Hasn’t she experienced his cunningly crafted act over the past six months?

Cloé concluded the conversation with a brief farewell. There seemed to be an end to their relationship, and she had no desire to raise her voice.

She turned away.

Only when she crossed a single step of the stairs did his voice reach her.

“…Forgive me.”

A belated apology.

“I, I made a mistake.”

Belated humility.

“…Can we, go back again?”

A belated repentance.

No, can that be genuinely called regret?

At least in Cloé’s eyes, it seemed nothing more than the man’s cunning act to avoid the situation.

Or perhaps the object of regret was not Cloé but the man’s own foolishness.

“You regret it?”

Cloé, barely holding back laughter, turned around. She looked at Kalis with her head tilted.

Even from the crooked face, an unmistakable sense of bewilderment emanated.

“…Yes. I regret it.”

If it were his usual self, he would have restored his pride by now. The meager dignity that represented him seemed to have been abandoned along with his composure.
A jewel sparkled above the slightly clenched fist. The glittering ring on the man’s thick finger was not Helena’s but Cloé’s wedding ring.

After shouting at me to throw it away, he himself seemed to have not discarded it so easily. Perhaps he kept the emergency weapon for situations like this.

It had been the most effective method seen so far. Even the original Cloé would likely have wavered by this point.

“I regret it too.”

However, now it was too late.

“Loving you.”

“……. ”

“If I didn’t love you, there would have been no need to come back like this.”

Cloé murmured quietly.

The sound of air escaping, a sigh, marked the end of her words.

Despite his lamentations of guilt, she had only fulfilled basic human decency and not accepted subordination. She probably did not forgive those who humiliated her and would have uprooted them without mercy.

Moreover, when he brought the government, he probably angrily sent Helena away. Even if he had to use his power to force her to accept his lover.

Despite knowing this fact, Cloé loved Kalis. Truly, it was a foolish and sentimental past.

Looking at Kalis, Cloé suddenly muttered. Her words were usually refined through contemplation, but this time, they burst forth raw.

“People aren’t allowed to love livestock….”

“…What?”
The other party also seemed somewhat taken aback by the contemptuous words. Cloé had never insulted anyone, even if she showed hostility.

Cloé rummaged through her bag, facing the man who questioned her as if in surprise.

“You can’t create livestock and a family together.”

Eventually, she threw an object towards the man. The flying paper lightly struck Kalis’s shoe heel and then slid.

A court attendance summons.

It was a court attendance summons for the divorce trial between Cloé and Kalis.

“So divorce with me. Kalis Arhen.”

Cloé spoke again, facing the man who was staring blankly at the letter.

“Don’t act so stubbornly anymore.”

After a series of sarcastic remarks, Kalis finally raised his head.

The lips, sealed by shame, resisted the owner’s will, revealing a gap. The fingers, not hidden under the sleeve, trembled nervously.

Cloé had become tired of looking at the man’s despairing face.

Turning away in disgust, she closed the open bag and slowly lifted her foot.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, as she was about to leave, something occurred to her.

“Throw away that ring. Still wearing that proof of our divorce, as if it’s something to be proud of.”

She said, looking at the empty space as if there was no reason to turn back.

Then, as if signaling her empty finger, she raised her hand and shook it. It was a somewhat rude and improper greeting for nobility.