“Did I… hear that wrong?”

Fiochelle was certain she had misheard the man’s words just now.

However, what came back to her was an even more definitive notification.

“You heard correctly.”

Cassian calmly drove the point home as he watched the perplexed Fiochelle in silence.

“I said there will be no engagement to the young lady.”

Raising one eyebrow slightly, Cassian took out a newspaper from the cabinet and tossed it down.

There, an article about the two’s romance and engagement was prominently displayed.

Of course, Fiochelle couldn’t have been unaware of it.

There wasn’t a single headline she hadn’t personally checked and selected among them.

“You say that even after seeing this?”

Cassian pressed his temple with a composed expression.

“So.”

“…Yes?”

“Are you saying I should marry the young lady because I’m conscious of those rumors.”

Fiochelle bit her lip.

In reality, when such words were exchanged, it was common for most noble families to hold a wedding ceremony to avoid public criticism of impropriety.

However, the current Cassian showed no signs of caring about such things in the slightest.

His red eyes, tinged with a murky light that made them appear even more ruthless, clearly revealed the corners of his mouth curling up crookedly, mocking her.

Fiochelle looked at him, trying to maintain her composure.

“If you don’t hold a ceremony amidst such widespread rumors, even you won’t be able to avoid the scandal.”

“Thank you for worrying about my scandal as well, young lady.”

“…”

“But you know.”

Cassian’s red eyes, which had strangely avoided Fiochelle and landed on the newspaper, curved gently.

“Instead of worrying about my scandal, you should be more concerned about your own first.”

Fiochelle’s body trembled at the coldness in Cassian’s gaze.

Although the words could sound light at first, coming from Cassian’s mouth, they carried weight.

‘My scandal?’

The knights who had warmed her bed in the past flashed through Fiochelle’s mind.

Until recently, she had occasionally brought new knights into her room.

But how could this man…?

Though not certain, Fiochelle instinctively sensed it.

That this man knew everything about her past.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t strange at all.

The other party was none other than Cassian di Blanchet, the heir to the Blanchet family.

If things continued like this and she was expelled, she might never be able to meet this man again.

She quickly calculated that appearing weak rather than strong would be more effective in front of this man.

“As you said, if this engagement breaks off, there will be greater repercussions for me than for you. Surely you don’t mean to say you don’t know that.”

Cassian tilted his cup with a composed expression.

“Then you should have only done things you could handle.”

A cold smile formed on Cassian’s lips.

Watching this, Fiochelle felt impatient.

Things she could handle?

What on earth did he mean?

Cassian’s words, vague in meaning and impossible to tell how much he knew, were chilling.

“Things I… could handle?”

The red gaze that had been staring blankly glanced towards the newspaper headline.

Fiochelle’s fist, tightly clenched under the table, trembled.

Apart from that, her face revealed to Cassian showed no sign of wavering.

Until she heard his next words.

“If you want, I could leak that much.”

A languid smile settled on Cassian’s lips, exuding a decadent atmosphere.

“That the young lady was so madly in love with me that she staged a false report.”

“Young master!”

“It would be better for your future. Better than rumors of being deeply entangled with me.”

Cassian looked directly at Fiochelle, casually flicking his finger.

“Ah, of course, since it’s the Blanchet family breaking off this engagement, we won’t hold you responsible for that.”

There was not even a slight movement on his face as he uttered these ungentlemanly words wrapped in a gentlemanly package.

Cassian, who had simply added a formal smile to his lips, smoothly added:

“I’ll take on all the criticism myself.”

With those final words, Cassian set down his teacup as if he had finished his business.

Watching him pull the bell cord, Fiochelle finally uttered the words she had been holding back.

“Is it because of that woman?”

In an instant, Cassian’s eyes were filled with an indescribable, fierce light.

The red eyes were incomparably cold, mismatched with the temperature their color suggested.

Fiochelle felt her body being cut by chills at the sight of the man, who seemed to have captured the winter of the North.

“Even if you want to keep that woman by your side, someone like me should necessarily be there too.”

Cassian calmly looked at Fiochelle, who was speaking as if in desperation.

There was not a hint of warmth in that gaze.

“Of course, I might need someone by my side. But it won’t be you, young lady.”

Right on cue, the door opened and Tiobe entered.

Tiobe, observing the situation from the back, and Fiochelle, not rising from her seat.

Cassian, not even turning his gaze.

The space occupied by the three people was filled with heavy air.

Cassian’s attitude of not even giving a glance despite clearly being present was chillingly cold.

Fiochelle knew well that this was clearly an order of expulsion.

Even so, until she came here, she had thought, ‘Surely not.’

She had thought that even if he was involved with that girl, he would keep her hidden as a mistress, as most nobles do.

But… why.

He said he would replace her with another woman, but the man’s eyes were half-turned away.

The temperature that had cooled just by mentioning that woman proved it.

Could it be that instead of replacing her with another woman, he was planning to keep that girl by his side until the end?

That can’t be possible, can it?

Fiochelle swallowed a bitter laugh inwardly as she was pushed out, feeling dumbfounded.

Suddenly, the image of the clear Yuriel flashed through her mind.

That girl, who didn’t even flinch at money envelopes, seemed somewhat out of her mind.

Come to think of it, she was strangely dry and withered for a woman in love.

If she had been in need of money, she would have tried to extort more or tried to contact her again.

Fiochelle, who had been walking steadily, suddenly came to a halt.

“That woman.”

“Yes?”

The knight who turned his head looked around.

As if wondering if she was really speaking to him.

Having already mentioned ‘that woman’ to Cassian, Fiochelle had nothing more to hold back.

“Is it true that she comes to meet Young Master Cassian of her own accord?”

A subtle look of bewilderment crossed Tiobe’s face.

Tiobe, who had lived his life as a knight serving his lord from birth, reflexively hardened his expression, and Fiochelle, who had cut her teeth in high society, couldn’t miss this.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The tightly set lips slowly closed in Fiochelle’s view.

‘Could that girl… not be?’

A sneer spread across her lips.

If that was the case, it would be even easier.

If there was no method, one could be created. That man would surely become hers in the end.

A child standing in front of the carriage spotted her and bent his knees, offering his back as a step.

Stepping on it, Fiochelle gestured towards the knight before getting into the carriage.

“That girl.”

The knight, with his head bowed, reported on her movements, which had been thoroughly investigated.

“She’s going back and forth between the administrative building and the dormitory as usual. Lately, she’s been frequenting the magic tower more often…”

The conclusion, as always, led to the meetings between Cassian and Yuriel.

The girl who, unbelievably unlike how that man would have acted, always boarded the carriage placed at the back of the square, looking around as if trying to escape.

Yes. With so many things laid out everywhere, how could she not have known?

Whether she dares not to aim for that man and thus runs away like that.

Or whether there’s another reason, one thing was certain.

That girl is constantly running away from that man.

And that man couldn’t possibly be unaware of this fact.

“When did you say the next Slayer’s Market is held?”

“In a week, my lady.”

The Slayer’s Market was a large-scale secret slave market in Risetium Pantheon, well-known among nobles.

Of course, Fiochelle, being a VIP there, knew the Slayer’s Market better than anyone.

As Fiochelle nodded and got into the carriage, the door closed softly.

“A moment.”

At her voice, several knights promptly positioned themselves near the carriage window.

Fiochelle, who had been quietly observing them, pointed to one.

“You, are you new?”

Instead of the dazed newcomer, it was the knight in charge of the captain’s position who prostrated himself.

“I apologize. He’s still inexperienced, having just joined recently.”

Fiochelle’s gaze slowly shifted back to the knight referred to as the newcomer.

His ordinary wheat-colored hair wasn’t particularly distinctive, but the more closely one looked at his face, the more it caught the eye.

Quite a few men had been at her beck and call, but this one boasted an aura that wouldn’t lose out to any of them.

His sunny face, completely different from the man she had just met, like midsummer sunshine, seemed to momentarily wash away her sordid mood.

However, the newcomer exuded a dark atmosphere that didn’t match his appearance.

‘He looks familiar…’

Fiochelle suddenly recalled the silver-haired man she had seen in a picture meeting that girl.

He looked similar to that man at a glance, but that man didn’t have ordinary wheat-colored hair.

As she looked at the face that gave her a sense of déjà vu, Fiochelle frowned for a moment, but soon lost interest and averted her gaze.

The untrained newcomer couldn’t serve as a suitable substitute for her.

Reaching out the carriage window to pluck a flower covered in leaves, Fiochelle crushed the petals one by one as she came up with a rather interesting plan.

In the moving carriage, the roughly torn flower petals scattered messily.

The headquarters of the magic tower was brimming with hope more than ever before.

The tracking device, which had passed the second test, was progressing faster than expected.

Everyone in the hall gave enthusiastic applause to Yuriel.

Hael was no longer among them.

It’s bitter, but this must be the right answer.

Yuriel, trying to keep her thoughts light, received the congratulations of the research team with her usual bright smile.

“I didn’t do anything. It’s all thanks to everyone.”

After such perfunctory greetings were exchanged, she stepped outside and took a deep breath.

It was because she felt that everything was truly coming to an end now.

The senior was regaining his vitality, and Baroness Baorbin, who participated in the second test, expressed her gratitude several times.

The fact that she too would soon find her father now felt real.

However, now she had the abominable thought that she might not need her father anymore since that man was there.

After all, that man had whispered in a gentle voice that he would give her the medicine until the end.

What could be the psychology of someone who acts so warmly as if they’ll give everything, yet doesn’t fully give everything?

He was an opponent she couldn’t fathom no matter how hard she tried.

Still, how fortunate it was that this suffocating period had a time limit.

Especially, the fact that the period didn’t have much time left gave her even more relief.

As Yuriel moved leisurely, an urgent voice flew into her ear.

“We have a big problem.”