It was late morning, close to lunchtime, when Dillon returned after going out in light training clothes at dawn. After finishing all his schedules in the capital and returning to Kardin, he practiced swordsmanship every day in a nearby open space, knowing his colleagues would surely tease him terribly if his sword skills diminished.

Today too, Dillon’s body and head were soaked with sweat from swinging his sword without rest before returning. Wanting to quickly wash up and change clothes, he was walking straight ahead without paying attention to any commotion around him, when someone grabbed his arm from behind.

“…!”

Dillon startled and twisted the other’s arm in reverse. He was about to press down on their back to subdue them, but hesitated when he confirmed the other was a young boy who seemed not only far from having his coming-of-age ceremony, but hadn’t even reached puberty.

But he didn’t let go of the boy’s arm. He had experienced many times that if you go easy on or underestimate someone because they’re young, you’ll be caught off guard. He couldn’t lower his guard.

“Who are you?”

“Ow, it hurts!”

A pained voice cracked with puberty rang sharply through the hall. The few guests looked this way, and an employee in uniform befitting a high-class inn approached in surprise.

“Guest! That child came to deliver a letter to you!”

“…A letter?”

“That’s right! I was asked to deliver a letter!”

The boy didn’t seem to be lying, and since the employee confirmed the child’s identity, Dillon finally loosened the tight string of wariness and released the boy’s arm.

Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes as he rubbed the arm Dillon had grabbed, which must have hurt quite a bit. Seeing that face made Dillon feel a bit guilty, so he scratched his sweat-soaked hair and apologized.

“Sorry. Working with swords has made me overly cautious… I didn’t mean to, so don’t take it too personally.”

If he’d had even 1 shilling, he would have pressed it into the boy’s hand, but unfortunately he was empty-handed. As he was debating whether to take the boy to his room to give him money, the boy nodded, wiping his reddened eyes with the back of his hand.

“It’s okay. It happens often… I’m used to it.”

“…”

Isn’t it more of a problem if a young boy is used to this kind of thing? Dillon gave a hollow laugh.

After wiping away all the tears in his eyes, the boy took out a fancy envelope from his old, shabby brown bag and held it out to Dillon.

“Here’s the letter.”

“Ah, thank you.”

But who sent the letter? Dillon didn’t know anyone in the capital. If it was sent from far away, a postman would have brought it, not a boy, so he was puzzled.

So as soon as he received the letter, he first checked the sender. But nothing was written. Instead, at the bottom of the envelope was written [Dillon Oppenheimer].

Dillon was his name, but Oppenheimer wasn’t his surname. As a commoner, he didn’t have a surname.

With no sender and something seeming off, Dillon shook the envelope and asked the boy.

“Is this letter really for me?”

The boy replied even more puzzled:

“Aren’t you Young Master Dillon Oppenheimer?”

Young Master. Dillon flinched at the honorific he’d never heard in his life, while the boy tilted his head and said:

“That’s strange. The employee said there’s no other guest named Dillon staying at this inn besides you, young master.”

The boy glanced sideways at Dillon and muttered as if to himself:

“Well, he’s not the handsome young master the lady mentioned…”

“…”

Though it was a small voice, Dillon heard it clearly. For a moment he was about to retort asking what was wrong with him, but held back. Wouldn’t it be childish to do that to a young child?

Above all, Dillon was also aware that he wasn’t particularly handsome.

Anyway, a lady? Is the person who asked to deliver this letter a noblewoman?

“Who asked you to deliver this letter to me?”

“Um, I don’t know her name or family… but she was a lady with light brown hair that looked almost golden at a glance, and green eyes!”

Light brown hair and green eyes. Dillon immediately thought of Liliana Benjamin. Lily was a married woman, not a young lady, but if one didn’t know her identity, she could easily be mistaken for an unmarried lady.

That woman sent me a letter? Finding that even stranger, Dillon frowned at the envelope. Seeing his unsettling expression, the boy cautiously asked:

“Is there some problem…?”

“No, no problem. I got it, so you can go now.”

After sending the boy away, Dillon returned to his room and leaned against the closed door, looking down at the letter.

“…Could it be for the Captain?”

Now that he thought about it, Herald sometimes used Dillon’s or other subordinates’ names when he needed to hide his true identity and pretend to be a commoner. He most often borrowed the name of his adjutant, Dillon.

So the possibility that he did so this time too was very high, but…

“What’s with Oppenheimer?”

If he needed a noble identity, he could borrow the names of acquaintances he usually knew, so Dillon frowned in displeasure at attaching the Oppenheimer family name after his own name.

Anyway, since the real owner of this letter was clearly Herald, not himself, Dillon quickly washed up and then left the room again, carrying the letter.

‘I wonder if that man received the letter well.’

This morning, Lily sent a reply to that man. If she asked a servant of the Benjamin viscounty, it would surely reach the ears of Fredrick or other family members, so she went out early in the morning on the pretext of buying a gift for her mother and asked a street errand boy.

Of course, she also bought a gift for her mother. It was drawing supplies her mother liked. With the money she had now, she could only buy a sketchbook and drawing pencils, but when she received money from Count Stacy, she would be able to buy pretty paints too.

Lily diligently prepared to go out, hoping her mother would like it. She wore a dress that appropriately mixed fresh green, resembling her eyes, and white, and wore no accessories except earrings. Her long hair that reached her waist was braided to one side and finished with a small ribbon.

“Does this make me look too young?”

It’s better to look young than old, but it seemed a bit too young, so Lily touched her braided hair and looked at her reflection in the dressing table mirror.

“I’ll just go like this.”

She couldn’t think of any other good hairstyle, and if she delayed any longer, she might be late for her mother’s visiting hours. Lily put on a bonnet with flower decorations, picked up the gift for her mother, and left the bedroom.

As she walked straight towards the central staircase, she saw Fredrick and his assistant walking from the opposite corridor, perfectly dressed even in an overcoat.

The timing wasn’t good. It was clear she would run right into Fredrick like this, so Lily turned around. Thinking it would be better to stay in the bedroom until her husband left even if she was a bit late, she was about to move when Fredrick called her.

“Wife.”

“…”

Lily swallowed a sigh as she turned her foot back to its original position. In the past, he would ignore her like she didn’t exist even when their eyes met, but lately he acknowledged her even if he just saw her shadow, which was absurd. It was also annoying.

Lily wished Fredrick would treat her like she didn’t exist, like before.

“Are you going out?”

“…”

No matter how much she disliked Fredrick, he was her husband. The husband she swore to be with for life before God. Moreover, as he held her and her mother’s lives in his hands, Lily could no longer ignore him and turned around. Fredrick looked her up and down broadly, then smiled as if laughing.

“You look like you’re going on a date rather than a hospital visit.”

Lily was bothered by his tone, which seemed to know something, but more than that, she was surprised that Fredrick knew today was the day she was going to visit her mother.

After all, Fredrick couldn’t even remember their wedding anniversary, let alone her birthday.

Is it because hospital visits come every week, while anniversaries only come once a year?

Lily swallowed the amusing thought that suddenly occurred to her and asked in a dry voice.

“What do you want to say?”

“I’m saying you look that pretty. If I didn’t have a meeting appointment, I’d want to ask you on a date right now.”

A date with Fredrick? Lily snorted at the completely mismatched combination.

“I’ll pass. And as you know, I’m a bit busy, so I’ll be going now.”

Fredrick looked down at Lily hurriedly descending the central staircase as if she was really busy. Her long braided hair swayed like dancing with every movement. Wearing an active dress that slightly revealed her ankles and a bonnet, Lily looked younger than her age.

If noble ladies armed with fancy jewels and heavy makeup were like ripe fruit, Lily was fresh and youthful like a tree that had just begun to bear fruit. At a glance, she looked like an innocent young lady who wasn’t married.

‘Well, she is a maiden inside.’

It had been a year since they married, but he still hadn’t spent their first night together. Given Lily’s personality, there was no way she had pressed flesh with another man, so it was fair to consider her a maiden. Fredrick’s eyes narrowed as his thoughts reached that point.

“What should we do?”

The assistant asked Fredrick, who was staring intently at Lily’s back as if honey had been smeared on it.

“That issue was resolved, but… just in case, should we have her followed?”

Lily had now descended the central staircase and disappeared from his sight as she left the mansion, but her afterimage continued to flicker before his eyes.

Lily always wore dark achromatic dresses when going for hospital visits, but it bothered him that she had dressed up prettily today of all days.

“Sir?”

“…Follow her.”

Turning back to his assistant, Fredrick pushed up his slightly lowered glasses and answered.

“As you said, it’s better to follow her just in case.”