Whatever the reason for having such thoughts, it didn’t really matter.

It seemed fine to not just think it internally but to openly criticize him as a bad bastard.

More importantly, he didn’t dislike her slightly pouting expression that also looked somewhat prim.

With one eyebrow raised, Cabelased stared intently at Jieselgrante.

‘Far from disliking it, rather, how should I put it…’

A wicked thought suddenly arose.

Looking at Jieselgrante’s face, which seemed oblivious to what he was thinking now, a small chuckle escaped.

At his reaction, Jieselgrante blinked for a moment with a question mark on her face, then her brow furrowed slightly.

“You were just cursing me in your mind, weren’t you.”

“Do you really think so?”

At his amused tone, Jieselgrante’s brow furrowed even more as if irritated.

Seeming certain, Jieselgrante slightly raised her voice and glared at him again.

“I can tell by your eyes. You were just talking badly about me in your mind.”

Without much thought, Cabelased leaned towards her.

“…?”

And he pressed his lips against Jieselgrante’s, which had been chattering just moments ago.

“…!”

Jieselgrante’s pupils dilated greatly, seemingly very surprised by his sudden kiss.

‘Perhaps I wanted to do this from the moment we were alone in the carriage.’

Having come to that conclusion, Cabelased greedily explored Jieselgrante’s soft and moist lips.

He had no intention of just lightly touching lips and pulling away like before.

As the kiss deepened, Jieselgrante’s large eyes narrowed slightly.

Watching the blue eyes in those narrowed eyes swirl with confusion, Cabelased leaned his weight a bit more towards her.

Jieselgrante urgently placed her hands on Cabelased’s chest. And pushed him away slightly.

Only then did Cabelased separate their joined lips and examine Jieselgrante’s expression.

“…Did you dislike it?”

Cabelased asked carefully, and Jieselgrante shook her head slightly.

“Then?”

Cabelased’s gaze was intense as he asked why she had refused.

Jieselgrante looked at his lips glistening with saliva and mumbled softly.

“It’s not that…”

Throughout the kiss, her spine had tingled and her solar plexus had tickled.

She didn’t dislike that strange yet fascinating sensation, which is why she hadn’t rejected Cabelased.

But she had never liked anyone before, nor did she have any dating experience.

The intense first kiss was too much stimulation for her.

At his gaze that seemed to urge her to speak quickly, Jieselgrante took a deep breath before opening her mouth again.

“…I couldn’t, I couldn’t breathe.”

Cabelased blinked slowly with a defenseless expression, as if caught off guard.

Her answer seemed to be far from what he had expected.

And that rare expression of Cabelased’s was enough to capture Jieselgrante’s gaze.

He had always seemed indifferent to worldly affairs, detached yet arrogant at the same time.

His raw expression like that piqued Jieselgrante’s curiosity.

“Can we… do a little more?”

Jieselgrante said, looking at Cabelased with flushed cheeks.

Cabelased’s black pupils dilated slightly, then his eyes curved into an elegant arc.

“Breathe through your nose. This time it’ll be longer.”

Even after the coachman’s voice announced they had arrived at their destination, Cabelased did not let go of Jieselgrante for quite some time.

Having arrived a bit early at the meeting place agreed with Jieselgrante, Count Frederick kept kicking the ground aimlessly with the toe of his shoe.

It was an unconscious action to calm his anxious mind.

How much time had passed like that?

A carriage stopped not far from where he was standing.

The carriage had the crest of the Cardia ducal family on it.

‘I guess the rumors about her staying at the Cardia mansion before the wedding were true.’

Count Frederick glared at the carriage.

Contrary to his expectation that Jieselgrante would soon get out of that carriage, the door just wouldn’t open.

“…?”

Puzzled, Count Frederick approached the carriage.

And he asked the coachman.

“Who is inside?”

“The Duke of Cardia and the young lady of Duke Amaterasu.”

The moment he heard those words, he felt a tightness in his chest as if it was blocked.

Without thinking, Count Frederick knocked on the carriage door with his emotions just as they had risen.

“My lady, my lady?”

“…”

But there was no answer.

Count Frederick knocked on the carriage door a little more strongly and raised his voice.

“Are you not coming out? If something has happened…”

Just as Count Frederick had said that much, the carriage door swung open.

Because of that, he almost collided with the door, but Count Frederick displayed excellent reflexes and stepped aside.

And soon he faced Cabelased, who had a crease between his usually neat brows.

Count Frederick didn’t even try to hide his displeasure as he glared at Cabelased and said.

“I did not expect the young lady to have company, but?”

“It seems you and I had the same thought for once, Count Frederick.”

One of Count Frederick’s eyebrows rose in a skewed diagonal.

At his gaze asking what he meant, Cabelased continued.

“I just had the same thought as the count. I hadn’t expected that the person my fiancée came to meet would be a man.”

It was at the moment when Count Frederick was about to express his deepened displeasure.

A white hand extended from behind Cabelased and tapped his shoulder.

“I want to get out, would you mind moving?”

Cabelased turned around for a moment to look at Jieselgrante with an expressionless face, then got out of the carriage.

And he escorted Jieselgrante as she got out of the carriage.

Watching that scene, Count Frederick clicked his tongue.

It was only for a very brief moment that he thought they were truly a well-matched pair.

‘It’s probably just a sham marriage for the alliance between families anyway.’

Count Frederick knew the true nature of nobles well.

And the Duke of Cardia was especially a person with a keen sense for calculation among them.

So it was clear that there were no emotions involved in their engagement.

However, thinking that didn’t improve his greatly discomforted state of mind.

Count Frederick glanced at Jieselgrante and then turned his gaze towards Cabelased.

At a glance he seemed no different than usual, but Count Frederick could keenly feel that Cabelased’s mood had soured.

The unsettling aura he was emitting was proof of that.

Count Frederick was inwardly flustered by Cabelased’s gaze as he looked at him with his arms crossed.

Especially since he had never easily been intimidated by men before.

But he couldn’t show weakness, so Count Frederick deliberately cleared his throat threateningly and spoke gruffly.

“You’re very late?”

Cabelased, who had been staring out the carriage window, slowly traced his lower lip with his thumb.

Soon the image of Jieselgrante’s enticing lips, slightly swollen after their intense kiss, came to mind.

His body, which had cooled down for a moment, began to heat up again.

Cabelased quickly shook his head to brush off the thoughts that had arisen.

The next destination was right ahead.

If he got out of the carriage like this and walked the streets, there would certainly be scandalous rumors circulating in high society by tomorrow.

Although it would be difficult to easily calm his body once it had heated up.

Cabelased diverted his attention by recalling his conversation with Jieselgrante from earlier.

‘It’s surprising, though.’

He and Jieselgrante got along so well it seemed almost impossible.

Her way of handling it when their opinions differed was also quite admirable.

It was a better choice than immediately criticizing or ignoring the other’s opinion.

He enjoyed the conversation throughout because they communicated well, but above all, he liked her attitude of respecting the other person.

‘It was a fruitful conversation.’

The corners of his mouth that had lifted in satisfaction while reflecting on the conversation with Jieselgrante flattened when he recalled the moment Frederick appeared.

He could read hostility in the sullen attitude and wary gaze.

His only interaction with Count Frederick had been briefly exchanging greetings at secret social gatherings.

The reaction earlier seemed somewhat excessive.

What was certain was that Cabelased also felt an inexplicable displeasure towards Count Frederick.

Even as he thought about the cause, the deep kiss with Jieselgrante kept intruding.

‘Why am I like this?’

Cabelased began to contemplate his recent psychological state, which seemed unable to focus on anything and drifted aimlessly like a floating cloud.

Around the time Cabelased’s mind was filled with thoughts of Jieselgrante.

Jieselgrante was also unable to focus on her conversation with Count Frederick, recalling Cabelased instead.

‘Why did I do that?’

Jieselgrante’s brow furrowed as she remembered what had happened in the carriage earlier.

She hadn’t realized it in the moment when consumed by a momentary impulse, but now she was newly aware of it.

That she had ended up doing such a bold thing with Cabelased!

As she dwelled on that fact, her cheeks flushed hotly.

It was as she was cooling her heated cheeks with the back of her hand that it happened.

“…My lady, my lady? Are you listening to me right now?”

At Count Frederick’s slightly irritated and grumpy voice, Jieselgrante hurriedly raised her gaze to look at him.

And she said confidently.

“Of course. I was listening to everything. Where were you in your explanation?”

Seeing her nonchalant reaction, Count Frederick gave a hollow laugh.