“Stop your futile resistance. A carriage is waiting outside to take you to the Duke’s residence.”

“This can’t be happening, this can’t be!”

Lloyd shouted at the knights who had come to throw him out of the mansion.

He still couldn’t accept the situation that had befallen him.

From being stripped of his right to inherit, to that right being passed on to none other than Clea.

To Lloyd, it felt as if everything had happened as suddenly as if it had all occurred in a single night. Even though it had taken place over the course of several days.

He appealed only to the injustice of it all, not even considering the mistakes he had made the previous day.

But no matter how much he objected, there was no one willing to take his side. Even the mere servants turned their backs on him. He was completely isolated at the Grand Duke’s residence.

“Come here. It’s time.”

“I won’t go. No, I can’t go!”

“Young master!”

Previously, Lloyd would have gone out on his own even if told not to, saying that it was suffocating inside the mansion.

But now, he had changed.

Lloyd felt that if he were to leave this place now, he would never be able to return.

Even for a rogue like him, being driven out of the Grand Duke’s residence where he was born and raised was unacceptable.

So he desperately resisted. Despite his body not yet being healed, he got up from his sickbed and refused to be dragged away by the knights.

Of course, that was all the resistance Lloyd could muster.

“We warned you.”

“Aah!”

He no longer had a sword to face off against the knights like before, nor anything else.

Lloyd swung his fists as a last struggle. But to no avail.

The knights of the Percy family were not so incompetent that they couldn’t avoid even that much.

Easily evading Lloyd’s fists, they precisely struck Lloyd’s wounded areas.

Since the wounds had not yet healed, Lloyd fell with a somewhat anticlimactic ease.

Seeing this, the Grand Duke family’s knights didn’t even find it laughable.

They were simply seething that four knights had been injured because of it.

If not for the Grand Duke’s orders, they had a strong desire to rush in right now and take a satisfying revenge.

“Do you think you’ll get away with this?!”

“The Grand Duke has already given his permission on this matter.”

“Let go of me! I’m going to see my father and mother directly!”

“The two of them have vacated the mansion.”

The knights sighed, but thought it was fortunate.

‘This person will no longer have the chance to inherit the Grand Duke family.’

The new successor was unanimously chosen to be Clea.

Although she had not yet properly demonstrated her abilities, they were convinced that she would at least be better than the Lloyd before their eyes.

The woman they had seen yesterday was just as she had been in the past.

Unlike Lloyd who easily got excited, she was calm and quiet.

On top of that, she had decisiveness, making her exactly the type of person the Grand Duke family wanted.

The people of the Grand Duke family had greatly regretted her breaking off her engagement with Lloyd.

But Clea had returned. And as the person who would push Lloyd out and become the new master of the Grand Duke’s residence at that.

Like it or not, with the new successor decided, they had to follow the newly woven plans.

In doing so, Clea’s enemies would soon become their enemies as well. Not only Lloyd, but also Aria who was to marry him.

“Never come back here again. This is not only the order of the family head, but also our earnest advice to you.”

Lloyd screamed in rage, but they paid him no heed.

* * *

Aria’s confinement was carried out to an unprecedented level.

Knights of the ducal family guarded to ensure she absolutely could not come out from inside, and if someone needed to enter her room, they had to write their name and reason outside the door before entering.

On the day the confinement order was issued, the Duchess personally stepped up to persuade the Duke.

She pleaded with him to release Aria, asking how he could do this to their only child no matter how much she had erred.

However, the Duke shouted at the Duchess, demanding to know why she had given Aria a dowry.

When the Duchess finally showed tears while pleading, the Duke reluctantly set a condition.

If Aria showed signs of remorse and self-reflection for about three days, he would lift the confinement.

But Aria caused an incident in just two days.

She had attempted to escape by switching clothes with a maid who was supposed to attend to her bath, but was caught.

The maid was fired, and after that, no one could enter her room.

From inside the room, Aria’s shouts demanding the door be opened immediately could be heard, along with the sounds of things being smashed.

However, by the Duke’s orders, they were all thoroughly ignored.

“Young lady, your confinement has ended. And the young master is waiting to meet with you in the reception room.”

“I will open the door, young lady.”

In the end, the time her confinement ended was after Lloyd had arrived at the Hersher Ducal Residence.

Lloyd, who had arrived at the ducal residence long before, was eagerly awaiting his meeting with Aria.

He wanted to meet her as soon as possible and spend happy times together like before.

But Aria’s feelings were completely different.

“What in the world is this…!”

The servants who entered Aria’s room were appalled.

The inside of the room was a mess. The furniture was broken, the curtains were torn, and the glass items, including the windows, were all shattered.

What was especially shocking was Aria’s appearance.

Perhaps from not eating properly, she was even thinner than before, and her once soft hair was completely damaged.

Her eyes were red and bloodshot like someone who hadn’t slept for days, and the area around her eyes was dark.

“Call the doctor, hurry!”

The butler hastily ordered for the doctor to be summoned, and the servants hurriedly tended to Aria.

“Who did you say is waiting for me right now?”

While everyone was worrying about her health, Aria asked about something else.

What was important to her right now was not her health or anything like that.

“…Young Master Lloyd is waiting for you.”

The butler spoke his name with difficulty.

They all knew very well. That Aria would grind her teeth at the mention of Lloyd.

It wasn’t something they couldn’t understand either.

As time passed, more and more unsavory rumors about Lloyd started circulating, to the point where rumors related to Curtis Street began to emerge.

The rumor that he had not only embezzled the Grand Duke family’s wealth, but had also squandered all that money at the gambling house, was truly unbelievable.

At first, they thought the rumors would quickly die down.

Because no matter how bad he was, it seemed unlikely that he, the Grand Duke family’s successor, would frequent Curtis Street.

But contrary to their expectations, the rumors spread further and further.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and people gradually began to believe the rumors.

“I will not marry Lloyd.”

Aria said quietly. That she would not marry Lloyd.

But no one responded to her words.

The Duke’s mind had already completely turned towards Lloyd.

There was no one among the people of the ducal residence who did not know that he thought this was the best choice for the family and for them.

They could sympathize with her, but they couldn’t make the choice to be left out on the streets for her sake.

“Young lady, this is a message from the Duke.”

Meanwhile, the butler sought to finish what he had to do.

To her, it was no different than a death sentence.

“He said to have an outfit tailored to attend the wedding with Young Master Lloyd.”

The butler did not bother to explain whose wedding it was.

Saying who it was would only further hurt Aria’s heart.

‘I have to suffer this humiliation, so why are you the one who gets to be happy.’

Upon hearing the butler’s words, Aria was on the verge of going mad from the surging resentment boiling up inside her.

She was angry thinking that girl had taken everything that should have been hers.

Tears flowed from Aria’s eyes.

She wanted to somehow get out of the mansion and seek help from others.

She wanted to know what she had to do to disrupt this wedding.

But she couldn’t even go out because of the knights outside the door.

When she was caught after forcibly taking clothes from a maid and trying to leave, Aria pleaded with the knights for the first time.

She asked them to please help her go outside the mansion.

However, the knights immediately seized her.

‘Those are the things you should have gone through originally. The marriage with Lloyd, the hatred from the family, all of it should have been you, not me!’

Aria wanted to rush to the Duke right now and beg him.

But upon seeing the servants before her eyes, she soon gave up. Just like the knights who had blocked her path, they seemed likely to stand in her way as well.

Feeling both frustration and betrayal, she thought of one person.

She wanted to meet him.

‘Bawin.’

At least he might listen to what she had to say.

She too was aware.

From the moment it became known that Clea would become the Crown Princess, all those who had been by her side disappeared in an instant.

‘Clea, things absolutely will not go your way.’

However, Aria still did not give up.

If she gave up now, things would only go as Clea wanted.

Aria made up her mind. She would do whatever she could.

She spoke to the butler.

“Call Lloyd. I’m going to go out directly with him to pick out the clothes to wear.”

Hearing those words, the butler was conflicted.

Nobles did not need to go out personally to have clothes tailored.

Especially for high-ranking noble families like Lloyd and Aria, the designer would come directly to the mansion.

Anyone could see that Aria’s condition was not normal right now.

If left alone, there was no telling what might happen.

The butler suddenly recalled what the Duke had said.

‘He had said to think of ways for her to get along well with the young master.’

It was an answer even the Duke had not been able to find.

For a moment, the butler saw this as an opportunity instead.

He thought that if the two of them went out together like old times, they might become close.

Of course, it wasn’t that he wasn’t anxious.

It was suspicious for Aria, who had just said she would not marry Lloyd, to readily volunteer like this.

The butler was at a loss for what to do and kept hesitating.

Then, Aria’s voice was heard again.

“You can’t even grant me this much?”

It was an unspoken pressure, asking if they couldn’t even agree to this much.

At her words, appealing for sympathy with her weakened appearance, the servants also turned their gazes towards the butler.

The butler reluctantly opened his mouth.

“I will discuss it.”

Hearing those words, Aria smiled.

She was certain.

The Duke, who wished for her to get along with Lloyd more than anyone else, would absolutely not refuse.