“What is the meaning of this? Explain yourself.”

Lloyd Percy sat with an arrogant posture, coldly glaring at Grit.

Receiving his gaze, Grit had a friendly smile on his face but simmering anger inside.

He had certainly expected Clea to return to the duke’s residence within a day.

No matter that she was his child, in his eyes Clea was pathetic and incapable of doing anything without the family’s help.

Such a child had tried to leave on her own, turning her back on the family.

At first, Grit felt contempt and arrogance.

He thought she would surely return within a day.

Since she had left in the evening, he thought she would come back quietly in the middle of the night.

But days passed and Clea did not return.

Adult nobles are usually very prideful. So they sometimes treat even their parents with disrespect.

But when they go out into the world, they realize:

The warm room, beautiful clothes, delicious food, and safety until morning comes are not given for free.

‘She dares to treat me this way before even inheriting the grand duke title!’

Grit clenched his fist.

Even if Clea didn’t return, Grit had assigned knights from the mansion to be able to bring her back anytime.

The Odoi family knights should have been more than enough to subdue any riffraff that might get involved.

Logically, knights are an elite group that has received tremendous training, unlike common thugs.

However, she never returned, and the knights were all assassinated on the spot.

In any case, the fact that Clea had not returned was true, so Grit had first planned to send a letter to Lloyd in Clea’s name.

But before he could do that, Lloyd came barging into the Odoi mansion without any prior notice.

And after that, it was like the current situation.

“You haven’t forgotten how much money our family has lent to your duchy, have you?”

“I am well aware even without you mentioning it, Young Master.”

“Then does it make any sense for you to treat me this way?”

Lloyd frowned at Grit.

Meeting that gaze, Grit felt a sudden urge to stand up and ask where he had learned such manners.

He too was one of the dukes of the empire.

Not a fallen house, but one of the few dukes in the empire.

But he didn’t have the courage to actually say those words out loud.

Even if he was a duke, the man before him was the future heir to the grand duchy.

He knew well what it meant to go against the Percy Grand Duchy. He knew this was a time to lower himself as much as possible.

“Was my request to properly look after your one daughter that difficult?”

“I understand well what you are saying, Young Master.”

“So where is Clea?”

Lloyd was still snarling with a distorted expression.

Those who saw Lloyd’s appearance thought:

The grand duke and duchess must have scolded him again after hearing about what happened between Lloyd and Clea.

They thought his mood was so bad because he had been reprimanded.

However, they were mistaken in their thinking.

In fact, the grand duke and duchess still did not know about what had happened between Lloyd and Clea.

“Hey, Lloyd. Calm down.”

“What?”

“There’s no way Clea could be in danger, right? In the middle of the capital, not some countryside.”

Steve stepped in, trying to help his father who seemed to be in a difficult situation.

But his choice was entirely wrong.

Steve had thought of Lloyd as a friend until now.

He had been close with Lloyd, sharing various conversations, and imagining the future of the empire they would lead together.

But that thought was completely shattered by Lloyd’s next words.

“Who are you to casually call my name?”

“L-Lloyd?”

“What kind of relationship do you think we have if my relationship with Clea falls apart?”

“Well, friends…”

“That’s laughable, Steve Odoi.”

Lloyd shot Steve a contemptuous glare.

Everyone present was taken aback by the sudden turn of events.

They never expected Lloyd to speak so bluntly to Steve.

Steve looked at him with trembling eyes.

Meanwhile, Lloyd clicked his tongue as if annoyed and spoke one-sidedly.

“If you want to maintain a relationship with me and the Percy family, you’d better find Clea as soon as possible.”

Grit and Steve tried to say something in response, but Lloyd stood up abruptly as soon as he finished speaking.

They tried to somehow stop him, but couldn’t bring themselves to grab him.

It was difficult to approach, not knowing what kind of rebuke they might receive if they stopped him here.

In reality, if they had tried to grab or block him, Lloyd would have truly exploded in anger this time.

His mood was very low.

When he had hot tea spilled on him by Clea, Lloyd had expected that as always, a heartfelt letter of apology would come to his room the next day.

However, not a single letter came that day.

‘Who do you think you are? What are you really?’

Lloyd pictured Clea’s face in his mind.

She had always acted so subserviently before him.

Clea, who was like a doll – kneeling when told to kneel, smiling when told to smile.

But one day, she suddenly showed behavior different from before.

As if she had become a different person.

Of course, what she was capable of doing remained the same, but Lloyd felt the greatest sense of discomfort at that change.

He furrowed his brow in displeasure, but soon smiled.

It was because he thought her current behavior was ultimately just to attract his attention.

“I’ll know when I see you again.”

Lloyd temporarily quelled the indignation in his heart.

He would know when he saw her again.

Normally, he would have completely lost his temper just from having tea spilled on him by another woman.

No matter that the other party was a woman, he couldn’t overlook being humiliated like that.

However, at that time, Lloyd was unable to move from that spot.

Under Clea’s cold gaze, he froze like he had encountered Medusa from mythology.

When was the last time he had properly met her eyes?

Moreover, what kind of gaze did Clea look up at him with when they first met?

Lloyd bit his lip, lost in various thoughts.

As he bit down hard enough to taste blood, he became angry again at the rumors that had reached his ears.

‘There’s no way Admund would want her.’

Lloyd, who was somewhat close with Admund, didn’t believe that he had spoken privately with Clea.

He was the man who would inherit the next imperial throne.

Above all, there was no way someone like him, who cared so much about others’ perceptions, would approach Clea, who had such a notorious reputation in high society.

Even as he was almost certain, Lloyd still felt uneasy.

The fact that Clea never explicitly said it was a lie to the very end still bothered him.

“When you return, I definitely won’t stay still this time.”

Lloyd thought this was not the time. Looking at the Odoi Duke’s mansion with distrustful eyes, he decided to take action himself.

Under the nice-sounding pretext of searching for his runaway fiancée.

“Then shall I pay a visit to where the other party is as well?”

He turned his steps towards the imperial palace.

* * *

How many hours had she slept?

Clea got up from the bed, brushing her messy hair to one side.

The sunlight coming through the window was too strong to call it morning. Thinking it might be midday, she looked around.

“Lady Clea, did you sleep well last night? I am Anne, the maid assigned to assist you and ensure your comfort during your stay.”

A maid who had confirmed that she was awake entered and stood before her. She introduced herself in a careful voice.

Anne. Clea felt the name sounded familiar.

Soon she realized who she was.

But Clea didn’t say anything in particular and conveyed her needs to Anne.

“Give me some water.”

Her throat was parched and cracked from how hot the night had been.

After requesting water as she felt beyond just dryness and was somewhat thirsty, her gaze turned to the fireplace that was still blazing.

‘Did they have to go that far just because I shivered a bit from the cold?’

Thanks to that, she hadn’t shivered from the cold in the middle of the night, but by morning it had become completely hot around her.

Clea frowned slightly for a moment, but soon relaxed her brow.

Even that seemed cute when she thought it was done out of concern for her.

She turned her gaze to Anne.

Anne nodded and immediately brought water.

After lightly emptying one cup of water and then another, Clea finally had the energy to converse.

“Where is His Highness?”

“He said to tell you he’s in his office.”

“Is that so?”

With those words, Clea got up from the bed.

Her gaze turned to the desk.

She had been bothered by the neatly folded paper on the desk for a while, so she approached and unfolded it.

It could have been important documents related to the imperial family, but Anne did not stop her actions.

The person she served wouldn’t have allowed this space without considering such things in the first place.

Thus, Clea was able to quietly read the neatly folded paper without any interference.

“How foolish.”

She let out a laugh.

Anne would probably be shocked if she heard who the subject of “foolish” was referring to.

Clea didn’t care about such things and examined the contents written inside.

The contents of the paper were as follows:

Clea was pleased by the short sentence.

To think he had been bothered enough by the phrase she had left to leave such a brief reply.

‘For that, didn’t he bite my neck a bit too much?’

Clea smiled brightly.