The warmth that had held me surprisingly withdrew easily. However, for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to look at Kyrion, so I lowered my head.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”

After swallowing my breath, I uttered the words. Once again, my heart began to beat violently to the point of nausea.

“I won’t get married.”

I forced a smile, even though my facial muscles hurt terribly.

“As for Hees, I’m sorry for rejecting him outright. I just said I would think about it.”

This was sincere. In my current state of mind, it was something I couldn’t do to myself or to Hees.

“I don’t plan to get married for a while, so don’t worry.”

Then, as if sharing a joke, I patted Kyrion’s arm a few times.

“You’re already worried that you won’t have anyone to play with if I’m not around.”

Trying to conceal my stifled heart, I finished my words.

“Now, you should make an effort too. So you can get along with others.”

“Even if I make an effort, it won’t work, you know.”

And the warmth that couldn’t be avoided enveloped me again. Eventually, I leaned my head slightly on Kyrion’s broad shoulders.

Even though I hated other people, I just wanted to keep going like this.

“So, don’t leave me…”

“Who said I’m going to leave you?”

But once he finds out that I’m actively promoting his marriage with the Duchess, he will undoubtedly think that I’ve been abandoned.

Feeling sorry for him, I comforted Kyrion’s back and ended up hugging him a little.

As my chest became painfully tight, I admitted it. It seemed that I didn’t want to abandon Kyrion either. But when the image of the Duchess came to mind, my chest constricted so much that it hurt.

Reyna’s voice was infinitely light.

“Now, you should make an effort too. So you can get along with others.”

“Even if I make an effort, it won’t work, you know.”

But Kyrion’s subsequent voice sank endlessly downward. It was so clear that even Esmeralda, who had arrived late in the garden, could hear it from where she was hiding.

While hugging Reyna, Kyrion whispered, and his gaze at Esmeralda was unmistakable.

A clear warning not to come closer.

The palpable life force made my entire body shiver as if freezing.

In the end, Esmeralda took a step back and fled. The ringing in my ears was loud.

“Foolish girl. I told you to abandon useless emotions like that.”

The voice that sharply slapped her ear made Esmeralda steal a glance. Tears were genuinely welling up.

“Is the spell properly cast?”

Esmeralda unfolded her hands, still filled with her written words.

It was a spell that captured a person’s heart.

The spell, which absorbed all the magical power her mother had accumulated over several years, was incredibly powerful.

“Yes… I’m sure. I did it properly…”

The sound of a sharp tongue echoed.

“You useless girl. You can’t even meet the conditions for the multiplication spell.”

It wasn’t difficult to understand her mother’s words. A multiplication spell.
It was a spell that multiplied Kirian’s liking for her several times. But what if the degree of that liking is 0? No matter how much you multiply, 0 remains 0.

A short sigh escaped Esmeralda’s lips. Even the faint hope that she had under the spell vanished.

However, the failure of the spell was not as surprising as she had thought. It was because of Kirian.

Kirian, who looked at everyone with empty, indifferent eyes. Except for one person.

“I have to get rid of that duchess.”

Mother’s voice stung Esmeralda’s ears.

Mother seemed to have felt it too.

Kirian’s gaze only came alive when he looked at one person.

“If we get rid of that duchess, we can create the necessary conditions for the spell.”

Mother said so, but Esmeralda could not imagine anything other than the chilling coldness of her emptiness.

Somehow, the day of the hunting competition that the Duchess had ambitiously prepared had arrived.

Eliza woke me up from dawn, swaying around the room like an angry rhinoceros.

“Not the time for this, Miss!”

Eliza hurriedly took me to the closet.

“Today, young nobles from various families will be adorned from head to toe. Miss shouldn’t be left behind.”

Then she began to pull out magnificent dresses one by one.

“How about this dress, embroidered with 1000 diamonds depicting the Milky Way?”

It was Eliza who presented the dress that I had marked as the source of my independent funds. I had put it on just once to see how it felt, and had kept it stored away neatly. But now, she was telling me to wear it to the hunting competition.

“Do you think the giant crows that love jewels will pick it apart?”

Eliza smirked.

“Well, that’s true. If it’s Miss, the giant crows might snatch it away. The big ones only pick the ripe ones.”

Eliza’s nonchalant words made me shiver for a moment. Due to my absence from the previous hunting competitions, I didn’t know much about the reality of the events.

No matter how you think about it, calling the young nobles, who would jump at the sight of bugs, to this hunting competition full of giant crows didn’t seem like a good idea.