Unconsciously, I nodded.

“Yeah!”

Oops, I didn’t plan to shout so cheerfully. But I was too excited, and it seemed I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm.

‘I wonder if it’s because of all the accumulated stress from Leandro?’

Whether he heard me or not, Leandro’s expression twisted.

“Now treating the sacred duel as a joke—”

Smack!

Without a word, Johann threw a glove at Leandro’s face through my hand. The impact was louder than before.

‘Wow, Leandro managed to dodge it by lifting his head.’

Taking that into consideration, Johann threw it precisely at Leandro’s face.

A reddish mark appeared on Leandro’s face. The black glove fell slowly to the ground.

The air inside the salon froze. Leandro looked at me coldly, seemingly unable to believe that he had been hit not once but twice.

“Well, direct hit.”

In the silent salon, Johann’s playful voice echoed.

“I would have thrown another one if there were more. Too bad.”

“…Duke of Blanshet, do not mock the sacred duel of knights.”

Leandro gritted his teeth, picking up Johann’s black glove from the ground. As if protecting his last bit of pride by not responding to Johann’s provocation.

“Duke of Blanshet, I also know how remarkable your abilities are.”

Annoying, but Leandro looked like a noble knight from a fairy tale.

“Even my White Night’s Sword is not as light as it seems.”

Marquis Felciss.

A prestigious family counted among the five fingers of the Empire.

If the Duke of Blanshet’s family was the proudest noble family, the Marquis Felciss family seemed to have been created as if mimicking an upright knight.

Having served as the commander of the Imperial Knights for generations, they protected the Imperial Family.

‘Of course, I’ve always been in the shadow of the Duke of Blanshet, and…’

After the disappearance of the Duke of Blanshet’s family, Marquis Felciss became the only pride of the Empire.

Among them, Leandro, a man who received more credit than anyone else, even earned the title of ‘Knight of the White Night.’

Leandro’s sharp blue eyes turned towards Johann.

“So, you should be careful not to be swallowed up by that arrogance of yours.”

“If I can, I welcome it.”

However, Johann didn’t blink at Leandro’s momentum.

“Rather than that, how about taking the so-called important witness away?”

Leandro, eyebrows slightly furrowed, looked at the unconscious Miryu.

“What did you do to Lady Jutie?”

“I just brought her here as an important witness.”

“The important witness, Lady Jutie, fainted? It’s an unreasonable excuse.”

“Well, suddenly she wanted to faint, you know?”

Smirking, Johann tapped Miryu’s cheek.

“If you’re more curious, instead of my wife, take this woman and ask her.”
In that moment, Raymond threw Miryu, who had been in his arms. Leandro hurriedly moved and caught Miryu, preventing her from crashing onto the floor.

Leandro clenched his fist and glared at Johann.

“Duke of Blanshet, no matter how much you shield her, her wrongdoing won’t be erased.”

“Let’s skip the chitchat and talk about what her wrongdoing is.”

Princess Diana approached Miryu with a worried expression, asking, “Sister-in-law, are you okay?” She then received Miryu from Leandro.

I closely observed Miryu, who was unconscious.

‘No matter how I look at it, those scars, there’s something about them.’

Honestly, I learned about Miryu’s scar from social gossip. However, Miryu’s scars were in no way related to me.

‘Perhaps she made up some strange story and circulated it around.’

I didn’t explicitly say it was me, but it was something everyone could guess.

‘But why scars of all things?’

Miryu wanted to be treated well, playing the victim card. The worse my reputation got, the better her character would be perceived.

‘There are plenty of better means than scars.’

Miryu, while having a good husband and in-laws due to the situation being resolved, would generally be avoided as a bride with scars.

‘Scars, scars…’

Suddenly, my thoughts extended to the scar on my body.

So far, very few people have seen my scar. Lord and Lady Libertan, Libertan’s lady-in-waiting Betty, the estate steward Henry, and…

‘Come to think of it, Miryu too.’

At that moment, memories of Miryu resurfaced vividly.

‘You shouldn’t have secrets between friends. What’s the reason for not teaching me even though you knew?’

Now, Miryu was unconscious, but before me, the Miryu from her younger years, who scrunched her face, vividly came to life.

“Ugh, what, what’s this disgusting thing? Is this even real?”

‘How did it suddenly appear?’

‘Really? The Libertan couple hates you so much. How could such a scar appear suddenly? And if you were fine, there’d be no reason to send you back when you came.’

Miryu persistently examined the scar on my thigh.

‘Has anyone else seen this scar?’

“…No.”

“Yeah, if you were such a bad daughter, God would have given you this scar. Keep it hidden for a lifetime.”

While saying that, Miryu, unlike a moment ago, kindly lowered my dress.