The next morning.

The knights of Delmark were standing in the training ground, pale since early morning.

“Ugh!”

Their comrade, who couldn’t even properly counterattack once, dropped his sword and collapsed.

The person standing in front of him was Herdin.

Herdin looked at him with cold eyes and nodded towards one side of the training ground.

There were knights lined up waiting in a push-up position with their heads down.

They were all those who couldn’t make a proper counterattack in their duel with Herdin.

“Next.”

At Herdin’s command, the next knight stepped forward with a terrified face.

The eyes of the remaining knights looking at their comrade were like watching a comrade jumping into certain death. At the same time, they also sent sympathetic glances as if looking at a condemned criminal who had received their execution date.

They looked at their pitiful comrade and Herdin standing in front of him with resigned faces.

War hero.

Blessed with divine power, currently the empire’s only magic swordsman.

‘Is there even a knight in this empire, no, on this continent who can defeat that person…’

Especially the knights who had fought with Herdin for a long time on the battlefield knew his skills well.

It would be fortunate if they could just properly counterattack once and avoid punishment.

Usually, they would blame the Creator’s terrible favoritism, but instinctively gaze at that handsome face. Today, however, it looked like the face of the grim reaper.

While praying for the soul of their comrade who was struggling just to block Herdin’s one-sided attacks, one of the knights waiting for his turn gestured to his companions beside him.

“Hey, who was it?”

“What?”

“Who upset His Excellency?”

“Upset what? We haven’t even seen him properly for a while because of the wedding preparations and the ceremony.”

“Then why is the newlywed groom, who should be enjoying his honeymoon, wasting his energy here on the second morning of his marriage?”

“If it were you, would you feel like enjoying your honeymoon after being forced to marry the daughter of your enemy?”

Come to think of it, that’s true.

The bad blood between the imperial family and the Delmark ducal family was a well-known fact among the nobles of the empire.

The knight who had nodded in agreement to that reason suddenly burst out in frustration.

“But if that’s the case, he should take it out on them, why is he doing this to us?”

How should I know.

The knights who didn’t know the answer just shrugged their shoulders. Then suddenly remembering the presence of someone next to them who might know the answer, they looked at him.

‘Does the aide know?’

But Luth also just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

It was while they were getting thoroughly beaten up early in the morning without knowing why.

“Huh?”

The knights standing looking towards the entrance of the training ground began to stir.

As Herdin, who had just knocked down the knight he was sparring with, noticed the atmosphere, a small coughing sound was heard.

Herdin immediately turned towards the direction of the sound. Blair was seen entering the training ground with the butler.

“Mason, what brings you here?”

Although he asked the butler, it was essentially a question directed at Blair.

Blair answered in place of Mason.

“I greeted the servants yesterday, but I didn’t get to greet the knights. I had some time before going to the imperial palace, so I thought I’d come and say hello.”

However, although they were momentarily captivated by her beauty, no one welcomed her.

‘Does she want to play the role of the lady of the house for us too?’

Although they had been gloomy at the thought of getting thoroughly beaten by Herdin just moments ago, they were comrades who had survived the battlefield together.

The more loyal they were to Herdin, the greater their antipathy towards Blair, a member of the imperial family, was bound to be.

She must not be unaware of this fact, but whether to call it naive or foolish.

While thinking this, Herdin still stepped forward to introduce Blair to the knights.

“You’ve probably all seen her face in passing, but haven’t formally greeted her.”

“…”

“Greet her. This is the Duchess you’ll be serving from now on.”

When their lord stepped forward like this, even the knights who didn’t think favorably of Blair outwardly showed proper respect.

“The loyal swords of Delmark formally greet the Duchess.”

“I’m pleased to meet you too. Thank you for welcoming me despite my sudden visit. I look forward to working with you.”

Blair smiled brightly, but her eyes, carefully examining each of their faces one by one, were calmly submerged.

In fact, Blair had another purpose for visiting the knights’ training ground.

In her previous life, she had tried hard to be acknowledged as the lady of the house, but these were people who hated her.

There was no need to try to impress or gain recognition from such people. After all, once this contract marriage was over, she would never see them again.

The real reason she came to visit the knights was…

‘One of them might be the person who killed me.’

The Delmark ducal family is one of the three great ducal families of the empire, and its knights, having fought in wars directly, have skills comparable to the imperial knights.

And the assassin who killed Blair had infiltrated the villa, breaking through that tight security.

This was one of the reasons why Blair suspected Herdin as being behind her death.

Either the person was skilled enough to break through the tight security and infiltrate the villa, or they were someone who could easily enter and exit.

If so, perhaps the assassin could be someone from within the ducal family.

Most of the servants were people whose faces Blair knew, as they would often cross paths within the mansion.

On the other hand, the knights rarely overlapped in their living areas, so there were fewer people whose faces she remembered. Even if the assassin was among the knights, there was a high possibility that she wouldn’t have recognized them.

That’s why she came to check in person. Hoping that the assassin wasn’t among the knights, that Herdin was not involved in her death.

Of course, just imagining that she might face her killer again, thinking that perhaps the husband she once loved might have been involved in her death, made her breath catch and her blood run cold. Her hands trembled. She wanted to run away right then and there.

‘No. Nothing will change if I run away.’

Blair clasped her trembling hands together as if to stop herself from fleeing. She recalled the face of the assassin, tracing through her terrible memories.

‘That person had an ugly sword scar on the bridge of their nose.’

There were too many knights to examine each one in detail, but it wouldn’t be difficult to find someone with a large sword scar on their face.

Blair quickly scanned the faces of the knights.

‘…He’s not here.’

Fortunately, the assassin didn’t seem to be among them.

The possibility that Herdin was involved in her death had decreased a little.

A sigh of relief escaped Blair’s lips, which had been nervously biting.

At that moment, Luth approached Herdin.

“Your Excellency. I think it’s about time to prepare for lunch attendance.”

The butler Mason went ahead to prepare, and Herdin, Blair, and Luth left the training ground after concluding their meeting with the knights.

Walking beside Herdin, Blair noticed beads of sweat on his forehead and offered her handkerchief.

“You’ll catch a cold.”

But Herdin refused her kindness.

“I’m fine.”

His tone was polite, but his attitude was utterly indifferent.

Watching the two of them from behind, Luth found himself breaking out in a cold sweat. Blair, however, seemed unfazed by his rejection and calmly tucked away her handkerchief.

‘Who would think they’re newlyweds looking at that scene?’

It wasn’t that Luth particularly wished for Blair to be loved and treated well by his lord, but seeing her being rejected to her face didn’t sit well with him.

Silence fell again among the three people walking towards the main building of the ducal residence.

‘…Was the mansion always this far?’

Just as he was desperately wishing for someone to break this chilly silence.

Suddenly, a small shadow that sprang out from the nearby bushes ran quickly and collided with Blair.

“Ta-da! Huh?”

It was a small child, about three years old. It seemed to have come from the annex where the servants stayed.

Luth was shocked to see the child.

He was lucky to have found a master who was generous to his subordinates, but most nobles would fly into a rage if anything even slightly upset them.

How much more so for a member of the royal family? Especially the daughter of the notorious Katrina.

Luth hurriedly picked up the child lying prostrate in front of Blair and bowed his head instead.

“I apologize, Madam. This child is staying in the annex, and must have slipped out while the mother was working. I will take them back and caution the mother…”

“It’s alright.”

Blair sat down to meet the child’s eye level. Then, while personally dusting off the dirt on the child’s bottom, she asked,

“Are you okay, little one?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What’s your name?”

“Jeremy.”

“I see, Jeremy. Jeremy, you fell down but didn’t cry, you’re a very brave child.”

“Hehe.”

The child beamed at Blair’s praise. It was a pure smile, devoid of any prejudice or intention.

Unlike the other people of the ducal family who feared and disliked Blair.

Blair also smiled gently at the child who was smiling brightly at her. It was her first genuine smile since returning to the past.

Luth, who was watching this scene from beside the child, stood up with an embarrassed face. He felt ashamed of himself for assuming that Blair would naturally reject the child.

Next to such a Luth, Herdin was also silently observing the two.

‘I thought she was a doll because she rarely shows emotions.’

So she was a woman who could smile like that.

The woman smiling brightly under the sunlight sparkled dazzlingly. It seemed to be because of the snow piled up here and there in the backyard, or perhaps because of her pale face.

At the same time, Luth’s wristwatch glinting in the light caught his eye, but Herdin ignored it and continued to take in Blair’s appearance for a bit longer.