After the nobles surrounding the two had retreated, Herdin handed a glass of wine to Katrina and began to speak.

“Are you afraid of me, Your Majesty?”

Katrina, drinking the wine she received from him, burst into laughter as if she had heard an amusing story.

“Afraid? Me? Of you?”

When he looked at Katrina, he could see his wife’s face. Blair resembled her. At least that beautiful face that was called the most beautiful in the country.

The moment he realized this fact, the woman before him became even more detestable.

“You seem to be brainwashing me as if you’re afraid I might find out the truth. That you’re the niece of a criminal, and I’m the one who forgave you and accepted you as family. That this is the truth.”

It was quite amusing to see her trying to suppress his spirit. His mother-in-law seemed to still see him as a fifteen-year-old boy.

Herdin added as he put down his empty glass on the table.

“But when the intention is too transparent, it tends to cause resentment.”

The smile had disappeared from Katrina’s face as she looked at Herdin.

“What you know is the truth. That fact will never change.”

Katrina’s voice was filled with some certainty, but Herdin bowed his head politely and turned away as if he had no intention of dealing with her anymore.

Retreating to a quiet corner of the banquet hall, Herdin moistened his dry throat with wine and looked around the hall.

His eyes, now accustomed to Blair’s appearance, quickly found her among the many people.

Blair was talking to a woman in one corner of the banquet hall. They seemed to be having quite a serious conversation, as both of their expressions looked rather grave.

But what bothered him more were the men hovering around Blair, glancing at her.

Those wolf-like bastards who would pounce at the slightest opportunity to say a word or try to hold her hand.

Imagining what thoughts might be in those heads made his blood run cold.

At the wedding, he hadn’t noticed because Blair was always by his side. Even those who had nothing but that thought in their minds couldn’t have approached the bride who had just married that day, especially with the groom right there.

But thinking back to the victory banquet, such men had always swarmed around Blair. Only she hadn’t noticed it.

At that moment, someone placed a hand on Herdin’s shoulder as he was downing the remaining wine like whiskey.

“Do you like it that much?”

Johannes Felix, the second son of the Felix Marquis family.

To Herdin, he was one of the few strange ones who approached him without fear and without hesitation. In fact, Johann seemed to go around calling himself Herdin’s friend.

Without even looking at Johann, who had suddenly appeared and was spouting nonsense, Herdin asked.

“What?”

“Your wife, I mean. Even at the victory banquet, you couldn’t take your eyes off her while saying it wasn’t so.”

“Nonsense.”

The answer flowed smoothly. There was not a moment of hesitation.

Johann looked at Herdin with bewildered eyes.

Even at this moment? While glaring with eyes that seemed ready to kill all the men stealing glances at his wife?

Johann, who had been looking at him as if unable to understand Herdin’s actions that contradicted his words, soon guessed his psychology.

“Well, honestly, she is pretty. What man wouldn’t fall for that face and that figure?”

That Herdin, like any other man, was attracted to Blair’s appearance.

‘Of course, unlike the other guys, this one is attracted to his own wife, so it’s legal.’

Although he had never shown interest in any woman until now, the object of his attention was the princess called the most beautiful woman in the empire. It was understandable.

“Exaggerating a bit, if she set her mind to it, she could probably have all the men in this banquet hall kneeling at her feet…”

Johann, who had been rambling on as if he fully understood Herdin’s feelings, hastily added when he met Herdin’s gaze, which had become even more fierce than before.

“Ah, of course, not me. No matter what, I have some business ethics, I’m not the kind of bastard who would have such sinister thoughts about a friend’s wife, right?”

Johann quickly raised his glass and brought it close to Herdin’s, smiling awkwardly.

Herdin looked at him with the most exasperated eyes in the world. It was frustrating to see him speak as if he was maintaining a thousand-year-old loyalty about something so obvious.

He put his glass back down, avoiding Johann who was trying to clink glasses, and turned away. Johann’s glass awkwardly brushed through the air.

“Hey, where are you going? Leaving an old friend you haven’t seen in a long time.”

Hey, Your Grace!

Ignoring Johann’s voice calling after him, Herdin was about to head towards the part of the banquet hall where Blair had been, but he stopped in his tracks.

Blair had already disappeared.

* * *

“Haah…”

The sigh Blair exhaled dispersed white into the cool winter night.

‘I’m dizzy…’

She had come out to the balcony to shake off the effects of alcohol in the cold winter wind, but instead, her body felt hotter and the alcohol seemed to be hitting her more. Her head felt fuzzy.

Blair lightly slapped both her cheeks and let out a deep sigh.

“What should I do? If I go back to the banquet hall like this, I’ll be rumored to be a drunkard…”

She usually had a low alcohol tolerance, and while dealing with people, she had unknowingly drunk more than her limit, which was the root of the problem.

Although she didn’t feel that drunk despite feeling a bit fuzzy, she couldn’t return to the banquet hall in this state.

The nobles considered it undignified behavior to get drunk and lose consciousness, even at a banquet. Therefore, the wines provided in the banquet hall were usually light ones with low alcohol content.

To get drunk on such wine.

‘I need to go back quickly.’

But contrary to her intention, she felt drowsiness washing over her.

Just as Blair was about to doze off, the door clicked open and someone entered the balcony.

“…Lina?”

Blair, who thought it was Lina returning with water, froze when she saw the person approaching her.

“Well, who do we have here? Isn’t it our Princess?”

It was Wesley, the heir to the Boldwin Marquis family. He had been consistently friendly since she was a princess, but a strong smell of alcohol wafted from him as he approached.

“They say women become prettier when they know men, and you’ve become even prettier after getting married.”

Wesley’s staggering gait and half-closed eyes gave Blair an ominous feeling.

“…I’ll be heading back first.”

Blair conveyed her intention, enunciating each word clearly despite her increasingly slurring tongue. It wouldn’t do her any good to let this man targeting her know that she was drunk.

However, Wesley, seemingly unwilling to let Blair go easily, blocked her path.

“Come on, it would be a shame to leave so coldly when we’ve met like this. Please spare some time for me as well.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve been away from my seat for too long…”

“My, you’re playing hard to get.”

Wesley roughly grabbed Blair’s wrist. Blair, unable to properly control her body due to the alcohol, was easily pulled along by his grip.

Surprised, Blair tried to pull her wrist free, but it only made her captured wrist hurt more.

“Let go!”

“You’re not a virgin anymore, so why act like such an innocent lady? Let’s be honest about our desires, madam.”

Just as Wesley was roughly pulling the staggering Blair, someone’s hand entering through the open balcony grabbed Wesley’s wrist. It was a tremendous grip that seemed like it might break the wrist if not careful.

Unable to withstand the pain, Wesley released Blair’s wrist.

“Kuh… Who the hell!”

Wesley, who was about to lunge and throw a punch at the owner of the hand, hesitated when he saw his face. Before him stood Herdin with a face colder than the winter wind.

“Who am I, you ask…”

Herdin kicked Wesley in the stomach. Wesley rolled comically across the balcony floor.

Herdin approached Wesley, who was groaning. In that moment, Wesley managed to get up, but before he could counterattack, he tripped over Herdin’s foot and rolled on the floor once more.

Herdin sat down, making eye contact with him, and added in a low voice.

“This woman’s husband.”

Then he raised his fist and warned.

“Clench your teeth.”

It was right at that moment when Herdin was about to hit the frightened Wesley.

Hiccup!

A hiccup escaped from Blair’s mouth, who had been unable to say anything due to the shocking situation. At that sound, Herdin’s fist, about to hit Wesley, hesitated.

“…”

“…”

In the silence, only the sound of Blair’s hiccups echoed rhythmically.

Herdin lowered his raised hand. Instead, he grabbed Wesley’s head and whispered in his ear.

“If I hear you barking one more time, you won’t be able to taste anything with that tongue of yours anymore.”

It was a voice low enough that Blair couldn’t hear.

Herdin released Wesley’s hair as if throwing it away and stood up. Blair was still hiccuping. Even in that state, she was beautiful.

Those large, moist eyes that seemed about to spill tears if touched, the white cheeks slightly flushed from the cold wind, the small lips slightly parted in surprise.

Looking at her, Johann’s words suddenly came to mind.

‘Well, honestly, she is pretty. What man wouldn’t fall for that face and that figure?’

Yes, that’s why.

Because she’s so damn pretty, this mess has happened.

Thinking that all the men in the banquet hall were harboring lustful desires like Wesley, ogling and coveting her with their eyes, he felt the urge to pluck out all those eyes.

Before that could happen, he wanted to confine this woman somewhere within his sight. Somewhere no one else could see her.

Of course, he knew it was a crazy thought.

Suppressing his mad thoughts and boiling emotions, Herdin took Blair’s hand.

“…Follow me.”