The atmosphere around the dining table where the four people were seated was subtle.

As if they were in the eye of a storm, where the wind was calm for now but unpredictable gusts could blow at any moment.

“Is the food not to your liking?”

Caeron asked, noticing that the plate and cutlery in her hands had barely moved, and the food had hardly diminished. At his question, Aidel shook her head and gave a faint smile.

“No, it’s a splendid feast.”

Seeing her smile that only lasted a moment, Caeron looked at her face with concern. Pascal’s eyes widened in surprise at his attentive behavior, and Roselyn trembled, gritting her teeth.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke is very kind to my sister.”

Roselyn exclaimed with an exaggerated bright smile after watching the two for a while. She had long hidden her face contorted with jealousy.

“I can’t express how fortunate it is that my sister is marrying Your Highness. If it had been with Marquis Chalet… Oh my!”

Roselyn put her hand to her mouth, looking flustered as if she had misspoken.

“I apologize. I brought up an unnecessary story.”

“Marquis Chalet?”

Pascal did not miss the words ‘Marquis Chalet’ that sounded unusually loud and asked again.

“Why did Marquis Chalet’s name suddenly come up?”

Roselyn slightly raised the corners of her mouth as if it was the reaction she had hoped for, then lowered the corners of her eyes and answered with difficulty, as if revealing something.

“Well… actually… How could I hide it in front of Your Majesty? The truth is, the person my sister was first engaged to was Marquis Chalet.”

Having finished speaking, Roselyn furtively glanced at the Grand Duke sitting in front of her. The Grand Duke, with an unreadable expression, was looking at her with his arms crossed. It was as if he was telling her to go ahead and continue.

“Is that true? So the future Grand Duchess broke off the engagement with Marquis Chalet and then with His Highness…”

“I was also very surprised. Even when Marquis Chalet visited to prepare for the wedding, I had not heard anything from my sister… After His Highness the Grand Duke came to the Count’s residence, my sister requested to break off the engagement with the Marquis.”

It wasn’t a tone blaming her for suddenly declaring the broken engagement, but the content alone was enough to show her rudeness.

“Marquis Chalet was so shocked and hurt that day… Ah! Of course, in the end, it turned out much better that my sister is marrying His Highness the Grand Duke.”

She did not forget to subtly convey the shock Marquis Chalet would have received. Pascal frowned and looked at the Grand Duke and the future Grand Duchess.

“Did you also know in advance, Your Highness?”

Unlike with the future Grand Duchess, Pascal changed to an official form of address considering Roselyn, who was an outsider. Caeron tilted his head and looked at Pascal.

“Whether I knew in advance or not, that’s not important. Only the choice of the future Grand Duchess is most important.”

“Ha! The future Grand Duchess is an even more remarkable woman than I thought. This is the first time I’ve seen someone dare to weigh the Grand Duke on a scale.”

Pascal’s eyes, which had turned cold, were directed at Aidel. His tone implied that he was resentful of her for weighing the marriage between Marquis Chalet and the Grand Duke of Ellios.

Aidel pondered for a moment. Should she honestly tell the Emperor about the contract between herself and the Grand Duke?

However, with Roselyn present, she couldn’t rashly bring it up and moved her lips.

As she hesitated, gripping the dress on her knees, a large hand came to rest on top of her hand.

‘…!’

Surprised, she looked to the side and saw Caeron looking at her, shaking his head slightly. It meant not to say anything.

Soon, Caeron turned his head towards Pascal and spoke with an unwavering expression and tone.

“I am the one who asked her to break off the engagement with Marquis Chalet and marry me.”

“…What did you say?”

“I fell for her. At first sight. For my Grand Duchess.”

The words were so sweet that it was hard to believe they were spoken by him, who was known as the cold-hearted Grand Duke in the empire.

“Your Highness… no, the Grand Duke said that?”

Pascal was surprised by Caeron’s side that he had never seen before, and his mouth fell open unknowingly.

He had thought the Grand Duke had some feelings for the Grand Duchess to have become engaged, but he never dreamed that the sentimental expression ‘fell for her at first sight’ would come from his mouth.

“So don’t make things difficult for her.”

Although he was speaking to the Emperor, his sharp gaze was directed at Roselyn. Roselyn bit her lip hard, her eyes trembling violently under his piercing gaze.

Roselyn’s gaze left the Grand Duke and fell on the face of her sister Aidel. At a glance, her expression seemed calm, but… the faint blush on her pale cheeks and the softly rippling emotions in her eyes could be read.

‘Don’t be happy, sister.’

Roselyn raised her red lips with all her might, her eyes blazing.

She also didn’t think that just mentioning Marquis Chalet would shake the Grand Duke’s heart. Wasn’t he the one who had already embraced her sister and left in front of Marquis Chalet?

It was just a kind background explanation for the Emperor who knew nothing.

‘Now that the prologue is over, it’s time to start the main play.’

“Falling for her at first sight. How very romantic of you!”

She began the prepared play, her eyes sparkling after arranging her expression.

“I always wished for my sister to be loved by someone… I’m so glad!”

Roselyn, who deliberately pinched her thigh with all her might, had tears in her eyes.

“My sister always seemed lonely in our family. It wasn’t even her fault…”

She lowered her gaze and spoke as if murmuring to herself, with an infinitely pitiful and sad expression.

“Ah… just what is that ‘scent’ that…”

In this play where she was the only one with lines, the monologue-like words emphasizing certain terms were clearly audible.

At the word ‘scent’, a subtle crack appeared in Caeron’s expression, which had been composed for the first time. He stared at Roselyn with even sharper eyes.

“…Scent?”

Pascal asked back with a puzzled expression.

“Oh my! I misspoke again…”

Roselyn made another prepared mistake. She widened her eyes, covered her mouth with her hand, and made an embarrassed expression. And as she always did, she naturally observed Aidel’s face.

Her complexion had darkened as if dark clouds had suddenly covered the clear sky.

Seeing the green eyes trembling like grass leaves hit by a fierce storm, Roselyn felt a thrill rising from deep within her heart.

‘You can never be happy, sister. It’s just a fake harmony.’

Wiping away the acrid smile, Roselyn innocently frowned, looking even more troubled.

“Please forget my slip of the tongue. This is a secret of our family…”

“A secret? There are no secrets in front of the Emperor. Speak properly about what you mean.”

Unable to contain his curiosity at Roselyn’s words, Pascal urged her to answer. Roselyn, who had hesitated for a long time, fiddling with her fingers, opened her mouth at the moment when the audience’s attention was most focused.

“Well… our Fluor family has a genetic characteristic.”

“A genetic characteristic?”

“Actually, we are born with the scent of our birth flowers on our bodies.”

“You mean… a scent emanates from your body?”

Pascal asked in surprise. At the same time, Caeron’s gaze fell on Aidel. Her face, slightly bowed with her eyes lowered, showed no emotional disturbance.

However, he could feel her skin stiffening and trembling slightly under his hand. Caeron’s eyes deepened.

“That’s quite amazing. So that’s why you have such a strong rose scent!”

Pascal exclaimed with interested eyes. Even though there were no roses in the dining room, it was filled with the scent of roses. At first, he thought it was the perfume Roselyn had sprayed, but it turned out to be her body scent…

Pascal, who had been stroking his chin, suddenly tilted his head as if something was strange, looking at Aidel.

“But the future Grand Duchess… doesn’t particularly have a scent?”

“That is…”

Roselyn paused for a moment, leaving a highlight. She continued in an extremely pitiful voice.

“My sister… was born ‘without’ a scent. The only one in our family, alone…”

“The only one without a scent? What’s the reason?”

When Pascal asked as if he found it strange, Roselyn shook her head innocently as if she genuinely wanted to know but didn’t.

“I wonder. I’m really curious too. However… my sister and I have different mothers, so perhaps the late former Countess knew the reason…”

Although she spoke innocently as if she had heard it from someone, it was enough to raise suspicion about her birth.

Although it was a familiar story that she had heard for a long time, Aidel felt as if her breath was blocked and her whole body stiffened. Her vision spun dizzily.

If it had been in front of the Countess and Roselyn, her emotions wouldn’t have been shaken this much… but at this moment, the warmth covering her hand felt like it would disappear at any moment, and her eyes grew hot.

‘Even he… will…’

Aidel was increasingly consumed by the anxiety that even he would deny her existence. She wanted to turn her palm upward and hold his hand, but she couldn’t muster the courage to do so.

It was then. His hand, which had been lightly covering her hand, inserted his fingers between hers and firmly interlocked them.

“…Your Highness…”

Startled, Aidel raised her head and looked at Caeron. Her faintly calling voice was full of moisture.

Seeing her reddened eyes, he tightened his grip on their interlocked hands. Caeron’s hardened gaze turned towards Roselyn.

“Your concern for your sister is quite impressive.”

Roselyn, who had been secretly smiling triumphantly, froze at the Grand Duke’s glare. Although his words seemed to be praising her on the surface, his voice was chillingly cold.

“There’s no need to worry like that anymore.”

Caeron gently pulled the hand of the woman caught by him and brought her wrist to the tip of his nose. He slowly touched his lips to her wrist where her pulse was racing, then parted.

The action of kissing a lady’s hand for greeting was familiar and common. However, kissing the inside of the wrist instead of the back of the hand was strangely sensual.

‘Hah…!’

Seeing that, Roselyn gasped in surprise. She trembled at the thick emotion in the Grand Duke’s eyes and swallowed the moan that tried to escape her lips.

“I’m already… sufficiently intoxicated by her.”

His actions were elegant like a dignified gentleman, but his eyes flickered with raw possessiveness.

As if a beast was protecting its mate that no one but itself could touch, his darkened blue eyes suffocated everyone watching.