Just before the marriage proposal turned into a duel challenge.

“My lady, please calm down!”

Audrey, who had been anxiously watching from behind, hurriedly intervened to stop Arasila.

“Let go, Audrey. I’m going to teach that arrogant knight who doesn’t even recognize his lifesaver a lesson!”

“You can’t! Please control yourself!”

She was desperate for the sake of her lady’s reputation and future. Seeing the maid clinging to her slender waist, Demian raised one eyebrow.

The way she touched her mistress’s body without permission, and the subtly familiar tone seemed closer than that of a typical maid and lady.

“Don’t interfere in your master’s affairs so presumptuously, just leave her be.”

“Don’t presumptuously criticize. It’s fine for Audrey to do so.”

Arasila snapped sharply at Demian, barely suppressing her temper as she sat down and glared at him.

“You’ll regret doing this to me.”

“You should be the one not regretting meddling in other families’ affairs. I don’t need your help.”

Demian replied coldly as he stood up and opened the door. It meant she should leave now.

Letting out a scoff of disbelief, Arasila approached him with stiff steps. Then, looking straight into his eyes, she said:

“You will definitely need me.”

Demian furrowed his brow at the conviction in her clear, bright blue eyes. But his eyes widened at her next words.

“Look into this political marriage carefully, Sir. Your grandfather agreed with His Majesty to pass on the duke title and fortune to the grandson who marries Hugo’s granddaughter.”

“What, that’s absurd…”

“I’ve said my piece, the choice is yours.”

Arasila shot back coldly before swiftly leaving. Audrey followed her lady, watching for any reactions.

Unable to fully believe or ignore her words, Demian frowned as he watched their retreating figures.

Arasila was greeted by her older sister and younger brother upon returning home.

“What’s the occasion for you two to come greet me?”

“Adrian said he has something to show you.”

Iris gently crinkled her eyes as she nodded towards their younger brother. Arasila looked at her brother who seemed somehow very excited.

“Sister! Look at this!”

Adrian approached his second older sister, holding a bundle of papers.

“I wrote down reasons why you shouldn’t get married!”

“Oh my, our Adrian. You must have spent all day playing around writing this instead of studying.”

Arasila hit the nail on the head as she received the papers from her brother. Adrian flinched and averted his gaze to the floor.

“Let’s see what my brother wrote that made him neglect his successor lessons.”

She calmly read through the contents written in handwriting that showed effort to appear mature.

“1. The other person is ugly.”

Oh dear, Adrian. He’s objectively handsome.

“2. The other person is short.”

What to do, he was tall enough that I had to look up at him.

“3. He’s weaker than sister so he can’t protect her.”

This is true. Although Arasila had never directly competed with Demian, she firmly believed she would win.

Because the other party was an arrogant knight, and she was a proud mage.

“4. Sister’s ideal type is an affectionate man, but he might not show affection.”

This was actually a lie Arasila had told to receive Adrian’s affection.

The reasons Adrian had written after this were all really nonsensical. But the very last reason made Arasila feel a little emotional.

“If sister leaves, I will miss her very much. I might even cry.”

Adrian was a late child, eleven years younger than Iris and ten years younger than Arasila.

Knowing that the young brother must have felt lonely at home while the sisters close in age spent time together outside, she felt sympathetic.

“Adrian.”

Arasila called her brother’s name in a gentle voice.

“Yes, sister! You won’t get married, right?!”

“No, I will.”

Adrian’s face, which had momentarily lit up with expectation, turned ashen with disappointment. His small shoulders slumped.

Arasila affectionately stroked her brother’s lavender hair, the same color as hers.

“Just because I’m getting married doesn’t mean I’m leaving you. I’ll always be your second older sister, Ad.”

“That’s right, we’ll be the Hugo siblings until we die. Even if our surname changes with marriage, our roots don’t change.”

Iris chimed in to comfort their brother. Adrian looked back and forth between his sisters, fidgeting with his fingers.

“But Mom said when you get married, you’ll leave home.”

“Of course. When you get married, you have to live with your spouse. You’ll have to do the same when you grow up and get married.”

Hearing that he would have to live apart from his family after marriage, Adrian shook his head vigorously.

“No! Then I’m never getting married!”

“Sure, I’m not sure if it’s possible, but give it a try.”

The reason their parents accepted Arasila’s declaration of lifelong singlehood was largely because she was neither the family heir nor the firstborn.

The heir to the Hugo Marquis family was Adrian, and the firstborn was Iris.

As the second child, Arasila was in a position where it was fine to fully support her in whatever path she chose.

“Sister, can’t you not marry Lord Vandermir? I don’t like Lord Vandermir.”

“When did you ever see the lord? Besides, if not him, I’d have to marry an even worse man.”

Arasila gently pinched her brother’s soft cheek.

If Demian refused the proposal, naturally the only remaining option would be Oscar Vandermir with his blood-stained future.

She wondered if her life would be safe marrying a man who might already be plotting treason.

‘Of course, if he ends up marrying me, I’ll stop any treason even if I have to beat him to death.’

As Arasila inwardly steeled her resolve, a gentle hand rested on her shoulder.

“Arasila, if you dislike it that much, you don’t have to get married. You have your older sister, after all.”

Iris smiled maturely and thoughtfully. She was always like that. Taking on difficult tasks herself and giving the good things to her siblings.

When Arasila said she wouldn’t marry and would become a tower master instead, Iris supported her without complaint, and when Adrian got tired of his heir lessons and ran away, she gladly hid him in her room.

‘I’ll always be in the same place, so Ari and Ad, whenever you’re struggling, you can always come to me.’

As her sister, it was impossible not to love and follow someone like her.

“Fulfilling family duty is originally the firstborn’s role. If there’s to be a political marriage, I should be the one to do it.”

A sense of responsibility as the eldest daughter of the Hugo Marquis family was felt in her mature voice.

Perhaps the sister in the prophetic dream had married with such feelings, only to be unjustly sacrificed in her husband’s rebellion.

The image of Iris from the dream, thin as a dry log, overlapped with the vibrant Iris before her eyes. Arasila felt a lump in her throat.

I really can’t let my sister die. No matter what, I have to be the one to marry Vandermir.

“So, don’t be bound by the political marriage…”

“I don’t want to marry Lord Vandermir because of the political marriage.”

Arasila denied it half-impulsively. It was to relieve her sister of the sense of responsibility for the political marriage.

“Then?”

“I just, like the person.”

“That’s a lie. You don’t like someone without any reason.”

Iris, who knew her sister better than anyone, narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

If Arasila had been such an easy person, her family wouldn’t have struggled so much.

“It’s really because of the political marriage, isn’t it?”

“…No? It’s not? Actually, I like the lord’s face?”

Afraid that Iris would offer to do the political marriage if she admitted it here, Arasila desperately shook her head.

Although there were rarely secrets between the sisters, she couldn’t honestly talk about the prophetic dream, so she had to tell this white lie.

“Still, it’s unbelievable. Ari, you decided to marry just based on looks?”

Wasn’t this the sister who never cared about others’ appearances because her own looks were so outstanding?

Iris couldn’t easily dismiss her suspicions.

“His body was good too.”

“…”

“His voice was nice as well.”

Covering Adrian’s ears, Arasila brazenly listed additional reasons. Iris’s eyes wavered slightly.

“Is that really all, just such external reasons…?”

“Of course. Sister, people are naturally weak to visual attacks.”

Arasila continued with a confident face to drive the point home.

“Since I already have money, honor, and position, isn’t it fine to choose a man based on looks alone?”

“No, no matter how you put it, I can’t understand…”

Iris rubbed her forehead as if confused. She too knew about Demian Vandermir’s famous good looks.

She just didn’t expect her sister to fall for that handsome knight.

“Wait, Arasila… Does this mean you’re having a love marriage with Lord Vandermir?”

Arasila pondered for a moment. Wouldn’t a love marriage be easier to overcome opposition? After quickly judging, she slowly nodded.

“That’s right.”

“You said it wasn’t like that before.”

“It changed. I did meet the lord.”

Meeting once counts as meeting, right? Arasila reversed her words without hesitation.

‘Well, it would be a bit awkward if I can’t marry the lord…’

Arasila was confident that he would surely need her. Especially considering his expression that seemed to waver at the end.

Before long, Demian Vandermir too would realize the reality that they were each other’s best option.

‘I just have to wait until then.’

Thinking this, Arasila firmly grasped her brother and sister’s hands as they entered the house.

Demian investigated the political marriage between the Vandermir Duke family and the Hugo Marquis family through his aide Colin.

The result was shocking.

‘To think the mage’s words were actually true…’

As Arasila had said, the previous duke had left a will stipulating that his fortune and title be passed on to the grandson who kept the political marriage sworn before the emperor.

Of course, the right to designate the heir was primarily held by Demian’s father, the current duke, but things changed if the emperor had notarized the grandfather’s will.

Even a duke can’t overcome the emperor’s order. Especially not when the emperor, backed by the previous duke, had gained the right to intervene in family succession.

‘What on earth was grandfather thinking…’

In his lifetime, the previous duke was the only one in the ducal family on Demian’s side. He probably didn’t leave such a will with bad intentions for his grandson.

The important thing was that the current duke’s family had thoroughly hidden this fact from him.

Their intention was clear.

‘If I marry and obtain grandfather’s will, the heir position becomes mine.’

Then Demian’s long-cherished wish for revenge could also succeed.

In the darkness, Demian’s eyes glinted like those of a beast. He took out stationery and a pen from the drawer.

It was to write a late reply to Arasila Hugo.