Cain raised the corner of his mouth as he looked at Jane lying on the ground and the two men.

The clever man immediately grasped the situation upon seeing Jane on the ground and Victor panting with his hand on his waist.

“Who… Ah, Duke Hastings?”

Victor immediately recognized Cain, a famous figure in the kingdom.

Victor wiped his hands on his thighs and greeted Cain respectfully.

Jane couldn’t help but laugh at his sudden change in attitude.

“To meet the Duke here. It must be my lucky day.”

Victor tried to act friendly while flattering him. Cain completely ignored him.

“Haha, the weather is nice, isn’t it? What brings you here, Duke… This isn’t really a good path for a walk.”

Victor kept talking by himself. Cain’s eyes were utterly indifferent as he looked at him. Victor now cleared his throat and rolled his eyes nervously.

When he started fidgeting anxiously, Cain let out a sigh-like remark.

“Do you know me?”

“Pardon?”

“I don’t know you.”

“Ah… Of course. How could Duke Hastings know someone like me?”

Victor kept bowing despite the blatant disregard. The corner of Cain’s mouth twisted.

“You’re slow. I meant for you to get lost.”

“Excuse me?”

“Jane, you had an appointment with me, didn’t you?”

Cain turned his gaze to Jane, ignoring Victor. Jane raised her head.

“That’s right.”

To her, Cain was also an uninvited guest, but he was incomparable to Victor. The harsh words from Cain were far better than the insults from Victor.

Though the latter’s words hurt more deeply.

“Then what’s this situation?”

He was speaking to Jane, but strangely it felt like he was asking Victor. It seemed Jane wasn’t the only one who felt that way, as Victor opened his mouth.

“We had some business with Jane. Do you also have something to discuss with her, Duke?”

“Well.”

Cain tilted his head slightly as he looked down at Jane.

His eyes were asking, “How should I help you?”

If Cain said he had business with Jane here, Victor and Hamlin would just leave.

Moreover, the deal with her grandfather who tried to sell her off would likely become void.

But in exchange, Cain would expect something in return.

Jane had nothing to give…

Her hesitation lengthened.

“Have you thought about yesterday’s proposal?”

Jane remembered the proposal Cain had made. If she accepted his help now, she would have no choice but to accept his proposal.

‘Is it really okay? Can I live by entering the Hastings family and raising his child? Can I face him as if nothing happened?’

Even a fool would know which choice was more rational.

But for Jane, anything related to Cain was not something she could view objectively and rationally.

She struggled to let go of her feelings for him even when she didn’t see him, so she was afraid she would shamelessly love him more if she stayed by his side.

Love was a burden to her. That’s why she wanted to let it all go.

“I think I’ve heard the answer.”

While Jane hesitated, Cain turned his body. He had no reason to wait for her.

Jane, feeling urgent, grabbed him reflexively.

“I’ll do it!”

Jane didn’t want to see Cain’s turned back.

Their eyes met. His lips twisted slightly. He nodded once as an answer.

He closed the distance in an instant with his long legs. Jane swallowed at his unstoppable momentum.

But Cain headed towards Victor, not Jane. He moved his long legs busily, not hiding his ominous aura.

“D-Duke?”

Victor’s voice trembled finely. Cain’s eyes looking at Victor were cold and sharp as a dagger.

Victor felt like prostrating himself and begging for forgiveness even though he had done nothing wrong.

“Your voice is unpleasant.”

Cain muttered before smiling faintly. Then he looked down at his own hand.

“Of all times to not have gloves.”

Cain shoved his hand into his pocket. And instead of his hand, he swung his raised foot mercilessly. Cain’s foot struck Victor’s side.

Thud, at the tremendous impact sound, Jane’s side ached in sympathy.

Unable to withstand Cain’s strength, Victor staggered while clutching his side. Hamlin, who was running towards Victor, stopped abruptly.

It was because he met Cain’s eyes. That calm gaze tightly gripped Hamlin’s throat and held his feet in place.

“D-Duke! Even if you’re a duke, to an innocent person…”

Victor raised his chin.

“Innocent? After dragging the future duchess here like a dog?”

Jane’s eyes widened, then a moist film covered her pupils.

She felt ashamed to have her miserable state exposed to him. So she missed the truly important words.

“D-D-Duchess? Who? Surely not that beggar?”

Thud, another dizzying impact sound rang out. This time it was Victor’s shoulder as he bent over. Victor fell backwards.

“Argh, D-D-Duke!”

“A commoner who carelessly lays hands on a noble’s body can receive up to the death penalty. How about it, want to keep talking?”

Victor’s chin trembled.

Damn law, damn nobles!

If he filed a complaint, he could be found not guilty considering the circumstances. But it was different if the opponent was from the Hastings family.

He imagined a judge sentencing him to the maximum legal punishment.

Victor got up unsteadily, clutching his side.

“If what you said is true, Duke, I mean if Jane, damn it, if Lady Jane is to become a duchess, you’ll pay off our debt too, right?”

“Victor! We’ll talk about money later!”

Jane interrupted. She had already exposed her lowest point to Cain, but she didn’t want to burden him further here.

“When? If you become a duchess and pretend not to know us, how can we bear such injustice?”

Victor licked the inside of his mouth and spat.

While Jane hesitated at his vulgar behavior, Cain asked.

“How much is the debt?”

“10,000 marks. With interest, 20,000.”

“Don’t lie, Victor! Just yesterday it was 15,000 marks including interest!”

“Interest grows by the day, madam.”

Victor sneered with a vile expression. Cain stared at him for a moment before rummaging in his pocket and taking out a checkbook. He wrote numbers on the check without hesitation.

One zero, two, three, four… and the number before the zeros was exactly 2.

20,000 marks.

He wrote down an amount that could buy several mansions in the capital with money to spare, without a second of hesitation, and signed it.

Cain tore off the check and threw it at Victor’s face. The check bounced off his face and fell onto the spit Victor had just expectorated.

“Pick it up.”

The curt command humiliated Victor.

“You acted like a beast for money. Or were you born livestock? Why are you taking so long just to bend over?”

Cold eyes stared piercingly at Victor.

His words were right. Is money dirty? The one who’s dirty is the bastard who borrows money and doesn’t pay it back. What does it matter if there’s spit on it?

Victor bent down to grab the check. At that moment, a dark shadow fell over his bowed head. Then well-polished shoes came into his view.

Cain unhesitatingly stepped on Victor’s hand with his shoe.

“Argh, aaaaargh!”

The pain that swept over him was incomparable to when he was hit in the side. Even as he writhed with his large body, Cain’s foot wouldn’t budge.

“P-please spare me. I was wrong. I…”

Saliva dripped from Victor’s mouth, dirtying Cain’s shoe. He apologized while kneeling.

“You’re apologizing to the wrong person.”

Victor flinched as he met Cain’s gaze. Cain arrogantly jerked his chin. When Victor turned his head in the direction Cain indicated, Jane was there. Jane had a dazed expression.

“…! J-Jane, no, Duchess… I was wrong. Please forgive me.”

Only then did Cain’s foot lift away. Victor’s hand, crushed and mangled, was in a pitiful state.

“Take the check and go. I should charge you for dirtying my shoe with your spit, but I’ll consider it charity.”

Cain walked past Victor, whose eyes were rolling back, and headed towards Jane.

The man who had committed such merciless violence walked with excessively neat steps.

Jane felt truly frightened. Cain was not the man he used to be.

Did 7 years of time change him? Or did he change on that day 7 years ago?

‘What am I thinking? Am I assuming he changed because of me?’

Jane sneered inwardly.

She was nothing to Cain. That’s why he could appear before her after 7 years with indifferent eyes and propose, “Become the mother of my child.”

If he had even a shred of lingering feelings for her, it was a proposal he could never have made.

To entrust her with a child born with another woman.

No matter how urgent the circumstances.

“Can’t you even stand on your own?”

Jane’s shoulders flinched. Without realizing it, she had been waiting for Cain to reach out his hand like in the past.

“No. I can get up.”

Jane stood up, bracing her knees. She tidied her disheveled hair and clothes. Meanwhile, Victor and Hamlin tumbled down the hill.

On top of the small hill, only Jane and Cain remained. Spring breeze brushed past between the two facing each other.

She should say something.

Jane, who had been biting her lip awkwardly, bowed her waist. Cain’s eyebrow twitched.

“Thank you for helping me.”

“Help? I didn’t do any such thing. It was just a deal.”

Jane hesitated before barely managing to say her next words.

“Thank you for paying off the debt. It’s a large sum… I’ll definitely pay you back later.”

“Don’t worry about it. It was just charity. That kind of money means nothing to me.”

Was 20,000 marks, such a large sum, really nothing to him?

“Take this.”

Cain rummaged in his pocket and handed over a small container. Jane blinked as she reflexively received it. Cain frowned.

“The Hastings family has no need for someone with a crippled hand.”