Ansi de Rubella. There was no information about what that woman had been doing during the year before she reappeared at that ball.

Could it be that she had been living like this all along, not hesitating to impersonate someone?

Discomfort settled on Henet’s face.

Certainly, the Belgader Empire, no, this society was an environment where it was difficult for the weak to survive.

That woman who had lost everything must have been the same. So while it was understandable on one hand, thinking that the outcome was impersonating his lover didn’t make it look entirely good.

“How did you meet Damion?”

Ansi raised her head at the question asked. Was it because of her expressionless face? The woman staring at Henet felt like a wall.

What was it, as if saying ‘who are you to ask such a thing’…

“Who are you to ask that?”

Was it actually expressing emotions transparently? In any case, faced with the now clearer iron wall, Henet decided to bring out a more definite card.

“I am Henet de Maron.”

“…Ah.”

The woman, who had been lost in thought for a moment, sighed as if she finally remembered. Henet approached Ansi, holding a fountain pen. She closed the book she had been reading and stood up.

“I’ll ask again. Why does Lady Rubella have my fountain pen? Did you steal it?”

“I apologize for selling Lord Henet’s possession without permission, but I did not steal it.”

“Where did it come from…”

“I cannot say.”

Henet furrowed one eyebrow.

To be so confident even in front of the owner, wasn’t it surprisingly shameless?

Though he didn’t know what aspect of this woman Damion had judged to be helpful, Henet still needed to warn his friend about the facts that could pose a threat.

Having approached until he was in front of Ansi with only a glass display case between them, Henet finally opened his mouth.

“I’m telling you this out of courtesy, but Damion is my dear friend. So I must stop your relationship with him.”

“Do not interfere.”

The answer came immediately from Ansi. Henet flinched at the sharp tone.

A chilling light flashed in the eyes looking at Henet.

“This is between Damion and me. I told you not to interfere.”

It was an aggressive and cold tone.

However, for some reason, an inexplicable desperation was also felt.

To Damion, this woman was someone who could bring something positive.

Then what was Damion to this woman?

Henet suddenly became curious about that.

The sunlight shattering against the water and the flowers filling the riverbank made one realize it was fully spring. The excited noise of people standing in between filled the air, carried by the wind.

Ansi held down her hat against the light breeze blowing. Her voluminous ivory dress, almost white, billowed gently behind her.

“Ansi.”

A man with a voice as fresh as that breeze called out to her. Damion was standing there where numerous boats were docked.

Fortunately, it seemed that Damion’s friend who had visited a few days ago hadn’t stopped him.

“The weather is nice.”

As Ansi approached him, the man smiled brightly.

Fitting for a boat ride, the man was dressed much more lightly than usual. Over a well-fitting white shirt, he wore a beige vest and jacket, but had not wrapped his neck with a tie or cravat.

Ansi looked beside such a man. But Damion was alone. His family had not accompanied him.

“Did the Duke and Young Duke’s couple not come for the boat ride?”

Damion stared blankly at Ansi as she looked around without answering. When her gaze, finding this strange, fell on him, he opened his mouth.

“Did you want to see them?”

“They’re Damion’s family after all.”

She thought it would be good to naturally see their faces in a place like this.

However, on the other hand, she thought that if she saw their faces here, she might really push Kardian into the Venu River.

Regret and relief coexisted.

“You’re already worried. Even if they’re family, I don’t want them to share your attention.”

This man spoke carefreely without knowing her true feelings.

Focusing attention only on this man was absolutely an unacceptable wish. Damion de Orphe was just a subject to be used for revenge, he could not be the purpose itself for her.

Still, for the time being, keeping this man close was the highest priority.

“Even if your family had come, I would have had to focus on Damion anyway. We can only ride the boat with two people.”

The corners of Damion’s mouth turned up gently. The man with a smile like morning dew lightly boarded the boat first.

Then he reached out his hand towards Ansi.

“Come here.”

Ansi boarded the boat, relying on Damion’s firm hand. The boat began to move smoothly towards the center of the wide Venu River.

The bustling crowd gradually diminished. The water’s surface became progressively calmer, and only a quiet breeze enveloped them.

The fact that they had come this far at a fast speed without any particular rocking suddenly felt real. Ansi spoke to the man who was releasing the oar from his hand.

“Have you been on many boat rides?”

“When I was young, my dream was to be a boatman.”

“Hmm…”

“You don’t seem to believe it.”

“It doesn’t seem to suit you that much.”

“What was Ansi’s dream? Around 7 or 8 years old.”

“I…”

Ansi lifted her head slightly. The bright blue sky hidden by her hat came into view.

She too had a time like that man, when she could carefreely pursue romance.

“I don’t think I had any special dream. I just found everything in the world interesting and good. Everything was favorable to me back then.”

“It sounds like it’s not the case now.”

“Because both I and the world treating me have changed.”

“There shouldn’t be much difference. Isn’t there someone now showing you as much favor as people used to give you, but concentrated?”

Ansi lowered her gaze to Damion. He sat with his arms crossed leisurely and gestured to himself with his chin. At that sight, Ansi burst into laughter. As she laughed, Damion laughed along.

“It’s not a dream, but I remember having such a thought.”

“What kind of thought?”

“When I was young, I loved tarts. I thought there couldn’t be a more delicious food. So, I thought I should try all the tarts in the world during my lifetime.”

“…I see.”

It seems I’ve told this story before.

When I was very young, to a scruffy boy who had thrown himself into the water.

The boy didn’t know how to float. So he must have entered the water to die, but when Ansi extended a long stick, he clung to it desperately.

I don’t remember his face well… but somehow he seemed to resemble the man before me.

“Can Damion swim?”

“It’s too early in the season for water play.”

“I’m not suggesting we do it now.”

“I look forward to summer.”

“Can you do it? Swimming.”

“Every soldier in Belgader can swim. I too have known how to swim since childhood.”

“That’s fortunate.”

Ansi, who had spoken without realizing it, slightly furrowed her brow.

It was a word that came out unconsciously. Fortunate… She couldn’t understand why such words had slipped out of her mouth.

But Ansi soon found the reason.

On the day she disguised herself as the young lady of the Larville family, hadn’t she thought about wanting to drown him to death? If he knew how to swim, he would surely have escaped, and then the chance to take revenge on Orphe would have disappeared… How fortunate it was that she didn’t make the wrong judgment then.

So the word ‘fortunate’ was something she was saying to herself. It certainly didn’t mean that it was fortunate this man wasn’t the boy who had tried to die that day.

Ansi hurriedly composed her expression. And Damion, he quietly gazed at her.

The black hair, the blue eyes were no different from then. Only the woman before him now was no longer the naive young girl from that time. She had become a woman who viewed the world much more realistically.

The girl’s voice brushed past Damion’s ear.

The little girl asked the coughing boy who had come out of the water. Damion couldn’t properly look at the innocent eyes that were wide open.