Cassel smiled charmingly as he pulled on Evie’s arm. But his eyes were fixed on Moren.

Cassel’s revenge was incredibly selfcentered, childish, and even artful.

The Count’s gaze toward Evie was a warning in itself. It was full of the meaning that ‘I’m watching, so be careful’.

But Moren insisted that the Count’s gaze was not directed at Evie, and thus, Cassel pretended to believe him and approached Evie closely.

Even if the Count gets angry because of this, it is entirely Moren Arco’s fault.

And this utterly unfunny logic worked surprisingly well.

In fact, Moren was frustrated to the point of madness by Count Mont’s outrage.

If he loses Evie Ariate to the Count here, his lord’s position becomes laughable. And if his lord steps in personally, that would also be shameful.

“Ugh, why are you doing this to me after fighting amongst yourselves!”

Evie, who had noticed Cassel and Moren’s energy fight, screamed inwardly.

“But I can endure it. Evie is an adult, after all.”

Of course, Evie, quick to adapt, accepted this situation soon enough.

Meanwhile, Cassel scolded the dumbfounded Arco Youngsik.

“Aren’t you going to lend her?”

“No, I, if Lady Ariate is fine with it….”

At the young man’s answer, Evie and Moren inwardly facepalmed.

Arco Youngsik gave up his role too easily, and Evie ended up being dragged away by Cassel unwillingly.

Then Moren warned in a low voice.

“You surely don’t take His Lordship’s interest lightly, do you?”

It was a warning to both Cassel and Evie.

‘That’s right, it is light, I told them to do it.’

So Evie wanted to argue like this but struggled to hold back.

Instead, she swallowed a long sigh under the fierce exchange of glances between Cassel and Moren.

She felt like a sheep caught between wolves.

There was nothing new about it.

A purifier from commoner origin had already experienced such things countless times.

Being a sacrifice in the aristocrats’ disputes, being swept away by inexplicable anger, being treated like a light plaything.

She experienced this daily when she first set foot in Tienda.

So there was nothing new about it, but spirited Evie felt disillusionment once again.

‘Even if you ride a lion, it still turns out like this.’

Usually, the nobles’ attitude towards Evie was rather light.

But when Count Laurel took a seat next to Evie, the nobles’ treatment changed.

They did not speak lightly to Evie, did not pry, did not try to teach her anything.

Instead, they behaved politely and carefully, just as they did to Miel Sedrona Rio Tuha.

So Evie felt like she had become a difficult person for a moment. She even felt an illusion that the world had become very kind.

Needless to say, it was an illusion.

Even after borrowing the Count’s grandeur, Evie was still an easy person, and now she was being used like this again.

“Why are you threatening a poor child? Look, Evie is terrified.”
It’s not that, Your Grace. I’m not tired of fear, but of your audacity.

“Please moderate yourself. It’s unsightly.”

Yes, Sister of Arko Youngsik. It’s really unsightly, so both of you, please leave.

Evie sincerely begged in her heart, but Cassel and Moren stood their ground without yielding an inch.

Moreover, Cassel tripped Evie up in a mean way again.

“Unsightly? You’ve been abusing people too much, shall we ask the person in question? Well, Evie…….”

Cassel turned to Evie, about to ask something.

Feeling the crisis, Evie tried to dodge the question, but Cassel’s eyes suddenly flipped white as he laughed leisurely.

‘Huh?’

Evie opened her eyes in surprise, and Cassel’s body fell down like a puppet with its string cut.

He lay without a twitch, frothing at the mouth, and Moren gulped at the sight and then roared.

“The Duke has collapsed! Quickly, bring him inside!”

‘No, we should see why he collapsed first!’

Moren’s response was too quick, and it further bewildered Evie.

Lost in confusion, Evie looked again at Cassel sprawled on the ground.

He was lying peacefully with foam at his mouth, and for some reason, the sight was familiar to her.

It was the same scene as the soldiers who had collapsed a few days ago at the investigation team’s headquarters.

‘Could it be…….’

Evie glanced suspiciously at the Count sitting on the other side.

Then, Zion, who was looking at her with his chin propped up, turned his head elsewhere.

It was a clear denial.

.

.

.

The dinner heralding the start of Montlara’s Flower Festival was hastily wrapped up due to the Duke’s inexplicable fainting.

But it was no loss. Today was the first day of the threeday Flower Festival, and there was still plenty of time to enjoy it.

During the festival, the invited nobles stayed at the villa of Tooha.

Evie also got a pretty good room. It seemed to be the least courtesy shown to the Saint’s family by the Purifier of the Tower.

It was when Evie was taking a brief rest in that nice room.

Not long after she had caught her breath, there was a knock on the door.

The sound came from the builtin wardrobe, not the room door.

But Evie was not surprised and promptly went to the wardrobe to greet her guest.

“Welcome, Count.”

Evie opened the wardrobe door with a smile.

Then, a Count with a dark face appeared from inside the wardrobe. As if he had come through a rugged path, his clothes were covered with dust and cobwebs.

“……Why do you know even the secret passage of someone else’s villa?”

“The butler told me. Our butler is really competent, right?”

Is that really a butler?

At Evie’s nonchalance, Zion sighed and stepped over the wardrobe’s threshold, then carelessly dusted off his shoulder.

The reason they secretly met using the secret passage was, of course, for their scheme.

Zion had faithfully acted according to what Evie had requested today. So now it was Evie’s turn to help Zion.

Evie sat at the table and waited, and Zion, after roughly shaking off the dust, sat down across from her.

However, Zion remained silent in that state. He was noticeably glancing around, as if checking something.

So Evie, watching him, spoke with a weary smile.

“I’ll commend you for not mentioning it first. But it’s okay, you can talk about Duke Montlara.”

As if to say who wouldn’t know what he was hinting at, Evie accurately hit the mark again.

So Zion inadvertently averted his gaze.

Earlier, Duke Montlara’s behavior was vague if described as an insult and explicit if called harassment.

So even the usually brazen Zion found it difficult to bring up this time.

Saying, “I saw the Duke’s filthy act. You put up with it well,” as usual, in an objective manner, was not possible.

Nor was it in his nature to coddle her like other gentlemen and ask if she was okay.

So, after considering it, Zion asked bluntly.

“What would you like to do with him?”

In his eyes, as he asked this, was anger that anyone could see.