He poured out questions without pause, unlike his usual gentle and relaxed demeanor.

“You suddenly left your hometown for the capital? And you’re staying at the Winkler mansion? There’s only Duke Winkler in the Winkler family now. Why are you staying here alone without a guardian?”

“Raoul, please calm down first…”

“How can I calm down right now?”

Riena grabbed his arm and looked at the open door. There was no one peeking, but due to Raoul’s loud voice, the passing employees must have heard this conversation.

Following her gaze to the door, Raoul let out a deep sigh and sat down. As if on cue, Amy came in and asked,

“Miss, shall I prepare some refreshments?”

“Yes, that would be nice, thank you.”

However, Raoul didn’t say anything until Amy and the other maids finished setting up the refreshments. He was busy sighing and observing Riena.

Only after the maids had completely disappeared did he ask again in a slightly softer voice.

“Please explain what happened. Do you know how shocked I was? When I went to the Dyke mansion to see you, you weren’t there. No one would answer when I asked where you went, why you left, or when you’d be back.”

Raoul sighed deeply and brushed back his disheveled wheat-colored hair.

“In the midst of all that, I finally got an answer from Aaron that you had gone to the capital. You don’t have any connections in the capital. When I asked why you went there, Aaron said he didn’t know that much.”

“So Aaron said that.”

“Then suddenly thinking you might have come looking for me, I came to the capital, but you weren’t there, and only your letter had arrived. With the Winkler family seal, no less? And who’s this Cas or whatever? With a glimmer of hope, I rushed here, and here you are.”

His voice grew louder towards the end, seemingly excited.

Riena, who had been listening quietly to his words, said,

“Don’t you remember cowardly Cas? We used to play together at our mansion when we were little. Around when we were 10 years old.”

“If you’re talking about that gloomy black-haired kid, I remember. You always insisted on including that child when we played.”

“Gloomy? Cas wasn’t like that.”

As she corrected his words, Riena felt that Raoul’s attitude and tone seemed different from usual.

She could understand him being anxious, uneasy, and even angry due to worrying about her sudden disappearance. Raoul’s emotions were palpable in the way he explained what had happened in the meantime.

But was it really something to get so heated about? And ‘gloomy kid’? No matter how she thought about it, it wasn’t like Raoul to choose such words.

Moreover, to be honest, Riena felt threatened by this Raoul. She didn’t think he would harm her, but it was a bit scary to see such a large man pouring out his emotions without restraint.

After pausing for a moment, Riena spoke again after some consideration.

“Raoul, you’re very excited right now. I think it would be good to calm down a bit while drinking some tea. Honestly, you’re a bit scary right now.”

Raoul frowned at the word ‘scary’. He managed his expression and said as if making an excuse.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d feel that way.”

“And your words seem unusually harsh too.”

“I guess living in the knights’ order has unconsciously roughened my speech. Most noble-born knights have a sense of chivalry, but among commoner-born knights, there are quite a few whose speech is so rough you might mistake them for mercenaries.”

‘Commoner-born knights.’ This too was an uncharacteristic remark from Raoul, but Riena chose not to point it out.

“That could be. Anyway, try to calm down a bit while drinking some tea. Amy makes good tea. It’ll be delicious.”

“Alright. Sorry for making you worry.”

Raoul smiled as he picked up the teacup. Finally, the familiar face of her longtime childhood friend appeared.

As she poured tea into Raoul’s empty cup, he asked,

“So what exactly happened all this time?”

His voice sounded urgent, but it was calmer than before. He didn’t raise his voice either.

“A lot of things happened, really.”

Riena calmly explained what had happened during that time.

From Countess Dyke pushing for her marriage to Baron Rothman, to running away with no way to contact Raoul and meeting Cassel.

She deliberately omitted the story about Johannes Belliard.

Raoul became excited again as he listened to the story.

“I didn’t know Countess Dyke would do such a thing.”

“Yeah, me neither. I never thought mother would do that.”

“So you’re staying at the Winkler mansion for a while?”

“Umm…”

Riena pondered for a moment on how to explain the series of events that led her to meet Cassel and come to the Winkler family.

In the end, she decided to tell it honestly as it happened.

“It’s not just temporarily staying here. I’m engaged to Cas.”

“What? What are you suddenly talking about? Engaged?”

It certainly seemed a bit sudden for Raoul to hear.

In fact, Riena herself had been bewildered by the situation at the time.

She explained in more detail with a calm voice. However, she hid the fact that this marriage was a facade.

“Cas had a letter written by my father. I don’t know what kind of premonition he had, but father wrote asking Cas to take care of me if something happened to him.”

“The Count did?”

“Yes. And also…”

As Riena trailed off, Raoul urged her on.

“What else?”

“It seems father wanted to bring Cas and me together. He proposed marriage between me and Cas, though it wasn’t a formal proposal letter.”

“What?”

“And Cas, who belatedly heard the news of my father’s sudden passing, proposed to me to honor father’s last wishes…”

“How does a proposal come from that?”

Riena scratched her cheek awkwardly.

“I know. I was quite shocked too, but realistically, it seemed like the best way for me to escape the influence of the Dyke family.”

“How is that the best way? If you just wanted to leave the Dyke family, you could have stayed at the Winkler duchy for a short while. Besides, you could have just received help to come to the capital and then sought refuge with me, couldn’t you? Come to think of it, I think I heard you had relatives in the capital too.”

“Yes, there’s Aunt Letitia.”

“Then why…”

“It just ended up that way somehow.”

“Is that something to brush off so lightly?”

Riena just smiled.

“What can I do? It’s already happened.”

“If that’s the situation, there’s no reason to get married. I’ll help you. I’ll pay back the debt that Duke Winkler paid on your behalf for now. No, I can do that much for you.”

“…”

“So, Ria. Let’s find your life gradually. There’s no need to get married like this, as if you’re being pushed into it. Right?”

Riena shook her head. No matter what he said, her resolve was firm.

“I have no intention of breaking off the engagement.”

Raoul looked shocked. He rubbed his face with both hands a few times, barely suppressing his bubbling emotions, and asked,

“Why? You don’t even know Duke Winkler well. What if the Duke is like Baron Rothman you mentioned?”

“What do you mean I don’t know him well? You’ve met him too. I told you, it’s cowardly Cas we used to play with when we were little.”

“That was 10 years ago! Do you know why I didn’t know until now that Duke Winkler was that child? Because he was a completely different person. People change that easily.”

“If you’re also like this because of Cas’s rumors, it’s absolutely not true. The rumors are just nonsense that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Hah…”

Raoul, who was about to argue more, mumbled with his face buried in his palm.

“You two aren’t even in love with each other.”

At these childishly naive words, Riena burst out laughing, forgetting the serious atmosphere.

“Raoul, as you know, marriage isn’t always with someone you love. How many people in these noble families do you think marry for love?”

“If that’s the case, then rather with me…!”

Riena hurried to cut off Raoul’s words. She felt that if she heard him out to the end, she would no longer be able to remain friends with him.

However, someone interrupted even before she could.

“What exactly are you doing here?”

It was Cassel. He had rushed in through the open door, his appearance disheveled as if he had hurried back. His hair, usually neatly swept back, was messily scattered over his forehead, and his breathing was uneven.

No, at first Riena thought he was panting from running. But seeing his expression, she changed her mind. The reason for his rough breathing wasn’t from running, but from anger.

For reasons unknown, Cassel seemed quite angry at Raoul.

Reading his ominous aura, Riena tried to introduce Raoul as calmly as possible.

“Cas, remember? It’s Raoul. When we were little…”

But Cassel, before she could finish speaking, strode over and hid Riena behind his back. Then, not hiding his emotions, he spoke to Raoul.

“I asked what exactly you’re doing here. What kind of outrage is this, suddenly showing up without notice and threatening my fiancée?”