“What a coy young lady. Just like a capital lady.”

At the laughter mixed into Luman’s voice, Rosaline and Melano felt relieved—and glared at Luman.

Was he daring to make fun of their lady?

“Yes. I suppose you thought I was some country noblewoman because I live in a rural territory?”

The voice, lifted at the end, made Kenilla’s naturally low, almost husky tone sound sharp and high.

It was more feminine than her real voice, but it pricked at the ears.

This was less like a coy capital lady and more like...

Rosaline and Melano exchanged glances.

Doesn’t she sound like a hysterical unmarried woman...?

The servant and the maid sent each other scolding looks.

“No. I thought you were the warm leader of a peaceful and beautiful territory. It was a good place.”

Good enough that he had briefly thought he would like to bring Ren here one day.

Without trying to erase the sudden thought, Luman smiled sincerely.

Looking at Luman’s softly folding smile and his distant, sunken eyes, Kenilla froze as if startled.

“My lady...?”

Rosaline called her softly.

“Ah.”

Kenilla gave a small laugh and changed her attitude back to normal, grinning broadly.

“It seems there’s no need to act for this man.”

Kenilla Loroe offered him her hand and spoke. With the coy young lady’s expression gone, her face resembled someone who ruled a castle.

“It seems I should introduce myself again. I am Kenilla Loroe.”

Her low voice was pleasant to hear.

“Nice to {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} meet you. I’m Luman.”

Luman clasped Kenilla’s hand, shook it lightly, and added playfully,

“A former Hero of no particular worth.”

***

I heard Ren calling.

After Lante said that, Luman dreamed of Ren.

Even after sharing luncheon with Kenilla Loroe, walking through the garden with her, and making future promises, he could not erase the blond-haired boy from his mind. He had tried to let himself forget naturally, but that proved harder than he expected. The one who noticed first was not Luman himself. It was Kenilla Loroe, who had spent only a few short days with him.

“You seem to have someone in your heart?”

“What do you mean, lady?”

Even his smiling, narrowed eyes did not work on Kenilla.

She made a curious sound, then thrust her face forward in a way no proper young lady would. Then, all at once, she poked Luman’s cheek with her finger. Seeing him retreat with a flustered expression, Kenilla laughed openly.

At first, Kenilla Loroe had acted coy and strangely hysterical, but within five minutes she had withdrawn that attitude. Because she had felt the sincerity in Luman’s praise for Loroe Territory. After that, however, she would still sometimes play around by “acting like a capital lady,” simply because she found it funny that Luman accepted it without blinking.

“The maids told me to do that.”

Kenilla did not press Luman when he failed to answer, and instead brought up the day they first met.

The maid behind her wore an expression saying that was not true at all. There must have been some problem in the signals between them.

Once she stopped “acting like a capital lady,” Kenilla Loroe was quite a good person.

Even setting aside the fact that she was a noblewoman—and even including it—she was truly a fine marriage prospect.

She laughed often, was hearty, and knew how to use a sword. Once the white powder had been wiped away, her clean, healthy ivory skin looked lively, and her way of speaking was refreshingly direct.

She did not give the impression of being demure or of someone who would excel at supporting her husband from behind, but if she had been a devoted, pure-hearted woman instead, Luman would have felt guilty. This was better. Not merely better—she suited Luman as a fiancée. He even thought that if they had met in some other relationship, it might have become an even better connection.

Kenilla Loroe liked Luman as well.

“I thought men called Heroes were all full of bravado, ugly-faced muscle idiots, but to think there is a handsome man like you among them. You have taught me the limits of my own insight.”

“You saw correctly. The truth is, I am particularly handsome, lady.”

Luman answered while internally cursing Temar, who did not understand his own younger brother’s feelings.

The words, spoken with a broad grin, were by every measure the truth. It would be hard to find a man as handsome as him even among nobles or courtesans. Especially those amber-gold eyes. They were special eyes. Kenilla Loroe liked that Luman said pleasant things without lying.

“I cannot love you immediately, my lady, but I will try. I will respect your wishes and follow them. As I said, I will make it appear like a ‘love match,’ so please don’t worry about that.”

“Can I truly not worry?”

Kenilla asked, as if testing whether he could act well.

“I am a romantic man, so there is no need for concern. I believe we can become good partners. Don’t you agree, lady?”

He was deliberate. He more than satisfied every condition Kenilla Loroe had hoped for in a husband.

He should not be obsessed with women, but he needed manners, needed respect, and needed to be pleasing to look at. On top of that, he would even act for the sake of appearances. For dealing with her parents’ pressure, there could hardly be a more suitable man.

Even his statement that he would “try,” and the fact that he did not spout empty nonsense about love at first sight.

In Kenilla Loroe’s heart, her favorable impression of Luman grew stronger. If things progressed a little further, she thought she might even come to “like” him.

But as she watched him, it seemed there was someone else in his heart.

They were each perfectly suited as marriage partners, and that bothered her. If her liking for him had not deepened, it would not have bothered her at all, but now it caught like a thorn.

And so she had asked, “You seem to have someone in your heart?” but Luman played innocent.

He was slightly surprised too. When he spent time with Kenilla, he had thought he focused only on her. Had that not been the case?

After speaking of other things for quite some time, Kenilla brought the topic from earlier back up.

What kind of person was the one Luman held in his heart?

“It happens. You are of that age, after all.”

“Is that not why I came to find you so urgently, my lady? Because I want to build a cozy, close-knit family.”

Luman’s words were sincere.

“Oh?”

Kenilla fluttered her fan. She seemed to be weighing his words.

Their deep gazes met. In the air that tightened until it was hard to breathe, the two conversed only with their eyes.

“What a shame.”

Kenilla Loroe sighed.

Luman looked quietly at Kenilla as she slowly blinked.

“I wish there had been no one in your heart.”

“......”

Her voice was full of a sigh.

Her gaze seemed to be asking him this:

‘Can you deny what is in your heart?’

Luman could not say it was not true. He did not want to deny his own heart, and he could not.

Seeing him give no answer, Kenilla smiled as if to say, See? It was a cool smile, like the sea. She abruptly undid the hair she had neatly braided for their date, then skillfully gathered the loosened strands high and tied them up. It was no use even when her maid tried to stop her. The nape of her neck was fully exposed. Seeing Luman’s clean, unaffected gaze, Kenilla laughed again.

“Doesn’t this suit me better?”

“Both braided and loose suit you well.”

“I knew you would say that.”

Kenilla pushed away the black tea placed before her and picked up a piece of fruit with her fingers.

“My lady!” the maid cried, stamping her feet. She exchanged glances with the servant standing behind Luman.

Weren’t things going well between them?! Weren’t they going to hold the formal engagement ceremony and go straight into the wedding?! Just yesterday, the two had definitely been discussing the flowers to decorate the wedding hall with! They had not stamped the seals yet, but each side was already holding one copy of the documents related to the engagement. The day before yesterday, they had confirmed that deciding on their engagement was undoubtedly the right choice, and yesterday they had discussed marriage...

But then they started talking about whether there was someone in his heart, and the lady suddenly stopped putting on airs! And Luman was not even explaining that it was not true!

After crunching down and swallowing the fruit, Kenilla looked straight at Luman.

Her gaze was firm and intense. Amber eyes met that gaze.

“You cannot completely remove the one you hold in your heart, can you?”

“Well. The heart does not move according to one’s will. I suspect it will last a long time.”

Luman lowered his eyes. The longing in them was so deep that the maid swallowed a gasp.

What kind of bond had he left behind for him to wear such an expression?

The breath he swallowed deep seemed to reveal the size of that longing.

Seeing him, Kenilla Loroe felt refreshed.

“Will that affect our promise?”

His platinum-blond hair fell naturally, scattering over his forehead. He was a man whose every strand of hair was beautiful. Beautiful enough to make one wonder if Heroes were chosen by their faces.

She had not expected someone this impressive to come, so she had been all the more satisfied.

As expected, God did not give everything to anyone. A man already deeply in love?

Looking into the eyes of the beautiful man staring deeply back at her, Kenilla opened her mouth.

The maid behind her gulped.

“Yes. Of course it will.”

“...I thought you and I would make a good connection.”

His words were sincere.

His voice sank low enough to make her waver for a moment.

Looking at those golden eyes that shimmered warmly like gathered sunlight, Kenilla felt true regret.

“I thought so too. Until I realized there was someone in your heart.”

“I have no intention of going to find the one I hold in my heart. Nor do I intend to express these feelings.”

“But you love them, don’t you?”