In the past, she would have tried to relieve Richard's uncomfortable feelings, but her own attitude had changed since then.

Iona had no intention of struggling to act like the tongue in his mouth any longer. This had been decided from the moment she decided to side with her duke.

She intended to make this marriage a perfect success without ruining it like before, and that meant precisely confrontation with Richard.

'Even if that means denying the entire past life.'

Unfortunately, she didn't feel much pity for the old master, who would never doubt her loyalty.

***

“They are ignoring us! Does it make sense that we don’t even have a separate guide?”

“If we had a guide, I would have felt like we were being watched. It's better this way.”

“Would the guide even be able to discern something if we kept our mouths shut the whole time? It wouldn't be a problem then, right?”

“Yeah, I’m starting to regret it too. If we had been with someone else, you would have been a little quieter.”

Leroy replied without hiding his fatigue.

Jonas, who had been walking to his side and expressing his displeasure, finally shut up.

Then Jonas glared at his master with betrayed eyes, which seemed to say, 'How could you say such a thing to me who is loyal to you with all my being.'

However, instead of reacting to the subordinate's cute complaint, Leroy chose to ignore it.

It was because Leroy was uncomfortable all this time due to the sudden decision to get married.

Who would have expected that the head of a ducal family, once said to be the most prestigious, would be treated like this in the imperial palace?

Many diverging points stood out when recalling the past, but if one thing was certain, it was that the beginning of all these problems was also marriage.

Since ancient times, the ducal family had maintained good neighbors, especially interacting closely with the neighboring estate, County Schmidt.

In particular, in the past half-century, the two families have been unprecedentedly close, to the point of putting too much meaning on the fact that their offspring were born at the same time, and hence engaged the couple in advance.

Thanks to this, Leroy had a fiancée who had been the same age as him. For him, she was more like a childhood friend than a lover.

But an incident happened suddenly seven years ago, one summer day when the rainy season was exceptionally long.

The Schmidt family was suddenly accused of colluding with other countries and subjected to intense investigations.

Several doubtful ledgers and lists were discovered, and the count's family was executed without warning.

The spark also flew to the duke's family, who were in a betrothed relationship.

The imperial family assumed that the duchy also contributed to the blasphemous plot.

They occupied private property under the pretext of investigation and dragged away close relatives and detained them.

When business was paralyzed, the flow of funds was naturally blocked. And suddenly, the former duke and his wife died in an unexpected accident. None of the duke's household believed it was an accident.

It was a time when the investigation, which could not find the allegations, was fizzling out. Those who wanted the duchy's decline would have had to make some kind of achievement; And at that time, the ducal family quickly collapsed, leaving Leroy behind.

He lost his family and those who were soon to be his family at once.

'It's a picture-like tragedy.'

Leroy muttered to himself inwardly.

He often thought that the tragedy that had befallen him was not real. It was because of this that he was able to devote all his energy to the restoration of his family after inheriting the title.

It was around the time that the name of the family, which everyone had been talking about, was gradually regaining its prestige, a secret message from the imperial family disguised as condolence came; To marry a famous Knightess.

It was clear that the imperial family wanted to keep him on a leash under the pretext of harmony.

The moment he heard the name of his bride-to-be, Leroy thought this might be more of a skit than a tragedy.

'It had to be that woman...'

Iona Modrov, the woman everyone called the loyal dog of Crown Prince, Richard.

It was impossible to live as a normal couple in the first place, and it was someone who would probably make him worry about the safety of his neck every time he went to bed.

If there was one question he had, it was whether her will was reflected in this bride selection.

“There will come a day when the crown prince will regret treating the duke like this.”

Jonas murmured gloomily.

Leroy heartily agreed but stretched out his arm toward him as if to restrain his subordinate.

Leroy whispered as if warning, “Someone is coming.”

A distant figure was approaching.

It would be embarrassing if their disloyal words and actions inadvertently leaked out because of carelessness.

Jonas instantly became quiet.

The two casually walked down the aisle as if nothing had happened.

Just in time, a woman appeared from around the corner.

Judging from the fact that she was wearing a blue uniform, she seemed to be a knight belonging to the imperial family.

However, Leroy recognized the identity of the other person because of her transparent silverish hair, like a mirror, rather than her usual outfit.

'Iona Modrov?'

The woman also stopped in place with a surprised face.

Although it was absurd, for a moment, Leroy thought that her face was painted with an emotion akin to joy.

No, that was perhaps an illusion. Because when he came to his senses and checked again, Iona's face was completely expressionless.

Instead of ignoring them and passing them by, she strode forward and stopped at a respectful distance.

Then, with unexpected politeness, she asked:

“I will greet you first. This is Iona Modrov of the Imperial Knights. Are you on your way to see his highness, the crown prince?”

Hearing the woman's introduction, Jonas blinked with a stupid face.

It seemed that Leroy could not expect help from his distraught subordinate.

Leroy said, covering Jonas with his body.

“Right. I never thought we would meet again like this. Nice to meet you, Dame Iona.”

“Have you met me separately before?”

"Only once... Because I don't come to the capital very much."

“I apologize for not remembering.”

The woman apologized, trying to hide her embarrassment.

She seemed to have no recollection of their previous encounter.

In a way, it was natural, so Leroy wasn't particularly disappointed.

What he was really curious about was why she had been talking to him like she actually had a good impression of him. Because they weren't friendly enough to greet each other.

At least, he didn't think so they were, and hearing she didn't even remember meeting him before today, she should not have such a recollection either.

However, Iona even invited him to accompany her as if she didn't know about the complicated conflict between them.

"I'm afraid I'm trying to disrupt your Grace's comfortable time, but would you grant me the honor of escorting the duke to his destination?"

Leroy didn't know what she was thinking, but at least it didn't seem like she was doing this out of lack of awareness.

Because she quickly sensed what was going on with them and offered help. Even in a way that won't hurt their pride.

“Thank you, but I will decline. I know the way well enough, so I don't want to waste a busy person's time.”

Of course, accepting good intentions for no reason was another matter.

It was when Leroy, who left a clean refusal, was about to say goodbye, something he never expected happened.

The opponent expressed her feeling outwardly with a face full of disappointment.

"I'm not that busy right now...”

An awkward silence passed between them.

At this point, Iona had to step aside first, but she just stood nailed in front of him.

Apparently, she was expecting Leroy to change his mind and accept the company.

Jonas, who couldn't see this, warmed up to Leroy with an awkward voice.

"Haha. Then shall we leave, your grace?”

Only then did Iona, who couldn't block their way anymore, hurriedly moved out of the way.

She said her goodbyes to the duke with a bow.

“Then see you later. Take care.”

Leroy and Jonas passed her in a somewhat embarrassed and awkward mood.

Around the time they got some distance, Jonas let out the breath he had been holding back.

He spoke in a puzzled voice.

“…Wasn't she nice?”