“Misunderstanding.”

Jeremy nodded thoughtfully, feeling like a guilty man.

He wasn’t really sure why Kahen was doing this, and he was so scared of his boss that he just screamed at the top of his lungs that it wasn’t him.

Is this what a torch looks like?

Memories flashed through his mind, and he felt a deep sense of regret.

‘I really didn’t do anything wrong!’

Surely they didn’t catch me putting my quota in Lord Kahen’s office yesterday without properly checking the documents, did they?

Or that I hadn’t bought the antidote in time, causing him to suffer for a few more hours? Or…

Yikes. Come to think of it, I’ve been stabbed too many times.

I should be thanking my lucky stars that a sword wasn’t flying at me right now.

Jeremy’s eyes darted around, not daring to look at Kahen.

Then his eyes met Bella’s.

Bella immediately turned away and stood up.

She bows to Kahen with impeccable etiquette, gently squeezing and releasing the hem of her dress as if he weren’t there.

“I’ll leave you to it, then.”

No.

I don’t want to be left alone with an angry Kahen.

“Princess…!”

The Princess of Havelion, rumored to be merciful and kind-hearted.

Jeremy clasped his hands together and looked up at her for help.

As her gaze slowly shifted to him, he sucked in a breath.

She was indeed the Flower of Havelion.

As Bella’s skyblue eyes locked on his, he felt his heartbeat quicken in spite of himself.

She must have noticed the change in him, because she smiled brightly.

Sure enough, her lips were forming a beautiful arc, but her eyes weren’t smiling.

But the dull Jeremy didn’t notice.

“I don’t want to.”

A firm voice.

The sound of her voice mesmerized him, and he only came to his senses after Bella had left the room.

“Let’s continue the conversation.”

Kahen, who has started talking informally, is dangerous.

It was like facing a volcano that could erupt at a moment’s notice.

He recognized him as Jeremy, the man who had served him for so many years.

He wished he hadn’t known.

Even if he knows the danger, he can’t avoid it.

Jeremy raised both his hands and feet.

“Huu. I can’t help it.”

Determination shone in his orange eyes.

He shifted his stance and stood tall, facing Kahen.

“I’m sorry, Lord Kahen!”

He bowed deeply.

What’s more important than pride is life.

Only by keeping himself alive could he accomplish his goal.

“I have done everything wrong. Please forgive me.”

Ever the joker, yet he apologized sincerely.

The Kahen he knew would have set up all the stakes, and there would be no escape from this imprisonment.

Why, he wondered, had he been allowed to get away with dozens of small misdeeds yesterday, but not today?

It was unfair.

The man playing on top of him was Kahen.

As if he knew what he was thinking, Kahen spoke up.

“Is this because you know what you’ve done wrong?”

“That…”

He didn’t know.

He almost blurted out his original words.

Hmm, unless it’s about something I usually get away with.

“The… girl problem?”

Ugh. This is Lord Kahen, who has a hard time looking at women.

Jeremy chuckled to himself, as if he didn’t even realize he’d said it.

He lifted his head to face Kahen and flinched.

He was radiating a terrifying fleshiness.

‘What, did I say something wrong? No, did I get it right?’

Hmm, a woman’s problem, really? The young duke of Cherta? The Kahen?

Jeremy didn’t believe the rumors about Kahen.

He thought that the mysterious young lady was acting out because she didn’t want to marry him.

It was Hashin who started the rumor in the first place.

But he didn’t think it was true.

Even a passing dog thought it was funny.

“Aww. No matter how much I like women, would I have dared to lay a hand on my lord’s woman…?”

The regal tone faded with each step.

Breaking out in an uncomfortably cold sweat, Jeremy quickly avoided Kahen’s gaze.

“Jeremy?”

Kahen called out to him.

At the sound of his name, as if urging him to answer, Jeremy shuddered as if he were on fire.

“Yes, yes?”

“…”

Kahen walked toward him.

One step, then two, and with each step he took closer, Jeremy’s heart plummeted.

“I thought you would never lie to me.”

He paused.

The more he did, the more his insides burned.

“Was I mistaken?”

“Of course not! Lord Kahen. Please beli, believe, believe in my innocence!”

He stuttered heavily, where had his regal demeanor from earlier gone?

Jeremy tried to roll over, but Kahen kicked him in the shin just as quickly.

It wasn’t even a hard kick, but his legs gave out and he fell to the ground in a heap.

“Tell me every detail from start to finish. Do me a favor, Jeremy.”

He hadn’t realized how terrifying Kahen’s blue eyes could be.

Jeremy nodded fiercely, determined to do as he was told.

***

“Bessie!”

“Yeah, Bella.”

I smiled brightly at Bella, who seemed to be in a good mood for some reason.

Luckily, I had entered the mansion just before Bella arrived.

I had semi-forced myself to go outside when Bella had asked me to stay inside.

I didn’t go through the front door, so when I returned, the butler was surprised to see me and said, ‘Where have you left, my lady?’

I was surprised and said, ‘I just went to look at the flowers in the courtyard,’ which was an awkward lie.

Luckily, he didn’t ask any more questions.

I closed the book I’d brought to show him and got up from my chair.

Bella giggled and suggested we open the gifts.

Well, if these are really from Jeremy, I don’t think we should open them. He’s supposed to be a freak in the original story.

Who knows what he might have done to these plain-looking boxes.

The handmaiden says that some of the boxes she opened contained jewelry that was nothing unusual.

The only thing unusual about them was that they were eye-poppingly expensive jewelry.

“Bella, but it could have been delivered to me by mistake…”

“Who cares!”

Bella ripped the straps of the box with a flourish.

Her sword training with Revelius had changed her in many ways.

This was one of them.

She had gained the strength to rip through even the toughest straps in one fell swoop.

Her personality became more cheerful.

Her obsession with her own things didn’t stand out as much as it did in the original.

‘If we keep going like this, won’t even the contracted relationship Kahen started for jealousy become useless? Haha.’

“Oh, this suits you! I don’t know who the sender is, but they have good taste.”

Inside the box, which was larger than the others, was a blue dress.

It was the color of sapphire, but it was unique in that it faded to a deep navy blue as it went down.

“Hmm, this dress would look great with that necklace I saw earlier!” Bella exclaimed excitedly as she slipped it on.

“Hmm. Is that okay?”

Well, I didn’t rip it open, Bella did, so who cares.

They even came to Havelion Manor.

If they were sent to her, as Bella thought, then it doesn’t matter, and if they were sent to Bella, as Bessia thought, then it’s okay because she ripped them herself.

She was the same size as hers, so the size of the dresses made it difficult for her to tell who the presents were for.

‘It must be Bella’s.’

No matter how much she thought about it, there was no way someone would give her a gift.

But when she saw how excited Bella was to try on the dresses and jewelry, she couldn’t help but smile.

Good things are good, you know.

When she saw the mess on the floor from the open boxes, she joined in.

“This jewelry looks great on you. It’s a bright blue color, like your eyes.”

“Hmph. But it looks good on you, too. The color blue looks good on you, too, Bessie.”

“Maybe.”

Even if it did, it wouldn’t look as good on you.

No matter how badly designed a piece of jewelry or a dress was, when Bella wore it, it was as good as if it had been designed by a genius designer.

Bella’s appearance was radiant.

“The maids and butler worked hard to clean up, so I don’t know if I should do this.”

“It’s okay.”

Bella said nonchalantly as she placed a pair of earrings with clear crystals in my ears.

Are they really a noble after all?

“Because their salary is given without regret.”

I see.

Money was everything.

No matter how hard the work, as long as there was money coming in, they could live with it.

“That’s fine then.”

“It’s fine.”

Smiling broadly, Bella placed the same earring in the other ear.

A maid came running out of nowhere and brought us a mirror.

“You look really good, young lady.”

“Thank you.”

“There’s nothing that doesn’t look good on you, Bessie.”

For some reason, Bella looked even more pleased.

Being praised in front of the beauty of the century, she was so embarrassed that she wanted to crawl into a rat hole.

“Rather than that, why did they send such a gift all of a sudden?”

“Umm. Yeah.”

Who knows the mind of the official fourth-dimension supporting cast.

He didn’t appear much, just as Kahen’s helper, so she didn’t know anything about Jeremy.

“You want to go to the festival together?”

She made a rough guess.

Or maybe he sent it thinking, ‘Get this and get away from our Kahen!’

Like a prospective mother-in-law handing over a white envelope.