Ian was blunt and had mood swings ever since he was young.

He didn't even care about other people since he always won easily.

Everyone but Annabelle Nadit wanted to get along with him. That was why there was no desperation and lacking from her.

Others praised Ian, saying he was handsome, but the Duke and his wife knew the shadow that followed their son's light.

It was the indifference and bluntness of not wanting anything from others.

Although he possessed the common sense and dignity of a noble, he was cold to the point that sometimes he did not acknowledge the shortcomings of others.

Leslie had never made such an issue of it, but she often thought that the Duke of Wade could end up without a successor like Ian.

Of course, even if her son lived alone and died, it was inevitable because it was an individual's choice.

But she couldn't believe Ian, who was always upset with everything with the same expression, was showing such a look!

"Mother, why did you suddenly become interested in Annabelle? You usually don't care at all."

"I thought maybe you were just having a little bit of an inferiority complex. I only thought of it as a nuisance to your way forward."

"You know exactly what I mean."

Ian smiled and folded his arms.

"And an interesting conversation? What are you going to talk about with the woman who throws curses me?"

"That curse was very cute too."

Leslie said teasingly.

"I hope Aaron hears you when you take a bath today."

"The curse was too much. I can't stand it."

Ian swept his hair nervously.

"After this sword competition, there will be no more complications, so I'll endure until then."

"Well, is that so?"

Leslie grinned slowly over the tea.

It was fun to see her son go crazy, but she was slightly moved by Annabelle.

'You want to win, but you don't want others to get hurt.'

Leslie wouldn't have thought that if she were in Annabelle's position.

It was in Annabel's true heart.

"I like her."

"So what?"

"How about you?"

"I'm not a pervert who gets excited when I get insulted, and there's no way I can like Annabelle."

Ian said with less excitement while Leslie nodded her head.

"Well, that's okay. I can't help it. We're going to go our separate ways."

"What?"

"Since when did we interfere in each other's lives like that? The evaluation of a person can be different."

Ignoring Ian's anxious gaze, Leslie continued.

"Today she wore a gray training uniform. Come to think of it, I've never seen her in any other clothes. Like the swordsmanship contest, and the last time I happened to see her at the training ground..."

Ian did not respond to Leslie's words.

Leslie looked at her son's tightly shut mouth and noticed that her indifferent child had seen Annabelle every day but never thought that way.

"She said that she was impressed by the food even though it was only a simple course meal... and that she eats only frozen yeper meat every day."

"..."

"Her father, the Marquis of Abedes, is completely indifferent to her, her dead mother was like that too, but even her older brother is thinking of using her as a foundation to feed his own stomach..."

Ian didn't say anymore. He sighed once, said goodbye, and left.

Although Leslie was brief, she thought she had never seen so many different expressions from Ian.

There was anger, absurdity, embarrassment, and some discomfort.

'It's interesting. I can't believe Ian's emotions, which used to be like a wooden doll, are running through him.'

She happily drank her tea and then rang her bell.

Aaron, who had been waiting somewhere, came in with a very excited look.

"Duchess Leslie."

Aaron's dark blue eyes widened playfully.

"Did you have fun?"

"I thought Ian came at the last minute and ruined everything..."

Leslie replied with a smile.

"Well, things seem to have become more interesting, yes. It has been the funniest thing since Ian whined about not being able to turn upside down."

She then spoke seriously.

"After that, raising him was easy, but it wasn't much fun because he was good at everything."

"I sincerely congratulate you on finally finding fun from your son after such a long time."

"In that sense, I'd like to give Miss Annabelle a present."

"Present?"

"Yes, can I make a reservation for the Rainfield? I just want to get rid of that old gray training suit."

Leslie recalled Annabelle, who was eating frantically.

Wavy light purple hair, dark blue eyes, and dense features... She thought Annabelle would be really pretty to decorate.

Since Leslie was also a swordsman, of course she could fully understand why Annabelle didn't care about those things, but this was just her own greed.

The first time Leslie saw Annabelle was when she was 14 and competed in a swordsmanship competition against Ian in the final.

In fact, it was hard to even compare the two from birth.

Ian was the heir to Duke Wade, and the son of two famous swordsmen who swept the era.

From an early age, he learned to use the sword directly from his father and the head knights.

Anabelle, who was born out of wedlock, constantly had a different teacher at a simple training ground to learn how to use the sword.

No one thought it was strange when Ian beat Annabelle.

Leslie also looked at Annabelle and thought it was amazing to get second place in that environment.

In particular, she did not like her mother, Caitlyn.

Caitlyn, who was dressed up in all kinds of jewelry and expensive dresses, sighed without even saying good work while looking coldly down at the young Annabelle in her worn-out training suit.

It was as if Annabelle was not worth a penny unless she was number one.

After Caitlyn's death, Reid seemed to have inherited everything and was abusing Annabelle equally.

No, she couldn't believe they were only feeding her frozen yeper meat.

It was a terrible thing, for Leslie hated starving and then eating tasteless food.

That was why she began to care about Annabelle.

"Tomorrow at this time will be great. I want to find clothes and then eat together again."

Aaron scratched his ear awkwardly at the words.

"Oh, I think tomorrow will be a little difficult."

"Why? Are the reservations full? Since it's my request, can you give me an hour?"

"No."

Aaron answered with an unusually cautious expression.

"Tomorrow is my sister's anniversary."

Leslie exclaimed 'oh!' and clasped her hands together.

"Then, of course, we'll catch him next time. That is important of course."

The Rainfields had a daughter who died as soon as she was born.

If she was alive, she would probably be the same age as Ian.

'The date is tomorrow.'

Leslie fiddled with the teacup.

~*~

Ian kept his mouth shut as he took a shower.

That was to avoid accidentally humming.

His mother would have let Aaron go by now.

Besides, if it were Aaron, he would be the person who would teach the choir the words he hummed and then have them sing rounds every morning.

After taking a shower, he walked gently on his toes, paying particular attention to his threshold.

'Really, what is this?'

He didn't care when he heard the double insult, but Annabelle's words kept running through his mind.

"Oh, that's a surprise."

Putting on his robe, he got nervous when he saw a pigeon sitting by the window.

"Get out now!"

The dove stared at him sullenly, flapped his wings, and eventually flew away.

Ian laid on the bed and sighed again. In the end, he never asked why she warned him of the dangers at Hibiscus.

He got entangled with Leslie and forgot about it.

"...It's embarrassing because Ian's only opponent is me! Only Annabelle Nadit can hurt Ian Wade!"

'Is it really like that? Is there a state where you hate someone so much that you don't want them to get hurt by someone other than yourself?'

He thought seriously, then turned his imagination in a different direction.

The person Ian Wade hated the most was, of course, Annabelle Nadit.

If he didn't hate her, then he was not normal.

But if Annabelle Nadit was injured by another opponent and she got caught up in some kind of attack and got seriously injured...

"...No."

She was seriously injured.

When he fought with her, he couldn't hit her as much as he wanted.

For example, he couldn't aim at Annabelle's back.

'Oh, I see.'

Ian was easily convinced.

'People have to do the opposite.'

Believing that he understood Annabelle's psychology perfectly, Ian went to bed comfortably until something tapped on the window.

It was the pigeon again.

"No, that damn pigeon again..."

He nervously opened the window and tried to shoo it out, but the pigeon stuck out its foot while looking at him with a pathetic face.

'Ah.'

It wasn't just an ordinary pigeon, it was a messenger.

And there was only one person who sent him this.

Prince Robert.

「Make sure to bring Miss Annabelle to the next meeting. It would be better to change the place. I'll make a reservation for a table of 3 at the red brick house.」

Ian read the note several times.

The pigeon poked at the back of his hand as if it needed a reply.

Ian bit his lower lip and wrote back.

「See you then. I don't know if I can take Annabelle Nadit with me because she doesn't listen to me. I think it's better if you think it's not possible.」

After writing back and tying it to the pigeon's leg, he lay nervously in bed.

He has been in a bad mood, and that seemed to have been the case ever since Annabelle rescued him from the guard procession of the High Priest.