The maid put a hotcake and a cup containing maple syrup in front of us.

"Ah, it looks delicious." Leslie quit any further insight and immediately began to focus on the plate.

Her face, while she sprinkled maple syrup on the cake, was filled with happiness.

I had a slight conflict with a glass of syrup.

'I'm not a mean Nadit anymore. I will be a fair and square Rainfield who is responsible for what I say.'

This was because it was time to make a big decision.

'Now that Leslie has given me a sword, I will no longer live with the old villain mindset.'

After taking a deep breath, I sprayed only half of the syrup on my cake.

'You can go back home and ask your father to make it again. So let's endure the sadness we have now.' Unable to hide my expression, I handed Ian the glass of syrup containing the other half. 

"Here you go."

"What?" 

"I have to keep my promise."

"Honey! Come with me! I'll be good to you! I'll order hotcakes and sprinkle more syrup."

(tl/n: he's mimicking her at what she said to him at the black market) (pr/n: omg Ian is so cute)

Ian glanced at my distorted expression and smiled. Then he took the cup of syrup I handed over.

"In life, there are times when you don't have to keep your promise to me." I thought I could refuse, saying I had enough syrup, or I could ask the maid to bring more. 

I couldn't even ask for more from my standpoint of keeping my promise. I had no choice but to watch him sprinkle the other half of the syrup on his pancake with a sad look. 

'You don't have to spray it like that...' Ian was looking at the hotcake, which seemed to be soaked in syrup as if it were very precious. 

'You really liked syrup.' I think it would be too sweet, but Ian even took a bite right away with a proud look. 

"Promise? What promise?" When Leslie asked, Ian replied with a slow smile. 

"I had an appointment at the black market. I traded my help for maple syrup." Well, it wasn't wrong because I did drag Ian around. 

"Uh... Ian?" Leslie blinked as if she was embarrassed. 

"Have you ever been able to smile so faintly?" It was then Ian looked a little surprised by Leslie's words. 

"I also traded my life with crustacean shells." Aaron stepped in quickly. 

"Come to think of it, you're quite talented in dealing with your sister I look forward to the next transaction." 

"Oh, that's right." Leslie looked at Aaron and said as if she had just remembered. 

"Aaron, I heard you have a girlfriend, and she was the apprentice who helped with the paternity test." "The rumor sure spread fast." Aaron shyly admitted, scratching his head. "Well, that's what happened."

"What, please tell me more. I knew you would fall in love before Ian, but I didn't know that this day would come so soon." When Leslie spoke, Aaron answered naturally.

"There's nothing wrong."

Ian and I, who had nothing to say here, had no choice but to keep our mouths shut.

In any case, both of us have lived a life without a relationship with the opposite sex at all.

"Even when I can't see her in front of me, I remember her, and when she is in front of me, I think of her even more."

Aaron continued, lifting a piece of hotcake he had taken with a fork.

I listened with one ear and tuned it out with the other.

"If I think she could get along well with another man, I get a strange rage, isn't it something like that?" Leslie cheered a little, and Ian gulped down the tea as if the hotcake was too sweet.

That night, Braden stayed late in his office doing the Duchys' affairs. He had been busy all day planning a tour of the duchy.

So Braden got a letter today saying that Annabelle was visiting, but he didn't get to see her.

After finishing his work after midnight, he sighed deeply and put down his pen.

Leslie must have already been asleep, and it seemed that he would be able to ask about what had happened today only after dawn.

"I have to hand over the title to Ian."

After the swordsmanship contest was over, he decided that he would unconditionally hand over everything to Ian and leave with Leslie for their freedom, and he rubbed his stiff shoulder

He wondered if Leslie delivered her sword to Annabelle safely today.

It was whether his words that he wanted to pass on to his daughter-in-law had come true.

Thinking of Leslie, who was thrilled at the thought of teaching Annabelle, a gentle smile spread across his lips.

After she was injured, she did not hold a sword, but she taught Annabelle and hoped that she would be healed in her own way.

'By the way, did they do well?' Braden's thoughts shifted back to Annabelle and Ian. 

"I'm worried about Ian." 

Of course, he was worried about dating. Even if Ian knew his heart, there was still a long way to go. Everyone thought that the relationship between the two of them was the worst, and that everything was normal.

Even if Ian confessed in this situation, it was nothing more or less than the strange taste of the opera [Don't Go Crazy].

Until now, Ian had not been interested in such a field, but the difficulty of the basic situation itself was too high.

Even more so if Annabelle's taste is a 'normal man'. "It reminds me of the old days." Leslie and Braden s love story was an incident that heated the capital more than 20 years ago.

That was because it was not only a combination of a high-ranking aristocrat and a commoner, which had been extremely rare, but also a combination of first and second place in the swordsmanship competition.

Everyone who knew about those days admired Braden's seduction skills.

The publishing industry was even contacting Braden to write a "Temptation Guideline".

Leslie was like, "What temptation?" She reacted indifferently, saying, "when I woke up, my wedding date was set".

And that fact further boosted Braden's reputation.

'Well, if Ian resembles me, I will see my daughter-in-law in the near future.'

If you are a love-specialized love expert, it would not be a matter of skillfully and strategically approaching and changing the game of the relationship.

Leslie had been pushing for the "Annabelle and Robert romance rumor" all this time.

If he resembled Leslie's sense of love, which was a terrible sense, Ian had no hope. But Braden smiled.

Before organizing the work, it was the last time Braden turned to a report that summarized what was happening in the workshop today.

"...Hmm?" After checking one item, his eyes became thinner. 

'Invitation letter from the Imperial Palace? With Annabelle?' The corners of his mouth, which had been lost in thought for a while, slightly went up. 

"Ian must be having a hard time. Everyone in the capital knows the rumors of Prince Robert and Miss Annabelle.' Braden was lost in thought. As others say, are Robert and Annabelle really on the verge of becoming lovers? It didn't seem like it for some reason. It was like he specialized in this field. His love brain cells stretched after a very long time. "But he's my son, so should I help him?" He immediately changed the date of the inspection of the duchy. 

(tl/n: Braden once again being the op)

***

Annabelle was not a member of the Marquis of Abedes, and being Rainfield's daughter was just gossip to most people.

However, there were those who could never simply dismiss it as gossip.

Marquis Abedes, Elburn, and Richard were sitting face to face and talking.

"Is it okay?" Elburn carefully looked into Richard's eyes and asked first. "What?"

"The pretty girl that older brother loved as a child. She was the one who not long ago went into the apprenticeship of the saint.'

"It's also said that she was in love with Aaron Rainfield."

When the apprentice helped Annabelle find her family, the Rainfield's, who are the wealthiest commoners in the capital, she developed a relationship with their son as her lover.

It was a good topic many people also talked about. 

"I like? After all, she comes from the slum." Richard snorted.

"I am not interested in the ghetto saints or the vulgar rich commoners or anything like that. On the contrary just thinking about it makes me feel worse." Of course, he deserved to feel bad. 

The Marquis of Abedes was also a victim of Caitlyn. "I dug up Caitlyn's grave and even burned her rotten body..." Elburn grinded his teeth. "I can't seem to get rid of it." 

"It was meaningless anyways." Richard shot bluntly. The past was already unavoidable. "Now is the time to think about the future."

One of the cards he was going to use flew unexpectedly.

All plans that were put in place to use Annabelle to convey a lot of misinformation to Robert, but in an instant, it went to nothing.

But now was not the time to regret it. 

"Ian Wade and Annabelle Rainfield..." Richard tapped the table nervously with his fingers. It was even terrifying that two of the Empire's most talented swordsmen were on Robert's side.

 "Unexpectedly, Annabelle could be an obstacle."