“welcome home, duchess,” he greeted seira.

    “yes, i’m back, aven,” she grinned, her flushed cheeks a proof of her drunkness.

    seira glanced one last time at louis franto who still stood in front of his carriage, before entering the mansion with aven.

    “what about zion?” she inquired.

    “i just left about an hour ago,” aven replied.

    he kicked zion out saying that he would meet seira in a while. aven would be troubled if zion stuck to him and talked nonsense.

    “did you enjoy your dinner with the duke franto?”

    “well… well, did i enjoy it?”

    seira murmured softly as she climbed the stairs toward the third floor of the duchess’ bedroom. it was an uncomfortable and burdensome situation to be in, but the wine was really good.

    she pointed to aven’s hand that held the bottle of wine and said, “that is a very expensive and delicious wine. i brought it for you, aven.”

    “is that so?”

    “and…”

    he looked at her with a puzzled expression. she had thrown her head and closed her mouth, confusing aven even more.

    “do you have something to say?” he asked.

    “well… i think i’ll tell you tomorrow. it’s too late today.”

    “you can do it now.”

    aven thought seira’s behavior was somehow unusual. he didn’t even know if it was related to arriving home later than expected or drinking until she couldn’t talk straight.

    “did something bad happen to you?” aven frowned.

    “no, it’s not like that,” she shook her head quite vigorously, “rather, can i say it’s a good thing?”

    the bedroom of the town house, which had been set up for the first time in a long while, was decorated in the likeness of her bedroom back at the estate. seira looked back at aven, taking off her jacket and putting it on her chair.

    “i decided to attend the imperial banquet…” she began, “as a partner of louis franto.”

    seira smiled faintly as she saw aven’s eyes getting bigger.

    “why are you surprised?” she asked him.

    “no, it-it’s just…” aven stuttered, “it’s unexpected.”

    “actually, i was a little surprised, too. he suddenly asked me to be his partner. if i do so, he will help revive askan.”

    aven felt that all the words floating in his head shattered and crashed.

    “for now, i’m going to watch the revival of the viscount dews. i wondered if it was possible, but he was pretty confident in himself.”

    “…”

    aven remained silent even as seira noticed and stopped speaking. only the sound of their breathing reminded each other of their existence in a dark room without a single light.

    “duchess…”

    his voice, which came out after a long time, was low.

    “if he offers to revive the entire estate on the premise of marriage,” he asked, his voice almost cracking, “would you accept?”

    louis franto and seira had no contact. in other words, his proposal to be her lover meant that it was not because he had a heart, but because it was a give-and-take deal.

    it was a completely different case from baron, who desperately wanted seira for himself.

    “well, i haven’t thought about that,” seira admitted.

    “franto… …has a lineage of controversy,” aven said with his hands clenched beside him.

    one of the greatest duties of a high-ranking aristocratic family, which has strictly controlled bloodline, is, of course, to establish a successor of good lineage. however, franto’s former duke, phileas’ companion, was not from a high-ranking noble family.

    so how did louis become the patriarch of franto?

    “rumors that his father might be a relative, right?” seira asked.

    philias had nailed louis’ father to pure blood alpha.

    as if to prove this, louis, who expressed as an alpha at the age of nine, has an outstanding magical talent among the franto family members. he made great achievements in magic engineering research and magic tool development.

    as a result, the nobles began to suspect who louis’ real father was. philias’ youngest uncle, charles franto, was mentioned as the most likely candidate. in fact, the age difference between the two was not that big, and they were quite close.

    “because there was no pure-blooded alpha without a companion at that time except for charle franto.”

    “do you happen to know? for whatever purpose there is, there must be another alpha hidden.”

    the aristocracy’s obsession with bloodline was crazy. so, whatever one assumed, there was a high possibility that reality was beyond it.

    “anyway, be sure to keep this in mind when you sign a deal with louis franto,” aven warned her.

    marriage between cousins wasn’t prohibited by imperial law, but it was impossible within that time. it was because descendants born from close relatives often had physical or mental defects. worst would have both deficiencies.

    “okay. i don’t think i’ll even get married anyway.”

    louis franto is not a love-blind fool like anyone, and he will never do a losing business.

    seira shrugged her shoulders and sat on the bed.

    “…”

    aven stared silently at the red mark on her neck that was revealed as she swept her hair.

    it would have disappeared tomorrow, but there were probably still many such traces on her body. it was proof that baron jeff hugged and kissed her all night.

    and from now on, she’ll be standing by as louis franto’s lover.