Chapter 3

The soft sheets rustled gently, Arhan got up from the bed with her head throbbing.

‘Mmm.’

Looking around, there was a familiar high-quality vase. White roses in full bloom in the vase. It was Deborah’s favorite flower.

‘Is it Deborah’s room……? How did I get here? Ah, my head. I will never drink like that again.’

Arhin gulped down the water. Her stomach is burning.

As she came to her senses little by little, the fragmented memories of last night came to mind. It seems that he ran through the Villium intersection with excitement…….

A woman running barefoot in the middle of the night in a dress. She must have looked crazy.

‘But why was I excited?’

Arhin recalled last night’s events.

‘Instead of Deborah, I took an invitation and went to the party. It was a very splendid and magnificent place. Had a delicious drink and a perfect walnut tart. And I think I met a man as bright as an angel……. I think I met him on the terrace after my eyes met him……. Then……?’

Deborah was sitting by the window, looking through business papers. She saw Arhin looking around with a confused expression as soon as she woke up.

Deborah’s face beamed with a serene smile. What other interesting things did her cute friend bring?

Arhin took a sip of water, frowning. She then blinked her eyes with a blank face as if recalling yesterday’s events. And after a while, she suddenly grabbed her head and started screaming.

“Aaaah!”

“…….”

Deborah quietly put the papers down. Her friend must have caused some kind of accident. Now it looks like something much more interesting is about to happen than boring papers.

“Deborah! I stole someone’s lips!”

“……oh my.”

Arhin walked back and forth in Deborah’s room with nervous steps. She kept grabbing her hair and screaming under his breath, “Ugh.”

Deborah patted Arhin on the shoulder and led her to the couch. Arhin, sitting on the couch, was still grabbing her hair and started muttering again.

“Crazy. When I heard he asked that..….”

Deborah put together Arhin’s jumbled words. Anyway, it seemed like she could roughly picture last night’s events.

‘For example, on the terrace at the party, someone asked, ‘Have we met before?’ and Arhin, excited by that, pushed her lips.’

Arhin was weeping now with her face buried in Deborah’s arms.

“I didn’t want to use a coercive method. I just wanted to create a good memory like having a conversation, eye contact, watching fireworks, and lips touching naturally…”

“I see.”

“I am shameless and unscrupulous. I don’t even deserve to breathe anymore!”

“You are good at expressing yourself.”

Arhin was blaming herself very hard. Deborah’s gaze landed affectionately on Arhin’s face.

The corners of her eyes were wet with tears. Emerald eyes shone brilliantly between the beautifully stretched eyelashes.

Deborah grinned as she saw her hair glistening smoothly in the sunlight entering the window.

“Wouldn’t the other person have been rather happy, saying that he was lucky?’

However, she did not express those thoughts. Because Arhin, who does a one-man show similar to self-blame, looked very cute. Instead of comforting her, Deborah asked a simple question that had been hovering in her mind for a while.

“Who was that person?”

“I don’t know.”

“……you don’t even know his name?”

“No. But, he was a handsome guy with bright blond hair and silver eyes that looked a bit blue or gray.”

“Blonde hair… silvery gray eyes…”

A man’s face flashed through Deborah’s mind. But she immediately shook her head as if it was nonsense.

Marquis Ludwig Berth.

He was not a man who would follow a woman and say childish things like, ‘Have we met before?’

He is kind to everyone and has a mysterious smile, making it hard to tell what he’s thinking inside. Although he was a famous playboy in society, he never approached the opposite sex first.

“And his hands looked sturdy, like someone wielding a sword…….”

“Pfft!”

But at Arhin’s last words, Deborah had no choice but to spit out the lukewarm tea.

She cleared her thoughts, wiping the water off her mouth with her trembling hand. There may be men with a similar appearance.

However, if he is a swordsman trained to the point of getting calluses on his hands, the story changes. There is only one swordsman with blonde hair and silver eyes in this empire.

Marquis Ludwig Berth. He was the main character of yesterday’s party and the one who celebrated his 20th birthday.

Deborah took a deep breath.

‘It’s going to be more complicated than I thought.’

It’s too big an opponent to pull off childish tricks.

“Arhin. Did you ever threaten him?”

A nobleman does not lack manners enough to subdue a woman who threatens him by force. It is clear that he, too, would not have dared to attack if Arhin had grabbed him by the collar and pushed her lips.

In addition, according to Arhin’s swordsmanship teacher, Sir De Panzi, her swordsmanship and physical skill are very excellent.

Deborah expected something interesting, but Arhin brought something very frightening.

“That’s not it, but I don’t remember if he allowed me to kiss him…”

“……haa……”

It wasn’t perfect, but it was fortunate.

Deborah looked at Arhin with warm eyes. She is very rich, but she comes from a commoner background. Even though Arhin comes from a lower class, she is an outright noble.

This is an era where the difference between status and class is still clear. But Arhin didn’t care about that and treated her sincerely. Even when her family wasn’t as rich as they are now.

Looking at her precious friend, Deborah made a resolution. You have to keep that cutie’s first kiss secret for the rest of your life.

Marquis Berth was known for having very good manners, but from Deborah’s point of view—who came from a merchant family and had met many people—she believed he was not as friendly or as kind as the rumors were.

His true intentions were often revealed in the glances in his eyes and facial expressions. Judging from the fact that he rose to the rank of marquis at a very young age and established that position, he must have been cold-hearted and sharp as a knife.

She has to hide last night’s event and keep it a secret that her friend did such a thing. That was the job of Deborah, who had this noble lady as her close friend.

‘Arhin, don’t worry. For the rest of your life, just remember your first kiss as a happy memory.’

Deborah nodded her head and smiled.

Arhin walked towards the house without even getting into the carriage, quietly thinking about what was to come. Such things as Count Amu, married to Count Amu, and her own family, Baron Avand.

The baron’s situation was worse than expected.

“He robbed the baron’s fortune and loaded precious treasures onto a ship going east, but it was all submerged in the storm, my lady.”

“……all?”

“Yes. A sea is a place that is difficult to predict. However, to push such a marriage because the family situation has become difficult, the baron is too much.”

It was clear that she would never have known if it hadn’t been for the conversation she had with Nanny Dea a few days ago. If she had known, she wouldn’t have done anything to break her father’s heart by saying she didn’t want to get married.

‘You must be sad, father.’

Arhin bit her lip slightly as she recalled Baron Avand talking about marriage. He is her precious family. She wants her family to be happy.

Arhin entered the living room with a happy face. She smiled brightly as he saw the baron couple waiting for her with a worried expressions.

‘Okay. If everyone is happy with my marriage, that’s fine.’

“I’m home!”

Arhin smiled brightly.

***