Chapter 7

Chapter 7

In the past, she would have tried to relieve Richard's uncomfortable feelings, but her own attitude had changed since then.Visitt novelbin(.)co/m for the latest updates

Iona had no intention of struggling to act like the tongue in his mouth any longer. This had been decided from the moment she decided to side with her duke.

She intended to make this marriage a perfect success without ruining it like before, and that meant precisely confrontation with Richard.

'Even if that means denying the entire past life.'

Unfortunately, she didn't feel much pity for the old master, who would never doubt her loyalty.

***

They are ignoring us! Does it make sense that we dont even have a separate guide?

If we had a guide, I would have felt like we were being watched. It's better this way.

Would the guide even be able to discern something if we kept our mouths shut the whole time? It wouldn't be a problem then, right?

Yeah, Im starting to regret it too. If we had been with someone else, you would have been a little quieter.

Leroy replied without hiding his fatigue.

Jonas, who had been walking to his side and expressing his displeasure, finally shut up.

Then Jonas glared at his master with betrayed eyes, which seemed to say, 'How could you say such a thing to me who is loyal to you with all my being.'

However, instead of reacting to the subordinate's cute complaint, Leroy chose to ignore it.

It was because Leroy was uncomfortable all this time due to the sudden decision to get married.

Who would have expected that the head of a ducal family, once said to be the most prestigious, would be treated like this in the imperial palace?

Many diverging points stood out when recalling the past, but if one thing was certain, it was that the beginning of all these problems was also marriage.

Since ancient times, the ducal family had maintained good neighbors, especially interacting closely with the neighboring estate, County Schmidt.

In particular, in the past half-century, the two families have been unprecedentedly close, to the point of putting too much meaning on the fact that their offspring were born at the same time, and hence engaged the couple in advance.

Thanks to this, Leroy had a fiance who had been the same age as him. For him, she was more like a childhood friend than a lover.

But an incident happened suddenly seven years ago, one summer day when the rainy season was exceptionally long.

The Schmidt family was suddenly accused of colluding with other countries and subjected to intense investigations.

Several doubtful ledgers and lists were discovered, and the count's family was executed without warning.

The spark also flew to the duke's family, who were in a betrothed relationship.

The imperial family assumed that the duchy also contributed to the blasphemous plot.

They occupied private property under the pretext of investigation and dragged away close relatives and detained them.

When business was paralyzed, the flow of funds was naturally blocked. And suddenly, the former duke and his wife died in an unexpected accident. None of the duke's household believed it was an accident.

It was a time when the investigation, which could not find the allegations, was fizzling out. Those who wanted the duchy's decline would have had to make some kind of achievement; And at that time, the ducal family quickly collapsed, leaving Leroy behind.

He lost his family and those who were soon to be his family at once.

'It's a picture-like tragedy.'

Right. I never thought we would meet again like this. Nice to meet you, Dame Iona.

Have you met me separately before?

"Only once... Because I don't come to the capital very much."

I apologize for not remembering.

The woman apologized, trying to hide her embarrassment.

She seemed to have no recollection of their previous encounter.

In a way, it was natural, so Leroy wasn't particularly disappointed.

What he was really curious about was why she had been talking to him like she actually had a good impression of him. Because they weren't friendly enough to greet each other.

At least, he didn't think so they were, and hearing she didn't even remember meeting him before today, she should not have such a recollection either.

However, Iona even invited him to accompany her as if she didn't know about the complicated conflict between them.

"I'm afraid I'm trying to disrupt your Grace's comfortable time, but would you grant me the honor of escorting the duke to his destination?"

Leroy didn't know what she was thinking, but at least it didn't seem like she was doing this out of lack of awareness.

Because she quickly sensed what was going on with them and offered help. Even in a way that won't hurt their pride.

Thank you, but I will decline. I know the way well enough, so I don't want to waste a busy person's time.

Of course, accepting good intentions for no reason was another matter.

It was when Leroy, who left a clean refusal, was about to say goodbye, something he never expected happened.

The opponent expressed her feeling outwardly with a face full of disappointment.

"I'm not that busy right now...

An awkward silence passed between them.

At this point, Iona had to step aside first, but she just stood nailed in front of him.

Apparently, she was expecting Leroy to change his mind and accept the company.

Jonas, who couldn't see this, warmed up to Leroy with an awkward voice.

"Haha. Then shall we leave, your grace?

Only then did Iona, who couldn't block their way anymore, hurriedly moved out of the way.

She said her goodbyes to the duke with a bow.

Then see you later. Take care.

Leroy and Jonas passed her in a somewhat embarrassed and awkward mood.

Around the time they got some distance, Jonas let out the breath he had been holding back.

He spoke in a puzzled voice.

Wasn't she nice?