Chapter 10

The next morning.

Delmarc's knights had been contemplating since early morning and were standing in the training ground.

"Argh!"

Their comrade who had never properly retaliated even once dropped his sword and collapsed.

The person standing in front of him was Herdin.

Herdin looked at him with a cold gaze and gestured to one side of the training ground.

There, knights were lined up with their heads held high and their backs straight, waiting in a ready stance.

All of them were those who had never properly retaliated against Herdin in their duels.

"Next."

At Herdin's command, the next knight stepped forward with a frightened expression.

The eyes of the other knights watching their comrade were like watching a comrade who was about to jump into a battle. At the same time, they also sent pitiful glances, as if looking at a sinner who had received a death sentence.

They looked at their pitiful comrade and Herdin in front of them with resigned expressions.

A war hero.

Empowered by divine power, the empire's only Dark Mage.

"Is there really a knight in this empire, no, in this continent, who can defeat him…?"

Especially the knights who had fought against Herdin on the battlefield for a long time knew his abilities well.

If they could just properly retaliate once and face him, they would consider themselves fortunate.

Although they usually blamed the Creator's fierce favoritism, today, that exceptionally handsome face that they couldn't help but stare at even when they blamed it as a matter of course, looked like the face of a god of death.

One of the knights who was waiting for his turn to block Herdin's one-sided attacks, hoping for the best for his comrade, signaled to his colleagues.

"Hey, who is it?"

"What?"

"Who offended His Highness?"

"Offended? I haven't even properly seen him since he was busy preparing for the wedding and getting married."

"Then why is the newlywed second groom, who should be enjoying his honeymoon, exhausted here from the morning?"

"If you were forced to marry the enemy's daughter, would you feel like enjoying your honeymoon?"

I see.

Those who didn't know the answer shrugged their shoulders. Then, they suddenly looked at the person next to them who seemed to know the answer.

"Do you know, Assistant?"

But Ruth just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders without answering.

So they were all awake and making a fuss without knowing anything.

At that moment, the knights who were standing at the entrance of the training ground started to make noise as they looked in that direction.

As Herdin noticed the atmosphere and at the same time heard a small cough, he immediately turned his head in the direction of the sound. Blair, accompanied by Mason, had entered the training ground.

"Mason, what's going on here?"

He asked the butler, but in reality, it was a question directed towards Blair.

Blair pretended to listen to Mason's answer.

"I greeted the servants yesterday, but I couldn't greet the knights. I had a little free time before going to the palace, so I thought I'd come and say hello."

But even though she had distracted herself by glancing at her beauty for a moment, no one was taken aback.

"Is she trying to play the role of a hostess with us too?"

Although they had thought of Herdin as someone who would break their spirits just a while ago, they were comrades who had survived together on the battlefield.

The greater their loyalty to Herdin, the greater their resistance to Blair, who was a member of the royal family.

She probably knew that herself, whether she was naive or stubborn.

Herdin, thinking that way, stepped forward to introduce Blair to the knights.

"You've probably seen her faces as they passed by, but you haven't formally greeted them."

"...."

"Say hello. She's the future duchess who will serve you."

When the master stepped forward, even the knights who had been somewhat wary of Blair made sure to show their respect outwardly.

"Delmarc's loyal knights formally greet the lady."

"Nice to meet you too. I came here suddenly, so I appreciate your hospitality. I look forward to working with you."

Blair smiled faintly, but her gaze carefully scrutinized each of their faces, remaining quietly vigilant.

In truth, Blair had a different purpose for visiting the knights' training grounds.

In her past life, she had made efforts to be recognized as the mistress, but these were people who despised her.

There was no need to make an effort to impress or gain their recognition. After all, once this contractual marriage was concluded, she wouldn't see them again.

The real reason she had come to the knights' training ground was…

'Maybe the person who killed me is among them.'

As one of the three dukes of Delmarc, the duke's knights had the skills to match the imperial knights who had fought in battles themselves.

And the assassin who had killed Blair had infiltrated the mansion despite the strict security.

One of the reasons Blair suspected Herdin as the one behind her death was because of this.

Someone skilled enough to break through the tight security or someone who could enter and exit easily.

Then, perhaps the assassin could be someone from within the duke's household.

The servants frequently moved around inside the mansion, so most of them knew Blair's face.

On the other hand, the knights rarely had overlapping daily routines, so fewer of them would recognize her face. Even if there was an assassin among the knights, there was a high chance that he wouldn't recognize her.

So, she had come to check for herself, hoping that the assassin was not among the knights and that Herdin had nothing to do with her death.

Of course, just the thought of facing the person who had killed her, or the possibility that her beloved husband had been involved in her death, was suffocating. Her hands trembled, and she wanted to run away.

'No, I can't. Running away won't change anything.'

Blair held onto herself as if to stop herself from escaping, her trembling hands holding tightly.

At that moment, Ruth approached Herdin.

"Your Highness, it seems you should start preparing for lunch soon."

The butler, Mason, had already gone ahead to prepare, and Herdin, Blair, and Ruth left the meeting with the knights and exited the training ground.

Blair, who was walking beside Herdin, saw the sweat on his forehead and offered him a handkerchief.

"You might catch a cold."

However, Herdin refused her offer.

"It's fine."

His tone was polite, but his attitude was indifferent.

Watching the two of them from behind, Ruth broke out in a cold sweat for no reason. Blair, on the other hand, calmly wiped her handkerchief, seemingly unaffected by his refusal.

'Who would think they're a newlywed couple when they see this?'

Although Blair had never hoped for her husband's love, seeing him reject her in person made her feel far from happy.

As the three of them walked towards the main residence of the duke, silence once again enveloped them.

'…Was the mansion always this far away?'

Someone had desperately hoped for this chilly silence to be broken.

At that moment, a small shadow suddenly emerged from the nearby bushes and rushed towards Blair at high speed.

"Ta-dah! Huh?"

The child looked to be about three years old. It seemed to have come from the servants' quarters.

Ruth, who saw the child, was astonished. She was fortunate to have a generous mistress, but most nobles would get furious at the slightest annoyance. And what about the royalty? Especially if it were the notorious Katrina's daughter.

Ruth hurriedly picked up the child who was lying in front of Blair and lowered her head.

"I apologize, madam. This child stays in the servants' quarters, and it seems she slipped away while her mother was working. I will take her back and inform her mother."

"I'm okay."

Blair sat down at the child's eye level and began brushing the dirt off the child's buttocks with her hand.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?"

"Yeah."

"What's your name?"

"Jeremy."

"Alright, Jeremy. You fell, but you didn't cry. You're a very brave child."

"Hehe."

The child laughed at Blair's praise, a pure smile untainted by any prejudice or intention.

Unlike the usual people of the Duke's household who feared and felt uncomfortable around Blair, Blair herself smiled warmly at the child, and it was a genuine smile that came from the heart, the first smile she had shown since returning to the past.

Beside the child, Ruth, who had been watching her, stood up with a ashamed expression. She felt embarrassed that she had assumed Blair would naturally reject the child.

Next to Ruth, Herdin also watched the two of them silently.

'I thought she had no emotions because she never showed any.'

Was she a woman who could smile like that?

The woman who smiled brightly under the sunlight had eyes that sparkled. It might have been because of the snow piled up in various places in the backyard, or it might have been because of her fair complexion.

At the same time, Herdin noticed Ruth's wristwatch sparkling in the light, but he turned his attention back to Blair, trying to capture more of her appearance.

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This novel has been translated up to chapter 96.

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