Mervin sighed deeply and bitterly. He expected this to happen anyway. If so, it is better for his mental health to carry out charity work thinking that it will help poor people’s situation.

“Is there anything else besides that? If I give her money, that’s it?”

“Standardly, you could give her flowers.”

“Flowers?”

“Yes, but you can’t just send flowers. It must not be too cheap, but you should send a gift of good quality that’s expensive and doesn’t burden her. I’ll arrange the gift on my own, so think about the type of flower.”

“A flower…”

☆*: .。.  .。.:*☆

The small parlor of Baron Palmarill was filled with bouquets of flowers. Lunar Silver. It was the name of the flower. It was a rare species of rose with mysterious silver petals with a subtle blue hue.

The flowers, which were equivalent to the monthly salary of a low-ranking knight, were piled up so thick that the floor of the drawing room was invisible.

“What the hell is going on?”

Baroness Palmaril, Christa’s aunt Eva, grabbed the delivery man and asked him. It was because, as far as she knew, such expensive items had never been delivered to her house.

“This is for Lady Christa Palmaril.”

The delivery man was carrying a box that was quite packed luxuriously.

“What’s that?”

“It’s something to deliver directly to the young lady.”

The delivery man looked at her suspiciously.

“I’m her aunt. Give it to me. I’ll give it to her.”

“Ah, yes, then…….”

Then Sebastian came. When he saw the mess in the front door, he looked for his wife with a bewildered look.

“Honey, what’s this fuss about? What the hell happened?”

“It’s in for Christa. I don’t know what this is about either.”

“More than that, Count Pasquier hasn’t sent money for the wedding yet. I’m in a hurry for money right now. Don’t tell me he’s canceling it?

Sebastian was nervous because he had a lot of debt here and there. Recently, he even invested in a new business and he’s been having trouble lately.

“No way. Just wait a little longer. By the way, who sent this?”

“Hey, can’t you tell who sent this?”

Sebastian grabbed the delivery man and asked.

“We were only instructed to deliver this flower and gift to Lady Christa Palmaril at the request of a man. I don’t know anything else.”

“What kind of person was he?”

“Since he was wearing a military uniform, he must be a soldier, right? He seemed like a tall person.”

The delivery man went back after he had unloaded all the goods. The couple alternately looked at the expensive flowers and gift boxes in front of them. And then they smiled at each other.

“Even a worm has a knack for rolling. I thought she was only going to fight in the war, but she must have brought a man.”

“This rose, this is priceless. He must be rich to send so many expensive things, right? Besides, the packaging is different.”

Her aunt opened the gift box delivered to Christa without any hesitation.

“Oh my god! Isn’t this a real diamond?”

“If she does well, she might hook someone better than Count Pasquier.”

It was a hairpin densely embedded with small diamonds and sapphires.

– With respect and love. Argonod

The bottom of the box was enclosed with a card in fluent cursive. Eva turned pale as soon as she read the words on the card.

“A, Argonod?”

“N, no way. That Argonod.”

“What’s the possibility of having the same name?”

“How can there be two Argonod in this world?”

Only then did Eva rush into the box with the diamond hairpin she had brought to her head many times.

“Oh, what should I do? I ripped this off.”

“How did you open it? What a bloody wife!”

There was a small disturbance in the Palmaril drawing room.

☆*: .。.  .。.:*☆

Christa walked and walked aimlessly through the streets all day after injuring Ragnar’s palm. There was no destination. It was because she didn’t even dare to enter the house right away.

In fact, she’s had a hard time maintaining her sanity now.

‘I’ve taken the Holy Sword.….’

The reason was that she hesitated because she could not use the Holy Sword she had obtained through her hard work. The more she looked back, the more she lamented her own patheticness.

The most regrettable thing was that she dared to hesitate.

‘I can’t believe I still have lingering feelings in this life like this…….’

It’s like watching a comedy play. She participated in the war because she couldn’t die, and she survived because she couldn’t die there. She’s never thought that she was attached to life.

What was the reason for having lingering feelings about a life with a fixed end? Was it because it was the second life that even death had crossed? Ironically, at a critical moment, she valued this sinful life. The fact was so terrible.

When she sighed loudly, there was something that caught her eye. The red dot on her hand appeared the other day.

“It doesn’t hurt. Why did it get bigger?”

What used to be a mole now stretched out in a straight line as if it had been drawn with a straight ruler. Somehow she had an ominous premonition and couldn’t bear it.

She rubbed the spot with her right hand. The delicate skin heats up with heat. She wanted to cut it out with a knife. She felt very uncomfortable and felt like she had a stone in her heart. This red dot seemed to suggest something. She was afraid of that.

It was not the only thing that she feared. When she saw the wound and blood on Ragnar’s hand, she lost her reason. Although it was a moment, the fact that the memory was lost came to her in pain.

‘He must think I was crazy.’

What she did was an irreverent act that wouldn’t be strange if she was taken for contempt of her superior. It won’t end up with a pay cut. It was a sense of honor. Perhaps there will be greater punishment. The soles of her feet crumble away.

It was well past the usual time for Christa to return home. Her aunt and her husband were at the front door to greet her.

It was the first time this happened. Something was out of the ordinary. As soon as the couple saw her, they ran happily as if they had waited and questioned her.

“So!”

“What?”

“Didn’t he ask you to marry him?”

“What the hell are you talking about…….”

She looked around when she saw her aunt talking nonsense. The drawing room was covered with flowers.

‘What the hell is this…. What is it?

Eva presented her with a crumpled box and a card with a message.

“Is Argonod really the one? Huh? Child, just tell this aunt.”

She was engulfed in confusion. She looked at the paper silently for a while.

“Quickly answer me. The Duke of Argonod. It’s him, right?”

“Honey, don’t rush her too much. So Christa, are you sure he’s the Duke of Argonod?”

Without a word, she ran into her room with the note and locked the door. Her aunt and uncle persistently beat the door, but she crawled into the bed without answering back.

“What’s going on….?”

She was confused. She didn’t know why this happened.

“What is the captain thinking?”

☆*: .。.  .。.:*☆

Ragnar is sitting at the study desk in his mansion. He was reading a book with a face that looked bored. However, the contents of the book did not catch his eyes. He just pretended to flutter through the pages without meaning.

Watching Ragnar parrotting the same question several times already, Mervin was in a fit of anger inside, but he managed to hold it in.

“Why isn’t she responding?”

“What is her reaction?”

“You said I should send flowers and gifts.”

To be exact, this was the ninth question. Mervin was uniformly suffering from the same barrage of questions. And he was just tired of giving the answer ‘wait and see’ in the same tone every time.

“If it bothers you that much, you can go find her first.”

“As expected, right?”

As if he had been waiting for that answer, Ragnar slammed the book he was holding and got up from his seat.

“What is it?”

“I’m going to go.”

That’s right. Mervin uttered a raw curse inside. He wondered if he had been waiting for this answer for a while.

“It’s amazing.”

“What?”

“Isn’t it your first time showing interest in a woman for so long?”

“What?”

Now his boss was hooked on one thing. That is, Christa Palmaril.

It wasn’t the first time Ragnar was so preoccupied with something. However, at ordinary times, the target was not a “woman.” He used to concentrate his interest and passion on something from time to time, such as a well-bred famous horse, a rare old book, a legendary famous sword, and an old wine.

And that interest didn’t last very long. It was because he was as fast as easily absorbed in something and fell into it.

‘In a way, this must be the same case. An escape from reality that comes because he doesn’t want to marry the princess.’

Mervin pressed hard under his eyes as if he was tired. His hatred of the imperial family is a deep-rooted problem and it was fully understandable from the point of view that he had seen since he was young.

“It’s okay to escape from reality or anything, but you haven’t forgotten about the marriage with Princess Natalia, have you?”

“Natalia? What about her?”

Ragnar put on a natural face and quickly closed the door and disappeared.

“Phew…”

There was a deep sigh. He can’t decide whether he should be happy or unhappy about Ragnar paying attention to an ordinary woman for the first time.

Mervin didn’t bother to block Ragnar’s attention. This is because it is not the first time for him to act like this, so he thinks the heat will cool down quickly.

It was an act that contained the calculation that he had to endure well until then. He had the discretion to prevent the deviation of his master ahead of an unwanted political marriage as a staff member.

“Until then, I have to deal with it well so that he doesn’t get caught…….”

♡ advanced chapters available here ♡