Diana was too upset to meet Arthur’s eyes.

“You’re not pleased with the articles.”

“No, it’s not your fault…”

Diana mumbled softly and leaned her forehead against the carriage window.

She denied Arthur’s words out of courtesy, but in fact, she was blaming him for all the follow-up articles.

This man is too troublesome.

Unlike his usual self, he brushed back his disheveled hair and said,

“Articles come out even if I just walk down the street. It would probably happen even if I just breathe.”

‘You know that… and yet you went to the flower shop in the morning to buy roses and order a cake. A cake with my name largely decorated on it…’

Diana wanted to issue a correction article, but this man only made the situation worse.

Diana no longer wanted to be in the same space as Arthur.

She wanted to get as far away as possible from the storm-like man who attracted rumors like clouds.

So she hurriedly packed her bags.

While Arthur went out shopping under the pretext of a morning jog, she planned to secretly leave only a note behind.

Of course, her plan was foiled by Arthur who arrived earlier than expected.

〈Please wait a moment. Let me just finish my shower and we’ll depart together.〉

He threw aside the roses and cake and got on the carriage with Diana.

Perhaps because he prepared in a hurry, he looked disheveled unlike his usual self.

A few strands of damp black hair fell over his forehead, and his toned body was faintly visible through the loosely buttoned shirt.

It was a seductive and sexy look that would make the ladies of the capital scream in admiration, but Diana was indifferent.

Rather, she was annoyed.

‘I want to go back quickly. Being by this man’s side is too tiring.’

It was true. Whoever becomes Arthur’s wife in the future, she should know how to enjoy the attention to have a smooth married life.

Just this morning, she read five articles analyzing Diana’s appearance, personality, and fashion style.

Do they have nothing better to do?

She had been rejected all her life for her extraordinary appearance, but just because she became Arthur’s fiancée, she was now a mysterious and attractive woman.

It was unbelievable…

It had only been two days since coming up to the capital, but it was already chaotic.

Arthur had been stroking his chin slowly while looking down at Diana who had been avoiding his eyes.

“Are you tired?”

“A little.”

Of course she would be. Diana did not suit the noisy and bustling capital.

Despite being a young noblewoman, she had an aspect that seemed somehow transcendent.

Rather than glamorous and formal occasions, she suited sitting at a tea table set up in a field, reading a thick and old book.

Even the most timid young lady wants great attention and love during the debutante season.

They want to surrender to a soft melody and hold the hand of the most dashing man. But Diana found all of this uncomfortable.

He leaned back slowly and looked at her with curiosity.

“It’s like that when you suddenly receive attention. Don’t be too nervous. The press will quiet down as soon as another topic arises.”

“It will be noisy until then…”

“Probably. Why don’t you try enjoying it a little? You’ve become the woman the young ladies of the capital envy and are jealous of.”

“How is that something to be happy about? I want to live quietly.”

“Is there a reason this news shouldn’t spread? Like you’re worried your lover might see it or something like that.”

“What a strange question… There’s no way that’s true.”

Arthur did not believe Diana. She hadn’t been able to keep her lips still.

‘It’s not that it’s hard and scary. That’s anxiety.’

She must be agonizing over someone right now.

Arthur smiled as leisurely as possible without revealing his displeasure.

Such an attitude did not suit a gumiho.

Quite some time passed after that. Diana stood in front of a large sailing ship to send off a man.

“Take care.”

Arthur made a regretful expression, but Diana felt completely relieved.

He’s finally leaving!

She felt a sense of liberation as if old dirt had been washed away. It was a refreshing feeling similar to having a satisfying bowel movement.

Arthur looked down at her smooth face with an inwardly disappointed expression.

“Aren’t you too happy?”

“Me? No way.”

“If you’re going to lie, speak without the laughter pouch in your cheeks.”

“What…”

Diana covered her bulging cheeks and lifted her eyes freshly.

Arthur found that appearance both cute and ridiculous, so he let out an empty laugh. He really liked Diana now.

This cute living being that quickly flushed and jumped at trivial matters was very amusing.

“If I leave now, I won’t be back until next summer.”

“I see.”

“I’d be very grateful if you could at least pretend to be interested.”

“…Actually, I’m not interested. Sorry.”

As much as Arthur was brazen, Diana had also become quite brazen. An eye for an eye, as they say.

Arthur pulled his hat down and curled the corners of his lips. Then he lowered his waist and whispered into her twitching ear.

“I look forward to our relationship progressing further next summer. Because by then, I’ll be acknowledged as your fiancé.”

Before Diana could answer, Arthur headed towards the entrance of the ship.

He raised his hand without looking back, and Diana snorted and shook her head.

‘Fiancé? As if… He’s a complete swindler and a womanizer.’

A woman walking about three steps away from him was seen.

The woman, who tightly grasped the hem of her red dress and looked back at Diana, rolled her eyes like a flounder and hid Arthur’s back.

‘He’s really a bad man…’

Angela, who had a wide network, flew into a rage upon learning that Arthur had slept with the maids of the castle numerous times.

〈I absolutely can’t send the young lady to such a philanderer! Do you know how I raised her?〉

It had been a long time since Diana saw Angela get so angry. Diana waved her hand at Arthur’s back without any lingering attachment.

“It was nice to meet you, and let’s never see each other again!”

Diana had no idea that Arthur, who had good hearing, laughed out loud upon hearing these words, nor that these words stimulated his fighting spirit.

Time passed quickly after that, and it was the summer Arthur said he would return.

Diana frowned as she read a newspaper article.

“Another sailing ship sank.”

She bit her lip tightly and put down the newspaper. Rather than worrying about Arthur, she became lost in thought about the constantly occurring unusual phenomena.

‘Arthur said he was developing a safe ship with magic stones. It needs to be completed quickly…’

Diana received a letter from Arthur not long ago.

Even after returning to the eastern continent, he consistently sent letters through communication networks, but recently, contact had been cut off and his whereabouts were uncertain.

The last letter she received contained slightly disappointing news that a summer date might be difficult this year.

‘To think the day would come when I would be waiting for Arthur…’

She had to leave this land in a few years. But the sailing conditions were much worse than before her return.

‘Sinking, sinking, sinking every day!’

She wanted to meet Arthur and hear the details of the ship development. If ships couldn’t sail, her plans would go up in smoke.

She held her throbbing head and let out a deep sigh.

This sigh contained both anxiety about the future and a sense of loss regarding Raoul, whose contact had been cut off recently.

“It’s been months…”

As the monsters in the valley increased, the frequency of contact gradually decreased, and now it was impossible to even confirm if he was alive or dead.

She was just clinging to vague hopes that no news of his death had come. That she knew the future.

‘No need to be anxious. He’ll definitely come back safe and sound. It was like that before…’

Just as she was closing her eyes and fiddling with the dead skin on her fingers,

Angela, who had rushed in after knocking, spoke falteringly with a pale face.

“M-Miss… There’s been an accident at the convent.”

Diana’s complexion darkened as she listened to the story.

She immediately went to find Benjamin.

As they left the castle, a physician with a doctor’s bag was beside them.

When the four-wheeled carriage stopped, the children came running out, sobbing.

“Teacher!”

Seeing the children who had each grown a hand-span, Diana’s eyes reddened with surging emotions.

“My goodness… Why have you all grown so much?”

“Waah! We missed you!”

Emilia, who had been as small as a baby, hugged Diana’s waist with a face that had lost its baby fat.

Diana lifted the girl’s cheeks and met her eyes. The child’s eyes were brimming with tears.

Of course she would be. How shocked she must have been.

The abbess was in critical condition. She suffered a fatal wound to her left shoulder while fighting a monster that had infiltrated the convent.

Diana separated the children and headed to the sickbed, accompanied by the family physician who had gotten out of the carriage with her.

“My God… Abbess…”

Diana covered her mouth upon seeing the woman lying on the bed.

The abbess, who was lying on the patient’s bed barely blinking her eyes, was so thin and pale that she didn’t resemble her former self at all.

Blood was still gushing out from the bandaged shoulder.

The physician immediately began treatment.

“Everyone please leave during the surgery to avoid infecting the patient. I will call you after the treatment.”

The moment the door clicked shut, the sound of the nuns wailing could be heard. Their hands were a mess from the signs of fighting through the night.

Blood, whether from the monster or the abbess, spattered the stone walls of the hallway.

Diana closed her eyes tightly at the ringing in her ears.