The doors to the private training chamber closed shut behind us by Lady Carine’s maid.

I turned back to stare at the closed doors, my footsteps slowing down in the middle of the corridor, wanting to turn back and convince her one more time.

“Are you sure about this, Eve?” I called ahead. “I thought for sure Lady Carine would accept…”

Eve didn’t answer right away. She was already walking down the corridor, her pace measured and unhurried, as if this whole situation didn’t bother her in the slightest.

“Hey!” I hurried to catch up. “Don’t just walk off! Did you even hear me?”

“I heard you perfectly well, Lionne.” Eve glanced back at me, her pace never slowing. “Lady Carine said she’s busy. You were present for that conversation, were you not?”

“Well, yes, but…” I caught up to her and matched her pace. “Is sparring really that important to her?”

Eve’s lips curved into a soft grin. “Is that so difficult to believe?”

“…Yes, actually.” I finally said the quiet part out loud. “There’s no way sparring alone would eat up enough of her time to refuse a position as our representative. I mean… If she wanted to give a real reason to deny the offer, she could have listed quite a lot of other things that would have convinced us better.”

“That much is obvious. But I’m sure sparring isn’t the only thing on her mind, correct?”

I nodded slowly. “True, but still…” The thought circled in my head, nagging at me. “To have sparring be the first thing she mentioned… It’s rather strange, isn’t it? Why couldn’t she mention anything else? Family duties, personal lectures…” I pondered aloud, more to myself than to Eve.

Eve stopped walking.

I nearly collided with her.

“Hey, why did you—”

“—Tell me, Lionne.” She turned to face me fully, those sharp red eyes studying my face. “Do you think Lady Carine is the type to say the first thing that comes to mind, or someone who always thinks before she speaks?”

“Obviously the latter.” The answer came instantly. Although I had only been in her circle for a few weeks, I had a good read of Lady Carine’s character. She was calculating, cold, efficient. She was anything but impulsive. Every word she spoke always seemed to carry more meaning than I could hear. “Which makes this all the more confusing.”

“Really?” Eve’s grin widened. “Didn’t you connect the dots yourself back in the chamber? Can’t believe you forgot it so easily.”

“Hey, I didn’t forget! I was just… not trying to think about it.”

I remembered it quite clearly. I’d merely amused myself with the thought that she might be using the sparring excuse to spend time with her bodyguard. That perhaps the arrangement was less about training and more about having an official-looking reason to simply be near him. 

It was the kind of gossipy observation I’d normally share with my friends over lunch, not that I would spread anything bad regarding Lady Carine.

But then, as if she could read my thoughts, she glared at me.

That was the first time I’d ever seen Lady Carine glare at anyone like that, and it had been directed squarely at me. For a single, terrifying moment, I’d felt like prey. Like a blade had been pressed up to my throat, and all I could do was whimper.

She had even glared at me when I was trying to shake Feyt’s hands. Her face seemed to soften right after I stepped back, too.

“Don’t tell me the rumors were…” I trailed off, not quite daring to finish the sentence.

Eve nodded. “What else could it be, then?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again.

After walking in on them like that… The way Lady Carine had Feyt pinned down… I thought only novels had scenes like that. Acting as if it didn’t happen afterwards was… tough.

They hadn’t even registered our presence until I’d called out, as if they were so engrossed with each other’s presence. And then… the way Lady Carine had frozen, the awkward way she’d scrambled to her feet, and the immediate separation of the two of them to basically separate corners of the room.

Yeah. There’s no way of explaining that scene other than acknowledging that the rumors are actually real.

The rumors started right after the practical exam, and I first heard it from my parents, of all people. They talked long about how amazing the way Lady Carine and her partner fought, but also showed concern about the fact that her partner was, in fact, a commoner. 

That rumor then further spread to the rest of the students during the entrance ball. Their dance had captivated everyone in the room. At first, everyone’s eyes were drawn to Carine because of the Third Prince’s presence. But when she switched partners… suddenly, it felt like seeing a scene that belonged in a painting.

I’d always assumed I was overthinking things. After all, besides those two very public events, I’d never actually seen Lady Carine meet with Feyt. 

I had never caught them talking in corridors, never spotted them sharing meals, never even saw them greet each other. So I’d fully trusted her when she’d introduced him as merely her future bodyguard.

After today, though…

To refuse an important role as a representative…

A position that would boost her record high and above that of a regular student…

Just to spend more time sparring?

Just to spend more time with him?

“Lady Carine is… a lot more romantic than I thought.”

Eve chuckled. “She is, isn’t she?”

We continued our walk in silence for a moment. Then a question bubbled up, one I couldn’t quite hold back.

“Eve?”

“Hmm?”

“Why do you think she chose him?”

Eve glanced at me, one eyebrow raised.

“I mean…” I searched for the right words, worried it might come off the wrong way. “It’s not like there aren’t any nobles who’d jump at the chance to court her. Villius isn’t really hiding his feelings. The Third Prince literally danced with her at the ball. And I even got one future count who tried giving her a love letter through me… So why him?”

“Hmm…” Eve put a finger on her chin. Then, after a moment, she turned to me again. “You know that I once worked together with Lady Carine during the practical exams, right?”

I nodded. “Yes, you told me about it already.”

“Have I told you about how Feyt came to rescue Lady Carine?”

I nodded again. “Even my parents know that story.”

“Then… has anyone told you about how Lady Carine talked to Feyt?”

I nearly stopped in my tracks.

“No. Actually, I never even saw them talk to each other. Not even in the practice chamber, now that I think about it.”

If they were really that in sync during battle, then they must’ve talked with each other at least once, right? I wondered how they addressed each other.

“So… how did they talk to each other? Does Feyt also call her Lady Carine? Or do they have nicknames or something?”

Her grin returned in all its glory as we continued our walk, slower paced than before.

“Truth is, they simply don’t talk at all.”

This time, I truly stopped in my tracks.

“That doesn’t answer anything at all!” I was about to lash out. But then, a realization came to mind. “Wait… if they never talked… then how did they…”

“Intriguing, isn’t it? To be so synergized, yet exchange no words. They either have an artifact that could let them achieve that synergy without effort, or—”

“—They simply trust each other that much…”

Pieces began connecting themselves in my mind. I was slowly getting the full picture. 

Eve stepped in front of me, her soft grin apparent once more. “The only reason you questioned Feyt is that he’s a commoner, wasn’t it?”

“Wha—! I’m not—Ugh…” I relented. Nothing got past this woman. “Yes… I do. I can’t see why she would choose him over others. He doesn’t look half bad, but he doesn’t have a major family on his back. He doesn’t have influence in any setting. And I doubt he has the wealth to match hers…”

Eve chuckled again, in a sort of mocking tone this time. “If you wish to be close to Lady Carine… If you ever hope to do business with the Sareid Family in the future, then you’d best understand what she values most.”

“Values most?”

She gave one final grin before she turned on her heel and began walking away. 

“Eve, wait!”

“I have other things to attend to,” she said, not slowing down at all. “I hope you’ll figure it out yourself, though. Good luck!”

With that, she turned a corner and left me alone in the hall. I let out a sigh as I leaned near a window, staring out at the ground below.

Students were still walking around.

The market was closing up.

An instructor was talking to a commoner student in one of the training fields, confiscating their ball.

All the while, I wondered what Eve could have meant.

What did Lady Carine value most?

Power? Obviously.

Reputation? Certainly.

Wealth? Without a doubt.

But she wouldn’t refuse a representative position over sparring if any of those were at the top.

I exhaled slowly.

Let’s assume the worst.

If even I noticed how close they were… if even the students were whispering… if even my parents connected the dots…

Then there was absolutely no way the head of the Sareid Family hadn’t noticed.

And yet Feyt was still here.

Still training as her future bodyguard.

There was also her maid. When she opened the door for us to enter, she hadn’t so much as twitched when Lady Carine had Feyt pressed beneath her. In fact, I could sense what I believed to be a very minor smile coming from her.

There were only two explanations.

Either the entire Sareid household was blind.

Or they had approved of their closeness…

And if they had approved… 

Oh…

Oh my…

I held a hand over my mouth as I began to see the picture fully.

If her family had approved of it… Then Feyt was no longer just a friend of hers.

He was, quite possibly, the future of the Sareid Family.

Which meant if I ever wanted to stay in Lady Carine’s circle all the way into the future…

If I ever wanted to maintain business ties with the Sareid Family…

I needed to stop seeing Feyt as “a commoner.”

I needed to start seeing him as the person he was going to be.

The future Lord Sareid.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep