The knights of del Mark stood pale-faced in the training grounds from early dawn.
"Ugh!"
Their comrade, unable to land a single proper counterattack, dropped his sword and fell flat.
Standing before him was Herdin.
Herdin gave him a cold look and jerked his head toward one side of the training grounds.
There, knights were lined up in penalty stance, heads bowed to the ground.
All of them were those who hadn't managed a single proper counter against Herdin.
"Next."
At Herdin's command, the next knight stepped forward with a face full of dread.
The eyes of the other knights watching their comrade were like those seeing a fellow soldier charging into the jaws of death. They also cast pitiful glances as if watching a condemned prisoner on execution day.
With resigned faces, they watched their unfortunate comrade and Herdin before him.
War hero.
The empire's one and only magic swordsman blessed by a divine beast.
'Is there truly a knight in this empire—no, on this entire continent—who could defeat him...?'
Especially the knights who had fought alongside Herdin for long years on the battlefield knew his prowess well.
Managing even one proper counterattack to avoid penalty duty was fortunate.
Usually cursing the Creator's blatant favoritism while instinctively staring blankly at that handsome face, today it looked like the face of the Grim Reaper.
One knight waiting his turn, praying for the soul of his comrade desperately blocking Herdin's one-sided attacks, signaled his fellows nearby with his eyes.
"Hey, who is it?"
"What?"
"Who pissed off His Excellency?"
"Pissed off? What do you mean? We haven't even seen him properly for a while with all the wedding preparations and the ceremony."
"Then why is the groom, who should be enjoying his honeymoon, out here exhausting himself on the second morning?"
"If you were forced to marry the enemy's daughter, would you feel like enjoying your honeymoon?"
Now that he thought about it, that made sense.
The enmity between the imperial family and the del Mark Duke family was public knowledge among the empire's nobles.
Agreeing with the reason, the knight mulled it over again before suddenly venting his frustration.
"No, but then he should take it out on her, not us!"
How should we know?
The knights shrugged, clueless. Then they glanced at the one nearby who seemed like he might know.
'Does the aide know?'
But Russ just shook his head and shrugged as well.
Thus, while they were getting thoroughly thrashed from early morning without knowing why—
"Huh?"
The knights standing near the training grounds entrance began to murmur.
Herdin, having just felled his sparring opponent, noticed the atmosphere at the same time a small cough sounded.
Herdin immediately turned toward the sound. He saw Blair entering the training grounds with Mason.
"Mason, what's this about?"
He asked the butler, but it was effectively directed at Blair.
Blair answered in his stead.
"I greeted the servants yesterday, but not the knights. I had a bit of time before heading to the Imperial Palace, so I thought I'd say hello."
Though momentarily captivated by her beauty, no one welcomed her.
'She wants to play mistress to us knights too?'
Though they had grim faces moments ago dreading a thrashing from Herdin, they were comrades who had survived the battlefield together.
The greater their loyalty to Herdin, the stronger their resentment toward Blair as a member of the imperial family.
She must know that, yet coming anyway—was it naivety or foolishness?
Herdin thought so, yet stepped forward to introduce Blair to the knights.
"You've probably seen her face in passing, but no formal greetings yet."
"..."
"Greet her. This is your future Duchess whom you'll serve."
With their lord stepping up, even the knights who disliked Blair observed formal courtesy on the surface.
"The loyal swords of del Mark formally greet the Madam."
"I'm pleased to meet you too. Sorry for the sudden visit—thank you for the warm welcome. I look forward to working with you."
Blair smiled brightly, but her eyes calmly scanned each knight's face.
In truth, Blair had come to the knight order training grounds for another purpose.
She had tried hard to be accepted as the lady of the house in her previous life, but these were people who hated her.
No need to try to impress or win over such people. She wouldn't see them again after this contract marriage ended anyway.
Her real purpose in coming to the knight order was...
'The person who killed me might be among them.'
The del Mark Duke family was one of the empire's three great ducal houses, and its knight order possessed skills comparable to the imperial knights, honed through direct warfare.
Yet the intruder who killed Blair had breached that stringent security to infiltrate the villa.
One reason Blair suspected Herdin behind her murder was precisely that.
Either an expert capable of breaching the tight security, or someone who could enter and exit freely.
In that case, perhaps the intruder was someone from inside the duke's household.
She knew most servants' faces from encountering them around the mansion.
But the knight order rarely overlapped with her daily life, so she remembered fewer faces. Even if the intruder was among the knights, she might not have recognized him.
Thus, she had come to check personally. Hoping the intruder wasn't among them, hoping Herdin was unrelated to her death.
Of course, just imagining facing her killer again—or that the husband she might have loved was involved—made her breath catch, her blood run cold, her hands tremble. She wanted to flee.
'No. Running away changes nothing.'
Blair clasped her trembling hands as if to hold herself back. She dredged up the horrific memory to recall the intruder's face.
'He had a hideous knife scar across the bridge of his nose.'
With so many knights, she couldn't examine each one closely, but finding someone with a large knife scar on his face shouldn't be hard.
Blair quickly scanned the knights' faces.
'...None.'
Fortunately, the intruder didn't seem to be among them.
The possibility of Herdin's involvement in her death lessened a bit.
A sigh of relief escaped Blair, who had been anxiously biting her lip.
At that moment, Russ approached Herdin.
"Your Excellency. It's about time to prepare for the luncheon."
Mason had returned first to prepare, and Herdin, Blair, and Russ finished with the knights and left the training grounds.
Blair, walking beside Herdin, noticed the beads of sweat on his forehead and offered her handkerchief.
"You'll catch a cold."
But Herdin refused the gesture.
"I'm fine."
His tone was polite, but his attitude utterly indifferent.
Russ, watching the two from behind, broke out in a cold sweat for no reason. Though Blair calmly pocketed the handkerchief as if unperturbed by the rejection.
'Who would think they're newlyweds seeing that?'
He didn't particularly wish for Blair to be loved and live well by his lord, but seeing her rejected right in front of him didn't sit well.
Silence flowed again among the three heading toward the main residence.
'...Was the mansion always this far?'
At that moment, when someone desperately hoped this chilly silence would break—
Suddenly, a small shadow burst from nearby bushes and crashed into Blair at high speed.
"Run run! Ung?"
It was a child of about three years old. He seemed to have come from the annex where the servants lived.
Russ was shocked upon seeing the child.
He was lucky to have a lord lenient with subordinates, but most nobles flew into rages at the slightest offense.
How much more so an imperial? Especially the daughter of the infamous Katrina.
Russ hurriedly picked up the child sprawled before Blair and bowed his head in apology on his behalf.
"My apologies, Madam. He's from the annex—must have slipped out while his mother was working. I'll take him back and warn his mother..."
"I'm fine."
Blair knelt to meet the child's eye level. She personally brushed the dirt from his bottom and asked,
"Are you okay, little one?"
"Ung."
"What's your name?"
"Jeremy."
"Right, Jeremy. Jeremy fell but didn't cry—you're such a brave boy."
"Heehee."
The child grinned bashfully at Blair's praise. A pure smile without prejudice or intent.
Unlike the people of the duke's household who feared or disliked her.
Blair also smiled brightly at the child smiling up at her. It was the first genuine smile from her heart since returning to the past.
Russ, watching from the child's side, stood first with an awkward face, ashamed of his assumption that she would shoo the child away.
Beside Russ, Herdin too quietly watched the two.
'I thought she was a doll since she rarely shows emotion.'
She knew how to smile like that too.
The woman smiling radiantly in the sunlight sparkled dazzlingly. Perhaps because of the snow piled around the backyard, or her white face.
At the same time, Russ's wristwatch caught the light and gleamed, but Herdin ignored it, taking in Blair's appearance a bit longer.