The next morning.

Tyrant Charléans Callior called his most reliable men to order a reinvestigation.

"I had something to report to you anyway..."

Chancellor Clover, who had green hair and dark green eyes, staggered into his office.

He had two piles of finely stacked documents on his skinny hands.

"That's too much for early morning."

"But you don't take such a long time to finish this off, Your Majesty. Since you had your breakfast, you should start working."

The chancellor retorted to him, with his trademark dark circles, giving him a crooked smile.

Charléans glanced at the stack of papers with indifference before nodding lightly.

He was sure that if he said anything any further, he would hear Clover's bloodthirsty complaints that he had only slept for two hours yesterday too.

The chancellor put down the documents on his desk and let out a deep sigh.

At that moment, a blue light came from the communication device over the desk.

"Is that Count Luman?"

"That's right."

His close aides, Chancellor Clover and Intelligence Chief Count Luman.

He intended to entrust the private investigation of Scarlett Arman to these two.

After a moment, Charléans opened his mouth and said,

"Look into it again."

In his typical chilling tone.

ㅡ....Could it be, my report was terrible?

The intelligence chief inside the crystal ball told him calmly.

However, his voice was shaking slightly.

Charléans gave him a little frown.

'What if you make him cry?! Why are you talking so brusquely like that again?!'

Chancellor Clover shouted with his eyes, his hands and the shape of his mouth while he watched by the side.

Charléans gave a little sigh.

"Do it...over."

Sniff.

To tell the truth, there was a reason why he was almost in tears like that.

After all, who was the Arman Family?

They had no talent, nor money, nor anything special, but weren't they a family that were firmly sustaining itself, thanks to its great progenitor?

Their progenitor was a man who had been on par with the founder of the Callior and the Raschahell Family.

Which meant he was considered a hero.

So, even though they were the close aides of the tyrant, it wasn't easy for them to dig into what this hero founder had left for his family.

And the report he had submitted to Charléans was...!

Since the current family of Arman was all living in the mansion at the capital, and not in their permanent residence... and since Scarlett went out exceptionally a lot, he had been able to gather at least that much information to submit to him.

There was already a lot of work because his master had proceeded with the engagement as he had pleased.

On top of that, since the investigation had to be done carefully, Count Luman had lost three handfuls of his hair.

"It's useless. Did you investigate properly?"

His master was too heartless.

Sob.

The intelligence chief was unusually a crybaby, and when his tears eventually started to fall down, Count Clover shook his head.

'At this rate, he might hand the work over to me again.'

Fine.

Honestly, he didn't care if Count Luman cried or not.

But whenever he burst into tears like that, the tyrant just left the work to Clover ㅡ that was the problem.

Sure enough.

Click.

It wasn't the sound of him clicking his tongue, trying to shush him. Instead, the tyrant truly cut off the communication device with a click, turning his eyes to the chancellor.

"You decide first."

"Er, pardon?"

But something was different today.

That is, he had the freedom of choice.

As the chancellor tottered with a curious look, Charléans continued nonchalantly.

"The Arman Family investigation. Or Scarlett Arman investigation."

Choose.

"Of...course, I choose the investigation of the Arman's young lady!"

No, so, what he meant now... was for me to do a throughout investigation about a young lady who had been chosen as his fiancée for just mere weeks?

'Why? Why bother?'

Was there something wrong with that lady?

As the chancellor had been unable to attend the ball yesterday and had slept like a log, he couldn't figure out this matter at all.

Despite that, his lips moved faithfully on its own, choosing his choice, even while he kept thinking about all this.

"What should I investigate about the young lady?"

"I'm well aware of her reputation, so you should look into other things."

"It will be hard, but..."

But it's better than being impossible.

The chancellor nodded eagerly, recalling Count Luman, who would be saddled with the impossible optionㅡthe Arman Family's investigation in itselfㅡfor the sin of suddenly crying out like that.

"I'll do my best!"

Charléans watched the chancellor with a faint smile, and then he added,

"Right, Clover. Prioritize the things I might like to know about her. It'll be unpleasant to be informed about the things I'm not interested in first, so keep that in mind."

"Roger!"

He was sure he had added another load of work onto his overworking subordinate.

Nevertheless, Chancellor Clover's eyes shone brightly at the joy of having chosen a better option.

It wasn't such a pleasant sight to see a man over thirty do that, but Charléans gave him a rare, soft smile.

"Your Majesty."

The chancellor was seriously pondering how he would investigate her before he asked him.

"Then, could it be possible for you to share your official schedule with me?"

"Official schedule..."

"Well, as always, you must meet her at least twice a month, isn't that so?"

"Right."

Clover just settled himself down on a desk in a corner of his office, and while handling the documents, he continued.

"I thought if I stayed close while Your Majesty proceeded with the schedule you had with her, it would be helpful for me to gather the information."

"I guess so."

The chancellor paused.

After that, he took a quick look at Charléans.

.....How come, he looked happy?

Strange.

To see that spiteful tyrant showing his good mood like that was quite... unusual.

"I haven't decided on a schedule yet, so send her a letter at your own discretion. I'll leave the records of our dates to you for at least once a month."

"......"

Look at that. See how he was in a good mood? Normally, he would have been annoyed and have reproached me with a sword by now.

'Is there really something special about this young lady? Or did she do something?'

Chancellor Clover tilted his head with a grim face.

* * *

I rubbed my eyes.

Then, I looked back at the letter in my hands.

"A...schedule."

And a whole month schedule on top of that.

"Is he planning to meet me for another m-month?"

Why? Even after seeing all that?

An ordinary human being like me couldn't keep up with the tyrant's train of thought.

Did it mean he wasn't a frivolous person who dumped someone just because they had done something crazy once, then?

'I'm not thankful for that at all, you know.'

But well, this didn't make me that shocked.

"And, okay, I was actually expecting this."

I thought he would give me a week's schedule at most and ask me to choose a day from there.

'I mean, the thing about meeting them quickly and being done with it ㅡ just like how he has done to his other fiancées.'

I looked at the schedule with a sour face, before finding a sentence written at the bottom of the letter and smirking.

"As I presumed."

Right at the bottom, making the month-long timetable pointless, it was written like this.

"The time is tomorrow."

And the place they would meet was the Imperial Palace.

Just in case, I looked up the timeline he had said on the schedule.

Since this was the emperor's schedule, not all of his appointments were written down there ㅡ only his really well-known official meetings.

Also, the space where he had designated a time for me was empty.

I had no idea if he had actually made time for me, or if he had just squeezed me in between his other appointments and was just having a half-assed meeting with me.

However, what was important here was the last sentence written below those words.

"Come by foot.... What kind of bullshit is this?"

It's not like I couldn't walk until there since it was closer than the palace where the ball had been held.

But really, it was hard to understand him since he wasn't an ordinary person.

While I kept having these useless thoughts, I struggled to calm down my trembling heart.

Although I had been ready for this, the day I'd have to face the tyrant alone for real had finally come.

It was an opportunity that had come earlier than I had thought.

"Wait, then..."

What should I do? Since I made a strong first impression with such a red dress, it would be disappointing to do anything less.

I was lost in thought.

And after a while, a grin spread on my face.

"You can't go empty handed to someone else's house, can you?"

What if I prepared his presents with all my heart, but they were all things which the tyrant hated?

He would unconsciously think he should never marry this woman!

"Alright, let's go with this one."

So, maybe it had been since then...

That I started to seriously ignore my dignity as a noble, which I had been caring about in one way or another.