As soon as Princess Helena left the hall, the nobles who had been heaping insults on Selina moments earlier followed after her, quickly emptying the parlor.
Erik likewise excused himself under the pretext of escorting Ingrid, leaving only a few people in the room.
Selina glanced at Morgan Patel, who lingered, glaring at her with displeasure, and she scowled in annoyance.
‘Why did he have to stay behind? If he had just left, I could have asked His Grace what really happened. I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't find out.’
Not knowing what was running through her head, Morgan lashed out sharply,
“Miss Arsene, your insolence truly knows no bounds.”
At that, Will let out a slow breath and replied with cold sarcasm,
“It seems to me that Mr. Patel is quite the coward.”
“What did you say?!”
“I am saying you dare scold the defenseless Miss Arsene rather than open your mouth to utter a single word before the Duke himself, who just stated he was with her. To me, that looks like nothing less than pure cowardice.”
“I… I didn't mean…”
“Do you consider me ill-mannered right now, Mr. Patel?”
“No, that's not what I mean…”
“Then perhaps I've misunderstood? In that case, care to step outside and explain your position like gentlemen?”
Will lifted his hand as if about to throw down a gauntlet, throwing Morgan into immediate disarray as he stammered,
“I… I apologize! I overstepped my bounds.”
Who would ever dare duel Will Chase, one of the finest swordsmen in the empire?
Morgan, having never held a sword in his life, shrank back in an instant.
“Ah… I must head to the banquet hall now. We will speak later, Miss, Your Grace.”
With those hurried words, he beat a hasty retreat. Only three people remained in the room.
“I'll go check on the banquet hall. If anyone asks about me, say the three of us were here together.”
“W-Wait…”
Before Selina could finish her sentence, Will had already vanished.
Then Xenos spoke in a calm tone,
“Did I startle you with my sudden intervention?”
Selina froze in place, her voice catching in her throat before she could utter a single word.
Meanwhile, he continued,
“I only stepped in because you appeared to be in a difficult spot and I wanted to help.”
Selina looked up at him, thinking in astonishment,
‘Who would have thought the voice of the Duke, who is rumored to know nothing but war, could be this alluring… and his gaze just now, how intense…’
“Miss Arsene?”
Seeing her silence, he took a step closer and spoke in a solemn voice,
“If you are concerned about your reputation, I will take full responsibility. I heard your engagement is on the verge of being broken off, so once the procedures are complete, let us marry.”
“…What?”
Selina snapped her head up, unable to believe her ears, and asked in bewilderment,
“Your Grace… are you proposing to me right now?”
“I did not claim before everyone that we were together without intending to bear the consequences. Though I have spent my life on the battlefield, I am not ignorant of honor and propriety.”
He leaned down slightly to look straight into her eyes, speaking with steady resolve,
“I spoke those words before everyone, and I will take responsibility for them to the very end.”
‘No… no, this can't be!’
Flustered, Selina took a step back, closing her eyes as she tried to regain her composure.
This was the first time she had stood face-to-face with him since childhood.
She remembered those distant days in the imperial palace, when Xenos was still a young man who had not yet inherited the title of Duke, and she had run into him while playing with Erik.
‘More than ten years have passed since that encounter… Afterwards, I entered the academy, then returned to the capital at fourteen, but I never attended a victory banquet, so I haven't seen him again until now.’
The last time she had come close to seeing him was three months ago at the victory banquet where the fountain incident occurred, but she had fled back then without daring to greet him.
‘We were never that close… I certainly never expected him to lie for me, let alone propose marriage!’
Yet her mind quickly began turning in another direction.
‘Strange as this is, the situation isn't bad at all. The Duke saved me from a scandal today, and I'll soon secure three monopoly rights from the Crown Prince.’
Xenos Eustia was the sole Duke of the Savaya Empire, his influence reaching far beyond its borders.
‘Marrying him would be the deal of a lifetime. The Duchess… that title alone would elevate my standing to second in power only to the Emperor himself. But… why me?’
While thoughts raced through her mind, a shadow fell over her once more. The Duke spoke in a steady, low voice,
“Shall I send the marriage proposal to the Arsene estate tomorrow?”
Before she could even finish calculating, Selina could barely catch her breath at Duke Xenos's sheer momentum.
‘Why is this day so relentlessly bewildering?’
Moments ago she had been on the verge of being branded a traitor to the empire, and now here she was, on the verge of becoming its Duchess, the envy of every woman in the land.
‘Get a grip, Selina. You can't let yourself falter before such a handsome face.’
Selina took a step back and prepared to answer calmly.
“Your Grace.”
Xenos fixed her with a profound, unreadable gaze.
“I…”
Selina returned to the count's townhouse utterly exhausted and gave her instructions in a faint voice.
“I'm exhausted. Nora, help me change, and Cathy, prepare the bathwater.”
The Arsene family ran a massive trading company and was considered exceptionally wealthy, but Selina had never lived the life of a pampered flower in this lavish house.
She resided in the east wing of the townhouse, which had originally been an annex meant for guests.
Only Count Arsene, Selina, a select few servants, two maids, and the butler were permitted entry.
And she had managed to enforce that restriction only within the past few years.
“My lady, the bath is ready.”
Selina closed her eyes as she sank into the warm water. A dry smile touched her lips as she recalled what had just happened.
‘Those people who openly rejoiced at the news of my broken engagement—what would they say if they knew I received a marriage proposal from the Duke himself today? No, would they even believe it in the first place?’
Those people…
Her reason for living in a separate wing went back to the current structure of the Arsene family.
When she was seven, just one year after her mother passed away, Count Arsene married a commoner despite universal opposition—a woman who already had a child.
That woman was the current Countess Flora, her stepmother.
“Selina, this lady will be your mother from now on, and she will care for you while I am away.”
“Count, do not worry. I will care for her as if she were my own daughter.”
And clinging to her dress that day was an eight-year-old boy named Brandon.
As time passed, Brandon grew in size and stature, and alongside his mother, Flora, he began trying to push Selina out of the family.
He openly proclaimed that the family's heir had to be the eldest son, and that he was the next legitimate successor to House Arsene.
‘What absolute nonsense. Not a single drop of our blood runs through his veins.’
Yet ousting Flora and Brandon was no simple task, for her half-brother, Sebastian, remained an insurmountable obstacle.
Sebastian was nine years younger than Selina, the Count's trueborn son by Flora, and he had inherited his father's features completely.
“My lady, it is time to finish your bath.”
“All right.”
After stepping out and drying her long hair, she sat at her desk to write in her journal.
Her hand paused, and she opened a red velvet box resting on the desk.
Inside lay an exquisite fountain pen inscribed with the words: ‘Valedictorian of the Savaya Academy – 35th Graduating Class.’
Selina ran her fingers gently over the nib, thinking to herself,
‘How hard I worked to earn this pen.’
To avoid open conflict with that mother and son, she had chosen to enter the academy at the age of ten.
A scholarship student—that was how Selina Arsene was known throughout high society to this day.
Yet that title, which others might view as a badge of honor, meant something entirely different to her.
‘I learned so much there. That is why I haven't given up yet. I will inherit the Arsene title. I will never let things go their way.’
Selina's eyes gleamed with unyielding resolve.
