Leonic clutched his reddened cheek, staring at his father with a dazed expression as the Marquess’s eyes burned with fury. His face was instantly washed over with shock and bewilderment.
"What do you think you are doing, Leonic?"
Cassius’s voice was low and stern.
"Do you not know what the pride of the Tenebris family is?"
The pride of the Tenebris.
No one dared to take the Tenebris lightly.
Because they held a position higher than any other noble in the Empire, save for the Imperial family, they were expected never to show weakness.
Yet, at the same time, they never hesitated to extend a hand to those in need of protection. They believed that to be their true honor and pride.
Leonic bit his lip and lowered his head.
It was the first time his father had ever been this angry with him.
However, a sense of injustice welled up within him, questioning whether his mistake was truly grave enough to warrant this.
Furthermore, the fact that his father’s rage was directed at him because of that insignificant girl only fueled his resentment.
It was merely a dress bought with Tenebris wealth that had been ruined, was it not? Had not countless boxes containing similar garments been sent to that girl’s room?
Leonic swallowed his bitterness.
Ria stood awkwardly, clutching the ruined dress in her hands.
The moment Cassius struck his cheek, her own memories of the Marquess’s estate overlapped with the scene, and her mind went blank for a moment.
Cassius let out a deep sigh and turned his gaze toward Ria. She looked completely at a loss.
His expression softened in an instant.
"Ria, I am sorry. My son was short-sighted."
Ria looked up and spoke clearly.
"It is alright, Uncle. I am truly fine. It is just a dress that got a little damaged."
The way the Marchioness and Catherine had treated her cruelly kept flashing through her mind. She did not want to see the same situation repeated before her eyes. It was painful enough to be the victim herself, but watching someone else suffer was hundreds of times harder.
However, Cassius seemed to interpret Ria’s words a bit differently.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, struggling to suppress his hardened expression.
"No. This is something I must apologize to you for. I will ensure this never happens again. And, Leila’s—your mother’s dress, I will have it repaired no matter what it takes."
As soon as Leonic heard that Ria’s dress was not something bought at the shopping district today, but rather her mother’s, his face turned pale. The image of Ria’s expression as she looked at her ruined dress, caused by his unintended mistake, flashed through his mind, and a wave of regret washed over him.
Yet, rather than dwelling on the regret or honestly admitting his fault, he chose to justify his actions.
"I can just pay for it," Leonic muttered grumpily.
Feeling Cassius’s sharp presence, he instinctively took a step back.
*Damn it.*
Leonic cursed under his breath and scowled.
At first, he had simply thought Ria was pretending to be pitiful.
But Ria said nothing.
If anything, it was that look in her eyes, that silence, that was harder to endure.
It was not anger or resentment, but a cold, detached disappointment.
It was strange.
He felt as if a part of his chest had gone cold.
Leonic avoided her gaze and added quietly.
"…I didn't know."
He tried to deceive himself and make excuses until the very end. But the words that came out of his mouth felt more pathetic than he had imagined.
"Leonic Tenebris. Go up to your room."
Cassius said in a firm voice.
Ria grabbed Cassius’s arm.
"Uncle, please don't."
Remembering the days she was locked in her attic, Ria instinctively and urgently tried to stop Cassius.
However, to Leonic, even that gesture of hers looked unpleasant.
*She ignores me when I try to apologize, and yet….*
He bowed his head to Cassius, glared at Ria once, and turned to leave the dining room.
"I will go after him."
Daniel said, forcing a smile as he followed behind him.
++
Leonic could not contain his anger and slumped onto his bed.
His cheek throbbed.
The spot where he had been struck had subsided a little, but the lingering discomfort in his chest did not vanish.
Before the door had even closed, Daniel followed him inside.
Daniel looked at Leonic with a look of pity.
"Brother. How could you show your hostility so openly? Now Father is only going to protect and dote on that girl even more."
At Daniel’s calm voice, Leonic ruffled his hair in frustration.
"I just get annoyed whenever I see her!"
He knew the words that had burst from his mouth were more childish than he had intended.
The expression of that girl, who had been pretending to be pitiful, kept coming to mind.
Leonic scowled and let out a sigh. Daniel was not wrong. But controlling his exploding emotions was no easy task.
"The very fact that she is here is unpleasant."
"The more you act like that, the more Grandfather and Father will look at her with pity. If you show your emotions like this, the situation only becomes more complicated."
Leonic let out a deep sigh and eventually nodded. He still could not discard his dissatisfaction and wariness toward Ria. But he no longer held any cards in his hand.
The way she had looked at him without a word kept bothering him, so Leonic squeezed his eyes shut.
"I have already made arrangements. Don't ruin it, just stay still. You will know soon enough."
Daniel’s gentle eyes sank coldly.
Leonic looked up.
"…What arrangements?"
Daniel smiled lightly without a word.
*Well, he won't cause a bigger disaster than I did.*
*Daniel is an excessively perfect guy, after all.*
*It would be better not to run into that girl until then,* Leonic thought.
++
Ria was sitting in her favorite spot by the window in the library, blankly spreading out a book on herbalism.
Everything felt overwhelming, and she did not know where to start.
Ria took a deep breath.
Just as Daniel had said—
"First, I have to find the Fennel, at least."
But the other problem was that Fennel was just as difficult to obtain.
*Does it even exist?*
Staring at it would not provide an answer, but Ria had no choice but to knit her brows and glare at the letters in the book.
"Hello, Ria. Are you looking at the herbalism book again today?"
A gentle voice.
It was Daniel who had approached and spoken to her before she knew it.
Compared to Leonic, who openly showed his hostility toward her, Daniel was always polite and kind. Since it was Daniel who had told her about the Fennel, Ria did not hide the difficulties she was currently facing.
"Yes. I was looking into the Fennel you mentioned the other day. As expected, there is nothing written anywhere about how to obtain it."
Ria closed the book lightly and gave a bitter smile.
Daniel sat down casually in a chair near Ria and opened his mouth.
"Fennel has never been successfully cultivated, and it is so hard to find that it almost never appears on the market. I have never seen it in person, either. However…."
*However?*
Ria waited for Daniel’s next words.
He soon added with a serious expression.
"Perhaps my brother might be of some help."
A short while later.
Ria stood before Leonic with a tense expression.
The events of last night weighed on her mind, but it seemed impossible to find the Fennel without him.
Leonic wore a relaxed smile even after seeing her serious expression.
"So, you have a favor to ask of me?"
Ria swallowed hard.
"I heard from Daniel, and he said that you know where the Fennel colony is, Leonic."
Leonic tilted his head.
"Hmm. Fennel, Fennel, is it…. Why do you need that?"
Ria looked at him with an earnest expression and replied.
"Could you help me find it? If you just help me with that, I will live as quietly as a mouse from now on."
Leonic thought for a moment, then smiled mischievously.
He liked the sound of her promising to live as quietly as a mouse.
"Fine, it is not impossible. But there is a condition."
Ria asked with an anxious look.
"A condition?"
The condition Leonic mentioned was something Ria had never even imagined.
"Do you see that?"
Leonic’s fingertip pointed to the mountain that towered behind the estate.
"Go and bring back the token I left at the summit."
The peak, which seemed to pierce the sky, was sharp and rugged.
She realized at a glance that it was dangerous, but she could not tear her eyes away. Ria felt the saliva she had reflexively swallowed go down coldly. *So, what he wants is up there.*
"I will give you a week. Leave when I finish my morning training here, and bring it back before I start lunch."
From the time morning training ended until lunch was roughly four hours.
It seemed impossible to go up to that high mountain summit and back within that time.
"Don't think about sending someone else. You have to go yourself."
"That is…. How could I possibly manage that?"
Leonic watched Ria’s troubled face with a blank expression, then shrugged his shoulders and said nonchalantly.
"Is that so? I have no interest in whether you can do it or not. But that is my condition. If you cannot even do that much, there is no reason for me to help you. Why would I bother for your sake?"
Leonic smiled as if sighing while watching Ria’s confused expression. Then, leaning forward slightly, he said in a serious voice.
"Hey, you don't think I’m setting this condition for no reason, do you?"
He looked straight at her and continued.
"The mountain path to the Fennel colony is not easy. If your stamina cannot keep up, then to me, you are nothing more than dead weight."
Ria asked with a bewildered expression.
"But will I be able to do it? Succeeding within a week…."
Leonic’s words had a point, but Ria simply could not judge whether she would be able to pull it off.
After a moment, Leonic, who had been scratching the back of his head with an annoyed expression, opened his mouth.
"I’ll give you two choices. One is to do as I said: train your stamina for a week, find the token, and go with me to retrieve the Twilight Fennel."
Ria listened to him in silence.
Leonic paused for a moment before continuing in a slightly lighter tone.
"I could also go alone and get the Twilight Fennel. Provided you pay a price worthy of the effort."
Hearing this, Ria sighed and asked.
"What... what is the price? If I promise to pay you back later, even if it takes time...!"
Leonic scanned her from head to toe and curled his lips into a crooked smirk.
"Why should I trust you?"
In the end, it seemed there was nothing Ria could do but succeed at the unreasonable condition Leonic had set.
"The choice is yours."
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