The Duke had left alone in the room.
And honestly, I was grateful for it.
The silence helped. It gave my thoughts space to breathe instead of crashing into each other like restless waves.
If he had stayed, watching with those sharp, asuring eyes, I wouldn't have been able to think straight.
I leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling.
It wasn't wise to keep imagining an uncertain future just because I possessed knowledge of the original work.
Every ti I let my mind wander too far ahead, I ended up overthinking things that might never even happen.
Still… I couldn't help it.
The dragon.
Even knowing what I knew, even telling myself to stay grounded in the present, my thoughts kept circling back to it. And if I was being honest, it wasn't just caution.
I was curious.
"Right now, even with Kraus, there are legends related to dragons," I muttered under my breath. "And well… dragons…"
I let out a quiet breath.
What would it actually feel like to see one in real life?
Before I was possessed into this body, I had seen plenty of things that could pass for monsters. Creatures twisted by mana. Beasts warped beyond recognition. But a true dragon? Or even sothing close to it?
Never.
Not even in the notoriously rugged Lunproud Mountains did true dragon subspecies reside. There were rumors, exaggerated stories told by adventurers over drinks, but nothing concrete. No real sightings.
Sarham, in particular, was practically sealed off from such possibilities. Because of the ancient legends entangled with that land, dragons simply did not approach it.
But rohim was different.
Here, people claid to see wyverns and drakes from ti to ti.
Rare, yes—but not impossible. If soone was lucky enough… they might glimpse sothing that carried even a fraction of a dragon's majesty.
My heart beat a little faster at the thought. Not from fear.
From anticipation.
Just imagining enormous wings cutting through the sky, scales reflecting the sun—or fire blooming in the air—
Knock. Knock.
The sound snapped out of my thoughts.
I turned toward the door.
For a brief mont, I assud it was Elena. Or perhaps Ken. That would have been natural.
I walked toward the door and placed my hand on the handle.
Then I stopped.
Sothing felt… off.
The knock had been steady. Firm. Not hesitant. Not casual.
It wasn't Elena's rhythm. It wasn't Ken's either.
I stood there for a few seconds, debating.
Why would he knock on my door?
After a mont, I sighed. I couldn't very well leave him standing outside. That would be disrespectful—and foolish.
I opened the door.
Standing there was none other than Duke Joachim Edelweiss.
Elena's father.
He didn't smile, but he didn't look displeased either. His expression was composed, dignified—the kind of face that revealed nothing unless he allowed it.
"May I?" he asked.
"Of course, Your Grace."
He stepped inside, his presence imdiately filling the room. Even without raising his voice, there was a certain weight to him. Authority didn't need to shout.
He took the prepared chair near the window, his gaze drifting outside before settling sowhere between the horizon and his thoughts.
I closed the door gently and took the seat opposite him.
The soft click of the latch echoed louder than it should have.
Neither of us spoke.
A few minutes ago, at least, he had been talking to .
His voice had filled the room with that calm, steady tone of his. But now he just sat there in silence, fingers loosely interlocked, elbows resting on his knees, as if he was carefully arranging his thoughts before letting them out.
The silence stretched.
And stretched.
As I said during my previous eting with Elena, I had t him once before.
Back then, though, I hadn't exactly been in my right mind.
If my mory wasn't betraying , we had exchanged only a few words—barely a conversation—and then parted ways almost imdiately.
I rember feeling dizzy, overwheld, like the world around was slightly tilted. His face had blurred at the edges in my mory.
Of course, after that, we had another brief conversation in this very room. I had tried my absolute best not to freak out. My palms had been sweating so badly that I had kept them hidden under the table.
Fortunately, that conversation had been… normal. Surprisingly normal. He hadn't pushed. He hadn't cornered . He had spoken politely and left soon after, giving space to breathe.
But now—
Now here we were again.
And it looked like he had sothing important to say.
Which ant, in a way, this was practically the first real eting.
Even if it technically wasn't.
Moreover, unlike two years ago, sothing had changed between us. Even though we hadn't t in person because of Elena, a shift had quietly happened in the relationship between and Joachim. It was unexpected—especially for soone like who had once aid for nothing less than a clean, decisive breakup.
Life really does enjoy irony.
I stole a glance at him.
He didn't look as uptight as I had first thought. Back then, I had reduced him to a label: my father's friend. A serious man. Probably strict. Probably judgntal.
But the man sitting in front of right now didn't feel like that.
Still, knowing he was my father's friend—and after everything that had happened today—it wasn't easy to act naturally around him. I couldn't treat him the way I treated my father. I couldn't joke. Couldn't roll my eyes. Couldn't speak without thinking first.
It was a completely different kind of nervousness.
Not like standing in front of your friend's parents.
This was heavier.
Finally, he exhaled.
"You're thinking too loudly."
I blinked. "What?"
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Your eyebrows. They give you away."
I imdiately relaxed my face. "I wasn't thinking anything."
"That's a lie."
"…You're very direct."
"I prefer honest conversations."
The room fell quiet again, but this ti it wasn't suffocating. It was… expectant.
He leaned back slightly. "You're uncomfortable."
"That obvious?"
"Yes."
I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck.
"It's just… I don't know what this is."
Joachim didn't respond imdiately. He simply watched , calm and unreadable, as if he had all the ti in the world.
"What do you think it is?" he asked.
His voice wasn't sharp. It wasn't warm either. Just steady. That sohow made it worse.
There were many things I could have said.
A misunderstanding.
An obligation.
A political arrangent between families.
A ss created by my father's endless need for entertainnt.
But none of those felt right coming out of my mouth. And none of them felt safe.
So I kept quiet.
Silence stretched between us. Not awkward—just heavy. Like it was waiting for to grow up and fill it properly.
In the past, I had only thought of Joachim as my father's old friend. Soone I greeted politely at gatherings. Soone distant. Soone I would likely never see again after breaking up with Elena.
Back then, that had been the plan.
Clean break. Separate paths. No lingering threads.
But plans had a way of collapsing around .
Now everything had changed.
Although the engagent ceremony hadn't been formally announced yet, Elena and I were still, technically, engaged. The families knew. The elders knew. And that ant the man sitting across from would soon beco my father-in-law.
Father-in-law.
The word alone made my spine straighten.
This wasn't just another social visit.
This was the first real eting between a soon-to-be son-in-law and the father of the woman he was supposed to marry.
And I was completely unprepared.
Unprepared ntally.
Unprepared emotionally.
Unprepared strategically.
Most of all, I couldn't stop thinking about what Father had done just a few hours ago.
I cleared my throat. "About earlier… I—"
Joachim raised a brow. "Your father."
Of course he would go straight to it.
"I'm sorry," I said quickly. "He doesn't know when to stop."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Joachim's mouth. "That man has never known when to stop."
I blinked. That wasn't the reaction I expected.
"I assu," he continued, folding his hands in front of him, "that you were aware of his… performance?"
Performance was a generous word for what had been an elaborate prank at his expense.
I hesitated. Honesty felt dangerous. Lying felt worse.
"…Yes."
"And you participated."
It wasn't a question.
From a broader perspective, Elena and I could absolutely be considered accomplices. We hadn't orchestrated it, but we hadn't exactly stopped it either.
I exhaled slowly. "I didn't think it would go that far."
"That's what people always say after it goes too far."
Fair.
I braced myself for anger.
For disappointnt.
For a formal declaration that this engagent would be reconsidered.
Instead, Joachim leaned back slightly and studied again.
"You're nervous," he observed.
"I am," I admitted.
"Because of the prank?"
"That's part of it."
"And the other part?"
I swallowed.
"Because I don't know what you think of ."
There. It was out.
Not polished. Not strategic. Just honest.
He didn't answer imdiately. His gaze shifted briefly to the window before returning to .
"You think this eting is about judgnt," he said.
"Isn't it?"
He shook his head lightly. "If I were judging you, this conversation would be much shorter."
That sent a chill down my spine.
And then he dropped another bomb shell on .
"Tell you the truth, I was going to have this conversationfew minutes before but sothing cos up and I had to leave."
"Is that so?"
"Hmm....Anyways, I have talked about you with my daughter yesterday night."
...And there it was bomb shell!
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