No matter how much I thought about it, the only high-ranking noble family who I could entrust Rainfield with was the Wades.

I had never regretted my past more than this moment.

If I had known that it was the only place I could entrust to my family, I would never have lived like that.

But I was selfish in front of Ian until the end.

Because I already knew that if I sincerely asked for protection, a good and righteous Ian would grant me.

"After all, there is an assassin who has been attached to kill me, so I am going to live alone, away from my family. Therefore..."

My words didn't go any further.

"Annabelle, stop it. You can stop talking."

It was because Ian slowly bent his legs and made eye contact with me.

"Of course I will protect the Rainfields. Everyone can use the west annex."

Naturally, I meant to put the protection inside Wade's fence.

So that, no matter what, the Wades would get entangled.

I sighed in relief and nodded my head.

"Aaron and Oscar are hired by us anyway. Tell Marilyn to close her dressing room for the time being."

"Yes?"

"You don't think that Carlon will wait patiently for his extradition to the capital, knowing what happened to Lanella and Rayburn?"

Ian said calmly.

"To protect yourself, you have to do it right away as soon as you go up tomorrow."

"Ah... That's right. Thanks. Thank you so much..."

"There is only one condition."

My words were interrupted by Ian's unexpected words.

I was confused and looked up blankly at Ian's red eyes.

A condition, no one else, Ian Wade asked for a condition!

Of course, it was a moment when the back of my head, which I thought would agree with pure good intentions, tingled.

'Is there a single person in the real world that I could trust?'

But I couldn't help it.

"What is it? I will listen to you."

"You come in too."

"...Huh?"

"Don't even think about being alone, you should come too."

I blinked like a fool at the unexpected remark.

"My mother is happy to teach you, and I also want to meet the talented person who said that they were an assassin."

Ian said bluntly.

"No, I would love to meet that person."

If you said that you were a person with more skills than me, were you burning your fighting spirit against someone who was likely to be your real competitor?

"Anyways, that's the condition."

Meanwhile, the ring connected to Robert began to twinkle once more.

No, why did Robert ask for my regards so often at this important time...

Before I could grunt and respond to the ring, Ian was annoyed and pressed the jewel in the ring.

"Don't look at these things, look into my eyes and answer them. As soon as I return to the capital..."

Then he spoke as if nailing one more time.

"Let's live together." (pr/n: Idc what anyone says, that's a marriage proposal)

Of course, I had no choice.

***

Nick was busy getting things done quickly.

He gave freedom to all the outsiders who were staying at the permanent residence and sent them all out.

It wasn't difficult to monitor Lanella and Rayburn, who were then thrown into prison.

There was a fire in the middle of the farm, and a lot of people from the estate ran to see it.

In the process, everyone knew the full story of this incident.

Of course, he did not know the origins of black magic, or anything like that, but he was in a state of acceptance that the investigators from the capital would somehow solve it.

After that, he had to prepare dinner with Annabelle and Ian.

Of course he had a plan for this supper.

Nick marinated the steak himself and told the butler.

"I took a bottle of alcohol out of my room's safe. Bring it to dinner later."

There was no way there could be a cook in the lord's castle.

However, Nick was confident in his cooking skills, so he wasn't particularly nervous while preparing the meals for the son of a high-ranking nobles and his niece.

"If it's alcohol in the safe..."

When the butler asked in amazement, Nick said with a determined expression.

"Yeah, it's very expensive. But I guess I was saving it to use it at a time like this."

"Actually, it's a historic day when the territory was freed from black magic... "

The butler nodded his head as if it was natural, recalling what had happened before.

It really was a great day.

It was the day they caught the trafficker who had been tormenting Caronda for years.

"So I guess I was crazy."

Lina's remarks, returning to the estate after a long time, shocked everyone.

"All of a sudden, all I could think of was that I had to follow Smith and start a family. Caronda's family... Of course I wanted to see it, but I thought I couldn't go in the first place. I can't even explain why."

Smith was from a nearby estate and was a backstreet thug who constantly wooed Lina.

Lina said she absolutely hated him, and refused, but Smith, who could not give up Lina, commissioned a criminal organization using black magic.

The gang's headquarters was Lanella and Rayburn's small farm.

Lanella and Rayburn were thrown unconscious into the narrow, cold dungeon.

Many people who had lost their families in the estate had flocked to the lord's castle to monitor Lanella and Rayburn themselves.

"I want to tear them apart with my own hands right now, but... I will wait until those atrocities are punished in the capital!"

"The thought of buying and eating things from those rogues' farms makes me angry."

Of course, they weren't the only ones who wanted to kill Lanella themselves.

Nick, who for nearly 20 years thought he had only one person to trust in the South, felt a great sense of betrayal.

Luckily, he didn't hire her as a maid because money was scarce.

According to Annabelle, she secretly took things like clothes and used black magic...

If he had hired Lanella as a maid of the castle as she first asked, he would have lived as her puppet.

When they regained consciousness, he planned to interrogate them before anyone else.

As a butler who watched all of that, of course, he had no choice but to understand that Nick was asking to take out alcohol for celebration.

"What are you talking about?"

But Nick said bluntly.

"I'm going to use it to get rid of room for the small Duke Wade to flirt with my cute niece."

"What?"

The butler was dumbfounded and asked back.

The liquor in Nick's safe was the best liquor in this castle.

Not only was it expensive, but it was also high in alcohol percentage.

Nick bought the alcohol and kept it in a safe, saying, "I'll drink it on a really important day," while waiting for more than a decade.

"Don't you want to treat Wade properly?"

"What are you talking about? I'm weak in power, but I'm still good enough to have a plan behind me."

"What?"

"No matter how that young man is, I can't see him being stuck with my precious niece who is pretty, competent, and even saved me."

"Uh... Umm..."

"Whatever history takes place at night. Even pretending to be a fake lover, the atmosphere can be strange."

Nick put his knife in the steak and spoke grimly.

The butler did not answer, but Nick's determined words continued.

"So tonight, I'm going to stick around and make him drunk and throw it in the other room as an excuse for entertainment."

***

I had no choice but to nod awkwardly at Ian's words to live together.

'The feeling is weird... But he's right.'

Without knowing what to do, I heard a knock like salvation.

"Dinner is all ready."

The butler spoke in a sweet tone different from yesterday.

"Come down to the restaurant."

When I went down to the restaurant along with the butler, a pretty good dinner was prepared. It tasted very good, but I didn't think I had to ask who did it.

'Wow, the strength of the bloodline is scary.'

Almost all the food tasted similar to what my father made.

"I didn't know. Were you uncomfortable sharing a room? I told him to prepare another small room in the room right next to you."

My uncle spoke very politely, and I smiled as if it were okay.

"It's okay, uncle. It wasn't uncomfortable at all."

"But a man and a woman who are not even planning to get married..."

"It was fine. We know very well that we will never touch each other. I also got a good night's rest."

Looking at Ian to seek consent, he seemed rather tired.

'The sofa must have been uncomfortable.'

By the time the main dish came out, my uncle recommended Ian to drink.

"It's a traditional southern distilled liquor that I found and it was hard to get. It's my treat to you as precious guests."

If it was hard to get, it must have been very expensive.

I was also looking forward to it, so I held a glass and looked at my uncle with sparkling eyes.

But my uncle said coldly.

"Annabelle, don't drink."

"What?"

"It's too strong for you."

"I'm a strong drinker."

Of course, my lies were buried as they were.

This was because Ian shook his head and stepped in.

"Don't lie. You're weak."