Edited

41.

Kano, who appeared at McFoy without warning, pushed aside the knights who tried to block him and moved forward. Most of them stopped in surprise and even took a step back at the intimidating expression on Kano’s face.

The ranks among them were sorted out long ago. The only one who could defeat Kano in McFoy was likely Sir Dogman, despite being old. Harry Forn could only be compared to Kano.

In other words, once Kano’s temper flared, and he started throwing punches, it was difficult to stop him.

“Captain, Captain! Please calm down. If you keep going like this, the Lord will be displeased—”

Kano’s subordinate, who was following him in confusion, shouted as he cleared away the knights falling like leaves from his hands.

But Kano didn’t hear anything. Once he became stubborn, he didn’t see the Diazi knights roaming the castle and there was nothing in front of him.

He became even more anxious as he reached for the Lord and climbed three steps at a time. As Kano, like a beast, leaped up the stairs, he met the McFoy young lord coming down with a black cub in his arms.

Kano frowned twice as he saw the young lord holding an unfamiliar creature for the first time and noticed that Diazi knights were mixed among the servants following the young lord.

Archie, who was coming down the stairs with an excited face, also noticed Kano belatedly and grimaced.

‘Why is that person here again?’

Archie didn’t particularly like Kano, who spoke and acted roughly in everything. He regarded Kano as nothing more than a guy who discarded the manners of nobility.

Therefore, Archie couldn’t understand why the maids cheered for Kano every time he came to McFoy Castle. It was also very unfortunate that Kano himself knew he was popular with women and shamelessly flirted with them.

In the eyes of strict and dignified adults like Lady Seymour and Lord Glenn Dogman, Kano’s behavior was far from respectable.

In short, he lacked refinement. As a Young Master of the house, Archie couldn’t tolerate it.

And most importantly, Archie didn’t like Kano’s attitude towards him. The child who had monopolized everyone’s attention and love within McFoy Castle all his life was as clear as day.

‘That guy is interested in my aunt, not me.’

And that was absurd to Archie.

“Young master. It’s been a while.”

Even though Archie knew that Kano’s friendly greeting was insincere, he reciprocated it politely.

As always, Kano didn’t show any respect towards him. Archie, who took pride in his title as the young master, always found Kano’s disrespectful attitude displeasing.

Archie instinctively raised an eyebrow, a habit he had unconsciously inherited from his aunt, Aisa.

When Archie showed his wariness towards Kano, Antoinette, whom Kano was holding, also bristled and made threatening noises towards him.

“Why did you bring such a beast with you?”

Kano asked, looking at Antoinette growling towards him as if it was nothing.

“Please show proper respect to the young master, Kano.”

Unable to tolerate Kano’s disrespectful behavior any longer, Lady Seymour stepped forward with a stern expression. At that moment, Archie stepped in, blocking Lady Seymour, and spoke firmly.

“She’s not a beast. She’s Antoinette.”

“Hah!”

Kano sneered like a villain.

“Hmm, so is it because the young master shouldn’t feel lonely without his Aunt?”

While saying so, he subtly teased Archie. Normally, at this point, Archie would have scolded Kano for being rude.

“No. It’s a baby leopard raised by Lord Diazi.”

Today was different. Archie proudly lifted Antoinette, wearing a smug expression.

“…Lord Diazi brought her?”

“Yeah. I just had a ‘tea time’ with Auntie and Lord Norma Diazi.”

“…”

“Tea. Time.”

This time, Archie chuckled like a villain.

As Archie finished speaking, Kano, who had been putting on airs, dropped the corners of his mouth. With a stiff expression, he passed by Archie without saying anything.

“How rude!”

Lady Seymour snapped again as Kano walked by, gesturing as if to calm her down.

“Hmph. It’s okay, nanny. I won today.”

Archie confirmed that Kano had completely lost his composure from his gait and chuckled softly.

“By the way, what confidence does Auntie have, knowing she’s soon to marry the scarecrow head of Morfolk? Is Morfolk a scarecrow or what?”

“Young Master.”

Lady Seymour reprimanded Archie’s indecent remark shortly. Then she remembered the order given by Lady Aisa not long ago.

‘Be sure to keep the matter of Morfolk’s demand for a break-up from reaching Archie’s ears.’
T/N: it said Divorce, but I changed it to break up. They were just engaged right? I might be mistaken but Ill go with breakup.

Lady Seymour let out a small sigh. She thought it would be best if Lord Aisa finally break-up her idiotic fiance. However, if they were to break-up now, it was obvious that the fools would find it amusing that the McFoy lordship had acknowledged the scandal as true.

As Lady Seymour was lost in serious contemplation, Archie felt quite pleased with himself for having outsmarted Kano.

To be honest, Archie didn’t really care about Kano’s usual behavior. It was just annoying that he didn’t pay attention to topics that interested his aunt and didn’t consider scoring points with him.

Being a nobleman, Archie was somewhat old-fashioned and astute for a child, knowing well how important his presence was to his aunt.

“Hmph. How dare he not appreciate me.”

Archie stuck out his tongue in the direction Kano had disappeared. Then, with a satisfied expression, he looked down at Antoinette.

“Antoinette, I’ll show you my room. They say my room is the coolest in McFoy Castle.”

With an excited voice, Archie lightly walked towards his room.

* * *

I glanced at Kano, who had been hindered by Glen.

I opened my eyes again, confirming that reality was indeed correct. After sighing briefly, I sent a glance to Kano, urging him to behave properly without embarrassing himself.

However, Kano ignored my gaze, brushed off Glen like a brat, and glared at him. Of course, Glen didn’t back down and had an even more fierce expression than before.

‘Why is he acting like this again, especially with guests around?’

Kano always tended to display such behavior whenever he stumbled a bit.

Glancing to the side, I saw Norma looking at Kano with widened eyes, surprised by his sudden intrusion. It was something unimaginable in Diazi.

“I apologize, Lord Diazi. He’s a high-ranking person from Romdak, but being a foreigner, he’s not accustomed to imperial etiquette. Um… he also finds it difficult to be polite.”

I laid the groundwork for Kano’s rude behavior to come, and apologized to Norma. Norma blinked at me a few times, then slowly nodded and looked back at Kano.

His expression was strange. There was no usual sunny smile that was always there. Norma just stared blankly at Kano.

Since Norma was always smiling, his expressionless face made people feel uneasy. Feeling somewhat annoyed by Norma’s noble demeanor, I glared sternly at Kano once again.

However, Kano, for some reason, turned his head away, then started to glare at Norma instead.

Seeing that, a terrible thought crossed my mind.

‘Could it be because of Norma Diazi?’

…Is he insane?

‘That bastard must be intentionally trying to embarrass me. And there are several Diazi members here right now!’

“…Is there a problem with the top?”

I asked to try to salvage the situation. It could be seen as giving him a chance to rectify things.

“Is it strange for me to come here? If I’m from Romdak, I’m a member of McFoy.”

But Kano refused to salvage the situation.

At that moment, I felt the muscles in my face gradually tensing up. Acting like this at this timing was one of the worst behaviors.

“So.”

It was the last straw.

“Why did you come?”

My expression as I said this must have been quite severe. Finally regaining his senses, Kano remained silent for a while.

‘That bastard.’

Kano swallowed his anger. The words “I came to see you, Lady of McFoy” lingered in Kano’s mouth.

In McFoy, there was a line that the Lady upheld. She particularly disliked those who crossed that line hastily. Such individuals were swiftly dismissed.

Therefore, maintaining that line was one of the things Kano had put the most effort into.

“…It’s a Romdak secret.”

Kano managed to control his temper and gave the answer the Lady of McFoy wanted.

He was in a state where he couldn’t control his emotions as well as usual. And now, not only was he already feeling tense, but upon entering the reception room, he was met with the sight of the red-faced lady and Norma Diazi sitting closely beside her.

Kano barely managed to swallow his anger. Then, he glared at Norma Diazi, who was sitting so close to her.

At that moment, the eyes of the two men met. Then, the expressionless Norma, for the first time, flashed his characteristic sunny smile. Caught off guard by the sudden smile, Kano flinched involuntarily.

Norma, with his eyes narrowed in a playful manner, lightly bowed towards Kano. Kano’s thick eyebrows twitched.

‘Indeed, he’s a cunning one.’

Although his face was adorned beautifully and attractively, Kano could easily read the vitality and thoughts concealed beneath the surface. Kano’s face twisted in annoyance.

After Norma sat quietly for a moment following Kano’s arrival, he assessed the situation. The gaze of the red-haired man sitting next to her was so obvious that it couldn’t be ignored. It seemed as if he wanted to be noticed.

‘He didn’t even consider the possibility of competition. Lady Aisa is so elegant and lovely, it’s only natural.’

He even reflected on his own carelessness.

‘But judging by Lady Aisa’s attitude…’

Having quickly assessed the situation, Norma smiled slyly.

As Kano and Norma’s eyes met, Norma smiled brightly to himself.

‘I’m even more beautiful.’

He knew he was exceptionally beautiful. It couldn’t be helped since he had received praise from everyone throughout his life; he would have known even if he didn’t have eyes. However, he had never thought to use it as a weapon before.

But after meeting her, Norma felt a deep gratitude towards his parents, especially his mother.

Meanwhile, failing to properly understand the essence of the two men’s struggle, I inwardly clicked my tongue. I was uncomfortable with Kano finally grabbing anyone and getting angry and arguing by himself.

If there was a flaw in Norma’s appearance, it was that he was too beautiful and sacred to be associated with mere mortals.

‘What a fool. Is that even sensible? To think about involving Norma Diazi with me.’

As I had such thoughts, I saw through the crack in the door that Erika’s secretary was swiftly entering. My gaze quickly shifted from the men who were having an unreasonable struggle to Erika’s secretary.

I noticed Erika’s expression subtly changing upon hearing the secretary’s whisper. My forehead furrowed along with hers.

Sure enough, Erika turned to me with an unpleasant expression. As our eyes met, Erika approached me.

“Lord, may I have a word?”

Erika cautiously opened her mouth.

“A letter has arrived from Philip Morfolk.”

“A letter? He didn’t come in person?”

My forehead completely wrinkled.

That’s right. After the promised week had passed, Philip’s response came in the form of a letter.

Philip had declared his betrayal.