* * *

“…?”

As I glanced at Anton with a puzzled expression, he scrunched his nose mischievously, clearly excited to speak.

“Aren’t you curious about what it was like when the Grand Duke was first stationed at the front lines?”

Not particularly?

Why should I even care about that?

Though my initial thoughts were dismissive, the pen scratching across my paper came to a brief halt.

“Not really. I’ve never given it much thought.”

Feigning disinterest, I avoided showing any curiosity.

But Anton, who had sharp eyes, noticed the small ink blot forming on the page where my pen had lingered. He confidently added,

“You can imagine, can’t you? The reaction when someone as stunning as the Grand Duke, who could rival any young lady in beauty, suddenly appeared at the front lines teeming with roughneck soldiers?”

Well, there must have been quite the uproar.

Even in the middle of an ordinary academy, his appearance would’ve stood out, so the front lines wouldn’t have been any different.

While I tried to let his words pass through one ear and out the other, Anton approached closer and continued,

“It was absolute chaos. There were plenty of men who nursed secret affections for him, treating him as a stand-in for the noble young ladies they’d never even touched. Some even acted like beasts, sniffing around just to catch a whiff of his presence.”

Anton spoke as if relaying an amusing tale, but it was anything but pleasant to hear.

Who enjoys listening to stories of brutes disrespecting their superior with lecherous thoughts?

Looking up at him, I interrupted.

“That doesn’t sound like a particularly delightful story. Are you planning to continue?”

Although phrased as a question, it was practically a warning.

Anton, noticing my tone but undeterred, raised both hands in mock surrender and replied,

“Here’s where it gets interesting. You know how those muscle-for-brains types tend to make mistakes, right? Some of them didn’t just harbor feelings in secret—they had the audacity to confess directly to the Grand Duke.”

He must have rejected them all, obviously.

Predicting the obvious outcome, I turned my attention back to the documents.

However, Anton’s next sentence caught me off guard.

“Do you want to guess what the Grand Duke said to shatter each of their hopes?”

Why should I? Narrowing my eyes, I glared at Anton.

“Do I have to?”

“Ah, don’t be so boring!”

“Even if I guess, it won’t make this story any more entertaining.”

“Just once! Come on, humor me!”

I needed to wrap this up quickly and send him on his way.

Clicking my tongue in annoyance, I gave a dismissive answer.

“If you’re going to spout nonsense, go train or something.”

Honestly, that’s what I wanted to say to Anton all along.

But instead of being put off, he replied with an infuriatingly smug grin.

“No, you’re wrong. I only heard this through the grapevine, but apparently, he said he couldn’t accept because he already had someone in his heart.”

That, I hadn’t expected.

If this were the original storyline, I would’ve assumed it referred to Berta, whom he would have met and fallen for without my knowledge.

But now, with everything so thoroughly messed up, I had no idea who he could’ve been referring to.

“…?”

Pausing mid-annotation, I looked up at Anton, who smiled slyly, as if he had successfully baited me.

“I didn’t believe it either, to be honest. I mean, who would believe that someone so expressionless, reserved, and unreadable had someone in their heart?”

Staring at Anton’s exaggerated blinking as though he were narrating a story, I asked with a mix of disbelief and disdain,

“So, what are you trying to say?”

I couldn’t grasp his intentions.

Did he think I’d be jealous?

Did HHernan put him up to this to provoke me?

Eyeing him skeptically, I waited for his answer.

Anton shrugged and said,

“Well, at first, everyone thought it was just an excuse, you know? Like he was rejecting them with some polite lie. But then, during his night watches, he’d always take out a handkerchief and stare at it for a long time.”

“…?”

A handkerchief?

My brow twitched slightly at the unexpected detail, though I assumed it had nothing to do with me.

“That’s when everyone started believing it. They figured he really did have someone special back home. No way it was a lie.”

What nonsense.

HHernan, being the romantic lead of the story, was supposed to discover love for the first time through the heroine.

For him to have some past lover was absurd.

Unless… perhaps, like everything else, his storyline had deviated.

If that were the case, he’d already be involved with someone else, and Berta wouldn’t have received any marriage proposals.

Still, this sounded more like a wild rumor cooked up by bored soldiers who couldn’t dare make a move on their superior and settled for gossiping behind his back.

Suppressing a chuckle, I dismissed it.

“So, why are you telling me this?”

Did he think this would faze me?

He was mistaken.

But Anton, undeterred by my indifference, grinned and said,

“Well~, everyone started wondering about you, too. What kind of amazing person could possibly capture our Grand Duke’s heart so completely?”

“…?”

Why was this turning back to me? Frowning, I asked,

“And why me?”

“Because you’re the main topic of all the speculation!”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

What nonsense was this?

Staring at him, utterly baffled, I demanded clarification.

“Why me, of all people?”

“Well, you’re not exactly a delicate noblewoman or a strikingly handsome, slender man like Bastian or Pierre, are you?”

Bastian and Pierre were famous Southern actors, the epitome of what people imagined when they thought of Southerners—golden curls and soft, refined features.

In contrast, Jurgen’s short, ash-brown hair and olive-green eyes barely aligned with those stereotypes.

Even his pale skin, which refused to tan, made him look less like someone from the sun-drenched South.

With the mystery solved, I let out a dry laugh.

“I don’t know what misunderstanding led to that conclusion, but whoever the Grand Duke was referring to, it wasn’t me. Sorry to disappoint.”

Returning my gaze to the documents, I thought that would end the conversation.

But Anton, looking almost wounded, protested.

“No, it was you! I know because that handkerchief…”

But he never got to finish.

The man at the center of all this gossip approached silently, radiating a menacing aura that cut Anton off mid-sentence.

“And what exactly is so amusing that you felt the need to discuss it so animatedly?”

Though the question was directed at me, it was clear even a child could see it was Anton he wanted to silence.

Shrugging, I answered nonchalantly.

“Nothing I imagine the Grand Duke would find particularly interesting.”

Anton cowered, visibly intimidated, and quickly retreated, tail between his legs, as I fired the first shot.

“Well then, I’ll leave you two to sort this out. I’ll be on my way now.”

If you’re going to skulk away at the slightest confrontation, why even bother saying unnecessary things?

As Anton hurriedly shut the door behind him and disappeared, I looked up at the face I hadn’t seen in ages, my expression brimming with displeasure.

“You must have been very busy with work lately.”

I was genuinely curious—what could possibly have kept him so occupied that he couldn’t show up at nine on the dot, as he used to, no matter how inconvenient?

Of course, about 30% of my tone was meant to be sarcastic.

Whether his excuse of being busy was genuine or not, or whether he’d just come from training and taken a shower, his slightly damp hair gave away some details today.

With a face that clearly didn’t register as welcoming, I raised my head.

HHernan answered me with an unaffected smile.

“Thanks to your concern, I’ve been doing just fine. I heard you’ve been searching for me quite desperately since yesterday.”

And with that, he pulled up the corners of his lips into a grin that, for some reason, irked me even more, completely disregarding the earlier awkwardness.

“I wasn’t searching desperately for you.”

“So I hear, in front of the soldiers, you put up quite a show of stubbornness.”

“That never happened.”

At my denial, HHernan responded with a relaxed smile, firing back.

“Liar.”

What nonsense.

Without hesitation, I stepped on HHernan’s foot, which was protruding under the desk, and got straight to the point.

* * *