An Engagement Full of Red Flags
Before Lord Daren could return to his duties, there was something I absolutely had to ask him—about Lady Lillian.
“Lord Daren, may I have a moment?”
“Something the matter?”
“It concerns Lady Lillian…”
The instant I brought up her name, Daren’s expression turned grim.
He was perceptive enough to likely guess what I wanted to ask.
Frankly, that entire engagement arrangement had struck me as suspicious from the start.
The Glaberson family was a proud lineage of magicians.
Even if Lillian lacked magical talent, why would they marry off their eldest daughter to a knight?
The logic simply didn’t track.
It felt like something else was hidden behind the scenes.
I had half expected Daren to brush it off—
But then, to my surprise, an unexpected ally stepped in.
“Lord Daren, I too would very much like to hear the details behind Lillian’s engagement.”
“L-Lady Arissa…”
There was no way even Lord Daren could dismiss a request from a duke’s daughter.
I knew full well I’d be treated differently, so her support was more than welcome—and incredibly effective.
“… Very well.”
He seemed to resign himself, then offered to move the conversation to the drawing room.
And there, he began the explanation—with a bombshell.
“To begin with… the engagement between Lillian and Wesley Jenkins—was proposed by Lillian herself.”
“What!?”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
That wasn’t what Lillian had said when she came to the outpost.
She made it sound like the engagement had been forced upon her.
So why did she come to us for help back then?
There was no mistaking the expression on her face—she looked trapped, not eager to marry.
And yet, she was the one who proposed the marriage with Wesley?
What the hell is going on?
“I was ready to support her if that was what she wanted… but now, I’m beginning to doubt whether that’s really the case.”
He spoke with the gentleness of a father.
He didn’t say it aloud, but I could tell—he was genuinely unsure how to handle it.
… Which means the next suspicious party is likely Wesley’s family—the Jenkins household.
We may need to investigate them next.
What do you think about this chapter?
