‘I shouldn’t have started playing with fire in the first place.’

It was a mistake to sleep with him in anger. Damia knew she was not the right woman for such a short, casual relationship.

However, the relationship that had already started was now too complicated to break. So what could she do? She had no choice but to make up her mind and shake her heart.

“Then, bye.”

Although she didn’t show it, Damia’s shoulders started sagging a little when she left out the front door. Akkard, who watched this and her figure through the window, clicked his tongue.

“Tsk.”

When he was facing her, his breath felt suffocated and his neck was stiff. He felt uncomfortable with the tension that was rising all the way to the end of his head, so alarmed, he just wanted to run away.

But his senseless body wanted to touch her, and made him anxious, wanting to get closer to her somehow. To get out of this chaos of his contradictory emotional turmoil, he had to let her go quickly.

However, when Damia turned around with a disappointed complexion, it bothered him.

‘You’re not a fool. What the hell are you doing?’

Crinkle—

Unconsciously, strength entered the hand holding her handkerchief. Startled, Akkard opened his hand and looked at the handkerchief. However, his extraordinary grip after learning the sword was after he had already wrinkled the beautiful handkerchief.

The embroidery distorted through the wrinkled fold looked identical to his face reflected in the mirror. A short sigh escaped Akkard’s mouth when he saw this.

“Haa.”

As Damia guessed, a handmade gift was what he hated the most.

Until now, the women who cling to him declaring that they loved him always tried to make something for him. Although it was beautifully packaged as a gift, it was practically nothing more than a dog collar to show off that Akkard belonged to them.

It would have been rather cute if it had been just showing off. But some tenacious women did all sorts of bizarre tricks in their gifts.

The love potion in the handmade pie was actually made from poison grown on the corpse, and an embroidery pattern handmade turned out to be a spell to manipulate him as wanted.

Even the perfume he received last time was mixed with a drug that killed his male functions, trying to prevent him from sleeping with another woman.

At this point, it was only natural that Akkard suffered from ‘handmade’ phobia. After being scalded a few times, he accepted the presents from women with a smile in front of them. And as soon as he got home, he threw them away without opening the package.

‘Of course I don’t think Damia would do that.’

Still, you could never guess what was truly in the hearts of humans. No matter how levelheaded and clever a woman was, once she fell in love, she was bound to be engulfed in madness.

What’s more, Damia was only a temporary lust-relieving partner. He had no reason to risk himself, she wasn’t a woman of great status or tired of cleaning up after things ended.

After making up his mind, Akkard threw the wrinkled handkerchief into the trash can. Seeing the discarded gift, it seemed that a corner of his heart was strangely eerie.

He struggled to rationalize with himself that the feeling would be “relieving.” And he left the drawing room as if he were fleeing without looking back.

“Oh my.”

His butler, Sebastian, who belatedly witnessed this scene, touched his forehead with a loud clicking sound.

He had been Akkard’s assistant since he was very young. So he knew. Akkard was a man who never hesitated to throw away women’s gifts in the first place.

However, he agonized for a long time, while holding Damia’s gift in his hand. From that alone, it was enough evidence that Damia was already special.

Although he himself refused to admit, whether because of stubbornness or lack of experience.

“Really, there is still a long way to go in this area.”

With a deep sigh, Sebastian approached the trash can and looked inside. It was a pity that the handkerchief had been abandoned in such a terrible way. Another lament came out of Sebastian’s mouth, who had picked it up and brushed it off.

“Oh my God, what a beautiful thing.”

The handkerchiefs embroidered with the crests and patterns of Akkard’s family, the Valerian dukedom with the Lisianthus flower, which bloomed abundantly on the estate, were very delicate and gorgeous. It was clear that it was a work of considerable dexterity, sincerity and devotion.

The moment she found out that he had thrown this away, Damia would surely be heartbroken. And Akkard, who was shunned by her, would also be greatly heartbroken.

Sebastian, who had accumulated quite a lot of experience, seemed to see the future of his master clearly.

‘It can’t be helped. This old man has no choice but to be nosy.’

Taking a deep breath, he silently grabbed the handkerchief in his arms. Between wrinkled eyelids and Sebastian’s gray eyes shone with an unknown determination.

[t1v: swoooon~ don’t mind me, I’m just crushing on Sebastian. Also, nice symbolism, amirite? Lisianthus flowers in Korean culture mean ‘unchanging love.’ It is also the birth flower of Sagittarius’ (and Akkard comes across as a sag or other fire sign to me—but does that mean Damia an air sign then? She feels a bit like an earth sign…)

In flower language it also means:

Represents the joining of two people for a lifelong bond

Expressing gratitude for a gift or a favor from a friend or loved one.

Showing someone how appreciated they are, especially for their social skills or warm, welcoming personality.

Trying to convince someone you’re charismatic and charming.

Traditional values and old-fashioned morals.]