Published: August 15, 2025
When Lady Sophia, the eldest daughter of Duke Alfred Granado, met Marquis Dario, the duke had only one wife. In this Dirts Kingdom, only men could inherit high noble titles, so the chances of Sophia’s husband becoming the next duke were quite high. Chronologically, when they met, Dario Alfonso was still a viscount, a young man around twenty years old.
As the second daughter of a rural baron, I have no right to say this, but as a husband of the ducal family, he was somewhat lacking.
What kind of connection was there? Why did Marquis Fuchs introduce this man as the husband-to-be of his best friend’s daughter? And why did Duke Alfred allow it?
Every time the small-mindedness of Marquis Dario became clear, my doubts grew. I’m sure I never showed those doubts on my face…
Marquis Dario shrugged and smiled.
“I understand what Lady Marie means. You’re wondering how someone like me, a nobody, managed to secure a marriage with a duke’s daughter?”
“Eh, no, that’s definitely not what I meant. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. I myself thought it was a miracle.”
He clasped his hands and stared intently at them.
As if confirming the emptiness within them.
“My meeting with Sophia… was at a high nobility social gathering, where Marquis Fuchs took me along. It was a place terribly out of my league at that time.”
—I had heard from Wolfgang about Dario Alfonso’s life story while investigating Ella’s true identity.
The Afonso family was a typical upstart house, which soon declined.
Only two generations ago, Dario’s grandfather had business talent and purchased a noble title by donating assets to the country. But unfamiliar with noble society, his politics were superficial. The next generation lacked business talent and slowly consumed their wealth. His sister, who married into a wealthy merchant family to save the house, suffered abuse and ran away.
The turning point came when Marquis Fuchs noticed him.
Fuchs was not exactly sincere but was a charming man. While keeping Dario’s married sister as a mistress, he also had other mistresses. One of them, a lady close to the royal family, was seen by Dario during a tryst, and Fuchs silenced him with pocket money.
Thus, Dario ingratiated himself with his brother-in-law, Marquis Fuchs. He felt no guilt receiving money by indirectly threatening. The Afonso family was barely getting by. To protect his sister’s life and their family name, Fuchs’s patronage was essential.
…Hearing this, honestly, I slightly reevaluated Marquis Dario. I admired him as a noble for humbling himself and relying on his superiors. My own father, Gregor Chadelan, ruined our family because he couldn’t do that.
“So, being publicly favored by Marquis Fuchs, I again begged to accompany him to the high nobility gatherings. I hoped to find a new patron there… but it didn’t go as planned.”
First, as an upstart, Dario knew nothing of noble etiquette. He barely understood Dirts language, and even if he could speak it, he lacked education.
Unable to approach anyone, and with Fuchs quickly abandoning him, Dario was left alone, a wallflower.
—Not to overreach beyond one’s means—I thought bitterly then, but it was Sophia Granado, the duke’s daughter, who spoke to me.
“She was beautiful. Very beautiful. Everything about her.”
Dario narrowed his eyes, a little embarrassed as he spoke of the past.
The moment he first saw Sophia, Dario was breathless.
—Such beauty. He had never seen anyone so beautiful in his life…
Though nervous, when Marquis Dario greeted her, Lady Sophia did not even smile.
Walking toward him without a trace of charm, her eyes cold and aloof, Sophia’s words were like a whisper, almost to herself.
“Why are you standing by the wall like that?”
She spoke in Flarian, the noble common tongue. Since Flarian is close to Sphainese, Dario could understand and speak it. That night was the first time Dario spoke aloud.
“…Ah… It’s just that everyone here is such a distinguished noble, I feel overwhelmed.”