Chapter 1
Chandeliers glimmered with excessive brilliance, suspended from the high ceiling at regular intervals.
The floor was covered with a deep red carpet, flawless without a single stain.
In the center of this lavishly decorated space stood unmarried noble girls from count-level families and above, lined up from ages fourteen to eighteen.
Each of them wore dresses and accessories with meticulous care, their hair and makeup done extravagantly.
And in front of them walked a young man of extraordinary beauty.
He was tall—perhaps 190 cm—with a perfectly proportioned, well-trained body.
His long blonde hair was tied back into a single ponytail, and his eyes shone like tanzanite, said to be a thousand times more precious than diamonds. His lips, rarely curved into a smile, remained tightly pressed.
The young ladies, hoping to capture even a fraction of his attention, tried to smile at him.
But he didn’t glance at any of them. Maintaining a strict gaze straight ahead, he walked slowly past them.
Then, stopping in front of one young lady, he spoke in a flat, emotionless tone:
“Is this… fine?”
After saying this, he swiftly left the hall.
◇◇◇
“Do I really have to go?”
Liliana Villiers (16), a count’s daughter, furrowed her brows in concern and asked her father, Oliver Villiers (39), head of the Villiers family, who was busy with paperwork in the family office.
In his youth, he must have been extremely popular. Now, his sharp features showed slight signs of fatigue, but age had added a certain gravitas, making him highly admired among the ladies.
However, he was a well-known devoted husband and would not be swayed by any other woman.
Liliana understood that, as a noblewoman, she would eventually have to marry into another family. Still, she hoped to have a marriage like her parents’—loving and harmonious.
At the very least, she wished for a husband she could respect.
But if her father told her to marry someone, even if she could not respect him, she would have no choice but to obey.
For noble daughters, the higher the rank of the family, the harder it was to decide their marriage freely.
Of course, her father Oliver, who was slightly doting, would never marry his precious daughter to someone unworthy of respect, someone unlike her mother.
