The World Has Become Kinder to Her

Lotus could feel her heart pounding rapidly in her chest.  

Kenneth’s words were completely unexpected, and each one felt sweet, almost overwhelming.  

Struggling to regain her composure, Lotus managed to say just one thing.  

“The man standing before me doesn’t feel like Lord Zahard.”  

“So you feel that way,” Kenneth responded calmly.  

“What do you want from me?”  

There was no point in dancing around the subject anymore. She asked directly, and Kenneth hesitated for a moment before responding carefully.  

“…Would you prefer that I speak honestly?”  

*What is this man up to?* she thought, suddenly feeling a deep sense of disappointment welling up inside her. She tried her best to hide that feeling as she answered.  

“Yes, I would prefer that.”  

At that moment, Kenneth stood from his seat. He reached behind the chair, retrieving a large bouquet of roses that had been hidden from view.  

It was only then that Lotus noticed the flowers. She had been so tense about meeting him one-on-one that she hadn’t even registered their presence.  

Kenneth knelt on one knee before her, holding out the bouquet.  

A sense of foreboding washed over Lotus, causing her to blink rapidly. Finally, Kenneth spoke.  

“Lady Lotus, will you marry me?”  

“…What?”  

The words “Are you insane?” nearly escaped her lips, but Lotus managed to hold back, her accumulated patience serving her well. *What in the world is happening?*  

*We met yesterday, and today you’re proposing? How does that even make sense?*  

She looked down at Kenneth with disbelief etched across her face. Her reaction wasn’t unreasonable.  

If one thought logically, it was Kenneth’s actions that were bizarre. Surely, something had to be wrong with him.  

*Did he injure his head while practicing swordsmanship? Why is he acting like this?*  

This wasn’t some impulsive decision—he had come prepared with flowers. He must have been planning this before even arriving here.  

An awkward silence filled the room, with Kenneth still kneeling before her, offering the bouquet of roses. She needed to make him stand, but accepting the bouquet could be seen as agreeing to his proposal, and she hesitated.  

Kenneth was far too good a match for someone like her, but there was no way she could accept such a strange proposal.  

Accepting it for her own safety would only lead to misery for both of them.  

Suddenly, **Bang!**  

The door to the drawing room flew open—no, to be more accurate, the door itself broke off as someone barged in.  

Before Lotus could even react, the intruder threw himself at Kenneth.  

“Ah, you muscle-brained idiot! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”  

With a loud crash, the two men tumbled to the floor in a chaotic heap.  

Watching them, Lotus felt a headache coming on.  

*One madman calling another madman mad—it’s like two dogs covered in filth fighting.*  

“What is the meaning of this, Lord Abran?” Lotus asked, trying to remain calm.  

“Come on, Lotus. Be honest with yourself. You’re relieved that I interrupted, right? Now you don’t have to answer that ridiculous request,” Frederick replied with a wink as he stood up from the floor.  

A faint glow of magic surrounded his hands, suggesting that he had cast a spell. Given that he had one hand gripping Kenneth’s collar, it was likely some kind of strength-enhancing magic.  

“All that sword practice has clearly turned your brain into muscle too, hasn’t it? I was planning to stay out of this, but this is too much!”  

“…Frederick, what are you doing here?”

Kenneth’s stern expression grew tighter in response to Frederick’s snide remark.  

‘Were they close?’ Lotus wondered as she observed the exchange between the two men. From what she remembered, the two had rarely, if ever, crossed paths.  

While it was true that Frederick had occasionally expressed a needless curiosity about Kenneth’s chastity, Kenneth had never shown the slightest interest in Frederick.  

It was odd to see Kenneth calling Frederick by name so casually.  

“Unlike you, I actually have a brain,” Frederick quipped, tapping his head with his free hand.  

Even to Lotus, who was still trying to make sense of the situation, that gesture seemed incredibly irritating. Kenneth, being directly involved, must have felt even more frustrated.  

In response, Kenneth plucked a single rose from the bouquet and playfully jabbed it toward the air near Frederick.  

Instantly, the glow in Frederick’s hand disappeared.  

Kenneth had used the rose like a sword, cutting through the flow of mana in the air.  

While Frederick was a genius, capable of using both jump magic and strength-enhancement spells simultaneously, Kenneth was no less a genius in his ability to disrupt magic in mere moments. The genius of the sword.  

“Ugh, this is why dealing with knights is so frustrating. All brute strength, no finesse.”  

With his strength spell broken, Frederick stumbled back as Kenneth’s natural physical power overwhelmed him.  

“And mages are equally annoying. You’ve been spying on us with magic, haven’t you?” Kenneth retorted.  

*Is that even possible?* Lotus shivered at the thought.  

The tension between the two men was palpable as their gazes locked. Frederick, visibly exasperated, couldn’t hold back his frustration any longer.  

“Are you out of your mind?” he yelled.  

“…”  

“What day is it today?”  

“…”  

“Still don’t get it? Want me to make it easier? How old are you? No, how old is Lotus? And you’re proposing?”  

“In the Empire, one is considered an adult at seventeen, old enough to marry,” Kenneth replied, his voice cool and measured.  

Frederick felt the overwhelming urge to collapse and clutch his head.  

For the first time, he understood why his parents and the servants at the Abran household often reacted the way they did when dealing with him.  

“Oh, really? So you’re telling me you said that with a straight face? You idiot!”  

It wasn’t just Kenneth’s calm indifference that fueled Frederick’s anger. It was also the sight of Lotus, who had briefly looked startled, but now, having regained her composure, was sitting some distance away, calmly sipping tea as if nothing was happening.  

“Lotus! This is too much!” Frederick cried out.  

“Too much? What exactly?” Lotus asked with a raised brow.  

“I’m over here dealing with this lunatic, and you’re just sitting there drinking tea like nothing’s happening!”  

At his words, Lotus’s expression hardened.  

“My, Lord Abran. I didn’t expect this from you. I thought you were a more reasonable person.”  

“…What?”  

“Aren’t you a magical genius? And Lord Zahard, a genius of the sword? If I were to intervene, what do you think would happen to me?”  

Lotus replied with a cool, composed tone. The truth was, she had several reasons for staying out of their confrontation.  

First, she didn’t fully understand what they were arguing about. Second, since her return to the past, she had become increasingly indifferent, not wanting to involve herself in unnecessary matters.  

*But most importantly…*  

She didn’t want to engage with Kenneth any further. She didn’t want to be drawn into anything deeper with him. She feared the way he was approaching her, too boldly, too suddenly.  

“Miss!”  

“What is going on?”  

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Jane, along with a few maids and two of the family’s knights, rushed into the room, reacting to the commotion Frederick had caused.

In the past, such a reaction from the servants would have been unimaginable—rushing in with concern, as if something terrible had happened to the beloved daughter of a marquis.  

It was a drastic change that had occurred over just a few days. Despite this, Lotus couldn’t see their behavior in a positive light.  

She understood that the shift in attitude stemmed from the Marquis and Hession’s softened demeanor toward her, but emotionally, she struggled to accept it.

As the servants entered the drawing room, they were met with the sight of Kenneth and Frederick glaring at each other and the scattered bouquet on the floor.  

The palpable tension between the two men and the severity of the situation left the servants speechless and frozen in place.  

Lotus inwardly clicked her tongue before speaking up.  

“Lord Zahard. Lord Abran.”  

“Yes, my lady.”  

“Yes, Lotus, speak.”  

Both men responded obediently, like students following a teacher’s instructions.  

“If you two have more to discuss, would you kindly take it outside to the garden—or better yet, outside the Marquisate? I’d rather not see any more innocent furniture or space damaged. And of course, Lord Abran, you’ll be responsible for fixing the door you broke down, correct?”  

“Uh… well, yes…” Frederick began, scratching his head.  

“And Lord Zahard, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you said earlier. There’s someone else you should be saying that to, after all.”  

It was better to address this matter firmly. Lotus worked hard to keep her voice neutral.  

Whether Kenneth’s feelings were genuine or not, he deserved someone far better than her—someone wise and kind.  

He was the greatest knight in the empire and would soon become the founder of Count Owen’s line.  

“I’m glad Lotus is at least a sensible woman,” Frederick muttered under his breath. This was the normal response, after all, and it was the right one.  

“…No, there isn’t.”  

“What?”  

“There’s no one else to hear those words but you.”  

Kenneth’s reply was completely unexpected. His calm, unwavering blue eyes met Lotus’ tired green ones. She clutched her dress tightly, trying to hold her composure as she answered.  

“Even so, I must refuse. It’s too sudden to say such things after meeting just yesterday.”  

“When the heart is involved, time is irrelevant.”  

The moment Kenneth uttered those words, Lotus felt her heart drop to the floor with a heavy thud.  

*How could he say those words?*  

It was almost the same phrase she had once used when she had approached Kenneth in the past, asking him to be her first lover.  

Back then, he had resisted, telling her it was too sudden and that they couldn’t form such a relationship after only meeting a few times.  

In response, she had said,  

*—I believe time doesn’t matter when it comes to a man and woman’s connection.*  

The similarity between her past words and Kenneth’s current statement was uncanny. What was she supposed to make of this?  

*Could he have… returned as well?*  

No, that was impossible. Lotus shook her head in disbelief.  

Kenneth couldn’t have returned to the past like she had. As focused as he was on his swordsmanship, he was still human—he would have seen and heard enough.  

If Kenneth had traveled back in time, he would have heard the many rumors surrounding her.  

The shame of the Estelle family, a one-night partner in the Bahamur social circles, the man-hunter of the capital.  

These were all names that had been thrown at her—names she had earned, partly by choice, partly by circumstance, as she fought desperately to avoid being married off to an old nobleman.  

Whatever her true intentions were, she had met many men, and to gain their favor and influence, she had smiled for them and, in some cases, given herself to them.  

*If a man knew all of that and still proposed to me, he would truly be insane.*  

Lotus couldn’t bring herself to believe Kenneth had lost his mind to such an extent.  

There had to be another reason, something she wasn’t aware of, behind his sudden proposal.