Your father was angry. Not unhappy, not annoyed, but angry.

While he was always in a foul mood around you, his only surviving illegitimate child born from a woman he never really took in as a concubine, this was an entirely different situation. His eyes glared daggers through your forehead, while his fists clenched his armrest so hard you swore you could hear them crack.

One letter was laid before him neatly. You knew what it was immediately. You gulped as you stopped before him.

"You've disappointed me," he said, "Again."

The air in his study turned cold. Or was it just your body? Claude inhaled deeply as he clenched his jaw. Truly, he thought, This child could do nothing but be a mess.

"Yesterday, I caught wind of some atrociously unsavory rumors surrounding you and your sister's personal knight, Sir Felix Robane," he said. He wasn't asking you if it was true, you realized. He already knew.

You opened your mouth to retort, but nothing came out. What was there to say at all? That you were sorry? Love was not a sin. You knew the risks of pursuing Felix Robane would be severe. Claude didn't like you, so why would he let his best friend be anywhere near you?

He grabbed the letter before him and waved it in the air, before chuckling darkly.

"Do you think I wouldn't know? That I would stay oblivious until the end of time? He is my friend and decades older than you! What were you thinking?" Claude slammed the letter back to the table, making you flinch. "Love letters? Gifts? Meeting under the stars? The next thing I know, perhaps you'd follow your mother's steps and become a Courtesan!"