"Isabella sends her regards," Ace added, twisting the knife, "She was quite concerned about how you were adjusting to the Northern climate. She said most ’Southern flowers’ wither in the frost."

Evelina didn’t stop eating. She didn’t even miss a beat in her chewing.

"How kind of her to think of me," Evelina murmured, her eyes still scanning an article about coal mining.

Ace felt a surge of genuine annoyance. He reached for his final card, "She’s coming to visit next month. She’ll be staying here, at the estate, for two weeks while we coordinate the autumn drills. I trust you can manage the ’guest’ arrangements properly, even without Mrs. Gable."

It had taken him whole one night to understand what all had transpired in his absence, and that including her taking total control and managing his staff.

But despite all that information, he didn’t think one can change their root nature just like that.

Ace waited for the explosion. He waited for her to drop her fork, to protest, to demand to know why a beautiful female General was close to her husband.

This kind of jealousy was what he had spent years trying to avoid, and now, he was practically begging for it.

Evelina finally stopped. She set her fork down with a soft click.

Ace felt a spark of triumph. Finally. Here it comes.

He braced himself for the tears, the accusations, the desperate pleas for him to cancel the visit. He prepared his face to look stern and unyielding.

But something different happened.

Evelina didn’t look at him with tear-filled eyes or anger.

She slowly lowered the Aurelia Gazette, revealing a face that was perfectly serene, her reading glasses perched daintily on her nose. She looked at him as if he had just mentioned a change in the weather.

"Is she?" she asked tonelessly.

She didn’t ask which room Isabella would stay in or if they would be dining together. She simply picked up a small silver cellar and shook it over her plate.

"Next month... that should be fine," Evelina said, her voice drifting back to her newspaper, "I’ll have the staff prepare the Blue Suite. It has the best light for someone who spends so much time in a damp military tent. It’s the least we can do for a... guest."

She paused, her brow furrowing slightly as she tasted her eggs.

"Pass the salt, Ace," she said, her tone as casual as if she were speaking to a footman, "This egg is a bit under-seasoned this morning. I’ll have to speak to the cook about his consistency."

Ace sat frozen. His hand was still resting on the table, near the salt cellar she had requested.

He felt a strange, cold void in his chest where his ego used to be.

She hadn’t reacted. Hell, she hadn’t even blinked.

To her, the arrival of a person whom she mindlessly treated as her ’rival’ was less important than the sodium content of a poached egg.

Ace couldn’t move.

[Notification: Target ’Ace’ has suffered a ’Major Ego Fracture’.]

[Status: Utterly Baffled]

[Heart Rate: Elevated]

[Reward: 200 Heart-Wrecker Points awarded!]

[Total Heart-Wrecker Points: 350]

[System Note: Host, your ’Zero-Grip’ strategy is highly effective. The target is currently questioning his own existence.]

Evelina found it a bit ironic. The system thought she was employing some strategy. But she was simply behaving as her heart wanted.

This is what Ace had demanded in her previous life, now that she was giving it to him, he shouldn’t have a reaction so violent.

Alas... she wouldn’t complain what she was being rewarded for.

Evelina reached across the table herself, her fingers brushing past his motionless hand to snag the salt.

She gave her eggs a delicate sprinkle and returned to her reading, leaving the Iron Duke of the North sitting in a silence that felt heavier than any war he had ever fought.

"Oh," she added, not looking up, "And remind your ’friend’ to bring her own sparring gear. I’ve turned the armory into a temporary granary. We don’t have room for clutter."

"_"

Ace let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, his face flushing a frustrated red.

He got up from the dining table, the chair ’screeching’ back.

The sound of the dining room door slamming was so violent that it caused the fine bone china on the table to rattle in a rhythmic dance.

Ace had had retreated with the grace of a wounded bear, his heavy footsteps echoing down the hallway until they were drowned out by the distant bark of a frustrated command to a footman.

Evelina didn’t flinch nor did she stop chewing. She waited exactly three seconds, the time it took for the door’s vibrations to settle before she finally let out a soft sigh.

The moment she was alone, the air in front of her erupted.