Due to her closeness with Zen, Shirayuki is now a regular visitor to his castle with no restrictions. However, there are those who doubt her intentions and conspire to separate her from the prince, one of whom being the gruff Lord Marquis Haruka. Suspecting that Shirayuki is trying to take advantage of Zen's social status as a prince, he hires a spy to scare her out of the castle, but is unsuccessful. After she confronts Lord Haruka, her determination inspires the spy to leave the service of Lord Haruka and pledge allegiance to Zen, he introduces himself as Obi.