“Wow…!”

Eve couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration as she stood before the massive main gate.

The vines that had grown over the white and tall walls, and the arch-shaped gate several times taller than a person, exuded a grandeur completely different from the Golden Palace she had seen in Sizzlon.

“Woah!”

Servants, knights, and attendants stood in a line at the main gate to welcome the returning Duke.

“Wow!”

The spiral staircase leading to the upper floor had sculptures of various animals and mythical creatures carved into each banister.

“Wow, amazing!”

Even the painting on the corridor ceiling…

“How long are you going to keep making a fuss?”

Sched, who had reached the corridor, finally couldn’t stand it and turned to look at Eve.

Since arriving at Recherdam, Eve had been exclaiming non-stop.

Sched couldn’t understand what was so amazing about the mansion, which was no more splendid than the Golden Palace of Sizzlon.

“Evil mister. You know what, mister, you’re a king?”

Eve asked, chattering despite Sched’s slight reprimand.

Louise looked around at the people around them and held Eve closer to her chest, but Eve was not mature enough to read the room.

Sched glanced at the chattering Eve once more, then moved his feet and opened his mouth again.

“That’s right.”

Sched was a Duke and a Crown Prince. The ruler who governed the Lester and Ideana territories.

Among the many ducal territories under the empire, he was the king who ruled the largest territory.

Eve clapped her small hands, not even making a proper clapping sound, and smiled.

“So cool!”

“……”

Sched quickened his pace, as if annoyed by Eve’s fuss.

“You’ll be staying here from now on.”

The place where Sched stopped was a room located on the second floor of the Recherdam mansion.

The space was large enough for Louise and Eve to live without any shortage, equipped with everything they needed, such as a bed, desk, and wardrobe.

“Is this our room?”

Sched nodded at Eve’s excited voice.

“If you need anything, tell the servants.”

Sched turned to leave with a short remark.

“Excuse me.”

At that moment, Louise’s voice stopped him in his tracks.

“…You’re not going to assign any surveillance separately?”

Louise asked, seeing that no one was guarding the corridor.

She thought he would definitely assign soldiers or maids to watch over them, since she had deceived him and ran away several times…

Sched turned his body again and met Louise’s eyes.

“Yes. It’s fine if you run away. If it’s okay even if the whole world becomes a blade aimed at that child.”

A faint yet leisurely smile flickered across Sched’s lips.

As long as Eve existed, Louise could not escape from his shackles.

If Eve had fully inherited Louise’s power, she would also live an eternal life.

Louise wouldn’t want the child’s secret to be exposed to the world.

She wouldn’t want to make the child an eternal fugitive and sinner.

Louise was perfectly in Sched’s grasp, at least until he died.

“If you need an escort, let me know. I can assign one.”

Sched coldly turned on his heel and left.

His back gradually moved away.

Louise, who was looking at the man’s back turned to her, shifted her gaze to the small force tugging at her clothes.

“Mom! Let’s explore the room!”

Louise nodded at Eve’s excited expression.

She held the small hand that fit perfectly in one of hers and walked together to the window.

Beyond the window, a picturesque view of Recherdam unfolded.

Beyond the walls of the mansion, the white bricks and orange roofs unique to Ideana were spread out low.

It was a strategic point where the roads leading to Paradel, other cities, and the Hellingen port met, prosperous enough to be called the lighthouse of the plains where cypress trees grew beyond the undulating ridgeline.

Moreover, the gentle hills surrounding the area made it convenient for farming, becoming a bountiful heritage.

‘A city that has not been greatly destroyed by black magic…’

Thanks to this, Recherdam was one of the cities in Ideana that regained its past colors relatively quickly.

“Mom, it’s so nice here! Right?”

Eve, who was looking out the window together, said while wiggling her feet.

“Yes, Mom likes it here too.”

“Is this our home now?”

At Eve’s words, Louise leaned against the window frame and lowered her long eyelashes.

“It’s not our home, but we’ll be staying here for a while.”

“I like this house, Mom!”

Louise nodded, watching Eve running around energetically.

Fortunately, there was no temple in Recherdam.

It was thanks to Felix Ideana expelling the temples in the Ideana territory while researching black magic.

But…

“Eve, Mom has something to tell you.”

Eve also had to prepare now.

How to handle this power well.

No, how to hide it well.

“So it has come to this.”

Louise, who had come out to hear an explanation about life in Recherdam, stopped in her tracks at the familiar and hostile voice.

There stood a knight, looking at her with a posture as straight as a stick.

A man with the same features as Sched.

“…It’s been a long time, Sir Carlyle.”

Louise recalled his name and lowered her body politely.

However, Carlyle frowned without returning the greeting.

“And with a child in tow… Ha.”

A clear hatred was felt in his short sigh.

Perhaps if Louise were a knight like him, she would have already challenged him to a duel to the death.

“I knew you were ill-mannered, but you keep acting out of line until the end. Now that the lord has broken off the engagement, do you think the position of the lady of the Lester family is yours?”

Instead of drawing his sword, Carlyle aimed his sharply honed words at Louise.

But rather than being cut by his words, Louise was stunned as if hit by a blunt weapon.

“Broken off the engagement…?”

Louise asked back about Carlyle’s words.

Sched broke off the engagement?

It was something she had never heard of before.

Eclas had only conveyed the news that he was always doing well.

He was always in glory, and there seemed to be no particular discord in his relationship with Giselle.

She thought it was strange that she hadn’t heard the news of Sched and Giselle getting married after being engaged for so long.

Louise thought it was Eclas’s consideration.

If she heard the news of Sched getting married, it would definitely hurt her heart, so he deliberately didn’t tell her such stories.

So… perhaps Sched had already married Giselle, she thought.

That’s why she was more surprised.

She never imagined that he, who seemed to be able to follow only the path of happiness with Giselle, would eventually come to Sizzlon.

But a broken engagement.

“It’s all because of you.”

Carlyle’s eyes flashed fiercely.

“So, Sir, you mean… His Excellency broke off the engagement?”

Louise asked Carlyle again, unable to believe his words.

That’s because there was no reason for Sched and Giselle to break off their engagement.

Sched and Giselle were a well-matched couple even at a glance.

It was even more so considering the wealth and power the two families possessed.

Perhaps another family interfered with their marriage out of fear of the union of the two families?

Or as Carlyle said…

‘If it’s because of me, could it be because of what happened that day…?’

The night they shared a bed together during Sched’s rut.

They were caught by Giselle, who came looking for Sched, unable to hide it.

If it were the prideful Giselle, she wouldn’t have tolerated Sched abandoning her and embracing another woman.

The fingers gripping one arm tightened.

There was no room for excuses.

Sched had many simple and easy reasons to hate her.

However, at the same time, Louise felt it was unfair.

That night, that bed, was not what she wanted.

It was Sched’s impulse, and she just…

‘…Gave in.’

Louise, who tried to make excuses, closed her mouth.

As if drunk on alcohol, drunk on his scent, she was helpless and her body was heated up without even thinking of running away.

She was also an accomplice in claiming innocence.

Moreover. She didn’t want to deny that night any further, the night that allowed her to meet Eve.

So, she had nothing to say.

“You ruined everything. The broken engagement, and him losing his aura…”

“Losing his aura?”

“Ha, pretending not to know.”

The strong knight’s face contorted as if disgusted.

It was because the fact that Sched had lost his aura was already known throughout the empire a few years ago.

In the Blankas War, he couldn’t use his aura, and he faced several crises due to the attacks of the Blankas who noticed him.

Because of that, Sched was also criticized for causing damage to the troops.

The first Lupus Swordmaster. The higher his name was revered, the more cruel and ruthless the finger-pointing was after his fall.

Although the status of the Lupus had improved a lot compared to the past, when such a time came, the Lupus had to bear a greater burden than other ordinary people.

All sorts of rumors and criticisms were published in newspapers and gossip magazines every day.

Of course, his qualification as a Swordmaster was revoked.

When he was completely isolated and out of contact, people even argued that Sched’s death was deserved.

Even though it was during a war, and he was an ally who sacrificed his life for the empire and a large military force.

Even now, when Carlyle recalled all the insults poured on Sched at that time, his teeth chattered.

The fierce criticism and controversy subsided only after Sched returned and placed the key to victory in the hands of the emperor.

But it was undeniable that his previous great prestige had been lost.

After the Blankas War, the name and power of the Lester family rose high, but ironically, the honor and reputation of “Sched Lester” were mired in mud.

Carlyle believed that this misfortune that befell Sched personally was all the fault of “Riana Serpens.”

Because that’s when Sched started to change.

Although Sched lost his aura due to the curse of the heretic, Carlyle believed that Riana was at the root of the problem.

Because Riana shook and confused Sched.

Because she disrupted the strict and cold family customs of the Lester family.