A sharp headache passed for a moment and then disappeared.

Lu closed her eyes again. Tears remaining between the closed eyes dropped with a soft sound. The moistened edge of her mouth gently loosened. She fell into a very peaceful sleep.

Cedric Langbehr, the second son of Duke Alanka and the newly appointed successor, was a very cheerful and lively person.

However, lately, he was quite upset due to the tragic events that had noisily adorned the front page of the newspaper.

“How many times do I have to say it? I was at the social club at that time! I was drinking all night.”

The tone rose and then, realizing it, lowered again. The repeated police investigations were tiring, and the lawyers’ instructions from behind were annoying.

“Did you kill your brother?”

“Did you hire an assassin?”

“Do you have an alibi!”

The rude questions thrown by the reporters were annoying, and the surroundings hushed whenever he appeared.

‘I didn’t kill him!’
He never wished for such a dukedom from the beginning. To be precise, it wasn’t his in the first place, and he couldn’t wish for it because he was raised not to.

In the Alanka Duchy, the dukedom, of course, belonged to the late Elsh Count Manuel Langbehr, the eldest brother. Cedric planned to live a life where he could play around carelessly, collecting the titles and wealth his mother would provide when his father was poked by his mother’s side.

“Young master, let’s stop by the main house for now.”

Cedric, who barely managed to deal with the reporters and got on the carriage, sighed as he couldn’t make a more favorable impression.

“How long will Father be?”

All the servants were not his people but his father’s people. Every time Cedric saw the servants crowded around after his brother’s death, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that his father was suspecting him as the culprit who killed his brother.

Even without him saying it, the carriage rolled toward the Alanka Ducal Townhouse as it pleased. His father had left the upper-level work that Cedric was supposed to do in charge of him but was restless every day because he couldn’t hear reports.

“Hasn’t he left yet?”

Why did he want to hear bad stories every day when nothing had changed? Cedric couldn’t understand his stubborn father, Duke Alanka.

“Our goods will continue to rot! You should sell them quickly!”

The Emperor lost interest in trading with the East after selling monster parts, as the quality of the products from the Eastern Alsmonne Union was always guaranteed. Cedric had to repeat this tiresome argument again.

“Merchants always get excited about new products rather than products they can always get. Father knows that too.”

Cedric said irritably. He was already tired of this meaningless argument and expenditure.

“Then we should make such products too!”

Where would there be more new and interesting products than monster parts? Cedric didn’t answer.

The fact that his beloved eldest son had met such a vulgar and miserable death was a tremendous shock to Duke Alanka. The matured gray beard made him look much older in a few days, and he became more nervous. Although he didn’t want to admit it, Cedric resembled the irritable head.

“The Emperor, who hasn’t even dried the blood on his head, dares to meddle with our money! He must have killed my son!”

“Father. Someone might hear.”

“Is there anyone else here besides you right now!”

It was the first time Cedric had seen his father, who was usually calm, so agitated.

Duke Alanka was the epitome of wealth for the Eastern nobles based on the Eastern business district. Always polite and calm, he was seriously agitated.

“Or do you plan to go out and make a fuss that I said this!”

Cedric’s eyes flickered for a moment.

“Father!”
At the words that shouldn’t have been said, a scream erupted. The Duchess, who was listening to the conversation from outside, was startled when the door seemed to break open with a bang. With an angry face, she quickly followed her son, who was striding away.

“Cedric, dear.”

Cedric just kept it to himself. If he were his brother, if he were the one Father mourned so deeply, he would have comforted Mother very elegantly at times like this. Don’t worry.

But he wasn’t such a sophisticated person. And he wasn’t a hypocrite who pretended to be moral and noble while living off the government like his brother.

“Father is expressing concern for you.”

The Duchess, who couldn’t cry all the time in her bedroom after losing her eldest son, followed her big-footed son, earnestly persuading him.

“Father is worried because you suddenly started working without participating in the family business or showing any interest.”

Wasn’t he pushing all the work onto his brother and preventing the younger sons from even dreaming? Cedric looked back at his mother, who always shared the same thoughts as his father.

“Mother, please go inside. It’s cold.”

“Cedric!”

In fact, that wasn’t what he wanted to say, but Cedric endured it once again without answering and left as it was.