Hearing the news that the Duchess had collapsed again, Sieghart rushed over.

The woman was lying in bed with a face even paler than yesterday. The attending physician who sat beside her to check her condition clicked his tongue and concluded it was dehydration and malnutrition.

“You must consume sufficient water and food. If you continue to refuse intake like this, your life will be in danger before long.”

Meliana, who was in charge of caring for Natasha, explained that judging by the accumulated food and water, it seemed Natasha had refused food and water for three days straight.

Sieghart sighed and said he understood, ordering everyone to leave.

Unlike the attending physician who left saying he would leave four days’ worth of medicine, Meliana was reluctant to leave the room. As she observed Natasha’s condition, she approached with a worried face and asked.

“……Has the lady experienced something unpleasant?”

Saying that Natasha now looks even more precarious than when she experienced Cayena’s betrayal, she pleaded to take good care of the Duchess.

The Duke, who would normally have assured her not to worry as it was his job, said nothing today. He merely showed a bitter smile and nodded slowly, saying he understood.

A few hours later, Natasha got up. She made a disgusted expression upon seeing the familiar chandelier.

After turning her head this way and that, she soon faced Sieghart. The man had become much thinner since she last saw him.

“Natasha……”

Natasha covered her ears as if she didn’t want to hear the weak voice flowing from his mouth. She shook her head vigorously, pushing away the voice that was reaching her ears.

No, no. I don’t want to hear it.

After staying silent during the numerous opportunities I gave you, why are you trying to make excuses now?

I told you, I won’t believe you later because it’s obvious you’ll spout lies instead of the truth. I said I wanted to hear the raw truth, not a well-crafted excuse……

So why are you.

“You know. I tried to understand you as much as possible because I didn’t want to admit I was a fool….. But I still can’t understand at all.”

“……”

“Why did you do it?”

There was moisture in Natasha’s voice.

The man, realizing that all the subjects were not the present Sieghart but his past self, only moved his lips. Meanwhile, Natasha poured out all the questions she had been holding onto without hesitation.

“Why did you hate me so much?”

Why did he hate me so much. She could understand up to the point where he had pretended to love her, Natasha, on the imperial order.

She could somewhat comprehend that when he finally succeeded in gaining independence, he abandoned her because there was no reason to continue the imperial order.

But why did he have to hate her so much?

“Then why are you pretending to love me now? Why on earth?”

Then why is he now pretending to forget the past and acting like he loves Natasha.

Just why.

“Why on earth!”

It was a roar like a threat.

“I loved you.”

When the man finally opened his mouth, it was with a belated sincerity. He desperately cried out words that would never reach the woman as sincere.

“……I only realized it was love after it passed.”

Returning to his room, Sieghart let out a heavy sigh. He took out the pipe he had left in a corner of the table and roughly stuffed tobacco into the bowl. He then evenly lit it, heating up the pipe.

The bitter taste and scent of tobacco entered his nose and mouth directly. Though it couldn’t be considered a pleasant sensation, Sieghart absent-mindedly puffed on the pipe in his seat.

Something noticeable caught his eye among the letters on the table. It was the letter he always checked with top priority.

Damn it, he wanted to postpone checking that letter just for today. But Sieghart had personal duties he absolutely had to fulfill, so an unwanted enforcement was necessary.

The first line of the letter tightened the man’s already precarious breath even more harshly. His throat choked up, and the bitter scent of tobacco painfully lodged in his throat.

「You’ve already been married to that enemy’s daughter for two years now. Do you really intend to turn your back on your family?

I don’t know where that little child who asked for help saying he wanted revenge has gone. It’s pathetic beyond compare.

Does your wife know of your patheticness and her own shamelessness?

No, she couldn’t know! As I always say, I couldn’t help but feel disgusted by the innocence of the lady I met that day. The nerve to greet me shamelessly without knowing her own sin and ask about the relationship between me and the Duke’s family!

Anyway, Sieghart Asthart, it would be better to change your foolish mind, even for the sake of the past. If you don’t want to tarnish the name of Calent, that is.

Ash Calent」

Sieghart smiled bitterly after seeing the letter. His aunt’s letter that came after a month was no different from the previously written content.

Only one more greeting specifying the swift passage of time, saying it’s already been two years of marriage, was added.

If you don’t want to tarnish the name of Calent, that is.

Sieghart lightly stroked the underlined part of the letter with his finger. Whether in voice or letter, she was always saying the same thing.

That damned Calent.

That damned Charliee.

Must one suffer so much because of a single-syllable surname attached to a name?

Sieghart recalled a very distant past.

It was when the man bore the name Enoch Calent.

Enoch Calent.

He was the youngest son of the Calent family, an ancient house in the Charliee Kingdom.

The Calent Count family was one of the noble factions opposing the royalist faction. They strived to check the immense power the royal family wielded over the kingdom and to allow nobles to have a voice.

So how much must such a Calent Count family have irked the kingdom’s ruler?

The royal family was troubled by the Calent Count family, which had a negative impact on royal authority.

They couldn’t eliminate a prestigious family just for the reason of infringing on royal authority. It was certain to incur the wrath of not only the people but also other nobles.

However, the Calent Count family’s checks grew more severe day by day. After their promoted business surpassed the royal family’s trade business, they were even branded as an incompetent royal family overwhelmed by the Count family.

The Calent Count family was a new branch that emerged several hundred years ago when a noble from the Galonde Empire married a noble from the Charliee Kingdom.

It was natural for them to interact more actively with the Galonde Empire than the royal family, but public opinion was busy criticizing the royal family that was overwhelmed by the family.

The troubled royal family requested cooperation from the Calent Count family.

However, not only were they flatly refused, but the next day, a newspaper maintaining a friendly relationship with the Calent Count family published the fact in an article.

「Charliee Royal Family, Truly Defeated by Calent Count Family?」

A provocative title and content excessively praising one side. It was an article that reignited public opinion that had just been quelled.

Unable to tolerate the slander against the royal family, the 19th King of Charliee, James Charliee, decided to eradicate the family that had been infringing on royal authority for the past few years.

The method to purge the Calent Count family, the royal family’s troublemaker, was surprisingly simple. It was to pin the crime of treason on the Count family that posed a threat.

The Calent Count family, which had roots in the Galonde Empire, had made countless efforts to connect the Galonde Empire and the Charliee Kingdom.

They had repeatedly criticized the conservative royal family, saying that friendly relations with a great power was the development of the Charliee Kingdom.

They were going to turn that stance upside down as a springboard for treason. They were about to exterminate the family that committed treason, claiming they had carried out a plot to make the Charliee Kingdom a vassal state of the Galonde Empire.

The King called his loyal subjects and told them to bribe spies to be planted in the Calent Count family. Subsequently, two maids and two servants began working as employees of the Calent Count’s residence.

Five years later, the Calent Count family again advocated for exchanges with the Galonde Empire. James Charliee, anticipating that the time had finally come to eradicate them, accused them of treason.

Five years was enough time for the servants to build trust with the family.

The maids who had memorized the head of the family’s handwriting through exchanges with Count Calent began writing forged letters. After carving a stamp imitating the drawing of the Count family’s seal stamped at the bottom of the letters, they stamped it at the bottom of the letters.

And when they perfectly mastered the Count’s handwriting and the Count family’s seal, the Calent Count family became a treasonous family that had plotted rebellion together with the nobles of Galonde.

On the maid’s report that evidence of treason was found in Count Calent’s drawer, the kingdom’s knights invaded the mansion.

After ransacking the office, they finally discovered a treasonous conversation between Count Calent and a Galonde noble in the drawer.

Subsequently, a bloody purge to punish the family that plotted treason began.

“Young master, shh. You must stay here quietly, quietly.”

Enoch, held by the nanny’s hand, was locked in the wardrobe. To the boy who was uncomfortable in the narrow space, the nanny demanded he stay still.

“I’m too old for hide-and-seek, nanny!”

“I want to do it. You must not come out until I count to ten thousand. You must also keep the blanket over your head.”

Even though Enoch grumbled that it was uncomfortable, the nanny firmly stated that he could not come out until she counted to ten thousand here.

Just as the nanny was about to close the door, her son who was hiding in her skirt was visible. The nanny’s son was wearing Enoch’s clothes for some reason and had pinned a badge on the pocket.

“Nanny? Why is your son wearing my clothes?”

“The child begged to try them on, so I had no choice. Will you forgive him just this once with your generous heart?”

“Yes! But can’t we count only to eight thousand?”

“No, you must come out only after counting to ten thousand. It’s a promise.”

Despite Enoch’s request to wait in front of the door, saying he would count quickly and come out, the nanny gave no answer in the end. She only briefly kissed the child’s forehead, saying she would cheer him on, before closing the wardrobe door.

At that time, Enoch could not understand why the nanny seen through the slowly closing door gap was shedding tears.