After recovering from her illness, the girl who looked at him as if she didn’t know who he was ran away from the mansion in the middle of the night, scared when he started asking her questions.

The winter night when he had run out of the mansion in his nightclothes fearing that he might lose his precious daughter, his heart sank when he found the little girl shivering and crying.

He never asked her anything after that. He feared that Anette might leave the family.

“So this time as well, I only discouraged her from getting married. I couldn’t probe for the reason.”

Upon hearing the unfamiliar story, Hertian recalled a word he had momentarily forgotten.

Possession.

‘It’s too early to conclude, but there’s a possibility.’

“Did anything change about her before and after she fell into the pond?”

“Everything changed because she lost her memory. From minor habits to eating habits. She started using her right hand even though she used to use her left; it was as if she became a different person.”

Could someone really change from being lefthanded to righthanded just by losing their memory?

Hertian felt a throbbing headache from countless questions popping up in his mind.

However, seeing Lucas’s tormented face, he couldn’t ask any more questions.

“I thought that marriage might relieve Anette’s anxiety… Anette did not seem very cheerful today. It seems the prince hasn’t let go of Anette yet.”

“It seems he still thinks there’s a chance. That if he kills me and removes me from the equation, he could have a wife who’s now alone.”

At Hertian’s words, Lucas rose from his seat and bowed his head in pain.

“I apologize to Your Highness. I blamed you without knowing what my daughter is going through…”

Hertian immediately lifted him, but Lucas couldn’t straighten his back right away. On reflection, he had done nothing for Anette. The man before him had been promising to protect Anette since their first meeting.

‘I’ve only brought her herbs that didn’t even work and opposed the marriage.’

He had never felt so pathetic.
“It’s not the Count’s fault.”

“My father is an inadequate tower. Even if he knows, there’s nothing he can do…….”

Even in a situation that threatened his daughter’s safety, Serdis could do nothing.

“Neither Anette’s health nor her safety—I can do nothing she desires. Pathetically……”

Seeing Lucas’s heated eyes, Hertian felt an inexplicable sense of empathy.

After all, Hertian too desperately wished for her health and safety.

“I can’t do much either, but I’ll try whatever I can. So, Count, don’t lose heart.”

“……But the attacks from Serdis and the Empress will continue.”

“If arrows keep flying, the only way is to break the bow.”

At his words, Lucas’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I’ve been dodging arrows until now, but from now on, I plan to face them.”

“But that means……”

Defeating Serdis.

It meant confronting the Empress headon.

“Don’t worry, I understand your concerns. I have no intention of putting my wife at risk, just to keep her safe.”

A drop of cold sweat trickled down Lucas’s back.

“The Empress’s relatives won’t sit idle, will they?”

“I’ve been doing more than just dodging.”

“Do you have a clever trick?”

It was when he asked with a glimmer of hope.

The door to the reception room opened, and the Countess, Suweli, bustled in.

“Your Grace is still here, I see.”

Hertian quickly greeted her with a bright smile, but the now serious Suweli could not return the smile as usual.

“Your Grace, I didn’t want to bring this up, but…”

She repeatedly snapped her fan shut, moistening her lips. Sensing something odd, Hertian respectfully asked,

“What has happened?”

He could have thought she had suffered due to the Empress’s restraint, as Lucas had said earlier. Being the only precious daughter of the Count and Countess, she would naturally be afraid.

“If it’s about the Empress……”

“Do you have a health issue?”

As Hertian was about to voice his thoughts, she interrupted him.

It had nothing to do with the Empress or the Prince.

Seeing his wife’s inexplicable utterance, Lucas shouted,

“Wife! What impertinent talk is this?”

“It’s not anything else, but I can’t help thinking about what Earl Melson said.”

Though she had not shown it in front of Anette, Suweli had been worried about the couple’s lack of news.

If a healthy man and woman share a bed daily, good news should arrive first. No, before that, was Anette eating and sleeping well? Did she have a healthy glow? A newlywed couple should normally look exhausted within three months!

‘Unless there’s something wrong with the Duke, it can’t be this quiet.’

So, she thought of Melson’s medical records. She knew they were declared fake, but what if? It wasn’t as if there could be smoke without a fire.

“Earl Melson? Do you even know what you’re saying, Wife?”

“I’m being utterly shameless, I know. It’s because Anette won’t say anything and it’s frustrating.”

Suweli had already firmly made up her mind. After seeing Anette taking care of Hertian’s medicine, she assumed it was already a done deal.

“Wasn’t Earl Melson your wife’s personal physician?”

Unaware of anything, Hertian inquired, so she took another step forward.

“Yes. That man brought what he claimed to be your medical records.”

“Enough, Wife!”

Lucas stood up to stop her, but it was no use.

“He said there was an issue with your male potency. Is that true?”

The woman blurted out the incredible statement without a hint of shame.