“……Eriel.”

“Damian, can you hear?”

The sound of Bruno’s footsteps passing through the hallway. A very soft but steady rhythm.

……It didn’t sound at all like the footsteps of an injured person.

Eriel, who had lowered her gaze for a moment while focusing on the sounds outside, raised her head.

The sunlight outside spread behind Damian.

Damian’s blue eyes were shadowed by the backlighting and difficult to see clearly, but conversely, Eriel’s appearance was fully exposed in the sunlight.

Her expression would surely be clearly visible to Damian.

“I don’t hear anything. I don’t know what you mean.”

Damian slowly picked up the glass that was placed on the table.

Eriel watched him from the side as he bent his waist slightly and stretched out his arm.

For just a brief moment, Eriel had the thought that Damian might know everything about Bruno’s heart.

Yet he was letting it be.

Eriel’s eyes wavered.

As Damian took a sip of whiskey from the glass, Eriel’s lips quivered. Her eyelashes trembled faintly.

Moisture welled up in Eriel’s eyes as she spoke, taking in the lush greenery of the bright summer.

Even though she knew she shouldn’t say it out loud, Eriel didn’t let go of a tiny hope.

That everything she was thinking was just an overreaction.

“……Damian.”

Eriel called out to him.

……Tell me it’s not true.

“Did you know everything?”

Along with Eriel’s trembling voice, silence descended upon Damian’s study.

Then, in the space where the clock ticked, Eriel only looked at Damian.

Golden hair inherited by Lucy. Blue eyes holding the sea.

Her husband, Damian, with strong and distinct features but also containing the appearance of a handsome man, called a gift bestowed by God to the empire.

Blunt, valuing rules and discipline, but that was…… the character and virtue that the Duke of Genoa should possess.

What was contained in his eyes…….

“I don’t understand what you’ve been saying all this time. Wife.”

Ah…….

Tears spilled from Eriel’s eyes as she opened her mouth.

Slowly blinking her eyes, Eriel could not maintain a calm expression.

Her face crumpled like a piece of paper. Her face grotesquely collapsed, mixing laughter, sadness, and even anger.

To think he knew everything…….

That Damian knew everything…… and yet.

“……The trip, it sounds like it will be enjoyable. Don’t you think?”

With that, Eriel stood up without waiting for Damian’s answer.

*

“Lucy.”

Bruno called out to Lucy.

Lucy, who had been playing with glass marbles with Derek, looked up at Bruno with an innocent face.

“Uncle Bruno!”

When still, her face was the spitting image of her brother, but when she smiled brightly, that woman’s face showed through.

When she grows up, selling her might not be…… such a bad business.

“Come here, Princess.”

At Bruno’s call, Lucy shook her head.

“I’m in the middle of a game with Brother Derek right now, so it might be difficult. It’s my turn.”

“Is that so? Derek is really good at playing marbles, so it must be tough for Lucy.”

“Not at all.”

Lucy grinned as she rolled a marble.

The glass marble rolled, completely knocking Derek’s marble off the table.

“Lucy is also…… good at this.”

“Yes.”

Lucy smiled triumphantly.

……Well, let’s see how long you can smile like that as if it’s yours.

“Honey.”

Jessica called out to Bruno.

“Derek, play nicely with Lucy while I talk with your mother for a moment. You need to take good care of your sister.”

“Of course, Father.”

Derek nodded vigorously.

That’s right, my son. The one who will take everything from this mansion, inherit the Genoa Duchy, my son!

Bruno patted Derek’s head once before leaving the room.

“……Honey. How did it go?”

Jessica’s anxious eyes looked at Bruno.

Green eyes and dark brown hair. A face that was gorgeous but somehow couldn’t shake off a cheap feeling.

Jessica was a woman deliberately chosen to be similar to Eriel.

It was clear that a woman from a family of equal rank to Eriel, who was from the Borghese Marquis family, would not want to marry Bruno.

If that was the case, at least the face…….

Even though he had given up on family background in choosing her, he was still unsatisfied.

The vulgar words that occasionally slipped out and the body that somehow felt cheap despite being decorated entirely with high-end items.

While Eriel’s eyes seemed to be imbued with a brilliant light, no such light could be found in Jessica’s green eyes.

“Hah…….”

Bruno sighed, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again.

Right, Jessica had done her job by giving birth to Derek. She had given birth to a son.

“I think I’ll have to talk to my brother one more time. More importantly, what about Lucy?”

“Lucy?”

Jessica’s eyes widened.

How stupid. Do I have to explain even this? While that woman…… could infer just from my glances and gestures!

“Yes. The governess. Are they hiring one or not?”

“Ah…… that? But is that so important?”

Jessica acted as if she didn’t understand why it was so important.

Bruno just wished Jessica would shut up and answer his questions precisely.

As Bruno frowned deeply, Jessica flinched and opened her mouth.

“Um, I asked Lucy about it, and it seems they’re not hiring one.”

“Why?”

“She said if she learns from a governess, she won’t be able to eat what she wants, say what she wants, and will have to smile even when she wants to cry.”

“She’s the daughter of the Duke of Genoa, so that’s only natural. How could you listen to the child’s reasons! You should have subtly asked Eriel why they’re not hiring one! Do you think they wouldn’t hire one for such reasons? Do you have thoughts or not!”

Bruno raised his voice, then looked around and lowered it again.

“Find out the real reason.”

“I think that might be the real reason…….”

“Hah…….”

Bruno grabbed his own hair, then clenched his fist.

As if restraining himself from punching the wall, he swung his fist in the air and then thrust his face close to Jessica’s.

“I don’t care about your thoughts. Don’t try to use your stupid brain, just find out the real reason.”

Jessica lowered her eyes and nodded.

*

“Lucy said…… the reason they’re not hiring a governess is because she would have to learn to smile when she wants to cry, and hold back when there’s something she wants to eat. Is there any special reason why the Duchess isn’t hiring one?”

Jessica asked, watching Eriel carefully as soon as she arrived at Lucy’s playroom.

Meeting Jessica’s gaze, Eriel put on a gentle smile, contrary to her crushed heart.

“Unfortunately, there’s no special reason. The explanation Lucy gave is the real reason.”

A emotion akin to a sneer appeared on Jessica’s face, which had been looking anxious and cautious until just now.

Eriel read Jessica’s mood and thoughts as she looked at her, someone not adept at managing her expressions.

It wasn’t particularly difficult to grasp what the other person was thinking when inferring along with the context before and after.

Eriel had been raised with especially harsh training in that regard.

As such, she had never lost in invisible power struggles.

To begin with, it didn’t make sense for Eriel, bearing the name of the Borghese Marquis family, to lose.

A position where she couldn’t lose even if she didn’t try to win.

Eriel had known from a young age the great power her family background gave her.

Surely Lucy would also exert overwhelming influence in high society.

In other words, to raise Lucy as a person rather than an ornament…… she needed the status of the Duke of Genoa’s daughter.

“I see. I happened to hear that you have a meeting with the Marchioness of Orsini regarding children’s education. Would it be possible for me to attend as well?”

“I’m afraid the educational philosophy wouldn’t suit you, Jessica. Let’s meet for something else next time.”

Eriel cut off Jessica’s words decisively and finished with a gentle smile.

When she was young, Eriel had once visited the slums with her father.

Her father must have been giving her a kind of shock therapy to make her want to go to the imperial family, but that day Eriel realized other things.

……Everything she had was a luxury.

Smiling beautifully, walking beautifully, adorning herself beautifully, all of it.

Wearing accessories beyond one’s means and gambling weren’t the luxuries.

Everything that filled Eriel…… was a luxury.

Even receiving harsh education under her father was a luxurious life.

Thus, her father’s education squeezed Eriel’s life in a different direction.

She decided to take responsibility for her life as much as she was living a luxurious one.

She told herself not to complain because she was living an abundant life.

That it was a very peaceful life to not go hungry even if she practiced curtsies all day long.

That’s how she decided to become a trophy herself.

When she received praise from her father, she thought she was taking responsibility for the lives in those slums.

That by becoming a perfect noble standing above their lives, Eriel was doing her best for them.

However, Eriel changed when she gave birth to Lucy.

She would give Lucy…… a life with greater meaning than one full of such luxuries.

If given the choice between becoming someone’s trophy and being able to live Lucy’s life fully, Eriel would choose the option that allows Lucy to fully enjoy her life, even with a knife to her throat.

For that, Lucy…… needed to be able to fully enjoy her life as a duke’s daughter.

If Derek were to become the heir……. Surely not.

Eriel would not allow her daughter to be placed in a display case as someone’s trophy like herself.

Even if that thought was selfish.