Eriel looked at an empty corner of the bed, then covered her eyes with her arm.

The sunlight coming through the window was dazzling.

As Eriel slowly got up and reached for the curtain, the ring on her finger sparkled brightly.

The diamond on the ring she slowly touched glittered brilliantly in the sunlight.

There was no need to blame anyone. Eriel had chosen her husband, and in fact, no one had ever forced her.

Her father never stopped talking about good families, but he never specifically mentioned any particular house.

He said the crown prince would be a good choice, but it didn’t matter if it wasn’t him.

Eriel, who had entered the marriage market, was truly a top-tier trophy, and her father seemed already sufficiently satisfied with just that fact.

Many families wanted Eriel, and each had its pros and cons, so he said he would follow Eriel’s choice if it was a decent family.

So Eriel chose a man, and that man was Damian.

Damian was a man who met everything Eriel wanted.

He was from a family that would satisfy her father’s vanity, and as a person, Eriel thought he seemed the most decent.

His looks, which made her hold her breath unconsciously whenever they met, played a part, but the thought that he seemed quiet was the biggest reason that made her take his hand.

Quiet, taciturn.

He was like that in terms of personality, but it also seemed that there wouldn’t be much to say about their married life.

Because Damian lacked several hobbies that nobles usually enjoyed.

Damian, who had grown up as a duke from a young age, probably didn’t have much time to enjoy such hobbies, but he wasn’t a person who paid much attention to such things.

From the times they occasionally met in childhood until now, it was still the same.

He had no interest in alcohol, card games, or women.

He had no interest in things that could be considered hedonistic.

Alcohol was just a glass at banquets, and even now he only sipped occasionally when work was ahead.

To play card games, one had to go to a club, but probably the times he had been to a club in his entire life could be counted on one hand.

Women.

Come to think of it, she had never heard stories of Damian having a woman.

Everyone used to say that one should have at least one passionate love affair before marriage, but there were no such stories about Damian.

There were husbands who caused trouble by being too caught up in their first love after marriage, but Damian was a man who had no such worries.

Yes, in marrying, Eriel gained a sense of stability.

Along with the happiness of escaping her oppressive father, she found stability in meeting a husband who wouldn’t cause her trouble.

Since kindness is conveyed without necessarily being spoken, Eriel knew that Damian liked her.

Even without explicitly saying it, she knew that he always showed her enough favor, more than he did to others.

His blue eyes were always caught at the end of Eriel’s gaze, and he didn’t avoid it.

When he met Eriel’s eyes, Damian’s sharp gaze would curve gently.

That gave her a strange sense of fulfillment at times, and also a sense of security about being treated differently from other women.

However…

“His heart. Yes, his heart…”

He often went to war without getting heated, but his heart… she knew.

There were times when he spoke coldly, and times when he dismissed her words with silence.

Because she knew that when he returned from war and took a complete rest, Eriel had to be by his side unconditionally.

However, it seemed he had no intention of changing his own lifestyle that he had before marriage.

Eating alone, handling work alone. But his place of rest seemed to have changed, with Eriel becoming a new space for him.

Even that much was satisfactory for Eriel.

Yes, she thought she was satisfied.

Until the child was born. Really.

“Hah… Only his heart, yes. Only his heart…”

Eriel removed her hand from the diamond she had been touching. As she drew the curtain, the bright sunlight that had been coming in disappeared.

In an instant, as the bright light vanished, Eriel’s eyes were momentarily engulfed in darkness like a blackout.

He wished for her and Lucy’s safety.

Not anger, but concern for her and Lucy.

Eriel tried to understand Damian’s feelings.

Although he had allowed the kidnapping, he had also sent Charles to Lucy’s side. Surely Bruno must have believed that Damian could control the situation sufficiently, which is why it turned out this way.

Now a new enemy had appeared for him, and as he said, he was a person who led the battlefield, so Eriel’s actions might not have been to his liking.

“Let’s not bring up past events unnecessarily.”

Eriel closed her eyes tightly.

Even though she took a deep breath, she still felt somewhat stuffy, but this kind of patience was not unfamiliar to Eriel as it was something she always did.

“It’s okay. It means that Lucy and I are now in his eyes, and this is just a momentary occurrence during a transition period.”

Yes, everything was a transition period.

It was something that had to happen now that Lucy and Eriel had just started to be in his eyes.

Change was a good sign, so Eriel just needed to endure as she had always done.

Knock knock.

“My lady, Viscount Borghese is in the reception room.”

Yes.

Wasn’t this Damian asking Ray for help out of concern for Eriel and Lucy?

“Tell him I’ll be out soon.”

Eriel smiled faintly.

Unlike Damian’s intentions, Blake, who had come to the duke’s residence, would probably not look kindly upon him.

He would think that Damian had to ask his brother-in-law for help because he couldn’t even protect Eriel. He would probably judge it as a lack of ability.

Eriel, who had closed and opened her eyes, opened the bedroom door.

*

“You really look like your sister.”

Blake, sitting in a very crooked posture, frowned as soon as he saw Eriel and said.

“…Huh?”

As Eriel tilted her head curiously, Blake, with his eyes narrowed, let out a short sigh with his chin heavily rested.

“I thought you would take after your brother-in-law a bit more, but I was wrong.”

“Did you meet Lucy? Don’t tell me… you came in through Lucy’s room balcony again?”

“No, but how come your way of thinking resembles your sister’s? Do you inherit that too?”

Eriel looked at Blake, who was only saying what he wanted to say, nodded her head roughly, and then sat down at the table.

Seeing that there was no answer about entering through Lucy’s room balcony, it seemed that for Blake, it had already become such a natural thing that there was no need to answer.

Come to think of it, even Eriel didn’t think Blake would come properly through the main gate.

“If you received a letter from Damian, why do you have to come in through the balcony?”

“Well, where roses are planted, roses grow. It’s not like sunflowers will suddenly appear.”

Blake stared at Eriel and nodded his head.

The conversation between the siblings wasn’t connecting at all. They each came to their own conclusions while saying only what they wanted to say.

“Sis.”

Blake, who suddenly called Eriel, removed his hand from his chin and sat properly in the chair.

Eriel, who had picked up the teacup, gestured with her eyes to go ahead and speak, and then smelled the tea.

“What is it like to trust someone who isn’t even connected by blood? They’re complete strangers. Being bound for life by such invisible emotions.”

At Blake’s curious question, Eriel blinked.

“…Well.”

Eriel put down her teacup and met Blake’s eyes.

“It’s about taking responsibility for one’s choices.”

Eriel spoke in a plain tone, saying something different from what Blake had expected.

Blake thought she would talk about the greatness of love or how the trust between a couple increases when they have a child.

“I can somewhat sympathize with the idea that it’s hard to understand living a lifetime trusting a complete stranger based solely on that emotion, since people’s hearts and feelings are often momentary.”

“Isn’t it the self that Father brainwashed you with that made the choice?”

Eriel laughed briefly and took a sip of tea.

“Father brainwashed me, you say. That’s not entirely wrong. It was all I learned in my childhood, and for a while, that was my whole world. I’m still not completely free from it. But, Blake?”

Eriel called her brother’s name with a smile.

“I also lived as the daughter of a marquis. It was me who chose Damian. I chose the man who would take responsibility for my life. His personality that seemed unlikely to cause trouble, his background, everything. I considered it all. Of course, there was love too.”

At Eriel’s words, Blake slowly nodded.

It was true that his sister was emotional and sometimes incomprehensible.

There were times when she overlooked servants who lied, and she showed consideration for their father who sometimes spoke nonsense.

Moreover, when nobles slandered her, she would sometimes remain silent.

“…Ray. I think Ray has always thought of you as too soft.”

However, in the end, there was nothing that his sister didn’t gain.

When she overlooked a servant who lied, they felt guilty and worked even harder, and when she understood their father even when he spoke nonsense, before she knew it, their father was granting her requests.

Not only that, the nobles who slandered her eventually got bad reputations, and those who praised her sister, who never raised her voice even in the face of such words, ended up with praise as the conclusion.

In the end, she blossomed fully as the flower of high society.

Then her marriage would be the same.

“I see. When you say it’s the responsibility for what you chose, I have nothing to say.”

Blake shrugged his shoulders and quietly drank his tea.