Damian returned to the bedroom after satisfactorily finishing Lucy’s dress selection.

Lucy had not yet decided on shoes and accessories, and said she needed to practice entering with the crown prince, so she took Eriel with her.

Left alone in the bedroom, Damian’s gaze fell on a memo tucked under the nightstand.

Damian reached out and unfolded the memo.

The memo in Damian’s hand was clearly in Jessica’s handwriting.

“His Majesty the Emperor left a message.”

The butler, who had knocked and entered the bedroom just then, took advantage of Eriel’s absence to place a golden letter.

Damian did not read the letter’s contents, but he could guess what it said.

“His Majesty urged for a prompt response on whether the leg injury is true, so I sent a reply this morning.”

“I see. The contents are likely a request for a report on the situation. Send an appropriate one.”

At Damian’s gesture, the butler bowed and left the room.

As the door closed, Damian placed Jessica’s memo over the lit candle on the nightstand.

Watching the memo catch fire, Damian muttered under his breath.

“Since you tried to drive a wedge between Eriel and Lucy, this is the same.”

Damian recalled the day Jessica visited.

The memo passed to Derek contained a message that if he quietly disappeared to the Eastern Continent, his life would be spared.

Jessica seemed to clearly understand Damian’s warning and tried to leave for the Eastern Continent, but apparently not Bruno.

In a short time, Jessica, with bruises all over her face and body that hadn’t been seen before, knelt down, shedding tears.

“I had no intention of going so far as to kidnap the young lady. I just thought of driving a wedge between the duchess and the young lady to that extent. I even tried to dissuade my husband from doing that, but I couldn’t stop him. Truly, Duke.”

Merely… driving a wedge between Eriel and Lucy to that extent?

“Please spare even me and Derek, Duke. We, mother and son, were just helplessly dragged along by Bruno’s actions.”

The usage of the words from Jessica’s mouth didn’t seem quite right, but Damian did not point that out. Instead, he gave her a choice.

“Testify. With your own mouth. That Bruno arrived safely as an envoy to the Eastern Continent. Then I will spare the lives of you two.”

Damian said, looking at Jessica with a cold gaze.

“Thank you, Duke. Thank you. I will do anything. If you spare the lives of me and Derek, I will do anything.”

Jessica, who rather thanked him and bowed her head, left.

“He will forever remain in the memory of the imperial people as an envoy to the Eastern Continent.”

Damian, watching the rising flames, extinguished the candle.

If Bruno’s desire had been directed only at Damian, it wouldn’t have come to this.

Lucy’s kidnapping.

The original Bruno, as Jessica said, would not have physically threatened Lucy. Damian knew that best.

But the situation changed.

Bruno did not pull back the bowstring toward Damian alone.

How dare he, how dare he join forces with someone to threaten even Eriel and Lucy.

How dare he pull back that bowstring at my wife, at my little daughter.

“Just like the discord you tried to sow. May you also meet your end betrayed by your wife and child.”

Damian threw Jessica’s memo, now ashes, into the trash can.

*

Eriel, having finally settled on Lucy’s dress and shoes, sat down for a moment at the desk in the bedroom.

It was the moment she thought she could finally take a breather away from Lucy’s question marks.

Before she could even fill the pen nib with ink, this time Damian called for Eriel. He clearly intended to revisit the conversation that had already ended in the morning.

Since then, Damian’s hardened expression remained unpleasant. With a look of disbelief, he only stared at Eriel.

“Why not.”

“Your leg hasn’t fully healed yet.”

To Damian’s repeated question, Eriel briefly put down the fountain pen.

Even when told it was obviously impossible for him to enter the banquet with an injured leg, Damian kept asking Eriel why not.

It seemed he was not pleased with calling Blake as Eriel’s partner.

“Lucy will enter with His Highness the Crown Prince, and since you’re injured, I need a partner to enter with. Do you dislike Blake? There’s no one else I can really ask except my younger brother.”

Eriel spoke, gauging the relationship between Blake and Damian, but Damian raised an eyebrow and tilted his head as if not understanding her words.

“Whether the other person is my brother-in-law or not, such things don’t matter.”

“Damian.”

Eriel called Damian’s name.

“I’m asking why it’s impossible for me to enter with you.”

Eriel sighed deeply and lowered her gaze to his seated leg.

“You can’t even walk properly. The wound will worsen if you move.”

“I can walk fine.”

Eriel closed her eyes. The conversation was impossible.

Eriel averted her gaze from Damian, grasped the fountain pen, and began writing the rest of the letter asking Blake. She wrote the date.

“…Eriel.”

As Eriel began writing the letter, Damian called out to her.

But even though Eriel heard his call, she immersed herself in writing the letter.

If it were the usual Damian, he would have sprung up from his chair to make her gaze return to him, but now he couldn’t move as Eriel said.

Damian lowered his gaze to his own leg, which ached even when staying still.

“See. You can’t even come.”

As Damian looked at his leg with a dissatisfied expression, Eriel immediately pointed out his state.

“Take this chance to rest well.”

Eriel’s voice was gentle, but Damian’s blue eyes were filled with discontent.

Eriel shook her head at Damian and finished writing the letter she had been working on.

*

On the morning of the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet, Eriel, who had a busy morning, gulped for a moment as she looked at Lucy’s dress.

“Lucy, do you really like this dress?”

If Lucy changed her mind even right before His Highness the Crown Prince arrived, Eriel was ready to put her in a different dress immediately.

“No, Mom. I like this dress.”

At Lucy’s confident words, Eriel nodded.

“If Lu-Lucy likes it, Mom likes it too. Okay.”

In the end, Eriel, who failed to dress Lucy in a different outfit, greeted Crown Prince Eden.

“Greetings to the Duke and Duchess of Zenova. I have come to escort Lady Lucy.”

Eden, dressed in a pristine white uniform, bowed at the waist. Even with his small stature, the dignity of the royal family could be felt in his bearing.

However, more than Eden’s dignified greeting, Eriel’s eyes remained fixed solely on his pristine white uniform.

Of all things… a pristine white uniform.

Eriel gulped and looked at Lucy.

It was a navy blue dress, so dark that it evoked the night sky.

Instead of the usual cute ribbon, a fancy feather ornament was tucked in Lucy’s hair.

It was beautiful with diamonds embedded, but somehow it made her look even more formidable.

She looked like she could collect money from others that she hadn’t even borrowed.

“I pay my respects to His Highness the Crown Prince of the Empire.”

Lucy’s beautiful curtsy was directed at Crown Prince Eden, and Eden looked at Lucy with enraptured eyes as if not seeing her attire at all.

“Lady Lucy. You are exceptionally beautiful today as well.”

“Thank you.”

It was a shy smile, but perhaps because of the dress, it didn’t look that way at all.

Eriel looked at Lucy with eyes that didn’t know what to do, but Lucy seemed very satisfied with her fancy appearance.

“I heard that the Duke injured his leg.”

Eden, who had been giving Lucy an endlessly sparkling gaze, raised his head to Eriel.

“Yes, he is still having difficulty moving, so it was not easy for him to come down alone.”

“It’s alright. Actually, I prepared a gift, but I don’t know if it will be to the Duke’s liking.”

“A gift?”

Eriel blinked at the unexpected gift.

To think that Eden had prepared a gift for Damian.

“I heard that the Duke of Zenova had also attended the hunting competition held in the fall. Just in case, I asked the person who had measured the Duke’s size at that time, and fortunately, the production was completed in time for me to bring it. Since his attendance at the hunting competition was a long time ago, the size might be different from then.”

As Crown Prince Eden finished speaking, an attendant behind him brought the item to Eriel.

“Oh my, it’s a cane.”

Eriel received the gift in surprise.

“Yes, I heard that he is having difficulty moving his leg, but I was told a cane had not been made yet. It must be because it’s an injury that will heal soon, so a cane was not made, but I hope he can use it comfortably even for a short time.”

“Thank you. He will like it very much.”

Eriel handed the cane to the butler and thanked Eden.

In fact, Damian had been deliberately not having a cane made.

Because if he had a cane, he couldn’t be supported by Eriel.

Eriel also found that adorable and had left it alone, but while she and Lucy were at the banquet hall, there would be many moments when a cane would be needed.

“I think it will be a really useful gift.”

Eriel smiled brightly.