“…Damian?”

Eriel raised her head upon hearing Damian’s voice.

As soon as she saw her husband collapsed on the floor, she almost burst into tears. Damian, who had made his way through the nobles, quickly approached Eriel’s side and lifted her up from the floor.

Damian looked down at the nobleman who had struck Eriel’s shoulder.

“You should drink in moderation.”

“I, I apologize. Duke.”

The nobleman, who had bowed as soon as Damian appeared, flinched with a red face.

“We’ll hold you accountable later. Charles, bring the gloves.”

“Yes, understood.”

As Charles went to retrieve the gloves from the nobleman, the gloved nobleman holding Eriel’s gloves slightly turned his head towards Damian.

“Do you know what these gloves are, Duke?”

At the nobleman’s words, Damian, who was about to turn his back, looked at the nobleman instead.

“What is it?”

Damian raised his chin.

“These gloves… They are gloves given as a gift to someone you love.”

Damian tilted his head at the nobleman who spoke as if it were a masterstroke.

“And?”

“What? That’s… As you know, Duke…”

Damian, exuding a murderous chill, cut off the nobleman’s words.

“My wife is very popular.”

“Pardon?”

“Someone must have given them to my wife, thinking their love had been fulfilled. As you can see, our lady is quite popular. There must be more than one or two such fools. I’m tired of this matter being dragged out over such childish rumors. I want to ask if you’re wearing your head just for decoration.”

After furrowing his brows, Damian walked away, still holding Eriel in his arms.

Charles snatched the gloves from the nobleman and followed Damian.

The surrounding nobles, who had acted as if Eriel had committed adultery just by holding those gloves, all shut their mouths like mutes at Damian’s words.

They thought Count Shannon might have given them to Eriel, but on second thought, someone else who admired Eriel could have secretly gifted them to her.

Even if Count Shannon had given them to Eriel, that couldn’t serve as evidence that Eriel was having an affair.

Silence fell. The noble ladies who had taken the opportunity to criticize Eriel cleared their throats and left their seats.

They gathered together and frantically fanned themselves.

“Well. It may or may not be true. We don’t really know.”

“That’s right. And oh! It’s true that Count Shannon and Duchess Zenova met earlier.”

*

“…Damian.”

Damian walked all the way to the carriage, still holding Eriel. He sat Eriel in the carriage bearing the Zenova Duchy’s flag.

Charles stopped walking some distance from the carriage, turned around, and waited.

“I’m sorry. But about those gloves…”

Eriel was flustered, not knowing where to begin explaining.

Moving her lips, Eriel met Damian’s blue eyes and bit her lip.

“They… It’s true that Gerald gave them as a gift. But he didn’t explain the meaning of the gloves that way. I think Gerald misunderstood and gifted them. Since those gloves were made by Jarvis… I just wanted to ask Gerald about the origin of the gloves. If I told you, you would unconditionally suspect Gerald…”

Saying the last words, Eriel tightly closed her eyes.

She knew how it would look to Damian, her trying to defend Gerald in front of him.

She wanted to explain, but it turned into an excuse, and even more so, it wasn’t an excuse to make to her husband.

“I’m sorry. Truly.”

All Eriel could do was apologize to Damian. She frowned and lowered her head.

“…Eriel.”

Damian, pressing her lower lip firmly with his finger, cupped Eriel’s cheek and lifted it up.

Eriel, who had no choice but to follow Damian’s touch, met his gaze.

“It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean to do that.”

“…Damian.”

Eriel burst into tears.

In an instant, she was so startled by the accusing gazes directed at her.

She had never received such looks before, so her mind went blank in an instant.

If Damian hadn’t said that, she might have made excuses in her confusion that would have made it easy for the nobles to misunderstand.

Damian wiped the tears flowing down Eriel’s cheeks and smiled.

“It’s alright. I’ll finish up the launch ceremony, so you go to the mansion and rest.”

Damian gently kissed Eriel’s forehead.

Eriel held onto Damian’s collar, crying. Hearing Eriel’s soft breaths, Damian wrapped his arms around her head.

His comforting gesture continued, and Eriel, barely suppressing her tears, nodded to Damian.

“I’m sorry I can’t go with you. Don’t think too much about it, just go to the mansion and rest with Lucy and your younger brother. I’ll be there soon.”

Eriel quickly nodded at Damian’s farewell.

She couldn’t speak due to her tears, but he gave Eriel one last pat and got out of the carriage.

Before long, a maid who had heard Eriel’s story came to the front of the carriage and waited for a moment in front of Charles.

The maid, tapping her foot impatiently, bowed her head as soon as Damian got out of the carriage and hurriedly entered.

Before the carriage departed, the maid’s voice of concern for Eriel could be heard.

Fortunately, the maid was holding a glass of water in both hands.

After hearing Eriel finish drinking the water and catching her breath, Damian signaled to the coachman.

“Then, we will depart.”

The coachman cracked the whip.

In the meantime, Charles saw Count Shannon’s name written inside the gloves and showed it to Damian as well.

“We don’t need it as evidence, so burn it. The gloves’ very existence is horrendous.”

“Yes, understood.”

Damian’s steps as he went to wrap up the launch ceremony were like the back of a knight heading into battle.

Charles also gritted his teeth with a determined face.

*

“…Mother?”

Lucy’s voice trembled. And Blake, standing next to her, also frowned as soon as he saw Eriel’s state.

“…Elder sister.”

Only the maid following behind Eriel shuffled her feet.

Eriel, with her swollen eyes, desperately tried to hide it, but to no avail.

The butler and maids also looked at Eriel’s face with great concern.

“Mother, did something happen at the launch ceremony? Did you… fight with Father?”

When Lucy carefully asked, Eriel shook her head.

“No. Daughter, your mother and father didn’t fight…”

Eriel stopped mid-sentence, feeling pathetic about her sobbing state. She didn’t want to lose face in front of her daughter.

She quickly glanced at Blake, trying to convey with her eyes to take care of Lucy, but Blake, who saw Eriel’s face, also had a very serious expression.

“Why. What did your brother-in-law do this time?”

Both the younger brother and daughter seemed to think that the cause of Eriel’s tears must be Damian.

Eriel sighed and slumped her shoulders. The maid quickly attended to Eriel.

“I’ll tell the young lady and the young marquis. Madam seems to need some rest.”

The maid stepped forward to take care of Eriel and went upstairs together.

Blake immediately supported Eriel in place of the maid.

There were no further questions, but Blake seemed ready to knock down whoever made Eriel like this as soon as he heard.

That would probably be the case even if it were his brother-in-law.

Eriel lay on the bed, and several maids immediately attended to her.

They examined Eriel’s swollen feet and placed a cold, damp cloth over her face.

After that, the maid who had accompanied Eriel to the launch ceremony came out and sat in the drawing room.

Blake and Lucy had serious expressions. The maid gulped and shared the story she had heard.

“Well… It seems Madam received gloves as a gift.”

As soon as they heard about the gloves, Lucy and Blake’s faces cracked.

“I don’t know who gave the gloves, but anyway, Madam was walking with those gloves. But some crazy bastard struck Madam’s shoulder, and the gloves flew away.”

“Struck her shoulder? Who?”

“Who on earth would strike our mother’s shoulder?”

From the part where someone had struck Eriel’s shoulder, Lucy and Blake looked ready to kick the table and rush out at any moment.

“I’m not sure about that either… But that’s not the reason, those gloves apparently had some superstition that if you give them to someone you have a one-sided love for, that love will be fulfilled.”

The maid’s voice gradually grew smaller. Because the young lady and young marquis’ momentum was slowly turning fierce.

“Ha… Doing such worthless things. Whoever it is.”

After Blake’s short grumbling passed, the maid pondered whether she should bring up the next part of the story.

“And then?”

Lucy asked the maid.

“Ah… So… It seems there were some… unpleasant gazes between Count Shannon and Madam.”

As expected, Lucy, outraged, slammed the table and abruptly stood up from her seat.

“And where was Father while Mother was going through that!”

“Oh! Fortunately, the Duke resolved it at once and left with Madam. He sent Madam to the mansion first and said he would depart soon after finishing up the launch ceremony.”

At the maid’s final words, Blake’s eyebrows twitched.

Lucy was the same.

“Father said he would… finish it up?”