I regretted it every day. I should have stopped Cain from going to propose to Musilla. Thinking about it made me sink into self-loathing. It was too difficult and painful.

My parents regretted and blamed themselves for opposing Cain and Musilla’s marriage. I couldn’t tell my struggling parents that Cain and Musilla had a child together.

And now, in the present. Magus’s letter contained the whereabouts of my nephew.

“At the Pol Heredian estate in the Isuter Empire…”

Baello tapped his fingers on the desk. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand why Cain and Musilla’s child was found at the Pol Heredian estate.

Above all, was it true? It was suspicious. But there was no way Magus would lie. Because he knew well that Magus had been searching for Musilla and Cain for nearly 20 years. If this letter was true, and his nephew was found, wouldn’t it naturally mean that Cain and Musilla were also found? But nowhere in the letter was there any mention of Musilla and Cain.

“Why?”

Baello, who was deep in thought, felt uneasy. The letter mentioned finding his nephew, but there was no mention of Cain and Musilla. In other words, it meant that their current situation could not be written in the letter.

“Cailun.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Postpone all remaining schedules for today until tomorrow.”

“Pardon?”

“And bring Sir Magus of the Spencer family here right now.”

“But today’s schedule includes a direct request from Her Majesty the Queen…”

“It seems that Cain’s whereabouts have been discovered.”

“You mean Young Master Cain who went missing 20 years ago?”

“Yes. So cancel all of today’s schedule. Inform Mother and Father as well. Have them return to the mansion.”

“Understood, sir.”

Baello read the letter once more. His eyes grew hot. The smile of his kind younger brother, who only knew the sword, came to mind again. Not wanting to be in pain, he forcibly let time pass by. But Baello realized that the sorrow of losing family is painful no matter how much time passes. It wasn’t that time had passed, but that he had briefly forgotten.

“What in the world happened that day, Cain?”

Baello lowered his head. A teardrop fell onto the letter with a plop.

Daniel reached out and stroked the disheveled hair of his daughter, Pelena. His cold palm lovingly caressed Pelena’s head.

“Kill that man for me, Father.”

“I shall do so, my honey. So unclench your brow.”

“That trash Lorirolls dared to injure my son. He made a fool of him in front of everyone. Even if we tear him limb from limb and cruelly kill him, I don’t think this anger will subside.”

Pelena, who had vented her anger in a raised voice, panted through her slightly parted lips.

Today’s honorary duel with Ruans was too humiliating and infuriating.

Defeating the pig-faced and unskilled Lorirolls with the sword was nothing to brag about.

There was no way Ruans could lose. Everyone in the training grounds thought so. But contrary to everyone’s expectations, Ruans was defeated by Lorirolls. And in a very embarrassing manner at that.

“Don’t let him die easily. Make him experience all the pain a person can endure before he dies.”

“This father will kill him as my honey desires.”

“My son, who is to become the emperor to rule this empire! It’s already annoying that he engaged in such a disgraceful duel, but he even lost. What’s worse is that a royal duel will go down in history. It’s too humiliating.”

“Don’t worry. When Ruans becomes emperor, history can be rewritten.”

Daniel tried his best to appease Pelena.

“Father. For Ruans to become emperor, Adrian must die. But both you and I keep failing at assassination attempts.”

“Soon enough, Adrian will surely die.”

“He will die?”

Pelena’s brow gradually relaxed.

“Really? Father.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

At Daniel’s confirmation, Pelena smiled, her eyes crinkling. The chilly face instantly began to be filled with life.

“The monster of the Pol Heredian estate has confirmed Adrian’s death.”

“Is that true? Father. Has the monster finally awakened its power?”

Pelena began to laugh out loud. Until now, she had sent numerous assassins to kill Adrian. She made him eat poisoned food. She dug traps and waited for him to fall in, but he annoyingly escaped. Adrian annoyingly evaded death well, enough to make her livid with anger.

She inwardly mocked Adrian when he deliberately sought out places with many monsters. But as if ridiculing her inner thoughts, Adrian saved the people of the empire from the monsters and was treated as a hero of the Isuter Empire.

“So the leech will finally die.”

Adrian kept growing stronger and expanding his forces. On top of that, he even stole Charlotte, who had been decided as Ruans’s crown princess. She was put in a bad mood upon hearing that the two had consummated their marriage. They could consummate before the engagement. But the fact that Charlotte, whom she had thought of as a potential daughter-in-law, became the woman of Adrian, whom she hated, made her feel dirty.

“Once Crown Prince Adrian dies, we must also dispose of Princess Charlotte, Father.”

“We will have to do that. And have you really decided on the High Priestess as Ruans’s companion?”

“Yes. The High Priestess has given her answer that she will become Ruans’s empress.”

Daniel’s red eyes licked his lips with his black tongue.

“When Ruans becomes emperor, the Ella Temple will be moved to the Isuter Empire. If the High Priestess becomes empress, the people of the empire will also rejoice and praise Ruans.”

“But is it possible to move the temple here?”

“Of course.”

Daniel’s red eyes stared at Pelena without a single blink.

“Don’t be too ashamed of today’s disgrace, Pelena. Ruans will be having a harder time than us. As his mother, comfort your son well so his mind doesn’t break.”

“Yes, Father.”

“You and Ruans should stay in Greykan territory for the time being until the current matter settles down.”

“I will do so.”

“Pelena, just think of this. After His Majesty the Emperor’s birthday, the crown prince will not be Adrian, but our Ruans.”

“I understand, Father.”

“I won’t disappoint you, my honey.”

Teishar sat Lorencia in a fluffy chair. Then he put whipped cream on top of the cocoa she liked, poured lots of chocolate syrup, and brought it to her.

“Now, Lady Lorencia. You have to drink it all. But I’m not telling you to force yourself to drink it all. You can leave some.”

“I can drink it all.”

“You don’t have to force yourself to drink it.”

“I’ve never forced myself to eat it. Thank you for always making delicious cocoa, Duke Spencer.”

“I will continue to take care of it for you.”

Lorencia’s eyes sparkle whenever she sees cocoa. Teishar really liked seeing that. Whenever she finishes drinking the cocoa and he carefully wipes the cocoa and cream from the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief, he feels a strange sense of accomplishment and pride.

But these days, rather than those feelings, his heart pounds so much that his hands tremble when wiping. The reason his heart pounds could be because he’s nervous, but the trembling hands seemed to be because he developed a tremor.

If his hands keep shaking like this, it will interfere with serving Lorencia. He thought that he should probably consult a doctor and cure the tremor.

“Um, Duke Spencer.”

“What is it, Lady Lorencia?”

“Your father has come, do you not need to go see him?”

“Making cocoa for Lady Lorencia is more important than my father.”

“Is the cocoa I drink that important?”

Lorencia always doubted the kind heart Teishar gave her. From the moment her heart that had trusted Ruans until the end was torn to shreds, trusting someone only reminded her of the wounds of her torn heart. Because she learned the hard way through Ruans that unwarranted kindness would eventually want something from her, she vowed not to trust anyone.

“Of course. The matter of what Lady Lorencia eats and drinks is of utmost importance to me.”

Lorencia smiled softly. The scenes shown by the purple crystal orb came to mind. The crystal orb showed the current Teishar and the miserable future Teishar of the past.

Come to think of it, the purple crystal orb seemed to show that it was okay to trust Teishar.

“Why are you like this, Lady Lorencia?”

“I’m grateful for you treating me well and saving me from the estate.”

Lorencia realized that at least Teishar wasn’t treating her well to use her like Ruans did.

“You treat me so well…”

Anyway, she was planning to achieve her goal and leave far away with Leo. So she shouldn’t care whether Teishar treated her well or not, but she felt an inexplicable uneasiness. So when she imagined staying by Teishar’s side even after achieving her goal, the uneasy feeling subsided.

Why in the world

“My heart feels heavy.”

Teishar gazed intently at Lorencia. He furrowed his brow at the sight of her small, plump lips quivering slightly.

He reached out and stroked her red hair. Tears began to well up in Lorencia’s purple eyes. What kind of thoughts was she having in that little head of hers that she made such a pained expression? Did she know his heart that was desperate to treat her even better now?

Teishar’s hand cupped Lorencia’s soft cheek.

“It’s alright.”

Teishar carefully embraced Lorencia. Then he caressed her head and patted her back as if comforting a young baby.

Lorencia thought she should push away his warm embrace that gently held her and patted her. But Lorencia couldn’t raise her head or push Teishar away.