As he went and sat at the fine red mahogany desk, the record started to spin and music began to flow. Scatha clenched her hand that was resting on her knee tightly, trying not to reveal her startled expression.
Did he happen to open the necklace?
What he had played was a symphony that Scatha’s mother, Queen Lia of Eberin, used to enjoy.
Scatha looked at him with uneasy eyes, but there was no emotion to be found in the Duke’s face. Nor was he even looking at Scatha.
“……Why, why the sudden music…….?”
Clearing her constricted throat, Scatha barely managed to feign calmness. The Duke’s red eyes slowly turned towards her, his gaze fixed on the papers.
“Don’t you like it?”
“I don’t…… like it very much……. listening to music.”
Looking down at Scatha, who had hung her head, he let out a small laugh, and his eyes returned to the documents.
“I like it.”
Realizing that he had no intention of turning off the music, Scatha closed her eyes tightly.
Listening to the symphony she used to enjoy during her peaceful childhood with her mother, she had to desperately think about something else to keep from crying.
“It’s not that tragic of a piece.”
He thought she wouldn’t know as her head was bowed.
Inhaling deeply and forcing a calm expression, Scatha lifted her head.
“I was just…… thinking about when I could clear my name.”
“Berlioz, they say. A famous musician from Eberin.”
Please stop. She wanted to seal that lovely mouth with both hands.
“It’s the only thing left from the place Teshia Empire occupied. The only trace of Eberin Castle.”
“…….”
“Isn’t it interesting? Even if the musician dies, even if the country falls, the music remains.”
At the Duke’s words, Scatha bit her lower lip hard to keep from getting angry, then retorted sharply.
“It’s not interesting at all.”
“Really? I chose a musician from Eberin just because you’re from Eberin.”
So, not because of the necklace but simply because she was from Eberin?
After all, it’s a pendant that opens up to reveal the emblem of the Eberin royal family when complicated patterns are properly aligned. Unless there’s a strong interest, there would be no reason to open it.
She felt the intense tension in her fingertips ease.
“……We commoners don’t have much opportunity to listen to music.”
“Then you should thank me for giving you the opportunity.”
Scatha looked at him with a scowl. He was smiling with his head tilted slightly, just a smirk on his lips.
“……I suppose so.”
She unwittingly laughed softly like the Duke. The ability to trick people without intending to was an astonishing talent.
Should she be thankful for not sobbing and thinking about her parents, who were executed by the Teshia Empire?
[Star Icon][Star Icon][Star Icon]After a month of mourning and only now able to shed the mourning attire, Attila took off his black coat and handed it to the head butler, then rubbed his rugged face.
The tedious funeral was finally over.
He had never once had a good relationship with his father, who had recognized only the First Prince as his child throughout his life.
From the nobleman who had manipulated Attila as a bastard into the crown prince’s son, then fretted all his life lest his fraud be exposed, to the former Emperor.
Only the Pedellimid family, who supported the mad First Prince, backed him, even though the Blahnath Duke’s family, leading one of the ten families, refused to go to war to support Attila, the Second Prince, and the Emperor gave in. The obsession with leaving the throne to the First Prince returned with dementia.
Even now, the new Emperor, recognizing the First Prince, can’t forget the look of horror on his father’s face as he was executed by the Teshia Empire.
So when I thought about my father, who had passed away trying to depose me from the crown prince position, it was fortunate that tears did not come to my eyes, but rather laughter.
“Has the Duke not returned from Lindcom yet?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. He is said to still be staying in Lindcom.”
“Thinking of coming up for the coronation. He merely showed his face at the funeral, so arrogantly.”
Contrary to his grumbling words, there was a smile on Attila’s face. Since in the palace, where he could not obtain anything easily, from his father’s affection to anything else, his first friend had been Cassard.
“Shall I send a messenger to call him?”
I would like to go down to Lindcom right now and go hunting with Cassard, it would be just perfect… But the missing Crown Prince Ezra was weighing on my mind.
Thinking about Ezra, who might be plotting something somewhere, leaving the palace before the coronation would not be a good idea at all.
“No? The police say they botched the investigation into the Duke’s case. I’ll call and see if he’s lucky not to get cursed.”
“That’s right. Oh, someone came from the palace earlier. He said he had taken all the Lindcom police officers.”
“Ah, those rascals… How dare they tarnish the royal family’s honor with a botched investigation. I feel filthy thinking that bastard might have something on me.”
Attila, who knew the original personality of ‘Cassard de Blahnath,’ who others admired and looked up to as a perfect nobleman, could clearly see how much he would be tormented by this.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason they had arrested the police officers.
Attila had never felt the absence of his father as he grew up, thanks to the previous Duke Blahnath, so he was the only one who had sincerely mourned the previous Emperor’s funeral.
I wanted to rush to Conwell and officiate the funeral of the previous Duke with Cassard so much.
So, the fact that such an impeccable person, whether in ability or character, was killed by his mistress, such a ridiculous conclusion, made him want to arrest all the police officers and somehow put them in their place.
“Your Majesty… You must be careful with your words… Soon you will ascend to the throne… If someone hears, they’ll think you and Duke Blahnath are enemies.”
Had it been Crown Prince Ezra, he would have cut off the chief butler’s head at once for daring to advise him. But Attila slapped the butler’s shoulder with a pleasant laugh.
“Forgive me. I’m careful in front of others.”
Everyone must have wished for it with all their heart and soul. For the second prince, who was human, wise, and of noble character, to become Emperor.
At least, that’s what Ohard, who had worked in the palace for quite a long time since his childhood, thought.
“Who am I to look at Your Majesty… If there’s nothing to say to the palace, shall I go out?”
Attila nodded his head.
“Tell the palace to make sure there was no undue pressure on the investigation. I’ll go myself soon.”
[Star Icon][Star Icon][Star Icon]Evil hobby.
Even though he said he didn’t like music much, the Duke went to take a bath and left music playing. And it was Berlioz’s music.
I wanted to stop the music right away by opening the turntable, but it was impossible with the handcuffs attached to the bed head.
I barely held back in the office, but could I hold back tears while listening to the peaceful music I used to listen to with my mother, left alone in the bedroom?
The Duke, who had come out of the bathroom, apparently never imagined she would be crying. He approached, looking startled, when he saw a large tear drop falling from Scathach’s eye.
“Scathach.”
For the first time, the Duke, who called her by her name, lifted her face in his hands. His voice sounded quite tender, so paradoxically, it felt like the tears were sucked in.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
