Fredrick returned in the late afternoon. The sky just turning red was as beautiful as a watercolor painting.

“Welcome home, son.”

Samantha welcomed her beloved son with a broad smile on her face. Behind her was Brian, whose face clearly showed he had been dragged out.

But Lily was nowhere to be seen. She didn’t come out to greet Fredrick unless it was a special occasion, and he had never wished for her greeting either.

However, today it bothered him, so Fredrick looked up at the second floor, where Lily’s bedroom was. Brian, who immediately noticed where he was looking, raised his lips crookedly and said:

“Sister-in-law is lying down in shock right now. Mother told her not to visit the sick and go to the temple instead.”

At those words, Fredrick’s gaze shifted to Samantha.

“Boy! How can you say such things!”

“What? I didn’t say anything wrong.”

Samantha scolded her second son in exasperation, but Brian remained nonchalant. Rather, he grinned as if pleased to have flustered his mother.

“Why are you going to the temple, Mother?”

When Fredrick asked, Samantha turned to him with round eyes.

“Why, you ask? You said it was fine for me to go.”

“I did?”

“Yes. When I said I was going to the temple to set a date for conceiving a child, you said it was fine, didn’t you?”

Ah, now that he thought about it, there was such a thing. Fredrick nodded, recalling the fact that he had impulsively said it and had forgotten about it because of other interesting matters.

“There are so many people coming to get a date to conceive that the schedule is full for a month. Still, this mother pulled some strings for the grandchild to be born.”

“Well done.”

Fredrick replied half-heartedly as he handed his coat to the maid. He had been so disinterested in children that he had completely forgotten about it until Samantha brought it up. He had no intention of having any. Why would he want a child that would be like shackles around his ankles?

But he had mentioned children to Lily to prevent her from daring to bring up divorce. He also wanted to see her trembling in fear.

He didn’t care at all about Samantha’s actions. No matter how good a date the temple gave, it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t have relations on that day.

“When are you going to the temple?”

“Tomorrow at 1 p.m., dear.”

If it was tomorrow, that would be Thursday. So that’s why Brian had said something about visiting the sick.

Fredrick turned to look at Brian. When their eyes met, Brian flinched and turned his head. But the sidelong glance he cast was full of discontent.

Ignoring that gaze completely, Fredrick asked Samantha:

“Do I have to go too?”

“No. They said only one of the couple needs to come, so she can go alone. There’s no need for you to come when you’re busy.”

“I see. Then please let me know when you’ve set the date.”

“Of course. It will be such an auspicious day, we should redecorate the couple’s bedroom too. Speaking of which.”

Samantha glanced around, then asked Fredrick in a low voice:

“Did she give you a handkerchief as a gift by any chance?”

“A handkerchief?”

“Yes. It seemed like she had prepared a handkerchief to give you as a gift. You haven’t received it? Ah, of course you haven’t, since you just got home.”

Samantha shrugged, saying she had been too thoughtless, and told him to go upstairs and rest.

After bidding his mother farewell and going up to the second floor, Fredrick stood in front of the central staircase and looked towards Lily’s bedroom. The words handkerchief and gift floated in his mind.

After all, Lily had never given him a gift before. Before marriage, she had been too busy nursing her sick mother and had no money for gifts, and after marriage, she was too disappointed in her husband’s unreasonable behavior to give gifts.

So the handkerchief Lily had prepared couldn’t be for him. Then whose could it be? As soon as the question arose, the answer came to him.

“Herald Maximilian.”

Though he was now Herald Breyden, the name Maximilian stuck more because he had seen that surname so often.

Fredrick’s lips curved up smoothly as he recalled the handsome and charming appearance that even another man found attractive. He was certain that Lily’s lover was definitely Herald.

It was probably that man who had killed the people tailing Lily. Fredrick was convinced that he had killed them to avoid revealing his identity.

“This is interesting too.”

I’m glad I married you after all. So many interesting things are happening.

It was all the more entertaining because everything was beneficial to him. Fredrick returned to his bedroom, pleasantly pondering how to respond for maximum benefit.

Herald read the investigation report on the fire at the Benjamin Viscount’s mansion several times, but couldn’t find anything strange. According to the report, both the fire at the mansion and the death of Madison Benjamin were perfect accidents.

That made him even more suspicious. Not only were there no proper witnesses or testimonies, but the mansion had burned down to ashes, so all evidence must have burned too. How could there still be evidence that it was an accident?

It also bothered him that the autopsy of Madison Benjamin found no signs of murder at all.

But it was all just suspicion and doubt. There was nothing he could say for certain. Even if he wanted to check the scene himself, it had been over two years, so the site had been cleaned up completely. And the investigator in charge of the case, Louis Rebecca, was in a place difficult to bring in while avoiding Derius’s eyes, making it impossible to dig further.

Of course, there was one surviving witness who could be met immediately.

“Grace Benjamin.”

Herald checked the separately investigated files on Grace Benjamin. The files detailed everything from her birth, but he didn’t need that. What he needed was Grace Benjamin’s condition on the day of the incident and afterwards.

Grace Benjamin was the only survivor among those in the mansion at the time, but she suffered burns so severe that no one thought she could live. Since she had no money for proper treatment, people, even doctors, were certain she would die.

However, contrary to expectations, Grace Benjamin did not die. Although she was left with horrific burn scars all over her body that were difficult to look at, and developed mental issues, she stubbornly survived.

“Should I meet her?”

It seemed right since she was the only witness, but he hesitated because it was written that Grace Benjamin would have seizures just from mentioning that day or her husband’s name.

In other words, it meant he wouldn’t be able to ask anything even if he met Grace Benjamin.

Still, it might be better to meet her just in case. Having made his decision, Herald put down the documents and rubbed his face dry. The fact that he might hurt the person Lily loved and cherished most pricked his heart like thorns.

If strange parts had been found in the fire incident report, or if he could meet the investigator in charge of that case, he wouldn’t have made this choice. As Herald was immersed in regret, he looked at the door when he heard a knock.

“Herald, are you still up?”

He thought it was Dillon, but it was his brother, Hamilton Maximilian. Herald gathered the documents scattered messily on the coffee table and placed a thick book on top of them.

“Just a moment.”

Still, just in case, he chose to go out and meet his brother instead of letting him into the room. Hamilton didn’t seem to want to come in either, as he immediately stated his reason for coming.

“Mother says she’s going to the mansion His Imperial Majesty bestowed upon you today.”

When the Emperor conferred a title on Herald, he also gave several rewards, one of which was a mansion in the capital.

It was a mansion not far from the Maximilian ducal residence, and Herald had left all the interior decorating to his mother. He had no interest in such things and was busy with other matters.

“This is something your future wife should do, I don’t know why I’m doing it…”

The Duchess Maximilian grumbled but gladly accepted her son’s request. He had heard she would set a date to go to the mansion, and it seems today was that day.

“Why don’t you go see the new mansion with Mother? You haven’t been there yet, right?”

“That’s true, but I can’t go today. I have a prior engagement.”

“What engagement?”

Just then, seeing Dillon appear behind Hamilton, Herald pointed at him with his chin.

“I promised to throw a celebration party for my aide who became a baron.”

“…?”

Dillon, who had come at Herald’s call, stopped in confusion at the sudden statement. Hamilton glanced at Dillon with disapproving eyes and said to Herald:

“You can have the celebration party later.”

“We can go to the mansion later too.”

“Herald.”

“Prior engagements come first, Brother.”

Herald spoke in a calm but determined voice.

“There’s no particular reason I must go, and I don’t think it’s right to break a promise.”

“…”

Hamilton was about to say that Mother would be disappointed, but he didn’t. There was no point in saying it to a brother who wouldn’t listen anyway.

“Fine. Do as you please.”

Finally giving up, Hamilton left, and Herald let Dillon into his bedroom. As soon as the bedroom door closed, Dillon expressed his dissatisfaction:

“Not content with using my name, now you’re selling me outright.”

Herald, sitting on the sofa, shrugged his shoulders.

“As if. I do have a prior engagement with you.”

“This is the first I’m hearing about a celebration party.”

“I’ll throw one if you want.”

“No thanks.”

Dillon grumbled that there was no need for such embarrassing things, then held out the gift box he had brought.