“This is all because of that woman.”

Jocelyn gritted her teeth. As she recalled Maiana’s face looking down at herself with her chin raised, an involuntary surge of anger rose within her.

Since that woman entered the Marquisate, nothing had gone smoothly. The servants behaved cautiously, and even when confined to her room, that insolent woman roamed around the mansion as if it were her own world.

Jocelyn pretended to be indifferent to it all, but in truth, she hadn’t for a single moment diverted her attention from the eastern part of the mansion. And anger had been accumulating in her heart.

“At least the Marquis’s son should be useful… at least until that arrogant woman loses everything.”

Jocelyn had occasionally threatened Swan and occasionally tried to manipulate him, but she didn’t actually consider Swan as the next heir to the Vellminster Marquisate. She was merely creating a bomb secretly, not knowing when it might explode.

Now that she knew the truth about Ariante’s birth, Swan would undoubtedly despise Ariante. If that happened, it would inevitably lead to provoking Ariante, and then…

“Someday, it will explode.”

She was waiting for that day.

The fact that Ariante was not the child of Cedilloy was known to all the servants, but the impact of it actually coming out through someone’s mouth was different from murmurs under the surface. Would Cedilloy kill all the servants to keep them quiet? It was impossible.

Once the rumors started spreading, it would be unstoppable. The servants who went home on vacation would tell the truth to their families, friends, cheap lovers, or neighbors, and no one could stop it.

And then that useless boy would no longer be able to stick around the Marquisate. Jocelyn thought.

If rumors about Ariante spread to every nook and cranny of the Marquisate and eventually flowed elsewhere, Cedilloy would no longer be able to refer to that child as the Marquis’s heir, even for the sake of the family’s honor.

Swan, who caused the storm, would undoubtedly be driven out. Where he would go, Jocelyn had no idea. Whether it be an orphanage teeming with rats and bugs, a poor shelter, or a place where a devilish relative is eagerly waiting with eyes ablaze.

That was all Jocelyn wished for. After all the pitiful halfwits were gone, Cedilloy would marry an impeccable virgin and produce an heir with her. And for the sake of maintaining the family, to prevent the household that the ancestors had solidly built from crumbling, Cedilloy had to do that much, at the very least.
“Why don’t you know that? She loved Cedilloy as much as the deceased Marchioness, maybe even more. If he were to get hurt even a little, Jocelyn felt like her heart was being torn apart. If she could make Cedilloy better by cutting herself and letting the blood flow, she would willingly do so.

It was a loyalty close to madness. It was blind love. Everyone, even Cedilloy himself, had been tired of Jocelyn’s fanatical side for a long time, but Jocelyn was completely unaware of that fact.

If she had known, perhaps she wouldn’t have been so furious in Eldorica, where she finally arrived.

Cissy, who burst into tears, declared that she would no longer play the game. There were countless games that could be played with just five people, but neither Sylas nor anyone else suggested playing one.

Cissy’s face, who was now sitting against the wall, was ominous, and everyone’s spirits were low. They weren’t the kind of kids who could laugh heartily and play around even after excluding one person.

“Hey, Cissy. How long are you going to sulk? Stop that and let’s play another game. We can play a card game instead of dice.”

Cissy’s cousin, Lujan, coaxed his stubborn younger brother. Lujan, who liked to sulk and occasionally played tricks, was still the one who always sided with Cissy when he sulked.

However, today was a problem because it was about the issues between Cissy and Ariante… The problem was that Cissy didn’t say anything good to hear, unlike usual.

Cissy, who had been grimacing with a face full of tricks, patted Lujan. Lujan, who was small in stature and off guard, fell backward, and his buttocks hit the ground, causing even his glasses to slip.

“Hey! Are you really going to do this? If so, just go home!”

Eventually, it turned out like this. Although he was a cousin, Lujan was also eight years old. There were times when Lujan, who lacked patience, got into a lot of trouble with Cissy…

Without even responding, Cissy glared at Lujan as if he were going to devour him. Lujan, who raised his glasses with determination, spoke angrily.

“Fine, leave that stubborn kid alone, and let’s just…!”

“Lujan, my brother is bothering me!”

When Cissy shouted, Lujan’s face turned red. Once they started making a fuss like this, there was no end… Ariante and Swan were still unaware, but even when Sylas and Ambrose played together since they were younger, they realized that the situation was becoming more serious.