Feeding, sheltering, and clothing. Even using a girl of marriageable age for important matters. Repaying kindness with enmity was too much.

“What on earth did that crow Yuan steal to make him act like this?”

“Don’t just lie there, do something, dear. I’m even getting letters asking if Peliesse has gone out of business.”

The mother and daughter expressed their deep concerns while looking at the count lying motionless in bed. The count only groaned, “Oh, my head-” as if in pain.

Regina, who had been twitching her eyebrows, finally spoke up.

“Father. Let me help with your business now instead of that crow.”

Regina whispered as she quietly sat on the edge of the bed where her father lay.

“Honestly, I could do much better than that weakling, couldn’t I? My handwriting is much more beautiful than hers.”

Though she had never actually seen Yuan’s handwriting, Regina clung to the count’s arm, confident that she would be much better.

“Father?”

“……”

“Father. Fa-ther!”

“Be quiet!”

Before Count Peliesse could push away his daughter clinging to his arm, Countess Peliesse sharply pulled Regina’s arm and yelled.

It was unbearable to have her thoughtless daughter being so insistent at a time when nerves were already on edge.

“Why! Now that Yuan girl is gone, the research assistant position is open, right? I definitely heard it. That she was essential for the family business? Why does it have to be that half-crow freeloader instead of me? She’s gone now, right? Frederick may be big but he has terrible handwriting and no aptitude for studying! Of course I should help father! Who knows? If word spreads that the Peliesse count’s daughter is helping well with the family business, we might even receive marriage proposals from houses needing a capable lady of the house!”

“Get out, Regina.”

“Father!”

“Get out.”

Count Peliesse, who had been covering his eyes with his arm listening to the mother and daughter’s argument, pulled his arm away from Regina and turned his back.

His sagging back, weighed down by excess fat, looked lonely.

Regina was about to throw another tantrum, but seeing her mother’s fierce eyes, she shouted “Just try bringing in someone else as an assistant other than me!” and stormed out of the room.

Priscilla, who was about to yell after her, took a moment to catch her breath and then gently shook the count.

“Dear, dear, wake up. Guests are again in the room next to the laboratory……”

“Didn’t I tell you not to receive guests?!”

The count, who had only been swallowing his groans, suddenly sat up and shouted angrily.

“I told you it’s impossible without Yuan!”

“Then what should we do? They’ve brought several times more gold than before, should we turn them away?? We need money for Frederick and Regina to marry well! When everyone was pressuring us about remaining court nobles without a single domain! Where is the money supposed to come from then? Will the family really be ruined without that Yuan girl?”

“It will be ruined! It will! Even if they bring a carriage full of gold, it’s useless without her!”

“Talk sense! You are the head of House Peliesse! She was just an assistant!”

Seeing Count Peliesse shouting with spittle flying, the countess finally took a step back, crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

“Tell me honestly. That Yuan girl, she’s your illegitimate child, isn’t she? What nonsense about ‘the only link between my elder brother and me’. Since when have you followed your elder brother like that? You who came out saying you didn’t even want to associate with a family that disregards people and wanted to become a merchant instead! Isn’t she the only link between you and your mistress, not your brother? I’ve been suspicious for a long time. You’ve always subtly taken care of that girl and didn’t like giving her hard work except for laboratory tasks! You readily sent Louise on outside errands, but you always called Yuan to the laboratory to entertain guests.”

The countess, who had been circling the bedroom spouting words, clenched her fists and shouted sharply.

“Now you’re lying here sick! What is it! What is that girl to you that you made such a fuss when sending her away and now you’re bedridden like this? I went along with it then, but I need to know for sure now. Tell me! Tell me!”

Finally, Countess Peliesse began shaking the count’s shoulders.

Even as he was shaken so hard that his fat jiggled, the count still could not open his mouth to the end.

That the girl who brought gold to the family possessed the true power of Peliesse.

That the legitimacy of Peliesse came from the power she possessed.

That it was all thanks to Yuan that they shed the stigma of being half-Peliesse and gained the reputation of being “indeed” Peliesse in academic circles, the academy, and the capital.

How could he say such things?

He had barely established his authority as head of the household with gold, and he couldn’t afford to lose even that.

“You crazy woman!”

Even as he shouted, Count Peliesse felt like crying.

He had been holding off on opening letters from great nobles asking when they could visit again.

Even after contacting the First Prince Boloniko to explain the situation as best he could and ask for help, there was no reply.

Most importantly.

He was a person who could not conduct research alone.

And he was only now acutely realizing this.

“Don’t you think I don’t know about the various odd jobs you made Yuan do?! You needed her too, that’s why you grabbed her together that day, isn’t it!”

The countess, who had been roughly pushed away by her husband, began to shed tears with a shocked face.

“Oh, my fate. Oh, my fate! I married the second son of a family without a title because he at least seemed to have a strong survival instinct, but he goes and has an illegitimate child outside! You embarrassed me in front of others by calling that crow the family heir or whatever, and now you even push me away! How could you do this to me, Gerret Peliesse!”

“She’s not an illegitimate child or anything like that, so stop making up stories! Just keep the children in check! Don’t let Regina get any strange ideas and make sure she prepares well for her debut! Don’t receive any guests for the time being! Remember that!”

“What are you going to do now! After even offending the First Prince!”

“I have to go to Cielo and negotiate myself!”

Though he feared the First Prince Boloniko, what Gerret Peliesse feared most was having his true nature exposed and losing the identity of Peliesse like this.

How hard he had worked to obtain the title of count!

He had to send away the guests who had flocked here now with expensive medicine, and he had to bring back Yuan, the goose that lays golden eggs, by divorcing or breaking off her engagement, and keep her locked up in the next room.

“What negotiation! Don’t tell me you’re trying to bring that girl back! To incur the hatred of His Highness Boloniko because of that girl! Step on me instead! Kill me instead!”

No matter what misunderstanding he received. The secret of Peliesse had to be kept.

Even Gerret Peliesse, who thought gold was the highest value, knew that the moment he revealed the existence of the goose that lays golden eggs to anyone else, everything would be over.

The secret that everyone keeps quiet about if they are the head of Peliesse.

Peliesse’s golden goose.

He couldn’t bear to see anyone monopolize it. Whether it was the former crown prince or his wife barking in front of him.

Gerret Peliesse got up with his head wrapped and scrawled a letter.

All or nothing.

Since he had already offended him, he would go all the way.

The destination of the hastily written letter was, of course, the capital Cielo where the First Prince Boloniko, whom he had curried favor with, was.

Yuan entered the bedroom and saw Clard sitting crookedly.

Clard gave her a look as if facing a lowly creature, and Yuan calmly folded her hands respectfully.

Though he had forcibly entered the bedroom saying he would remind her of last night’s events, honestly, she hated showing her abilities directly in front of him more than death.

The only fortunate thing was that the man’s sensitive face, which had been full of hostility, was twitching subtly, and the ears of the man with a stiff expression, whatever he was imagining, occasionally turned red.

And as if he had a one-in-a-million chance…… the man was watching her as if she were a criminal to be hanged immediately, but he was also occasionally tapping his long legs under his nightgown with a thud, thud.

It was evidence that he was feeling uneasy.

‘I must not let my ability be discovered.’

I have to become a useful person in this house without revealing this ability.

She was familiar with nursing.

Moreover, with such a fierce man as a husband, it seemed she would not be dragged away even if Peliesse came barging in saying they would take her back.

Yuan absolutely did not want to return to Peliesse ever again.

The people of the black mansion were somewhat blunt and stiff, but if given just a little opening, they were desperate to be kind to her like people starved for affection.

The warm people of the desolate mansion.

As Clard Yufris’s legal wife, she was qualified, and that meant that even if Clard was the master of this mansion, he could not arbitrarily drive Yuan away.

Especially if they were a couple approved by the imperial family after proving their wedding night!

‘I have the right to live in this mansion.’

Yuan stared intently at Clard’s face, trying to suppress her pounding heart.

‘You might have killed my sister. The one who should leave is not me, but you who might be a criminal.’

Be confident. I have the right too.

“What are you doing? Regretting while looking at that mashed-up face? Wondering how you could have done that last night while looking at such a face?”

“?”

Contrary to Yuan’s efforts to summon courage, Clard’s gaze was not as angry as it had appeared from the outside.

Having directly seen her confident yet wronged attitude with his own eyes, and seeing that she did not avoid him to the end, he seemed to have gained some certainty that they had consummated their wedding night.

“!”

What was more surprising was that when a question briefly flashed across Yuan’s eyes, Clard was the first to turn away, unable to bear it.

A face close to perfection was visible, with the hideous half-face hidden in shadow.

His long eyelashes trembled slightly, pointing downwards with a hint of shame.