Count Gerret Peliesse shook off the scene in his mind that made his hair stand on end just by imagining it and lowered his voice considerably.

“If that child happens to come out directly, deliver this letter. If there’s a place they regularly visit, track it to the end and find out what they’re doing and where.”

“With only one body, if you give me so many tasks−”

−Thud!

A heavy sound reverberated through the wooden floor.

The secret mercenary Giyotel immediately pulled up both corners of his mouth upon seeing the gold bar as thick as an arm.

Not a single spot of white could be seen on his exposed teeth.

Gerret Peliesse turned his eyes away as if avoiding that dirty sight and issued an order to leave.

“If there’s even one result, I’ll give you two more of these. Remember. The most important thing is not to be caught by others.”

“Yes− Yes−”

“And deliver that green letter to the butler as soon as you leave. It’s an urgent letter to the Lev Marquis family, so take one of my servants with you and move quickly yourself.”

“Yes−. How could there be any doubt?”

Giyotel, who bent his small and sturdy body to pick up the gold bar and several letters, grinned, revealing his teeth full of foreign substances.

The excitement of Marquis Mosan Lev, who visited the Black Mansion for the first time after that bizarre wedding celebration party enjoyed only by Emperor Igor Yufris, was deeper and wider than the sea.

He had been startled as soon as he arrived at the huge iron gate at the entrance of the mansion.

This was because beyond the creaking iron gate, the garden that had been covering the desolation with its eyes was quite lush.

The change began with the garden and next was…….

“I thought that rascal Lancelot was playing a trick to please me.”

“That’s just like him.”

“……I was deliberately late in coming because I only wanted to nag when I saw Your Majesty. But now that I’m here, really−”

The monocle he was wearing to view the documents he had brought became foggy with mist.

Marquis Lev dropped hot tears inside his glasses and then sniffed back the tears flowing from his nose as if inhaling noodles.

“Did I ever tell you? Your Majesty looks exactly like the late Empress Eleonore’s eyes and lips, as if cast from the same mold.”

“If I remember correctly, I’ve been hearing that since I was about four years old.”

As the sound of sniffling tears and mucus continued, Clard handed him a handkerchief as if throwing it while answering.

Seeing the purple eyes carelessly scanning the documents, Marquis Lev now openly sat close to Clard and examined him.

“Are you not in pain? Your skin looks fine, as fair as a newborn baby’s−”

−Tap.

Clard put down the quill pen he had been moving lazily with a sound and abruptly untied the knot of the night gown he was wearing.

The black and hard half of the neck and chest, writhing like a snake wrapped around the neck, filled Marquis Lev’s eyes.

He was startled by Clard’s sudden action, but when Clard nonchalantly closed his gown again and grasped the quill pen, he wiped his face with the handkerchief as if washing it.

He had been too sentimental. It wasn’t time to pop champagne.

Still. Still…….

“It’s good enough that at least your face is like this. Although if you look closely, you can still see faint spots, for a man this much is not even a scar.”

“It’s not right to compare with those who can’t even distinguish between a horse’s head and a human head.”

Marquis Lev barely suppressed his laughter as he recalled the men of the Trelloni Count family.

Even in the midst of this, looking at the face of his noble and brilliant nephew made his heart seem to tingle.

Clard, who had inherited the beauty of Mosan Lev’s only sister, Eleonore, and the cool and manly atmosphere of the late Emperor Alexei, continued to stimulate the aging man’s tear ducts.

“Stop admiring your nephew’s face. If you know that not working until now wasn’t because I didn’t want to, but because I couldn’t, then stop nagging too.”

“I told you that happiness is nothing special.”

Marquis Lev muttered with eyes full of emotion.

“The day will come when you fully understand that holding the woman you love, seeing your child… such ordinary things that everyone does can become happiness.”

And as he spoke these words like a blessing, he received the approved documents from Clard.

Clard pressed his temple without answering and curled up the corner of his mouth crookedly.

“I don’t know what love is. But I’m satisfied that I’ve gained enough patience to listen to my uncle’s sentimentality now.”

“I’d like to go and thank your ninth bride on my way out. Also to apologize for the rudeness I committed when I first met her.”

“Rudeness?”

As displeasure briefly flashed across his relaxed eyes, Marquis Lev immediately confessed.

“She looked so fragile that I thought she would run away as soon as she saw Your Majesty. I was so flustered I didn’t even know where my old shoes went. But it’s admirable that someone who looked so weak waited for Your Majesty until the end, and stayed by your side until you recovered like this. Though it’s an irreverent thought.”

Mosan Lev, whose gray hair had increased more than 10 years ago, smiled at Clard, who seemed somewhat displeased.

“I’d like to go and plead with her to take good care of our Emperor in the future.”

“I’m not a child.”

Clard snorted indifferently.

“Ah, and this.”

Marquis Lev handed over a file he had been holding under his arm to Clard, who was turning his head away, embarrassed.

“The Peliesse Count family sent documents demanding a bride price for the marriage. It’s a natural request, as it’s customary to exchange such things.”

“Although we didn’t receive anything.”

Eddie, who had been silently watching his father’s tears from a distance, cut in abruptly.

Eddie Lev’s sharp eyes were brimming with wariness towards the current Count Peliesse, Gerret Peliesse.

It was a marriage close to selling a bride to curry favor with the First Prince Boloniko, so they might feel somewhat wronged, but in any case, the mood of the Lev Marquis family, the groom’s side, was not very good.

This was a separate issue from Yuan Peliesse being a decent wife.

Family and family.

Especially since it was also a union between the imperial family and a noble family, it was a procedure that couldn’t be overlooked, but the choice of words that couldn’t be hidden even if they tried to hide it, which was close to that of a merchant saying “You took Yuan Peliesse, who is the family’s property, so pay up,” greatly upset them.

The letter from Count Peliesse regarding the groom’s bride price passed into Clard’s hands.

Clard, who was reading it with languid, downcast eyes, soon scrawled his own signature confirming that all demands should be accepted without delay.

“If you want to shut the mouth that says things like wanting to bring her back, give them whatever they ask for.”

“There’s room for negotiation. You don’t have to sign right away.”

“It doesn’t matter, just give them everything. It doesn’t matter, does it? No matter how much the bride price is.”

“It’s probably a list written with room for negotiation, so we can also demand some negotiation and dowry from them. Of course, this is a separate issue from how well Her Highness is doing. It would also be good to properly take the initiative so that the Peliesse family can’t order Her Highness, who has already become a Yufris, around−”

“Why bother.”

“……”

“They sent a bride anyway. And we didn’t give anything, so this is right. Instead of both sides getting red-faced over a few pounds of gold, just give them what they ask for.”

Eddie shut his mouth with a hardened face. And after moving his lips several times, he left the office with the documents he had received, as if taking on a burden, along with a big sigh.

Clard finished speaking and opened the window wide, as if feeling stuffy.

As he shifted his gaze from the garden to beyond, Clard slightly turned his head towards Marquis Lev, who was admiring the picturesque scene.

The backlit golden hair sparkled transparently, caressing Marquis Lev’s eyes.

“Shall we take a walk after a long time, Uncle?”

They walked out to the garden side by side.

As Clard’s steps naturally headed towards the west annex, Marquis Lev quietly followed behind him.

The small west annex had now shed its black ashes and was sparkling, revealing its original red flesh.

The mistress of this mansion, busy with the finishing touches, came into Marquis Lev’s view.

The face of the white girl, who had been blinking her big black eyes in fear, was slightly flushed from the sunlight, and her lips, chattering something to the maid beside her, had the color of a fully bloomed spring flower.

It was like a change from someone who looked like a beautifully crafted dark cloud to a rainbow.

Her obsidian-like sparkling black eyes curved nicely, and her raised corners of the mouth were coy and pretty.

The former imperial consort, wearing a tattered but endearing apron and holding a brush in her hand, also looked like an unnamed painter adding red to a black and white world.

Marquis Lev gazed at Clard’s broad back as he stood still, looking at that scene.

He tried to gauge whether what Clard was looking at was the red bricks that reminded him of old memories, or the woman’s clear smile that, although dirty, couldn’t help but make one smile along with her.

“Igor Yufris’s only interests are how to further impoverish the country. Whose head to cut off and display. Or whose woman’s skirt to lift.”

“……”

“This side doesn’t even let anyone bring it up, let alone show interest. You just need to be happy. Like other people.”

Like other people.

Clard rolled the unspoken sentences in his mouth.

The moment those words, which had been full of antipathy, came out of that woman’s mouth, they felt different.

Everything was changing in the blink of an eye.

Even the unbearable pain was gradually disappearing. And the person who had seen his weakest and ugliest form didn’t run away, but rather said she liked being in his arms.

It was a very surreal reality.

“Spring has fully arrived now, Clard.”

Standing next to him and looking at the same place, his uncle spoke in a gentle voice.

The still cool breeze that brushed past him carried the warm scent of spring.

Clard traced with his eyes the garden that had become as fresh as the spring of his youth and the seedlings that Yuan had planted around the west annex.

Among the spring flowers that were budding to bloom brightly, he could see the woman’s face, faintly smiling and basking in the sunlight.

Clard subtly stretched the corners of his mouth as if tracing that smile with his lips.

It was awkward and somewhat melancholic, but it was a beautifully drawn smile.