It was a cowardly act.

Even though he knew from rumors that the woman found it difficult to sleep with him.

Excusing himself by relying on the woman’s words that she was doing it because she wanted to, saying there was no need to turn away footsteps that came because she liked it.

He could have called her during the day and asked if anything hurt.

What was he trying to confirm and see by waiting for the sun to set and for the sound of that woman’s footsteps?

It was just one day among ordinary days.

Why was he so anxious and uneasy?

[This is the timeline separator]

After the terrible debutante.

Regina Peliesse secluded herself in the mansion and never went out.

Not knowing the reason, the Count and Countess Peliesse thought it was their daughter’s whim and left her alone.

In fact, the couple was too busy to pay attention to Regina.

Priscilla, who had no friends in society due to her background, was busy unpacking stories about Regina, who might become the Crown Princess, at her family’s Pelt Company without hearing the terrible rumors, and Count Peliesse…..

“Come on. Quickly, over here!”

“What is this now? Where are we going to put such large furniture?”

“Ah, Frederick’s room is empty now, isn’t it?”

“Did Frederick graduate at the top of his class this time? What’s with this gold-plated wardrobe?”

“It’s Yuan’s.”

“…What did you say?”

Countess Priscilla, who had assumed that the endless influx of valuables and rare furniture was naturally hers, looked at her husband as if she had been slapped in the face.

“I must have heard wrong just now, right?”

“From your reaction, it seems you heard correctly.”

“Say something that makes sense!”

Priscilla screamed so loudly her face turned bright red.

Startled by the booming shout that came from deep in her belly, the Count flinched.

“That, that console with densely inlaid mother-of-pearl and the wardrobe with golden handles are for Yuan Peliesse, that crow girl? You’re emptying our son’s room to fill it with those things for a child who’s not even home?”

“We’re filling it with money Yuan earned anyway. Stop making such a fuss.”

“Wh-wh-what did you say?”

Priscilla rushed breathlessly to the room where the gold and silver treasures sent by the former Crown Prince were piled up.

When she flung open the half-open door, the gold that had been piled up to the brim was noticeably reduced.

Priscilla turned as pale as if she had woken up to see the face of an old woman in the mirror.

“I’m the mistress of this house! That’s my money that I should manage and operate! Who dares to use that as they please! Who dares! I was planning to use it all when Regina and Frederick get married, my hands trembling every time I use even one gold bar!!”

Regardless of her protests, Priscilla pointed accusingly at her husband, who was directing the stream of incoming items.

The rings adorning eight of her ten fingers, excluding her thumbs, glinted in the chandelier light, stinging the Count’s eyes.

“Saving indeed. Take off those rings before you speak, Priscilla.”

“What are you saying?”

As another fierce battle seemed about to break out between the couple emanating a murderous aura, Regina’s hoarse voice intruded.

“Yuan Peliesse? That traitor is coming to our house? Frederick’s room? You wouldn’t even let me switch rooms with my brother when I asked.”

“Yes, yes. Well said, Regina! As expected of my daughter! That’s exactly what I wanted to say!”

Encouraged by Priscilla’s agreement, Regina snatched a jewelry box from a servant who was busily carrying things and smiled.

“Isn’t this the jewelry box I asked Father to buy me for my last birthday? And that drawer is the one Mother wanted. You ignored all our requests, but you’re bringing these in for that married crow? Why on earth? Did that monster former Crown Prince promise to give you a territory this time?”

“Yuan will rightfully return to her place. Don’t talk back to your father and just prepare for your marriage. I heard you were utterly disgraced at your debutante? When I heard about it outside today, I was so ashamed and humiliated I couldn’t even lift my face. Write a letter to Drake Trelloni right now! It seems we can only marry you off to a decent place if we cling to that bastard’s trouser leg!”

The Count left those words and headed towards Yuan’s bedroom, empty of Yuan.

Regina, who had been locked up crying for days on end, felt dizzy for a moment and staggered.

“No, who says she was disgraced? Who says that? Who? How could anyone say such things about our Regina, who might become the Crown Princess someday! What mistake could she have possibly made to deserve such words!”

Overcome with anger, Priscilla roughly followed the Count into the room. Regina’s heart was pounding unbearably.

‘That crow is coming back to the mansion? Who decided that? The crow gets treated like this and returns to this house, while I’m just supposed to marry that horse-head and be done with it?’

After the worst debutante.

Regina unilaterally cut off contact with Drake Trelloni.

Apart from that stupid horse-head, not a single person sent a word of comfort – not the daughters of prominent families who were there, nor even the daughters of humble families who had been somewhat favorable to her.

As if they found Regina’s downfall satisfying.

As if they were dying of amusement at the fall of Regina, who should have had the most brilliant time in this country!

Rolling her eyes nervously, Regina spotted a man watching the family quarrel with amusement from the second-floor landing.

He was the dirtiest and most unkempt of the visitors her father kept meeting.

“Hey you!”

Driven to the edge, Regina fearlessly stopped the man trying to enter her father’s study.

The short but solid and sturdy man showed his dirty teeth in a pretense of courtesy.

“What is it, young lady?”

Without a word, Regina handed him the entire jewelry box she had snatched earlier.

“Do a job for me too.”

The secret agent Guyotel grinned widely, clutching the jewelry box.

[This is the timeline separator]

Yuan drove her carriage to the Lev Duchy early in the morning and arrived at Louise’s gravestone.

With nosebleeds or vomiting blood increasing day by day, she had to reduce her time at the mansion.

Though it improved somewhat in the evenings, it was severe in the early morning or morning after absorbing Clard’s pain.

As if his pain was making her illness worse.

The ducal family’s cemetery was very large and spacious, perfect for secretly spewing out pain.

The servants did not follow her into the cemetery entrance, and the guards were only at the entrance.

And after spewing out the pain and finally managing to stop the nosebleed that wouldn’t stop for a while, Yuan turned her head at the presence she felt nearby.

“…Regina?”

Regina had thrown a bouquet of chrysanthemums nearby and was striding towards her.

“You damn bat! I told you to return any family items you stole from Father quickly! Does that make any sense? Your husband almost died, so you think you don’t belong there either? Why are you saying you’ll come back to a place where no one welcomes you! Damn it! Damn it!!”

She was screaming so furiously that anyone watching would think she was beating someone who had run off with all her property.

Yuan looked Regina over with a tired face.

Gone was the beautiful and lively appearance from when they met at the imperial palace. Regina now had a haggard face with sensitive, upturned eyes.

Only then did Yuan recall that Regina had completely ruined the imperial debutante ball she had so yearned for.

And she could guess what her uncle had said at home to make Regina throw such a fit.

He must have declared he would bring Yuan home regardless of her wishes, or earnestly urged them not to treat Yuan carelessly from now on.

“I can roughly guess the situation. What do you want to say to me? Coming all the way to another family’s cemetery.”

But Yuan had no reason to indulge Regina’s hysteria.

Her uncle making empty promises on one side and Regina taking out her anger on the wrong target – it was all too familiar and tiresome to her.

“Just try coming to our house. Just try returning to the mansion!”

“…”

“And I’m warning you. Don’t flirt with Crown Prince Boloniko.”

Regina widened her eyes, recalling Boloniko who had come out to the party hall entrance to welcome Yuan on the day of her worst debutante.

Yuan had no intention of returning to the Peliesse mansion or flirting with Crown Prince Boloniko, but she didn’t want to meekly agree and obey Regina’s words.

She couldn’t find any reason to respond so gently.

Yuan let out a snicker.

The ridiculous demand she heard in a life-or-death situation made her already sharp nerves even more sensitive.

But Regina seemed serious as she spoke again, biting her lip hard and rummaging through her pockets to pull out and wave several notes.

“If you listen to me well, I’ll give you these.”

“What are those?”

She asked, though she wasn’t curious.

“Messages your sister Louise Peliesse has been sending you all this time by carrier pigeon.”

[This is the timeline separator]

Of course.

How could Louise Peliesse not have.

In some way or another.

Not tried to contact her.

Yuan was so surprised she unconsciously almost reached out for the few notes Regina was waving around.

A standoff continued for a while.

Yuan found it amusing that Regina was acting as if she had come to make some great negotiation, but she watched with a mind to at least hear what she had to say.

“So you intercepted them. Shamelessly.”

“Intercepted? Why shouldn’t I keep carrier pigeons that flew to my house? Are you the only sister? Louise is my sister too.”

Regina answered shamelessly.

Yuan silently held out her hand.

She was quite used to Regina’s unreasonableness and claims that everything in the Peliesse mansion was hers.

Sufficiently.

It was something Regina Peliesse would do.

“Give them to me.”

“I can’t just give them to you.”

“Then?”

“Promise. That you won’t return to the Peliesse mansion.”

“I won’t go back.”

“A verbal contract isn’t enough. Sign here.”

Regina pulled out a paper resembling a contract from her pocket. Reading through the text marked as a memorandum, there were quite a lot of things she was told not to do.

To someone facing death, it was nothing more than a worthless scrap of paper.

“And promise you won’t flirt with Crown Prince Boloniko. Sign that too.”

“Ha. Boloniko?”

Just thinking of Boloniko still made her grind her teeth. Yuan tried not to show her hostility as she firmly shut her mouth.

It wasn’t a losing deal at all, since everything Regina was demanding was what Yuan wanted.

“Fine.”

“This isn’t all of it. If you don’t follow this contract, know that you’ll never get your sister’s letters back! Because this isn’t all of it! I just grabbed what I could from the box−”

“So you know it’s something that needs to be ‘returned’.”

“What?”

“Keep the rest safe too. Before I change my mind.”

At least the mystery was solved now that she knew Louise hadn’t abandoned her, but Regina had intercepted all the carrier pigeons and diverted the news.

Yuan snatched the notes from Regina’s hand, who was taken aback by the strange aura of someone facing death.

Just four notes.

But it was a chance to see at least some news from Louise before she died.

Regina, perhaps afraid Yuan might say something else, hurriedly gathered the memorandum and left.

Yuan stared at Regina’s retreating figure for a long time with an impassive face.

[This is the timeline separator]

“My lady. We have arrived. We’re quite late, so the master must have been very worried.”

Yuan just nodded silently in response to Mr. Mazarin’s concerned words.

Her chest was churning, and she couldn’t bring herself to unfold Louise’s notes right away.

If Louise, who had said she came to die in her place, had written words of resentment even in these short notes, she felt she wouldn’t be able to bear it.

Yuan debated whether to just cherish the thought that Louise had tried to send her news, or whether she should open the notes and at least listen to the words of her sister who was now dead.

Yuan soon dismissed Mr. Mazarin, saying she would get out on her own, and unfolded the crumpled notes in the quiet carriage.

Then she poured water from the canteen to wet the paper and rubbed the letters with her finger.

The greeting asking how she was and why there was no reply disappeared, and red letters emerged.

It was the method her sister used to leave secret notes to her relatives.

【Yuan. I have ‘the ability to give my pain to others’.】

Yuan’s hand began to tremble faintly.