Benjamin had asked if he would be okay until the very end of his departure.

Each time, Aden would only nod his head once to convey that he was fine.

In the end, when Benjamin left and Beressa also disappeared to handle important matters, the black wall was tinged with silence.

After a week, the backlog of work disappeared and nothing remained on Aden’s desk. Nevertheless, he sat there.

As if searching for something, or as if waiting for something. He just sat there, staring at the door that wouldn’t open, and got up from his seat when time passed.

Something broke.

Benjamin had evaluated him like that, but Aden didn’t think so. He had always been like this.

He struggled alone here to protect the family.

He didn’t talk much with anyone and rarely spent time with others.

So there was a discrepancy in Benjamin’s words.

He returned to his daily routine. The routine ready to return whenever Ludmila disappeared.

It just came a little earlier. So, there was nothing strange about it.

Slowly rising from his seat, Aden opened the door and went out.

His aimless steps led him to the garden, under the white plum tree.

The white petals, now fading away, were falling desolately as if erasing traces of that brilliant night.

“Master.”

While he was staring at the pure white petals hanging on the branches, a soft call came from behind.

Turning his head, Aden found Salom who had approached at some point and narrowed his eyes.

“Someone has come from the imperial palace. It seems they intend to proceed with the procedure to confirm your corpse.”

“…”

“If you still don’t want to reveal yourself, I’ll send someone else.”

“No.”

Aden shook his head briefly and turned around.

“I’ll go.”

Salom nodded, accepting Aden’s will, and stepped aside to make way.

As Aden was returning to the castle, he suddenly stopped just as he was passing by Salom.

He turned his head to look at the white plum tree standing behind, then opened his mouth softly.

“Pull out all the trees.”

“Pardon? But…”

“They are trees that don’t suit the black wall.”

Unlike the flustered Salom, Aden gave the order in a calm tone and walked towards the castle.

Salom, looking alternately at him and the tree with a blank face, bit his lip and dropped his shoulders heavily. White petals were still falling silently from the tree.

For Ludmila, revenge was never really important. She thought it was enough just to be able to live.

Even when she asked for Kedilen to be killed, it wasn’t because she hated him, but because she believed it was the right answer to escape from hell.

After meeting Aden, revenge became even less of a priority.

If she could be with him, there was no need to kill anyone anymore.

But that man died.

Because he believed the reckless request she had made in the past was the right answer. The moment he fell, the tombstone erected with his spilled blood was seeking a sacrifice.

There were three people to ascend there.

One was her husband Kedilen, then the one who killed Aden. And lastly, herself.

Ludmila no longer hesitated. She staked everything on willingly offering herself as a sacrifice.

Though the blood of three people couldn’t console Aden’s death, it was the least atonement.

Therefore, she drew the strongest and most lethal card she knew.

Please kill my husband.

To break this terrible cycle that started with her request.

As Jeffrey looked at his half-sister sitting in front of him with her chin propped up, a moment of bewilderment flashed across his eyes.

He narrowed his eyes as if to confirm whether what he had just heard was true, but her unwavering gaze and expression told him that Ludmila was certainly not talking nonsense.

We’ll need tea.

Jeffrey, who got up from his seat and returned with a teapot and teacups, looked at Ludmila while brewing the tea himself.

The red eyes calmly meeting his gaze felt particularly chilly today.

Was she always like this? As Jeffrey recalled the past years of knowing Ludmila, he shook his head slightly.

She was originally of a calm and gentle temperament, not matching this well-honed knife-like appearance.

And yet she comes out like this.

Jeffrey smiled gently as he pushed the cup filled with tea towards her.

“I wonder how long it’s been since we sat face to face and had tea like this, Ludmila.”

“There’s no need to express it as ‘how long.’ It’s the first time.”

Ludmila, holding the teacup, tilted it with a composed face.

Jeffrey, who had been staring at her intently, also grasped his teacup and leaned back.

After a moment of silence as he tried to gauge her intentions, Jeffrey swallowed a light sigh.

In the end, what he had been worried about happened.

Ludmila had found out his secret. Shared Whissel, false investments, and fraud.

Ludmila, who had precisely mentioned what he had been trying to hide, couldn’t have come this far without knowing the full story. He had hoped she wouldn’t know.

Jeffrey was displeased with the unwelcome news. But at the same time, he could find hope.

The fact that Ludmila came here with that information meant she had some purpose.

If he could just fulfill that, he could bury that secret forever.

“What do you want?”

He wanted to strangle that neck and hide the secret in complete darkness, but there was no chance Ludmila had come without any precautions.

There must be preventive measures. He had to keep her alive until he confirmed that.

“I want to regain my status as a member of the imperial family.”

The silence was broken when Jeffrey was starting to feel anxious about his sister who was still tilting her cup and keeping her mouth shut.

Just before he opened his mouth. Ludmila revealed her purpose.

“Status as a member of the imperial family?”

Jeffrey, who barely managed to hold back a laugh that almost burst out, furrowed his brow.

When a princess left the palace, they withdrew her status as a member of the imperial family. A member of the imperial family who wasn’t a member of the imperial family.

Wanting to regain that status meant, in other words, that she wanted a divorce.

“The marriage to Duke Erdi was a political marriage. It was hosted by the imperial family. Especially, it’s not hard to guess that your influence, brother, was the strongest.”

“…”

“That means I think the imperial family can nullify this marriage.”

“It’s easy to start things, but hard to undo what’s already been done.”

Jeffrey cut off the proposal at once. Duke Erdi was a useful card.

If he took Ludmila, whom he so craved, away from such a man, it was unknown what kind of obstacle he might become later.

Was there any need to take such a risk?

“I don’t know what the problem is, but you are the wife of Duke Erdi. Coming here like this and asking for a divorce is not an adult thing to do.”

Ludmila held the cards, but she was still a half-wit girl who obeyed his words.

He had to snatch those cards and kill her before she realized how great the cards she held were.

Jeffrey’s smile settled gently on his lips as he pretended to comfort Ludmila, trying to send her back.

“You seem to have some complaints, so I’ll talk to Duke Erdi. So…”

“How is Lady Rubiche doing?”

“…What?”

Jeffrey’s words stopped at the name Rubiche as he was speaking with a smile.

Jeffrey’s eyes widened at Ludmila’s gaze, which was staring at him with eyes resembling the gentle flames of the fireplace.

“I can’t imagine how sad Duke Cellano would be if he heard about this. If such carefully hidden information were to spread, even the glorious Cellano duchy couldn’t avoid criticism.”

“You…”

“Will you show the same reaction even then?”

There was no more room for composure.

The moment Ludmila, who had been like a well-honed knife, finally pierced his vitals, his weakness was exposed.

It was dangerous to put on airs in front of an opponent who knew where to strike the vital point.

No matter how much of a child she was, as long as she held a sharp sword in her hand, he had to be careful.

Jeffrey, biting his lip, glared at Ludmila and then burst into a bitter laugh.

He had tried to poison Ludmila or kill her by disguising it as an accidental death using Baron Ferington.

He had even assassinated her by grabbing her lifeline and dragging her into a hunting competition to hunt a beast.

It was a surprising coincidence that Ludmila was close to that beast, but it was a good opportunity for him. An opportunity to eliminate unpleasant things at once.

Aden and Ludmila. In the end, their lives were the goal, and he was just one step away from achieving that goal.

But what made him stagger, who hadn’t been swept away by the raging typhoon and rushing river, was ultimately a single flower seed drifting on the wind.

Jeffrey frankly admitted it. That he had been caught in reverse while trying to use Ludmila.

The most dangerous enemy to him now was Ludmila. Once he accepted that, he could see the choices he could make.

“Is that enough?”

Ludmila nodded briefly.

Jeffrey, who had been staring intently at his half-sister while pressing his fingers against his cheekbone, closed his eyes.

Not getting Duke Erdi was unpleasant, but it wasn’t as if there was no one to replace him.

If he couldn’t get Ludmila back, he would have been a person who would have declined and lost usefulness anyway.

“Fine, I accept the proposal. But remember, you too must keep your promise.”

Ludmila, who nodded briefly, stood up and turned around.

Jeffrey, who let out a bitter laugh at her movement without any lingering attachment, rested his hand on the chair and looked at her silently before tilting his chin.

“He must have been quite precious to you, I suppose?”

“…”

“A woman choosing divorce to keep faith with a dead man. You’re quite remarkable, even though you’re my sister. I wish Lady Rubiche could learn from that, it’s such a shame.”

Ludmila, who had been calmly receiving his voice while keeping her back straight, turned her head to look at Jeffrey.

“How do you know that, brother?”

At the chilly, almost cold gaze and voice, Jeffrey realized in an instant that he had made a mistake.

As his complexion hardened, unable to hide his wavering eyes, the corners of Ludmila’s mouth turned down crookedly.

“That’s the answer. Well then, I hope you’ll keep your promise.”

With those words, Ludmila turned around again and left the room.

Jeffrey, who had watched until the door opened and closed, ran his hand through his hair in the ensuing silence.

The slight mistake he had made, intoxicated by victory and filled with a sense of superiority, hit him painfully.

“…I’ll have to kill her quickly.”

Ludmila’s appearance, different from usual, as if she had made some decision, evoked an ominous feeling.

He had to blunt the knife before that ominousness stabbed him.

Jeffrey, who had chosen the surest method to do so, followed with his eyes the empty space left by his sister who had left the room.