Steve walked out just like that.

From the moment he stepped out, he headed straight for the Odoi mansion.

Even though he knew what kind of reception he would receive if he returned right away, he wanted to confirm.

‘It can’t be true. It must be a lie to shake me up.’

He absolutely didn’t think it was true.

He thought it was false information to shake him up until the end.

Because he had never once thought that the duchess might not be his mother.

So he was confident that what Clea said was entirely false.

But despite that confidence, he carried anxiety.

He was worried about the possibility.

If by any chance her words were really true, it would be a huge disaster.

‘In the empire, an illegitimate child is truly the worst.’

An illegitimate child cannot inherit the family.

Never, if there is a legitimate child.

Even if an illegitimate child inherits because there’s no one else, that family is not treated as whole.

He imagined.

If that slight possibility was really true, the entire family would pass to Clea.

No matter if he’s the eldest son, if he’s illegitimate, Clea would have priority inheritance rights.

‘That can’t be.’

Putting aside negative thoughts as much as possible, he arrived at the mansion.

“Young master, where have you been!”

As soon as he arrived, people who spotted him shouted.

Steve frowned, finding the noise very irritating.

But the current situation in the mansion was very bad.

Right now, Grit’s mood was at its worst.

Who knew what would happen the moment he encountered Steve here.

The servants thought it would be better to have him stay quietly in the house first, then meet after Grit’s mood calmed down.

“I need to see Father.”

“Young master, the duke is not in a good mood now, so it would be better to meet him later…”

“I’m going to see him right now!”

“Young master!”

Steve glared at the servants with fierce eyes.

The servants backed away at that gaze.

They wanted to dissuade him to the end if they could.

But if they stopped him now, they felt afraid they might be kicked out of the mansion without a letter of recommendation.

Moreover, Steve’s attitude was also aggressive.

Thinking he had been completely ignored by Clea, whom he usually disregarded, and even by Bawin, who was just a viscount family, he was going completely out of control.

At least in this household, thinking he was second in rank.

“Father, I have something to talk about.”

“How dare you crawl in here! Get out of this house immediately!”

He roughly flung open the door to the study used by the head of the family.

If nothing was wrong, Grit was always there.

As he expected, Grit’s figure was visible.

Grit frowned when he saw who had roughly opened the door and entered, and ordered them to leave.

However, Steve did not back down at all.

Rather, he went inside and stood in front of Grit.

Grit was startled at this sight.

He was about to get up from his seat and personally use both hands to drive Steve out of the house.

But before that, he stopped his action at one word that came out of Steve’s mouth.

“Father, do you know about my birth?”

Birth.

At that one word, Grit’s body froze.

At the same time, he looked at the gazes of those beyond the door.

Grit gave a look to the butler among them.

Understanding that gaze, the butler quietly approached and closed the door.

Soon the sound of people retreating was heard.

At that, Grit calmly took a deep breath.

Originally, he would have hit him a few times when he returned, to make him come to his senses.

But now there was a more important conversation to have than that.

“Why are you saying such things?”

He wondered who had told him such things.

So he asked about that first.

If there was someone among the people he knew who had said unnecessary things to Steve, he thought they should all be dealt with.

“Father, please tell me. Is it really true that my mother did not give birth to me?”

But Steve wanted to hear the answer to his question first, rather than such things.

Grit knew well who Steve meant by mother.

He clicked his tongue inwardly.

Whenever he thought of her, he thought of Clea.

Though she was his daughter, she was more of an obstacle than a daughter.

Grit examined Steve.

Steve’s eyes were trembling with anxiety.

In fact, Grit was displeased from the moment he rushed to him like this.

Because he had come running, harboring suspicions that he might really be an illegitimate child.

So he chose.

“You are not illegitimate. Your mother, Lucy Odoi, gave birth to you herself at the villa. There are people who saw her give birth by her side.”

“Then why was Clea born at the capital mansion, while I was born at the villa?”

“That’s because Lucy’s physical condition was not good at that time. There was a risk that both the mother and you could have been in danger, so we moved to a quiet place.”

It was more than 20 years ago.

Because it was not a short time, not many people would remember what happened then. But there must be some who remember it clearly as if it happened yesterday.

There were still people who remembered what condition the duchess’s health was in at that time.

But Steve didn’t seem to think in detail, and started to fall for Grit’s words.

“Is that really true?”

Hearing Grit’s confident words, the anxiety in his heart began to disappear.

Grit did not want to reveal the truth to Steve here and now.

Even now, Steve had a tendency to be easily swayed by others, starting with his indecisiveness.

If he learned that fact on top of this, it was obvious how severely he would be shaken.

“Yes, it’s true.”

Unless Steve showed a changed appearance, he was even thinking of never revealing the fact that he was illegitimate until he died.

“So don’t have useless thoughts. No matter what anyone says, you are the only heir to the Odoi family.”

The only heir.

He had no intention of giving the family to Clea.

To begin with, Clea was nothing more than a useful tool for Grit.

There was no reason to pass on the family, which was as good as everything to him, to a tool.

For him, the best choice was to make Steve the next Duke of Odoi.

Reassured by Grit’s confident words, Steve returned to his room.

After Steve left, Grit called in the butler.

“Find out where Steve was last. Judging by his appearance, it looks like he fought with someone, but given the good smell, it seems he wasn’t just on Curtis Street.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Grit also had a guess where Steve might have gone.

So he had already sent someone, but seeing that he came back first like this, it was clear that he had stopped by places other than just Curtis Street.

He felt uneasy in one corner of his heart.

‘It’s still bothersome.’

He was still bothered by what Clea had said to Grit earlier, as if threatening.

Among those who were aware of the secret of Steve’s birth, Clea was the only one he didn’t know about.

Of course, now that Clea knew, other people besides her might know too.

But the immediate problem now was Clea.

Even if she was the crown prince’s lover, for him it was a matter of his family and his child’s life.

If this ever became known, the great Odoi family would be completely disgraced, and Steve would end up unable to inherit the family.

There was a clear law that illegitimate children cannot inherit the family.

‘I’ll have to take action soon.’

Thinking that the secret shouldn’t be known to more people if possible, there was a knife in his hand.

“It would have been better if she didn’t know.”

For him, Clea was nothing more than sharing blood, nothing else.

* * *

“I heard the Odoi young master came by.”

“Yes, he came and went.”

“Was there any trouble?”

Right now, Admund was going through a very busy period.

Even though Odin helped, he too was a very busy person.

For such a person to not handle work for a whole week, the pile-up was mountainous.

Moreover, that week was not spent resting either, so fatigue must have accumulated as well.

So Clea stopped visiting to avoid disturbing Admund.

It was consideration hoping he could focus solely on work, but the other party didn’t seem to like it, as he came to visit like this himself.

Admund was looking at her with worried eyes.

“What if something had happened?”

To the question asked out of simple curiosity, Admund said while gritting his teeth.

“I should storm into the duke’s house and make that bastard kneel before you!”

It might sound like a joke, but Admund’s eyes were filled with a coldness that suggested it was not a joke at all.

Clea didn’t like Admund’s expression, so she placed her hand on his cheek.

His warmth, still like a hand warmer, was satisfying.

“What if that increases the noble faction’s power?”

“If we say he was rude to the crown princess, wouldn’t they understand too?”

“We haven’t even held the wedding yet?”

“That doesn’t change anything.”

Clea chuckled at him speaking as if confirming that nothing would change.

She really liked these times of day when she could talk with him like this. Hoping these times wouldn’t change either, she opened her mouth again.

“Nothing happened, but as you said, I think I need to visit the Odoi mansion once.”

It seemed she needed to visit once.

Having learned what kind of relationship he had with Aria in the past, she felt the need to sort things out once.

The need to sort out the things that held memories with her in the past.