After that day, Reus didn’t come near me except during meal and sleep times. Even then, there were more days when we weren’t together than when we were, as I avoided him for various reasons.

But despite my uncaring attitude, Reus didn’t say anything. Rather, he desperately avoided me as if afraid of being punished for disobeying my order to not come close.

The current situation was terribly wrong. I should be the one being considerate, not Reus. What right did I have to…

However, I still didn’t have the confidence to face Reus again.

‘Now that I’ve gotten used to not seeing him, I can’t go back to how things were before…’

I was scared I might get angry again without knowing my place, and afraid Reus would say it was obviously his fault.

I hated myself for not being able to do anything while knowing we couldn’t go on like this forever. I didn’t have the courage to completely push him away, nor the audacity to brazenly stand by Reus’s side.

I especially couldn’t bring myself to tell him that I had learned the truth about his parents’ death.

Would we continue in this state until the rebellion approached and we died together?

‘I don’t want… Reus to die.’

As I was staring blankly out the window, I suddenly heard someone approaching.

Reus was always a man who approached very carefully, so today’s visitor must be…

“Theron.”

“You’re not even surprised anymore.”

Theron sat down naturally next to me and leaned back comfortably against the chair.

“…What brings you here?”

“What else? It’s because you look so gloomy. How bad must it have been for him to send me?”

So Reus sent him. Even though he hated me being with Theron so much…

“What’s the matter?”

Theron glanced at me as if telling me to just start talking. I couldn’t decide which words to begin with. But suddenly I remembered a conversation we had on the cruise before.

[“If you don’t know exactly, don’t try to find out more and just live like that. It’s not something you did, so what does it matter? It’s not like you’re going back to Ibel, right?”]

Maybe Theron had some idea why I was acting this way.

He must have known we went to the Imperial Palace, and Theron was always the one advising me to run away before becoming unhappy.

“Why. What. What’s the problem this time?”

“You know, don’t you? The reason I’m like this…”

Theron’s expression showed he was caught off guard as my mouth closed immediately.

“That’s the only reason I can think of for you to be angry…”

“Maybe, does Reus… know too?”

“Since you’re not saying anything, I don’t know. Well, he does seem to genuinely not know. You two have had times when you weren’t on good terms, so he might be recalling those times…”

There was a moment of silence before Theron spoke again, as if he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“So what nonsense did the Emperor spout to make you like this?”

I wanted to answer right away, but tears welled up involuntarily at the thought of my father. Having to bring up such a thing was too painful.

“Father… That is, Father…”

If it was this hard just to tell Theron, would I ever be able to bring it up to Reus?

“The carriage, he caused an accident… Reus’s parents died because of my father…”

As soon as he heard my words, Theron cursed roughly. For a moment, I harbored a glimmer of hope that perhaps I had been deceived by the Emperor.

However, that hope was soon shattered by Theron’s troubled expression.

“It’s true that Earl Ibel caused the carriage accident…”

“…”

Since learning the truth from the Emperor, I couldn’t stop thinking about the carriage accident. Because of that, my emotions constantly fluctuated between depression and despair.

But as soon as I heard Theron’s words, the despair became vivid, as if I was hearing about the accident for the first time. Tears flowed endlessly.

At that moment, Theron, who had been silent for a while, began to speak again.

“Have I ever told you how I met Reus?”

“No…”

“Before I start, let me clarify one thing. It’s true that Earl Ibel caused the carriage accident, and it’s true that the Grand Duchess died because of it.”

“…”

“But the Grand Duke… Reus’s father isn’t dead.”

“But I heard he definitely died in the carriage accident…”

“Haven’t you heard that the body was mutilated?”

Come to think of it, I vaguely remembered seeing something like that in an old article about the Grand Duke couple’s carriage accident.

Things like the Grand Duchess being buried in the Grand Duke’s territory, but the Grand Duke’s body was never found, leading to speculation that he might have met his demise by wild animals, according to the Imperial announcement.

“Only the Grand Duke’s arm was found at the time. But you know what’s funny? Even that was intentionally done by someone.”

My heart sank at those words. I could hardly breathe at the thought that the culprit was my father, Earl Ibel. But Theron soon mentioned someone completely different.

“It was my father who did that.”

“…What?”

“He cut off the arm of a living person, and… well, Reus’s father wasn’t killed by Earl Ibel.”

I couldn’t understand what Theron was saying at all.

“So, it wasn’t my father…”

“It was my father who dragged the Grand Duke, who survived the carriage accident, before the Emperor. Earl Ibel only caused the carriage accident.”

Theron’s tone was extremely calm, as if devoid of any emotion, but strangely, an unfathomable sadness could be felt.

After exhaling a shaky sigh, Theron began to speak again as if nothing had happened.

“I know that saying this won’t erase Earl Ibel’s guilt, nor will it lighten your heart.”

“…”

“But still, what’s wrong should be corrected.”

I realized from Theron’s steady gaze at me. In fact, this confession wasn’t to correct the truth, but a difficult recounting of his own past story to comfort me.

“Honestly, I still don’t know. How to atone for my sins to Reus. That bastard doesn’t say anything or make any demands of me, but… well. The feelings of those left behind aren’t like that, you know. Even if it’s not a mistake we committed ourselves.”

Theron, who had learned the truth about the Grand Duke couple’s death much earlier than me, didn’t show a fluctuation in his emotions, but he seemed no different from how I am now.

Whether I should view the sins of the parents who gave birth to me as completely separate from myself or not. Whether I am a sinner’s daughter to Reus. Or if I’m just a sinner by my very existence.

“Also, just because he doesn’t say anything doesn’t mean I know how Reus thinks of me. Maybe seeing me reminds him of old memories and it’s painful, or he might be fine and then suddenly hate me.”

“…”

“But there are a few things I can tell you for certain.”

“What are they…?”

“That there isn’t just one culprit in this incident. Both Earl Ibel and my father are equally guilty. So there’s no reason for you to act as if your father committed all the crimes, and that it’s all your fault just because of blood ties.”

“But…”

“Roel. There are others who should be suffering.”

It seems I wanted to hear these words from someone, as tears started flowing again shamelessly.

“And the real culprit is the Emperor. The person who’s trying to shake you two even in this moment by using Reus’s father.”

Thanks to Theron, I learned that it wasn’t solely my father’s fault.

However, it also meant that the fact of being the blood of a sinner remained unchanged, so the tears of sadness quickly turned into guilt.

“Yeah. Dividing up whose fault it is doesn’t change the fact that Reus is completely innocent.”

“…”

“But apart from the guilt, it also doesn’t change the fact that we’re not at fault. It’s inevitable to feel guilty even knowing that.”

Soon, as if this was the answer he had come to after a long time of grappling with this dilemma, Theron finished speaking and stared at me intently.

“It’s enough for us to not interfere with whatever choice Reus makes.”

The choice probably meant revenge against the Emperor, in other words, rebellion.

Even if Reus started a rebellion and died as in the original story… if that’s what he wanted, I had no right to stop him.

It was depressing, but Theron was right about this. On this issue, we had to accept whatever Reus’s opinion was.

“Thank you, Theron…”

It was clear that Theron had also fought a lonely battle to reach this conclusion. Yet he readily shared his story and sincerely comforted me.

Moreover, he added that there was no need to feel guilty anymore, though he said it indirectly.

Of course, since it wasn’t coming from Reus, the victim, it couldn’t serve as absolution. Both Theron who spoke and I knew this fact.

But thanks to Theron’s comfort, I was able to shed at least some of the anguish that wasn’t my share to bear.

“So stop suffering now. If you’re like this, Reus will die of heartache. Okay?”

When I smiled awkwardly, Theron said,

“It’s funny to be telling you what to do in this situation. But don’t leave him alone for too long. Reus relies on you much more than you think.”

“…”

“Whatever choice you make after that.”