“Most of all, I have my own family now. Not you.”

“You have a family?”

An indescribable rage flashed in Damian’s eyes.

“Are you talking about that Duke Blanched? He’s not your family.”

A strange vibration was felt from the floor. A sensation of goosebumps.

‘It’s magic.’

The sound of tidy footsteps was heard.

A low man’s voice echoed in the prison cell.

“Wife. Are you okay?”

Johan entered the cell. He met my gaze and smiled kindly.

“Didn’t those trash say anything strange to you?”

Whether he was trying to provoke me, his voice strangely cold. I scratched my cheek awkwardly and laughed innocently.

“I don’t know what kind of sound is strange.”

Then, I slowly moved my eyes.

The Duke and Duchess of Libertan, Johan, and me.

It would be difficult for these three to gather in one place again. So, it seemed good to seize this opportunity.

“But I’ve confirmed what I wanted to confirm. Now, only the Duke is my family.”

“……Only me?”

“Do you dislike it?”

From my point of view, I had clearly drawn a line with the Duke and Duchess of Libertan. Because it didn’t seem like they would answer any more about the curse.

‘But it might be different for Johan.’

Johan was silent for a moment.

Bang! Bang!

Damian roared and raged. However, no voice came out. Only the sound of the iron bars shaking echoed emptily.

Rosaria, on the other hand, shrank at the sight of Damian behaving like that.

“Still, I can’t just leave them alone after they touched my wife.”

Johan’s smooth face elegantly turned to the two. The shadow rose up in an instant, grabbed Damian and Rosaria’s heads, and shook them hard.

“Wife, how would you like me to deal with this?”

A tinge appeared in Johan’s red eyes.

Perhaps this was a test. A test of whether I would truly betray him or not.

‘It’s rather good.’

There could be no more evidence that I was not a subject of revenge than now.

“I’m fine. …Do as my husband wishes.”

This time, I used the term husband deliberately instead of Duke. And I cautiously hooked my arm into Johan’s.

Then Johan looked at me and smiled softly.

“As my wife wishes.”

Johan naturally escorted me out.

I left the place with Johan without looking back. Because they were no longer people I would say goodbye to.

“Why! You said you loved us!”

Rosaria, who had not been silenced, shouted from behind.

“Why has your mind changed suddenly? You said you would fill Stella’s position! Why do you look at us with those eyes…!”

How ridiculous.

“Estelle!”

The last thing I heard from them was that.

Ah, the air in the prison is indeed not very good. It doesn’t seem to be a place to come twice.

The shadow that held Rosaria and Damian slammed their heads into the iron bars and disappeared.

It was definitely a huge shock, but they didn’t have the sanity to feel the pain from what they just went through.

‘Estelle has changed.’

The person they saw just now was definitely their adopted daughter, Estelle. The stupid daughter who was starved of affection even as they ignored and abused her.

However, while they looked the same on the outside, this was not the Estelle they knew.

She seemed indifferent as if she didn’t even notice their pleas. She had always been affectionate towards them, treating them tenderly with her pitiful expressions and gestures.

But now, Estelle didn’t spare them a glance.

In the past, Estelle’s sapphire eyes always held pure affection. Her gaze was always directed only at them.

“Mother! Father! I was wrong. I’ll try harder.”

It was an affection that they could always easily receive.

The gaze that had strived to do everything possible for them. It seemed like her gaze would never change no matter when.

But what they had just seen was not the Estelle that the Duke and Duchess knew.

What they thought was a given had disappeared.

Their plan to use Estelle to get outside, their plan to make Estelle give false testimony, all of their schemes to survive evaporated.

Because there was no longer any affection in her eyes.

Throughout the return journey, Johan didn’t ask anything.

“You don’t look well. What did they tell you in there?”

“Nothing really happened. You can ask Betty later.”

“If that’s the case, then fine. Because I trust you.”

He had confused me.

“I was just worried because you didn’t look well.”

No matter how I thought about it, Johan should have heard from Betty about the situation.

‘Shouldn’t it be suspicious?’

Of course, he could call Betty secretly later and listen.

‘Yes. He’s probably saying this in front of me now.’

In this way, he was more interested in winning my heart. But Betty, who had come with us, was not in a state to give accurate testimony.

‘She seemed a bit shocked by the mention of the curse.’

It would certainly be surprising to hear that a close person was cursed.

‘But the Duke and Duchess of Libertan denied it.’

Even if Betty tells everything to Johan, there won’t be a big variable.

I’ve already prepared an excuse for Johan.

I’ve been so frail since childhood and I often fell ill, which was strange, so I suspected a curse.

It might sound a bit strange to say that I had never had contact with anyone and asked the Duke and Duchess once.

‘It might be suspicious, but.’

He couldn’t pursue it any further if I made a mistake in my words.

On the way back from meeting the Duke and Duchess of Libertan, who I had been waiting for a long time.

Even though I saw the downfall of those who abused me, I didn’t feel angry or pleased. I was just utterly indifferent.

‘I don’t know why I was so attached.’

But it seems they meant something to me.

‘It seemed like they had changed… that must have been my mistake.’

Somehow, despite being feeble, there seemed to be a spark in their eyes. But it was clear that it was because they were going through a major crisis, a downfall.

‘I need to go back and rest.’

I turned my gaze and looked out the window.

I thought it was about time for the summer festival, but it seemed to have already started. Flowers decorated for the summer festival were visible on every street I passed.

“Ma’am. Is there anything you want to do?”

“You know that it was even hard to see my parents.”

“Not that.”

Johan tapped the window I was looking at with his long finger, as if something wasn’t to his liking.

“Didn’t you receive an invitation to the masquerade?”

I suddenly remembered the invitation I had received through Betty.

‘I wanted to go……’

I had been locked up in the Duke of Libertan’s house, living a life completely distant from such parties. The masquerade itself seemed exciting.

“Shall we go to the masquerade together? We haven’t had a date since we got married.”

In the moment of my hesitation, Johan stood up a little. The carriage was spacious, but it seemed a bit cramped for his long legs.

“You don’t need to think too hard.”

“But how can I go to the… after the Libertan Dukedom was exterminated for treason…”

“It’s a masquerade after all. No one will know.”

It was an absurd consolation.

If my identity was revealed, it would certainly lead to a lot of trouble.

‘I can’t make things difficult for a little fun.’

I had even forgotten that I received the invitation before Johan mentioned it. Then Johan, who was sitting next to me, naturally put his hand on my opposite shoulder and pulled me into an embrace.

In the enclosed space, just the two of us.

I could feel his scent as the distance between us closed.

“What does that have to do with the lady?”

Unconsciously, he firmly grasped my hand. Although the hand donned in black gloves was cold, surprisingly, I felt warmth.

“The lady is Blanchett, isn’t she? Estelle Blanchett.”

Since I had to pretend not to know that we weren’t officially married, it was more difficult to argue further.

“Then I want to go. Together, the two of us.”

“Okay. Together.”

Thinking about it, only one person came to mind when I thought of a masquerade.

‘The Crown Prince.’