The scenery of the garden visible beyond the balcony was colorful, tinged with autumn foliage.

It had already been two months since Blair left.

By now, her belly would have grown considerably. Even her outward appearance would show that she was pregnant. Sleeping at night would have become uncomfortable, and the baby’s movements would likely have started.

And by her side would be another man. Not himself.

Imagining Blair happily smiling in another man’s arms, his blood ran cold. At the same time, the mana within his body began to surge.

Feeling the mana writhing uncontrollably, Herdin bit down hard on his left hand. His teeth dug into his palm as bright red blood dripped down.

But Herdin’s eyes remained cold. As if accustomed to the pain.

Mana is greatly influenced by emotions. Especially destructive emotions like anger or murderous intent.

This was even more so for the descendants of House Delmark, who were born with more mana than others and had more occasions to use that power.

As the price for having stronger powers than ordinary people, they always had to live with the risk of going berserk.

For this reason, the heirs who inherited the power of House Delmark learned from a young age how to control their emotions and mana.

Herdin too had learned to control his emotions and mana from childhood, so he didn’t lose control of his mana from being swept up in emotions over trivial matters.

But ever since Blair disappeared, it became difficult to control the mana that boiled up with his emotions.

Whenever that happened, he would inflict wounds on himself to turn his uncontrollable emotions into pain, in order to control his mana.

As if to prove this, there were traces of barely healed teeth marks next to the bitten palm.

As the surging mana gradually subsided, a question that had gone unanswered for the past two months arose in his cooled mind.

It had been one-sided love from the beginning.

Still, it was fine. I was confident I could cherish you more, make you happier, love you more.

So I thought that if we lived together, someday you would come to love me too. And yet…

Why?

Why did you choose that bastard?

I could make you happier than that penniless bastard. I could cherish you more.

I could love you more.

I couldn’t accept it.

That you left me, that you don’t love me.

If I stopped looking for you, it felt like I would have to acknowledge and accept your feelings toward me, so I couldn’t stop.

No, I didn’t want to stop.

“…”

Herdin stared blankly at the bright red blood flowing down his hand.

Strangely, the more the pain increased, the more blood he shed, the more he felt his raging emotions being quenched.

Feeling the metallic taste on his lips, he watched the scene indifferently. As darkness crept in around his feet, he stood up. Then he roughly staunched the wound with a handkerchief and left the room.

Next to the droplets of blood on the floor, there were bloodstains that seemed to have dried long ago.

* * *

When the harvest season arrives, those wishing to donate to the temple also increase. Along with them, noble ladies seeking fresh air also frequent the temple.

Today too, a gathering place for noble ladies was held in the backyard of the temple’s main hall.

As usual, after discussing the gossip of high society, they brought up the recurring topic that had been the talk of the town for the past two months when they ran out of things to say.

“By the way, have they still not found the Duchess of Delmark?”

“How could they find her? She ran away pregnant with another man’s child, so if she’s caught, she’ll obviously become the laughingstock of the entire nation. She definitely won’t be caught easily.”

“Only the Duke has become pitiful.”

“Not at all. Once three months have passed since the Duchess’s disappearance, the Duke can divorce her and take any other woman as his wife.”

According to the laws of the Ardel Empire, if a spouse’s whereabouts remain unknown for three months, one can divorce unilaterally.

“It’s only His Majesty the Emperor who desired harmony with House Delmark that has been disadvantaged. The imperial family’s reputation has also been tarnished due to having such an immoral sister.”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true. His Majesty probably didn’t know that the prim and proper imperial princess was consorting with another man behind the scenes.”

“That aside, I wonder who will be the next Duchess of Delmark?”

“Well… I’m not sure who it will be, but it will be quite tiresome. Having been deceived once by that chaste imperial princess, House Delmark will surely scrutinize potential brides in various ways.”

“At this point, I feel sorry for Lady Rachel.”

Just as the noble ladies were laughing behind their fans, they sensed someone approaching.

Seeing him, the noble ladies hurriedly shut their mouths.

“What interesting conversation are you all having?”

It was Pope Gerard.

The noble ladies couldn’t readily answer and gave awkward smiles.

They felt somewhat uncomfortable about revealing that they had been gossiping about others’ misfortunes in front of the benevolent Pope.

“We were just talking about the goings-on in the world. For women who don’t leave the house, talking about worldly affairs is our only entertainment. By the way, will Your Holiness be conducting today’s service?”

“Since many esteemed guests have visited, I plan to join in the service together.”

The noble ladies who had naturally changed the subject said they would wait in the chapel and quietly left.

Gerard’s expression, which had been wearing a benevolent smile, turned cold as he watched the retreating figures of the noble ladies.

Two months had passed since Blair caused a huge scandal and disappeared.

‘Useless wench.’

Upon hearing the news, Gerard first angrily checked whether the imprint binding Herdin and Blair had been broken.

Though he couldn’t be sure if the scandal was true, fortunately, the imprint remained. And it was still valid even now, two months later.

But that alone wasn’t enough to put his mind at ease.

To complete the tragedy of House Delmark that he was orchestrating, the two needed to be together again. Before their imprint disappeared.

Gerard had sent people across the continent to find Blair. However, contrary to his expectation that she would be found quickly, the search was facing difficulties.

She was evading them as if she had anticipated being pursued.

Even though Blair, who firmly believed Gerard to be her benefactor, had no way of knowing that fact.

Still, it should be about time to find her by now.

He was starting to feel anxious, wondering if the imprint between the two might disappear in the meantime.

It was then that a priest who handled all of Gerard’s affairs approached with hurried steps to deliver news.

“Your Holiness.”

“We have found the Duchess.”

* * *

In the port city of Nerha, located on the eastern side of the Kingdom of Clania.

A small house stood in a place with a clear view of the sea. It was a small school where local children came to learn foreign languages.

The port city of Nerha, with shipping routes connecting to other continents, inevitably had many foreigners and outsiders passing through. Foreign languages were essential to communicate with them.

For this reason, the townspeople established a small school to teach foreign languages to children and invited teachers.

However, despite the parents’ meaningful investment, it was just an unwanted study for the children.

“Ah, I don’t want to go to school. Let’s skip school and go play instead?”

One of the three boys heading to school along the seaside asked, yawning with his mouth wide open. The bespectacled boy recoiled in disgust.

“Then my mom would chase us to school right away! I don’t want to go.”

“Tsk, a boy shouldn’t be such a coward.”

Clicking his tongue at his friend’s timidity, the boy asked the black-haired boy next to him.

“Chris, what about you?”

The boy thought Chris would naturally join in his truancy. Though he had become strangely well-behaved recently, originally it was always Chris who initiated such mischief.

But the answer that came back completely missed the mark.

“I’m not going.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. If you want to go, go by yourself, Peter.”

Chris indifferently retorted and went ahead to school without his friends. He was carrying a book written in the common language of the Ardel Empire.

Peter, who was watching his retreating figure with bewildered eyes, asked the bespectacled boy.

“Hey, Robin. Did something happen to Chris recently? Why did he suddenly become a different person?”

“It’s the day for Imperial language class today.”

“So what?”

“Don’t you know? He likes the new Imperial language teacher. That’s why he’s been studying Imperial language hard these days.”

“What?”

Peter blinked in astonishment.

‘But… the teacher is an adult ten years older than us!’

How could he like an adult? I really can’t understand Chris.

Peter shook his head and headed to school with Robin.

Chris, who had arrived at the small school first, was greeting the Imperial language teacher with an extremely polite manner unfamiliar to Peter and Robin.

As Peter and Robin approached the two people talking, the Imperial language teacher seemed to sense their presence and turned her head.

“Welcome, Peter. Robin.”

“Hello, teacher.”

Facing Blair who greeted them with a bright smile, Peter felt somehow embarrassed and greeted her a beat later than Robin.

“Ah, hello.”

Now he could understand Chris’s feelings a little.

Indeed, the new Imperial language teacher was kinder and gentler than any adult they had met before. She was also the prettiest person they had met in their short 11 years of life.

“Teacher!”

Just then, children started arriving one by one.

As Blair was exchanging greetings with the children, the sound of bells ringing from the distant bell tower announced the hour.

Blair opened the door and led the children into the classroom.

“Children, shall we go in for class now?”

“Yes!”

As the children rushed into the school, Blair looked outside one last time as she entered last.

As always, the blue sea was rolling.

After gazing at that scenery for a moment, Blair smiled softly and closed the door.

It was the start of another peaceful day, just like any other.