“Your Grace.”

It was Mason.

As Herdin nodded at Luth while looking at him, Luth approached and opened the door to the office.

“What is it?”

“I tried to resolve it at my level as much as possible, but for some time now, the elders have been visiting every few days.”

At Mason’s words, Luth’s expression hardened.

‘I thought it had been quiet for a while.’

He had wondered why the people who would have been eager to pressure Herdin about marriage right after the rumors about Blair spread were so quiet until now. He didn’t even know Mason had been blocking them.

But meeting Herdin now was not a good situation.

The elders, full of desire to make their granddaughters the Duchess, were unlikely to act discreetly, and Herdin was unlikely to listen to those words calmly.

Especially now, Herdin was like an active volcano that could erupt at any moment.

Luth anxiously observed his lord’s expression.

Herdin, who had been listening to Mason’s words with his usual cold face, asked:

“Are they outside now?”

“For now, I told them to wait in front of the entrance as you ordered before.”

“I’ll go out.”

As Herdin stood up, Luth looked at him with puzzled eyes.

“Aren’t you going to invite the elders inside?”

“There’s no need to treat uninvited guests like visitors.”

Herdin replied as he left the office, pouring a glass of whiskey from the bottle on the desk.

Hearing those words, Luth was shocked, remembering that a few months ago, when the elders had visited unexpectedly, Herdin had threatened to ‘leave them outside next time they came without notice’.

‘I can’t believe he’s really going to leave the elders outside.’

Mason also seemed quite surprised by Herdin’s attitude of not letting the elders into the mansion in the end, but neither of them dared to object.

Herdin moistened his throat with whiskey and said to Luth, who was hurriedly following behind him:

“If you’re done with work, go home first.”

“Ah, that… I have something to ask you later.”

“Then talk now.”

“Ah, no. I’ll wait.”

In fact, he had no business. He just had an ominous feeling that something terrible would happen if he left Herdin and the elders alone.

Mason seemed to think the same, as he followed behind Herdin along with Luth.

When the three of them came out to the entrance of the mansion, they saw three carriages waiting.

The elders who had been waiting in the carriages saw Herdin and got out, approaching him.

“You should change the butler of the mansion soon, Your Grace. Even if old men are absent-minded and come without notice, to leave guests outside like this…”

“Knowing full well who it is and still treating us like this… He’s gotten so inflexible with age, tsk.”

“Let’s go inside and talk first. My knees are aching from sitting in the carriage for so long.”

As the elders were about to enter the mansion while badmouthing Mason to his face, Herdin, who had been watching them with cold eyes, opened his mouth.

“It was I who ordered uninvited guests to be left outside.”

“…Pardon?”

“I believe I clearly said last time that I would leave you outside if you came without notice. Have you forgotten already?”

“Hah! Are you really going to leave us old men standing here?”

“Or you could contact us in advance and come another day.”

They had visited the Duke’s residence several times over the past month to meet him, but had to leave empty-handed each time because Herdin had been away. If they missed him today, they didn’t know when they would be able to meet him again.

The elders hurriedly tried to stop him.

“Ahem! This doesn’t seem like the place for such talk. Let’s move inside first.”

They tapped their knees, subtly urging to be guided inside. They were using their age as a shield.

However, Herdin seemed to have no intention of yielding to them and remained cold.

“I’ll hear and judge that.”

Herdin moistened his lips by tilting the glass and asked.

“So what is it? This talk you want to have.”

After clearing their throats and exchanging glances for a moment, one of the elders began to speak.

“The position of Duchess is vacant, isn’t it?”

Herdin’s hand, which had been aimlessly swirling the glass of alcohol, stopped. A cold sneer flowed through his twisted teeth.

As expected, it was a conversation that didn’t deviate at all from his expectations.

It was amusing to see Ivan trying to maintain this marriage for his own face, and the vassals trying to seize the position of Duchess in this gap, playing tug of war.

“It’s about time you settle things and prepare to bring in a new mistress. That’s the only way to prevent that filthy rumor from further tarnishing Delmark, isn’t it?”

“Well, the position of mistress has never been vacant since I married last year until now. Surely you haven’t become senile already.”

“Your Grace!”

“The Duchess who is with child is away recuperating due to poor health. That’s all, the position of Delmark’s mistress has never been vacant.”

It was the second month since the rumor spread.

Everyone knew the news that the Duchess had run away in the night carrying another man’s child. And Herdin would not be unaware of this fact either.

No, he would know better than anyone else.

Yet his response like this meant that he had no intention of divorcing Blair.

The elders, who noticed what this implied, were aghast.

“Do you really intend to make that child, whose father is unknown, the heir of Delmark?”

As soon as the elder’s words ended, a sharp cracking sound rang out. It was the sound of the glass in Herdin’s hand crumpling.

At the same time, the atmosphere froze.

The broken glass fragments dug into his hand, creating red bloodlines. As if the dripping blood drops were not his own, his eyes looking at the elders were utterly emotionless. The sight was chilling.

“If the child in that belly is not mine, then whose child is it?”

A frosty voice resounding in the suffocating silence weighed down on the surroundings.

As those overwhelmed by the pressure were unable to open their mouths, one elder stepped forward with determined eyes.

“Does closing your eyes and ears make it untrue? Rumors are already rampant in the capital. That wanton woman, just like her mother, dared to conceive a seed from who knows what lowly man she—”

The elder’s words, which had begun boldly, were cut off before they could finish.

By Herdin’s knight’s sword, drawn and pointed in an instant.

“Say that again.”

“…”

“Who did what with whom?”

The glass fragments dug deeper into his hand holding the sword, further tearing the wound.

The red blood that flowed from that wound trickled down the tip of the sword he held, dripping onto the elder’s nape. For a moment, it looked as if it was blood from the elder’s neck.

Terrified by the red blood staining his clothes, the elder’s face turned deathly pale, barely able to breathe properly.

However, Herdin, who had the sword pointed at that neck, had a twisted smile on his lips. The sight was eerily grotesque.

It wasn’t just the elders who were shocked.

Luth too was frozen, unable to speak, at the sight of his lord that he had never seen before.

He was never one to show courtesy to the elders, but now…

He’s not in his right mind.

Though thinking he should stop him, he couldn’t utter a word, caught by the overwhelming pressure. It was the instinct of the weak.

It was Mason who broke the atmosphere where it wouldn’t have been strange if someone died right then.

He knelt before Herdin.

“It is my fault for not properly attending to the guests, Your Grace. Please calm your anger.”

Only then did Herdin’s gaze, which had been staring at the elder as if to kill him with his eyes, turn to Mason. At the same time, the mana that had been suppressed and flickering around him subsided.

After looking at Mason for a moment, Herdin turned to the elders and said:

“Blair Delmark is my wife, the mistress of Delmark, and your lord. And the child to be born through her womb is clearly my heir.”

“…”

“If you insult me again, you’ll have to offer your neck next time.”

Herdin threw down the sword he had withdrawn as if discarding it on the floor and turned away.

The elder who had barely escaped the situation sat down on the spot, gasping for breath.

“To be treated like this over just one woman…”

The sound of the elders lamenting could be heard from behind, but Herdin ignored it and entered the mansion. Luth, who had come to his senses a beat later, followed closely.

“Your Grace, please get your hand treated first. The wound looks quite serious…”

Ignoring Luth’s urging, Herdin came to the bathroom. Glass fragments were deeply embedded in his palm. It was from gripping the sword earlier.

Despite the wound being quite large, his eyes looking at the blood dripping onto the bathroom floor were as emotionless as if looking at someone else’s wound.

Questions preceded the pain.

If I say I’m dying, will you come?

You, who are tender-hearted and naive, would come without realizing it’s a trap. Then I could catch you then, couldn’t I?

But external wounds would be quickly treated by the priest coming, so this level wouldn’t be enough.

After finishing removing the fragments while seriously considering thoughts that even he thought were crazy, Herdin roughly bandaged the wound with a towel and entered the bathtub. His body splashed with alcohol felt unpleasant.

After finishing his shower and returning to the office, Herdin encountered two people waiting at the door.

Luth and Miela.

“Hello, Your Grace. I heard you were hurt, so I came.”

Herdin’s eyes coldly sank as he saw her greeting him.

Luth, unaware of Herdin’s feelings towards Miela, quickly added:

“Your wound seems quite deep. I brought the priest…”

“Send them back.”

Herdin sighed, roughly brushed up his bangs with his left hand, and turned away. At that moment, Miela grabbed his hand.

“It’ll only take a moment. Just to look at the wound—”

But Herdin swatted her hand away.

As Miela staggered back from the force, Luth, who had been watching from the side, supported her. Just as he was about to open his mouth, Herdin intercepted:

“Luth. This is as far as I’ll tolerate your impertinence.”

Though his voice was monotone, it was sufficiently intimidating.

“…I apologize.”

Luth bit his lip and bowed his head.

No matter how much it was for his lord’s sake, if he didn’t want it, it was presumptuous.

Just as Herdin was about to enter the office after settling the situation, hurried footsteps were heard from behind.

It was Caligo.

“Your Grace.”

Entering the office, he delivered the news Herdin had been waiting for.

“There’s someone who claims to have spotted the Duchess in Nerha.”