A carriage came to a stop in front of a villa located in the forest on the outskirts of Nerha.

Men dressed in black robes who had been waiting opened the carriage door. The person who stepped out of the carriage was Gerard, also dressed in a black robe.

Gerard asked while receiving their greetings.

“Are the preparations complete?”

“Everything has been prepared as ordered.”

Entering a room on the second floor of the villa, a fireplace was visible directly ahead. The man leading the way pulled out one of the bricks in the fireplace, and what had appeared to be a fireplace opened to reveal stairs leading underground.

Gerard descended to the basement alone, leaving the men behind.

In the center of the vast underground space, which matched the size of the entire villa, was a massive magic circle that seemed to be drawn in blood, and in the center of that magic circle lay the head of a black goat.

This was the place where his lifelong plan for revenge would be completed.

“That child… A child who resembles my brother terribly, surely his suffering expression will also resemble my brother’s face.”

Gerard, or rather ‘Logan Delmark’, recalled Kashion, the target of this revenge, and his son Herdin who looked just like him, as he smiled coldly.

Truly horrifying and loathsome faces.

Faces he had despised terribly from the moment he first set foot in the Delmark mansion forty years ago.

‘What is that filthy thing? I don’t need a brother.’

Logan, who had been living alone with his mother in the slums, lost his mother at the age of five and came to the Delmark ducal family.

Esmeralda pitied Logan and accepted him as a brother, but Kashion denied and disliked the existence of a brother who suddenly appeared one day.

Perhaps he felt an instinctive sense of crisis that this sibling might take his place.

At that time, Kashion was only seven years old.

As he grew a little older, the young Kashion who had been displeased with Logan began to take care of him, albeit while grumbling.

But Logan was not pleased with such a Kashion.

Because Kashion’s newfound generosity towards him felt like the leisure of a winner who knew that no matter what Logan did, he could never surpass him.

In a society based on social status, Kashion was the predetermined winner, and Logan was the predetermined loser. Kashion was the legitimate heir who inherited the family’s power, while Logan was an illegitimate child with no power at all.

That victory and defeat could not be overturned no matter what.

When he realized that he could not surpass Kashion academically, and that he could not win no matter how much he trained in swordsmanship day and night.

Logan decided that if he could not change the world, he would change himself. He decided to abandon his own body and steal Kashion’s body.

Thus, Logan began to study black magic with high hopes, but it was soon discovered.

‘Using black magic forbidden by imperial law, and attempting to harm the heir of Delmark with it. Though your crime is grave, taking pity on your youth, instead of execution, you will be confined to the main castle of Delmark.’

The Duke of Delmark sent Logan to the main castle of Delmark, saying he could not execute him as they had shared a father-son bond despite him being illegitimate.

But that was merely a formal punishment in consideration of others’ eyes, including Kashion and Esmeralda.

The duke sent assassins to the carriage heading to the Delmark main castle, instructing them to kill Logan and disguise it as an accidental death. He judged that keeping Logan alive would pose a threat to Kashion’s future.

It was a wise decision as the head of the family, but an extremely cold-hearted denial as a father.

However, as if God had not completely abandoned him, holy power manifested in the dying Logan.

Logan, who miraculously survived like this, faked his own death and disappeared, then began to research black magic again.

As a result, although he never discovered the black magic to swap bodies, he found a way to bring down Kashion and Delmark.

Black magic that could overcome the second broken restriction.

Logan, now an adult, changed his name to Gerard and entered the temple as a priest.

For someone talented in effort, it was not too difficult to become the high priest and the youngest pope. Unlike in the ducal family where no matter how hard he tried, he could not become the heir simply because he was illegitimate.

Gerard, who became the pope, first approached Eloise, Kashion’s wife. And through her, he also became acquainted with Kashion.

The face that had changed over more than twenty years was unrecognizable even to Kashion, and Gerard cast black magic on Kashion while he was off guard.

Kashion’s black magic, born of his love for Eloise, imprinted a mark on her, and finally Kashion went berserk, caught in the trap Gerard had set.

Everything was too easy. Almost disappointingly so.

That’s what he thought. Until an unexpected variable arose.

‘The young duke killed his father and survived.’

‘…What?’

‘It seems that the duke regained his sense of self before dying and was killed by his son’s hand.’

Although that variable was annoying, he thought it didn’t matter anymore.

Kashion was dead, and Delmark’s prestige had fallen so low from this incident that it would be difficult to recover.

But that thought changed the moment he first saw Herdin at the funeral of the two.

The child resembled his father to a frightening degree.

For a moment, enough to take Gerard back to the day he first met Kashion.

‘…You resemble the Duke very much, young lord.’

This was an opportunity.

An opportunity to plunge the child who resembled him so much into the same despair, to finally settle his unresolved feelings even after completing his revenge.

Gerard cast the same black magic on the unstable Herdin as he had on Kashion. He thought that this time too, he would just have to wait quietly like with his father.

But, a hitch occurred in his plan that he thought was perfect.

By Esmeralda, who began to question Kashion’s death and uncover the truth.

Gerard killed Esmeralda and manipulated Katrina’s fear, who had been at odds with her, to cover up the truth.

Katrina, who had thus become his excellent pawn, eventually handed over even her own daughter as a pawn to be used in Gerard’s revenge.

After going through various events, now that goal was right before his eyes.

“If you had killed that child then, brother, he wouldn’t have had to bear the fate of threatening the life of his loved one, even if it meant dying by his father’s hand.”

Gerard approached the black magic circle and added in a murmur.

“So, all that child’s misfortune is your fault, brother.”

It was finally time to end the long-standing ill fate.

* * *

Blair, who had fallen into a nap, opened her eyes feeling a hand touching her belly.

The sky was already dark as the sun had set early with late autumn approaching. Blair, meeting familiar blue eyes in that darkness, asked.

“…What are you doing?”

“Greeting the baby.”

Blair, still groggy from sleep, wondered what greeting he was talking about, but then remembered that there was a banquet at the mansion today when she saw Herdin’s attire.

“Will you return early?”

“Would you like that?”

A glib counter-question came back to her casually thrown question. Blair frowned her delicate brow at his exaggeration.

How could she possibly wait for him? Why would she care for the hateful man who forcibly kept her by his side?

Herdin, seeing Blair’s reaction, still smiled and added.

“Then I’ll come back quickly.”

Seeing him arbitrarily interpreting her reaction positively, Blair drew a firm line.

“No, I’m going to sleep first then.”

“In that case, I should return quickly. Since my wife will be waiting anxiously.”

“I didn’t say anything like—”

Before Blair could refute his glib remark, Herdin cut her off as he got up.

“I’ll be going now.”

Along with his deep voice, a large hand came close and gently stroked her hair before pulling away.

Blair watched Herdin’s retreating back with an incredulous look.

Was he a simpler man than she thought?

The only thing that had changed was that she had given up on running away from his side, yet he had become affectionate as if nothing had ever happened. Just like that spring day when he handed her the marshmallow he had roasted.

She resented this man who kept making her expect when she was trying to give up and close off her heart. She resented that handsome face of his, after causing her countless wounds.

With his large strides, he soon left the bedroom.

Blair, who had been staring at the door he had left through, belatedly bid him farewell in a murmur.

“…Take care.”

* * *

“Welcome, Your Grace! I was worried we might not be able to receive you due to your busy schedule, but thank you for gracing us with your precious presence, Your Grace.”

When Herdin arrived at the Nerha Count’s residence, Raymond rushed over as if he had been waiting and greeted him.

Around them, the nobles of Clania who had arrived earlier gathered with bright expressions.

Raymond, the very person who had brought Herdin all the way to Nerha, introduced the nobles to Herdin one by one as if to show off their acquaintance.

“This is Bernard, who rules the Slate County. He’s an old friend of mine.”

“It’s an honor to meet the Empire’s finest magic swordsman, whom I’ve only heard of in rumors.”

Herdin shook hands with them while listening to the now emotionless formal greetings.

After finishing the greetings, one of the nobles who had been looking around asked subtly.

“By the way, did the Duchess not come with you? I was hoping to meet her.”

As the story of Blair inevitably came up from the nobles’ mouths, Herdin’s eyes, which had been drinking wine, suddenly turned cold.

He wondered when this story wouldn’t come up.

‘How can baseless rumors travel so fast?’

Whether in the Empire or distant foreign countries, the sight of a pack of rumor-chasing hyenas gathering after catching the scent was quite irritating.

Herdin put down his wine glass and answered their curiosity.

“I thought the recent false rumors floating around wouldn’t be very helpful for my wife’s recuperation, so she’s been avoiding social activities.”

For a moment, the atmosphere among the crowd chilled at his words.

Although Herdin spoke with a leisurely smile, the look in his eyes as he said this was by no means gentle.

It was a look that suggested anyone who brought up ‘that rumor’ would not be safe.