“There’s no need to hide what Ellen did after the honeymoon. You were the one who covered for Ellen at the tea party, right?”

With her hands neatly folded, Laila carefully rolled her eyes. At that sight, Philip let out an inward sigh.

How much had she suffered from Ellen to act like that?

“But you don’t have to anymore. Now, I want you to tell everyone.”

Philip prepared himself mentally.

“Your official status will change soon. I will clearly correct what is wrong so that it cannot be opposed by authority.”

At Philip’s firm statement, Laila quietly inhaled and exhaled.

“It sounded like a warning to be prepared for life in the mansion to me, too. Now that the family relationship is clear.”

Philip thought Laila was about to fully expose Ellen’s evil deeds.

He felt sweat forming on his hands without realizing it, so he quickly wiped them on his pants, hoping the two children wouldn’t notice.

“But Mother didn’t come.”

“…?”

Philip swallowed at Laila’s subsequent words. He doubted his ears.

“…What?”

“She didn’t come. Not even once.”

“…?”

He couldn’t believe it.

Ellen, who couldn’t stand not tormenting the children at least once a day, couldn’t have done that.

Philip asked about another likely situation.

“Did she ask you to come and greet her?”

Philip swallowed the words ‘for example, around 3:30 in the morning.’

“No. She didn’t. Thanks to Mother’s consideration, I was able to relax.”

Philip felt bewildered.

It was ironic that the child most likely to be hated by Ellen received consideration.

Laila covered her peachcolored cheeks with her hands.

“After marriage, Mother changed. Maybe I was so weak before marriage that she was trying to toughen me up.”

“No, what kind of toughening up would she do that way?”

At the absurd conclusion, Philip recalled that he had heard Laila grew up innocently in her home, singing with nature and dancing with animals.

“Is Laila’s positivity a bit excessive?”

On the other hand, thinking about a possible future crisis, he thought that might be better.

“Yes. Well… that’s good. Marlboro, what about you?”

Marlboro blushed slightly.

“Actually… I was a little prepared, but somehow Mother seems to have changed a bit. Besides Laila’s tea party, there really was nothing.”

It was an answer that made the bewildered Philip even more stunned.

“…Well, that’s fortunate.”

He awkwardly finished tasting his palate with the most appropriate word.

“Still, I can’t be at ease.”

Philip had resolved to look around nimbly.

Perhaps all of Ellen’s actions were in fact a show.

“Is she dissatisfied with the divorce and preparing for revenge?”

A plausible assumption emerged. Considering Ellen so far, it was a possible story.

But it was strange. His heart was heavy with the feeling of having made a mistake just by suspicion.

He had received a report that armed men had gone into the alley while inspecting the territory during the day. And therefore, Ellen’s righteous action came to mind vividly.

She was very vicious, but she always took care of her body.

“Even if the day’s incident is a highly planned conspiracy, she could have such a dangerous show…”

Now, although he is hunched as much as possible, Philip has experience leading the battlefield and quickly winning.

He had enough eyes to distinguish the truth of close combat, and the day’s fight, which he watched with eagle eyes, was real.

“The display of a wife’s skill for Domingo is not a show.”

The more he thought, Philip’s brow involuntarily furrowed.

“Why on earth has this woman changed?”

At the same time, Philip wished Ellen’s change was true.

Then, could the divorce be canceled?

“Father, it seems like Mother has changed. Can’t ‘Welcome to the World’ be taken literally?”

“Do you think so?”

Philip could not dare attach the word ‘you too.’

Laila spoke with her eyes innocently shining.

“It was the same when you received the gift recently. And she no longer asks the maids the question she used to every morning.”

Philip and Marlboro recalled Ellen’s daily routine.

Before breakfast, she would encounter a maid and ask, “Who am I?”

The maids thought Laila was the most beautiful in this mansion, but to Ellen’s question, they said, “You are the most beautiful Ellen Morris, Countess!”

The word “most beautiful in the world” had to be attached. Otherwise, the maids would be slapped or kicked by Ellen.

But she doesn’t do that anymore.

“And you know what? Although you don’t seem to believe, Father, it was real then.”

“What was?”

“At the tea party, Mother was very angry with her mischievous friends. It felt like she was sincerely for me.”

Laila, who had clasped her hands, blushed shyly.

“I was frustrated because I could never meet my friends again, but after sleeping for a day, it was rather exhilarating. My blocked insides seemed to sink, so now I’m grateful to Mother.”

Marlboro, who had been listening to Laila’s story, asked Philip.

“Then has Mother really changed?”

If Laila says that she won’t die even if she takes poison, Marlboro believes.

This time too, his opinion seemed to change greatly according to Laila’s thoughts.

“Maybe…”

Philip truncated his words and slowly rubbed his chin.

“But why? What for?”

Philip, who was guessing why she might change, recalled the divorce. Simultaneously, Marlboro also gave his opinion.

“Really, Mother has changed, and she may be trying to turn Father’s heart during the contemplation period.”

Changed her demeanor because it’s clear that she will no longer be the master of this house?

Philip, who thought it was a fairly plausible story, nodded once.

Then Marlboro carefully asked.

“Father, is there a possibility to withdraw the divorce during the contemplation period?”

“Withdrawal possibility?”

Marlboro’s face turned red.

“Because of me, the doom has come…”

“…”

“Whatever choice you make, I want to tell you that you are my father.”

Philip understood the debt and love of Marlboro’s heart. At the same time, his eyes were so sore and painful.

Count Philip, pinching his eyes slightly with his thumb and forefinger, sighed.

“My divorce is not because of you. The wedding this time was just an excuse.”

After all, the marriages of the nobility were often just alliances between families, or means of politics and diplomacy. It was fortunate if they liked each other, but emotions were not important even if they disliked each other.

They just had to fulfill the role of a married couple in public.

Of course, when Philip first saw Ellen, he took a liking to her.

He intended to try to love his wife. Ellen, who had fallen for Philip, also yearned for his love.

But it was unreasonable for the just Philip and a woman who was evidently bad to fall in love.

No matter how beautiful, there was too much malice that Philip found in Ellen.

‘But for Marlboro to worry like this…’

Philip thought once again about withdrawing the divorce from Ellen and improving the relationship.