Lady Bled, until the Marquis Bled passed away, had been quite close to Tersia.

“Why bring such a bad vibe here? What made you come with such a sour expression?”

Tersia had always treated Lady Bled, who originally held a higher status than her, with great respect. Lady Bled, however, found Tersia’s attitude rather annoying.

But now that Lady Bled had become useless after losing her husband, there was no need to maintain a friendly relationship.

Tersia stared at Lady Bled, narrowing her eyes. Lady Bled, in turn, shot back a similarly icy gaze.

An unseen spark flickered between the two women.

Once close despite their strained relationship, they now exchanged only lifeless glances.

“Tersia, I believed something unfortunate must have happened to you, not attending your husband’s funeral.”

Lady Bled, glaring at Tersia as if she could kill her with her arrogant gaze, swallowed a bitter smile.

This was the first time Lady Bled had encountered Tersia since her husband’s death.

Tersia had not even sent a letter of condolences, let alone show her face.

Lady Bled genuinely admired Tersia. To her, Tersia was a true friend who could comfort her in times of sorrow and share joy together.

There was only one person who thought that way about Tersia—Lady Bled.

Tersia had merely wagged her tail at her for convenience.

Considering Lady Bled, who was left alone, to be of no use, Tersia had quickly cut ties with her.

“What will you do if I keep looking at you? A widow left alone, pitiful.”

Tersia mocked Lady Bled with a contemptuous laugh, looking her up and down.

“The Duke of Fleche abandoned the Bled family long ago.”

There was no longer any need to flutter her tail to impress Marquis Bled.

He was dead, and Lady Bled had fallen into an unremarkable position.

“Oh, pull yourself together. You haven’t curtsied.”

Tersia gestured to a servant and whispered to him. The servant bowed to Tersia and left the room, returning shortly with a blank check.

“You came for money, didn’t you? I’ll put it in not too reluctantly, sister. Didn’t Marquis Bled make quite a fortune during his lifetime? I heard that the imperial family plans to confiscate his property soon… Is that okay with you?”

Tersia embarrassed Lady Bled as if revealing her disgrace.

“Oh my, is that true?”

“It seems so. The Viscountess Wentz has quite a good information network.”

“How pitiful.”

The noblewomen sighed in sympathy.

Having lost her husband and suffered humiliation from her beloved sister, Lady Bled trembled with shame.

Tersia filled in 10 million les on the blank check. For her, 10 million les was a relatively small amount of money.
Tersia rose from her seat, approached Lady, and then inserted the check into her chest.

“As your younger sister, I can’t just let it go. If you ever need help, feel free to come to me. Don’t worry about repaying the money.”

“Tersia!”

Ignoring Lady Bled, who shouted at her, Tersia gestured towards one of the knights.

As the knight approached, Tersia gestured toward Lady Bled and said, “Escort her politely.”

Tersia saw Lady Bled off as she was escorted out. Dragged out by the knight, Lady Bled tore up the check Tersia had given her and threw it to the ground.

Observing this, Tersia shook her head slightly and sat back down.

“Why bother when you have no money? You don’t need to uphold your pride.”

She spoke gently to the noblewomen, wearing a calm expression as if nothing had happened.

“Shall we continue the discussion we were having earlier?”

Despite their disgust at Tersia’s now-changing attitude, none of the noblewomen showed any of those emotions.

Up until now, Tersia was unaware. Unaware that the blade she had thrown would come back like a boomerang.

A few days later.

Rose’s expression had brightened considerably.

The ‘Sern’ card must have arrived for her.

Sern, who came with Jane, had unexpectedly knelt in front of Rose. Rose must have been surprised by Sern’s apology for deceiving her all this time.

“It was truly unexpected. Sern serving under Cedric.”

Moreover… he was Cedric’s hidden son.

More than the fact that he had deceived her, Rose was more surprised by the revelation that Sern was Cedric’s son.

“He doesn’t resemble him at all….”

Sern looked completely different from Eric, who resembled Cedric.

“It’s unbelievable that he was so close; there was no mistake in the words of the old folks.”

Despite Sern’s innocent appearance as he apologized for deceiving her, Rose forgave him.

Though his past was questionable, the information Sern brought was quite valuable.

Now, the conspiracies of Cedric were no longer frightening.

“Things are falling into place. I hope this luck continues with the business.”

Lying on the bed, Rose mumbled to herself.

Having finished the life-and-death struggle with the Duke and wanting to focus only on the business, that was her sentiment.

Staring blankly at the ceiling, Rose’s gaze fell on the old wooden ceiling.

This place, with visible signs of water leakage, was incomparable to the Wentz Marquisate.