Cain sought out Helena as soon as Jane left.

He thought Helena had also influenced the reason she left him. Meeting with Helena also served the purpose of preventing any potential accidents in advance.

When Cain asked what she had discussed with Jane, Helena replied coldly.

“I told her to leave. If she wants to live, if she wants to save him.”

It was about Jane and Joseph. Cain clenched his fists tightly. His jaw also tensed firmly.

“Want me to hit you?”

Helena spoke as if joking, but Cain couldn’t respond to that joke. Because he was filled with the desire to actually hit her.

But Cain was not a foolish man who would ruin things with impulse.

Even with his weakness exposed, in a situation where he was firmly caught, he swallowed his anger.

“You said his name is Joseph. If you can thoroughly hide that child’s identity, you can raise him. You know that too, right? To hide it thoroughly, the fewer people who know the child’s identity, the better.”

If there was any chance of a problem arising, there was a will to kill Jane to silence her.

“I cut off Count Carerina to save the young master. Don’t forget that.”

Helena boasted about how she handled Scarlet. Saying she discarded her own trusted subordinate for the Hastings.

Cain couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from slanting. Because Helena’s words were literally nonsense.

Helena had simply chosen the sharper blade. The expulsion of the Carerina County was a carefully weighed result.

Nevertheless, Cain bowed his head.

“You don’t still have lingering feelings for that woman, do you?”

In Helena’s relaxed smile, her eyes glimmered like a snake’s. Cain shook his head.

“Of course not.”

Just up to that point.

Cain had to act as if giving up on Jane in front of Helena.

Because if his true feelings were discovered, Helena would chase after Jane.

His heart that told a lie was stabbed with a large nail. A nail of guilt.

Cain waited until Helena finished drinking her tea. Because he didn’t yet have the power to tear Helena apart and kill her.

And so, Cain returned to the Somnium mansion with a deep sense of defeat.

And he thought a lot.

Even now, if he chases after Jane, he can catch her at any time. But if he moves, Helena will also move.

Perhaps she has already assigned people to watch.

So Cain gave up on searching for Jane.

In case his own pursuit becomes Helena’s guide.

Instead, Cain kept Helena distracted.

He brought in suspects of the terrorist incident and sent them to the royal investigation unit without going through the security office.

Since Helena becomes sensitive about anything related to the Rose Faction, just having them in the palace would likely make her too preoccupied to properly handle other matters.

Cain’s prediction was spot on.

From the black hawk planted in the palace, he obtained information that Helena was planning to go on an excursion.

To put it nicely, it was an excursion, but in reality, it was no different from running away.

The suddenly decided excursion was prepared swiftly. 3 days after Jane left, Helena also left the capital.

Even as she was leaving, she gave orders to Cain.

“I hope there will be no headaches from those bastards when I return.”

Those bastards, it was equivalent to saying to uproot the Rose Faction.

Cain almost burst out laughing right in front of the aide who brought that order from Helena.

As if the Rose Faction was so easy to uproot.

The term weed suited them better than rose. No matter how much you pull them out, they grow rampantly as long as certain conditions are met.

If you dislike weeds, shouldn’t you change the environment?

An environment where weeds cannot grow.

‘…I see. That’s what I should do. Then everything will be resolved.’

Cain’s eyes shone.

As soon as the train carrying Helena departed, Cain, who had ordered to pursue Jane, immediately went to find Cedric.

* * *

3 months had passed since Jane left.

Many things had changed in Somnium House, but there were also things that remained the same.

One of them was the breakfast Cain and Joseph had together.

Cain did his best to fulfill at least the minimum role as a father, as Jane had asked.

Even on days when he stayed up all night, even if he dozed off holding a fork, he never canceled or postponed breakfast with Joseph.

“Oh, today is the day Teacher Lloyd is coming.”

“Yes.”

“Te-Teacher Lloyd said he would teach how to make machines move.”

Cain listened attentively to Joseph’s words.

What the child learned, what games he played, where he went – he had to tell Jane when they met again someday.

The conversations with Joseph that started this way unexpectedly became a great comfort to Cain.

The longing for the same person was conveyed without words, and that empathy alone gave Cain strength.

In fact, when Jane left, Cain was worried that Joseph would be deeply hurt and close off his heart.

But Joseph was composed. As if he had known Jane would leave.

No, he probably did know.

She wasn’t heartless enough to leave without saying a final goodbye to Cain, so how could she have been with the child?

Perhaps she had arranged a separate way to keep in touch with Joseph. However, Cain did not dig into that part.

What if Jane had cut off contact with Joseph as well?

That would just be another despair.

Cain was afraid of losing that small link connected to Jane.

So he neither probed Joseph nor thoroughly searched the child’s surroundings.

And he wasn’t ready yet.

Wait, a sharp light flashed across Cain’s eyes.

Joseph’s eyes widened. He was still a child with keen senses.

Cain smiled and said,

“Looks like you and Lloyd are a good match.”

“Ye-yes, he said you go to the co-company together. I be-believe it.”

One day, Joseph said he wanted to learn about trains.

It was the day he received a report that they had failed to track down Jane. Cain had no energy to explain anything to Joseph.

Lloyd happened to be next to him at the time. Cain had accepted Lloyd’s suggestion to move the prolonged meeting to Somnium House and was returning home with him.

“I’ll explain it to him.”

Cain did not stop Lloyd.

After that, Lloyd said he would try teaching Joseph. Joseph took a liking to Lloyd as well. For the first time since Jane left, life returned to the child’s face.

So Cain welcomed Lloyd as a teacher. The fact that Lloyd fit perfectly as the kind male teacher Jane had mentioned was also one of the reasons he invited him to be a tutor.

Whether the two had good chemistry or Lloyd was a good teacher, Joseph counted the days until he came.

“It’s not difficult to become close, and once you do, he opens his heart wide.”

It matched exactly with what Jane had told him in the past.

Joseph trusted and relied on Lloyd. Thanks to that, Cain could lighten the burden on his heart a little.

The child thought it was fortunate that he was less lonely than himself.

“What time is the lesson?”

“The time… Ah, it’s almost time for him to arrive!”

Joseph had learned how to tell time a few days ago, and now he was fidgeting while looking at the clock on the wall.

For the first time in a long while, Cain’s lips drew a pleasing arc.

“You can go up first.”

As soon as permission was granted, Joseph jumped off the chair.

Even though the chef took care to feed him well, Joseph was still small for his age.

He should grow a bit more before meeting Jane again.

Cain watched Joseph’s receding figure, then put down his fork.

He had been forcing himself to eat so as not to worry the child, but his appetite was close to zero.

“You must eat more.”

Nathan approached and forcibly handed him the fork, but no food entered Cain’s mouth.

3 months after Jane left, Cain was slowly dying.

* * *

Joseph wiggled his feet and diligently solved math problems. On the desk wide enough for Joseph to lie down and roll around, workbooks were piled high.

Since Jane left, whenever Joseph thought of her, he studied.

Because if he worked hard, Jane would praise him.

That fact remained unchanged even though she was away.

“Hello, Joseph.”

“Te-Teacher!”

Startled, Joseph whipped his body around.

Engrossed in solving problems, Joseph didn’t even notice Lloyd approaching.

“You’re working very hard.”

Lloyd ruffled Joseph’s hair with his large hand and looked at the notebook.

“Yes, I-I’m really working ha-hard. I finished all the ho-homework you gave me yesterday. Today, I was stu-studying in advance.”

Joseph begged for more recognition of his efforts. Lloyd’s smile deepened.

He pulled up a chair next to Joseph.

“If you did well, you should receive praise, right?”

“A re-reward too!”

Joseph held out his hand confidently. If Cain had seen it, he would have been startled.

Joseph asking someone for something, it was unlike him, but anyone who saw the letter placed in the child’s hand would understand.

“You know not to tell anyone, right?”

Joseph nodded. The child was too distracted by the welcome letter to respond.

Lloyd understood the child.

Of course he would be happy to receive a letter from his mother.

Jane’s letter to Joseph smelled of the sea.