Shimildun sighed heavily and called out to Mirea loudly.

“Lady Iols!”

“Oh my!”

Startled by the loud call that drowned out her own voice, Mirea jumped up in surprise.

“Lady Medelia is not here.”

“Y-you. Are you the butler here? Then hurry and call Erina!”

“I apologize, but Lady Medelia is not here…”

“I know Erina is here, so open up quickly.”

Shimildun sighed at Mirea’s attitude, which seemed unwilling to listen to his words.

Seeing that she kept saying the same thing even after the knight had explained several times, it seemed she had no intention of moving until she met Erina.

“Lady Medelia left for the imperial palace early this morning.”

Mirea, who seemed completely unreasonable, flinched at the mention of the imperial palace.

When Peiron headed to the imperial palace in the morning, Mirea’s only thought was that she needed to find Erina who had taken Revil with her.

When she asked Peiron about Erina’s whereabouts after leaving the Iols mansion, Peiron only said that Erina had left with Duke Kerenik.

For a moment, Mirea felt dizzy.

Duke Sandest Dvil Kerenik was someone Mirea should never meet.

But she couldn’t understand why someone she should never see again was suddenly involved in the Iols family affairs.

So Mirea urgently searched for Erina.

Her foolish son hadn’t sent anyone to follow even though Erina and the child had disappeared right before his eyes.

She frantically inquired at hotels to find Erina’s whereabouts, but she wasn’t staying at any of them.

There was no way she would have gone to the Medelia Viscounty mansion, with whom Erina was on bad terms.

She tried to search using her acquaintances in the capital, but they asked about Erina instead.

Unable to hear of Erina’s whereabouts from any nobles, Mirea inquired just in case.

Though she thought it shouldn’t be possible, sadly, she heard that Erina and the child were staying at the Kerenik mansion.

At that news, Mirea had rushed to the Kerenik mansion in one breath.

She needed to meet Erina right away and confirm if the child had met Duke Kerenik, but the gate that wouldn’t open was only frustrating.

Pressing close to the gate, Mirea asked Shimildun:

“Then, when did you say Erina would return? I’ll wait inside the mansion. Hurry and open this gate.”

Shimildun was rather taken aback by Mirea’s inexplicably bold attitude.

“I apologize, Lady Iols, but this is the Kerenik mansion.”

“I know, I know! So hurry and open the gate! I have something I must check, so open the gate.”

“Do you have an appointment with the Duke? As you know, entry is difficult for unverified outsiders.”

Despite Shimildun’s polite words, Mirea was desperate to see inside the mansion visible behind the gate.

As Shimildun was about to say something at that sight, he swallowed his words upon seeing a familiar carriage.

Erina finished her business at the imperial palace and arrived at the Kerenik mansion by carriage.

Just as she was about to step down from the carriage, she saw the ridiculous sight of Mirea clinging to the gate trying to peek inside.

There was no way Mirea wouldn’t know, since the Emperor’s messenger had gone to the Iols mansion.

It seemed she was desperate now that the daughter-in-law she had wanted to get rid of turned out to be the owner of the mana stone mine.

Erina sighed at the sight of someone’s figure as she got out of the carriage.

“Lady Iols.”

Mirea and Shimildun’s gazes turned to Erina as she stepped down from the carriage.

Erina approached Mirea, who was still clinging to the gate.

Mirea, who always insisted on wearing crisp, new-looking dresses when going out, was wearing an indoor dress and slippers. Her hair, which was always decorated with jewels, was completely disheveled.

She looked a mess, as if she had rushed out in a hurry.

“What brings you to look for me?”

Mirea was speechless at the sight of Erina stepping down from the carriage.

Her daughter-in-law, who always simply brushed her hair down and only wore calm dresses, had changed.

She was wearing a flowy, fancy light blue dress that was said to be fashionable these days, with her purple straight hair beautifully braided and decorated with lovely jeweled pins.

Platinum accessories, fancy butterfly jeweled shoes, and an elegant velvet handbag completed the look.

Mirea stared for a long time, wondering if this was really the Erina she knew.

The person who had always lived inconspicuously, as if barely there, was now overflowing with vitality and sparkle.

Just from leaving the Iols mansion and getting divorced.

“Lady Iols.”

At Erina’s voice calling her with a slight frown, Mirea startled back to her senses and let go of the gate she had been gripping.

“Y-yes, Erina.”

Mirea looked down at her own two hands, reddened and burning from gripping the gate with all her might.

Only then did she realize she was in the attire she had been wearing at home.

In contrast to Erina’s unusually fancy appearance, her own shabby look made her hang her head low.

Mirea’s face reddened as much as her hands.

The appearance of the two women standing face to face, with reversed positions and contrasting looks, was strikingly different.

Erina standing tall with her back straight, looking down at Mirea, and Mirea with her head bowed low, unable to lift it.

Unlike Mirea, who still couldn’t raise her head due to shame, Erina felt an incomprehensible elation tickling her toes.

Her heart was pounding and her fingertips tensed.

She wanted to laugh freely at the person standing before her in such a pathetic state.

Erina wanted to ask Mirea how it felt to be unable to even lift her head to the person she had looked down upon.

“Why are you looking for me? I don’t think we have any more business together.”

But Erina knew how to make Mirea even more miserable than just laughing at her.

So she smiled.

She smiled brightly, hoping Mirea would feel her situation acutely.

“Erina, well, the child…”

“Lady Iols.”

Mirea, who had been mumbling with her head down, carefully raised her head at Erina’s call.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to allow you to use my name, so could you address me properly?”

Erina’s face, tilted slightly, was excessively bright and radiant.

Mirea was startled by Erina’s appearance, so different from her own gloomy self standing at the edge of a cliff.

“Erin…”

“You should call me Lady Medelia. Madam.”

Erina’s golden eyes sparkled in the midday sun as she smiled with curved eyes.

They contained both the elation of seeing the one who used to look down on her now begging, and the contempt felt at her shameless appearance.

Meeting Erina’s eyes, Mirea was at a loss for words.

“Is something the matter?”

Barun, who had quickly followed after finishing preparations for the escort, approached Erina who was not entering the mansion and asked.

As it was the first day, Barun had volunteered to escort along with Silphiane and followed Erina.

Seeing someone who looked like a crazed woman standing in front of Erina, Silphiane hurried over.

As Silphiane protectively escorted Erina, Barun stood in front of Mirea and looked down at her.

With Barun’s tall stature that made even Erina have to tilt her head back to look up, his stern face looking down was quite intimidating.

Mirea looked up at Barun and stepped back in surprise.

“Are you alright?”

Erina looked at Silphiane, who asked kindly while protectively surrounding her.

Seeing Silphiane’s playful face, Erina smiled.

The two of them, knowing Mirea was from the Iols family that had finalized the divorce, were deliberately exaggerating their actions.

“W-wait a moment!”

“Nothing happened. Let’s go inside.”

Erina turned her back on Mirea to enter the mansion, receiving Silphiane’s kind and excessive escort.

She was no longer someone to see.

Nor was she someone Erina wanted to face and waste unnecessary emotional energy on.

Erina hoped that as Mirea watched her back, she would feel the pain Erina had felt in the past and despair.

Wishing for her to feel even more miserable and regret the past, Erina turned away as if Mirea didn’t exist.

As Erina turned to enter the mansion, the gate opened wide.

Unlike when Mirea had been desperately trying to open it earlier.

Shimildun, who had been quietly watching Mirea and Erina from beyond the gate, opened it and welcomed Erina.

“Welcome, My Lady.”

“Thank you for welcoming me, Shimildun.”

Shimildun and Erina exchanged greetings warmly and headed inside the mansion.

Seeing Erina pass through the gate and walk away, Barun turned his back on Mirea without hesitation and followed Erina.

Thanks to that, the dark view suddenly brightened and Mirea could see the gate slowly closing before her eyes.

“Ah, no.”

Through the closing gate, Mirea saw Erina entering while laughing and chatting with people.

“Erina! Wait! Give back the child!”

Belatedly, Mirea shouted, and Erina’s steps came to an abrupt halt.

Mirea hurriedly ran and grabbed Erina’s arm.

“Erina, that child, where did the child go? You took him, didn’t you!”

Erina turned around and looked down at Mirea clinging to her arm.

It was puzzling to see her looking so desperate and earnest, asking about the child with a face dripping with cold sweat.

She looked like someone who had been caught with something that shouldn’t have been discovered.

“Why?”

“What do you mean why! Where is the child? Bring him here right now. Hurry!”

From Erina’s perspective, Revil should have been nothing but a thorn in Mirea’s side.

It must have been unpleasant to have someone brought from an orphanage, not the daughter-in-law’s child, be made the heir.

She had thought Mirea would be happy to drive him out, but her attitude of seemingly ready to drag the child away was so strange it felt suspicious.

“Lady Iols.”

“Yes, you went to the imperial palace to get divorced, so it must be over already. Now that you’re divorced, you can’t touch the heir. So bring back the child you took, Erina.”