Regardless of the war-like situation inside, the arched corridor was filled with the sound of birdsong.

Esika, walking behind Resban, opened her mouth.

“How much did you know?”

She was certain that no matter how many moves ahead he could see, he couldn’t have foreseen this future.

However, she wanted to confirm. The full story of this situation.

“From the beginning… until now.”

Resban stopped walking and turned to look at Esika.

His black hair fluttered gently in the breeze.

He was now standing almost close enough to touch Esika, just a step away.

“I’ve come to know even the number of spoons in the Klaus household.”

Close enough that if someone saw, they might really misunderstand, he was looking at her with intense eyes.

“I was just helping you.”

Esika looked at him with wavering eyes.

Resban always made her feel confused.

“Are you upset that I interfered?”

“…Of course not.”

Esika shook her head at Resban’s question.

If Resban hadn’t shown up, the situation would have become quite difficult.

She hadn’t expected Callian to show such strong distortion of thought.

At those words, Resban’s lips twisted slightly.

After a moment, Esika opened her mouth.

She knew it wasn’t appropriate to speak here.

“Your Highness…”

Her calm voice creates a gentle ripple in the dark, stagnant swamp.

“Do you really like me?”

Resban looked into her blue eyes that were gazing at him.

That gaze looked almost naive enough to make his chest ache for a moment.

“Even if I close my eyes, even if I cover my ears…”

Behind that languid and seemingly joyful light, there should be the real answer.

No, is there even an answer?

“I thought I had answered you enough to know that answer, but is it not sufficient?”

Despite saying it many times, she persistently denies it.

Since he never thought it would be easy from the start, Resban was relaxed.

Startled by the question that seemed to hit the mark, Esika protested.

“Right now, I am Esika Klaus. Not the spirit that Your Highness may have met someday.”

Resban’s golden eyes wavered gently.

“Your Highness gave me hints, but I don’t remember you…”

Esika’s words didn’t finish.

Because Resban reached for her silver hair, lifted the ends, and pressed his lips against them diagonally.

His high nose, elegant jawline, and red lips. All of them were touching Esika’s silver hair.

He was slightly bowing his head, but his intense eyes were deliberately directed at Esika.

The moment she saw that piercing gaze, her heart skipped a beat.

After a moment, he slowly pulled his lips away from her hair.

And he opened his lips to speak in a low voice.

“You’re wrong.”

The strong, unidentifiable emotion in that voice made Esika’s hand twitch.

“Before you became a Klaus, you promised to take responsibility for me.”

As Resban opened his hand, the hair that had been on it slipped away.

The tickling sensation flowing along her scalp made her spine shiver for a moment.

Esika fell into confusion as she met his intense gaze.

She had promised to take responsibility for him?

**

With a loud bang, the door closed.

Yuri staggered to sit on the old bed that Esika once used.

Pregnant with Callian’s child, she was assigned to that small room that Esika had used, instead of the smaller but comfortable and warm room of the head maid.

Although it was still afternoon, hardly any light came in.

“…This can’t be happening…”

Yuri recalled the knife at her throat and felt her neck with both hands.

“This isn’t what I wanted…!”

Then she screamed loudly enough to echo through the room.

The whites of her eyes were visibly streaked with red.

Yuri cradled her belly and muttered.

“I… I was supposed to drive out that damn Esika… become the duchess and be blessed with pregnancy. This… this isn’t what I want…”

Callian had looked at Yuri with chilling eyes, as if he wanted to draw his sword and kill her right away.

Although she saved her life by revealing the pregnancy, his heart grew even more distant.

All the way here, she had heard the maids and servants whispering.

Yuri and the child were not blessed by anyone.

“Damn it, you ruined my life.”

Since Callian, the child’s father, so blatantly showed that he didn’t want the child…

And since he blamed Yuri so harshly, it was only natural.

Riona’s coldness goes without saying.

Of course, she wasn’t forced to have an abortion.

Even if it’s in the body of a despised woman, it’s natural since it’s the seed of the Klaus family.

Born to a body that isn’t the duchess, the child will legally be a bastard of the Klaus family.

And if Esika were to bear Callian’s child, it would become an outcast.

“Esika…! Esika!”

Yuri gritted her teeth as she clutched the blanket.

She had tried to take everything from her and gain it anew, but there was nothing she could take.

Rather, it was only Esika who walked out into the bright light.

She was still in this cold, small room.

“…I’ll never… let this go!”

Only meaningless screams echoed in the lonely small room.

**

Esika, who had been meditating under the moonlight, rose lightly.

Sela, who had been waiting, wiped Esika’s hands, arms, and legs with a warm, damp towel.

Sela spoke to Esika in a dejected voice.

“My lady… it must be very hard for you, but you must endure.”

She thought Esika was deliberately hiding her difficult emotions.

After all, for the child she had taken in as a childhood friend to be pregnant with her husband’s child… it was the greatest tragedy that could happen to a woman.

“If you’re sad, please share your words with me. I’ll comfort you.”

Esika smiled as she looked at Sela’s face, carefully considering her feelings.

“Do you remember the bug you caught on the doorframe this morning?”

“…Yes. I was taught to catch and kill it because it’s poisonous… why do you ask?”

“That bug hatched its eggs in the trash can. What do you think?”

Sela answered bewilderedly, seemingly unable to understand Esika’s words.

“Just… disgusting, I suppose. I’d want to throw away the entire contents of the trash can.”

Esika looked at her own reflection in the mirror.

Her lips moved.

“That’s all I feel.”

“…”

Sela stared blankly at Esika before belatedly realizing what those words meant.

And she stiffened her shoulders a little in surprise.

She knew that the lady harbored resentment towards the duke, but to think of him like a bug thrown in the trash…?

Sela also knew how desperately Esika had longed for the duke in the past.

So she thought that even if she had changed, there would still be some lingering attachment.

But now Esika looked truly calm and composed.

“Were you not deliberately holding back your sadness?”

To Sela’s careful question, Esika burst out laughing.

“If even you think this way, it’s no wonder that fool Callian has delusions.”

Esika crossed her legs as she sat.

Her reflection in the mirror looked more confident and beautiful than at any other point in her life.

“Ah… I’m sorry. My lady, I made assumptions on my own.”

Sela was relieved that Esika wasn’t hurt.

“No, thank you for your concern.”

“My lady…”

Sela wiped Esika’s feet with even more care.

Esika knew that in the novel, Callian and Esika divorced after five years of marriage.

The cause of the divorce was Yuri Anesis, the head maid of the Klaus family. She stole Callian’s heart, was promised the position of duchess, and even bore his child.

Callian became completely captivated by Yuri Anesis.

‘But that expression earlier…’

Esika’s lips twisted.

‘…was quite amusing.’

Callian’s face when he heard that Yuri was pregnant looked like that of a death row inmate hearing news of his execution.

If it had been according to the original work she read long ago, he would have been overjoyed, but just as Esika’s life changed with the awakening of the spirit’s memories, their relationship was also changing drastically.

Well, it’s true that a pair of cockroaches mate to produce offspring, but their emotional lines don’t seem to align with love at all, so it’s interesting.

‘If anything deviates from the novel, this would be the biggest.’

Esika looked at the ring placed on the console.

She had tried to return the ring when sending Resban away.

“I’ll return this to you.”

“It’s no longer mine.”

“But…”

“Perhaps you might return it to that child someday.”

Esika’s heart sank at Resban’s gaze, which seemed to be teasing her without changing his expression.

Could it be… that he even knows about meeting Astia at the tea party she attended in place of Riona?

She couldn’t guess how much he knew about her.

They say that all masters are incomprehensible eccentrics, but Resban was… too difficult.

While she was lost in thought, Sela’s voice was heard.

“The duke should feel great guilt towards you, my lady.”

Sela added in a sulky voice.

Even though Esika had said she viewed him as nothing more than a bug, she was angry at the duke.

It was the anger that could be felt as a woman.

“Who committed adultery, how could he do that to you?”

Sela, who had dried Esika’s feet with a dry towel, looked up at Esika and said.

“Perhaps… have you thought about divorce? Everyone will be curious.”

The corner of Esika’s lips twisted slightly.