“What do you plan to do from now on?”

The two were sitting side by side on the dim bridge.

The cool night breeze made their hair flutter, and Resban’s voice broke the awkward atmosphere that had been flowing for several minutes.

“The House of Klaus.”

“I will inherit it.”

“You know you’re not qualified for that.”

“Yesterday, butler Hans got a power of attorney from Callian’s half-siblings.”

Resban’s eyebrows twitched.

Callian Klaus had half-siblings.

Riona had driven them and their mother out of the Klaus mansion.

The reason Riona was able to drive out even the children of the previous Duke Klaus was… ‘suspicion of adultery’.

She colluded with a knight that the Duchess of Klaus had brought from her maiden home.

She claimed they had been in a relationship since before the marriage, and that the children were not the Duke’s, but the knight’s.

The mansion was turned upside down, and the first wife, who was nearly poisoned by Riona, disappeared with the children.

There were rumors that she had hanged herself… It was a very old story that everyone kept hushed.

Another task Esika gave to Hans was to find them.

Callian’s half-siblings were naturally grinding their teeth at the House of Klaus.

They welcomed Hans, who approached them offering to help file a lawsuit against Riona, who had now fallen as a great identity fraudster.

They had evidence that their mother had not committed adultery.

Although no one believed the evidence as they were considered ‘the shame of House Klaus’, now that the ducal house had fallen, the court would carefully consider their grievances and sincerity.

Hans had Callian’s half-siblings write a contract reclaiming their rightful heir status to House Klaus from Callian and transferring those rights to Esika.

In exchange, he promised to provide them with a sufficient amount of money for their unjustly lived lives.

Knowing that House Klaus’s finances were already ruined with not a penny left, the half-siblings wanted money rather than a debt-ridden title.

Under imperial law, women cannot inherit titles, so she will continue to be called the Duchess, but having received the legal rights of succession, she will be regarded as good as the owner of the ducal title.

If she adopts a child or gives birth to one, she can have that child inherit the Klaus title instead of her ex-husband’s child.

“Even if it’s ruined, Klaus is still Klaus. Even if I can’t become the Duchess of Klaus, now people will…”

It was the moment Esika had been waiting for.

The moment she had vowed to strip even their skins and make them her own.

The fruit of that effort.

“Think of me when they hear the name Klaus. Because I’ll make it so.”

There was nothing left to give them.

Resban didn’t like the ghost of Klaus that would cling to her forever, but he quite liked that determination.

A very Esika-like ending.

“You never let go of what comes to you.”

Esika smiled faintly at Resban’s slightly grumbling words.

And she said to Resban.

“I’ll send you a nice gift soon. I’m planning a business.”

These moments together were quite enjoyable.

And… she thought that maybe she was hoping the relationship would continue.

The feeling of her heart surging when she rejected him and he left would be a secret she could never tell.

Even though she thought she shouldn’t repeat the same mistake.

Esika got up from her seat with a faint smile.

And as she brushed back her hair fluttering in the breeze, a past she hadn’t remembered for a long time flashed before her eyes.

**

20 years ago.

Hasetz. Located in a secluded area among the docks of the port city Frihatz, it was a place teeming with stowaways and criminals.

The local nobles had gathered private soldiers to clean it up several times, but there’s no helping the geographical characteristics.

Everyone avoided visiting the high-crime area, but today a defenseless young girl was looking around there.

If anyone knew that eight-year-old Esika Brigitte, the only daughter of one of Frihatz’s dignitaries, the Brigitte family, was here, the whole household would be turned upside down.

‘Yuri… said to meet here.’

While playing hide-and-seek with her brothers and Yuri, she became the seeker, and Yuri had whispered in Esika’s ear.

That they all agreed to hide in Hasetz.

Although the atmosphere was vastly different from the plaza where children often played, the distance was surprisingly close, just two underground blocks away.

“…Where is everyone?”

Hearing a rustling sound behind her, Esika turned her head slightly and screamed when she saw a rat scurrying away.

“A rat, it’s a rat! Kyaa!!”

She almost fell backward as she stepped back, then looked around with frightened eyes.

There seemed to be many places for children to hide, but the atmosphere was too scary.

Shadows were everywhere, no sunlight penetrated, and the air was stuffy.

Esika called out, whimpering.

“I… I can’t find you. Brothers, come out. Yuri…”

But even though she called out loudly like this, no one came out.

“Where did everyone go… huh?”

Esika wandered for a long time. But not even a shadow of a person was seen.

Her feet hurt and her throat became dry.

She felt that it would be dangerous to go any further.

Finally, unable to find them, Esika decided to go back.

“It was that way…”

She was walking back the way she came, with her shoulders hunched, when it happened.

“…”

She sensed a presence from somewhere.

Startled, she turned around abruptly and saw an old warehouse with graffiti on the wall.

There were many abandoned warehouses and boxes in Hasetz, and this place looked unused to anyone.

“…Brother?”

It was different from the rat sound she heard earlier. It sounded like something being put down.

Could they be hiding here? Esika carefully opened the door of the warehouse.

Yes, there’s no way her brothers and Yuri would have gone home without her.

With a creaking sound, light leaked into the warehouse.

“…!”

Esika met eyes with someone shining brightly in the darkness.

And she gasped in surprise.

**

Before Esika opened the door that day, in the warehouse,

“If the prince returns to the palace, we’re dead. If the prince tells His Majesty that we enslaved him after receiving all that money to serve him…”

“Damn it, I thought the empire would fall. Now it looks like we’re going to fall.”

“There’s only one way. We silence the prince by killing him.”

Three middle-aged men in uniforms were gathered in conversation.

“But if it’s discovered we killed the prince, not only our lives but our families’ lives won’t be spared.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve prepared thoroughly. No one has seen our faces here. I deliberately drove out all the vagrants from Hasetz.”

“You’ve prepared very thoroughly.”

The ten-year-old boy, Resban, was crouching silently listening to their words.

His deep golden eyes were calm as if he couldn’t hear even though he was listening.

It just looks like everything is burning in the flames of hell.

The palace has been rebuilt? But that place must be hell too.

It can’t be anything but hell when it’s crawling with hellish humans.

These self-proclaimed loyal subjects of his father are now conferring to take his life.

They think only of personal gain and wish for the empire’s downfall.

A deep disgust for humans surges.

“Then let’s bring him. You said you’ve prepared the private soldiers?”

“Yes, they’re thoroughly silenced, so don’t worry.”

“Right… Once we kill that prince… there won’t be any problems…”

They went outside the warehouse.

Resban just sat in the same position.

His ankles were shackled anyway.

He would just die when they returned.

The pain, anger, and resignation from everything he had experienced so far had piled up in the boy’s heart to form a mountain.

If the chance for it to explode ever comes, it will become a massive volcano, but it’s difficult to gauge even his immediate life.

At that moment, the warehouse door opened. Since it wasn’t their presence, Resban raised his gaze.

A delicate footstep, and the figure of a girl as light as the footstep appeared.

The girl had silver hair like the deep night moon tied in two braids.

She had blue eyes as clear as a lake he had seen somewhere, and her cheeks looked white and soft as if she had never experienced hardship.

From her attire, she was a child who didn’t fit in here.

The girl flinched at Resban’s appearance, but unable to hide her curiosity, she came closer.

“…Are you alright?”

Instead of answering, Resban twisted the corner of his mouth.

Why would he be glad to meet a powerless lamb at death’s door?

He said to the girl after a moment.

“Get out.”

“…But… you’re hurt.”

These are the eyes of an innocent girl who knows nothing of the world’s hardships.

When those eyes met his gaze, a sense of alienation and displeasure surged.

The capital Torres burned under enemy invasion and all his siblings died.

Resban barely survived. Forgetting his life as a prince of noble blood, he spent years begging like a beggar and working like a slave.

He fought desperately to survive, staining his young hands with blood.

However, most of the local nobles, including those in Frihatz, are living much the same as before the war, in exchange for accommodating the enemies to some extent.

This child, who looks like the daughter of a lower noble, probably doesn’t care about the circumstances of her country either.

“What does it matter to you if I’m hurt?”

“…”

The girl’s eyes wavered at Resban’s cold words.

Resban said with a chilly smile.

“Don’t meddle in the affairs of strangers and get out.”

“…”

“I don’t want help from a sheltered girl like you who knows nothing of the world.”

It’s just a fate to die anyway.

The girl flinched at Resban’s words. An expression as if she was hurt, it actually feels good.

But she didn’t move her feet.

The child’s blue eyes suddenly waver sadly.