He could not close his eyes in peace after death if he did not make him pay for daring to take Charles from Orland.

He promised to find the criminal and kneel in front of the grave on the anniversary of Charles every year, but it has been quite a long time since that promise was not kept.

So Orland couldn’t spend Charles’s anniversary sober this year.

Someone approached Orland who was drinking a glass of wine earnestly.

Orland unconsciously turned his head to look at the other person in the tempting touch that wraps around Orland’s hand holding the glass of wine.

It was the madam of this bar with black hair and white skin like Charles.

“Duke, I thought you didn’t like alcohol much, but you’ve been running alone since last night. If the seat next to you is empty, should I warm you up?”

Since Charles left, Orland has received many temptations. It was natural because the hostess of the Brellof Duke’s House was vacant.

There were more than one or two women who deliberately had a similar behavior to Charles and offered themselves to be mistresses.

Among them, there were women who actually resembled Charles, and women who dressed up to look like her as much as possible, but the important thing was that none of them were Charles.

Orland put down the wine glass and spoke softly into the air.

“Zen.”

At his call, Zen dropped out of what seemed like an empty space.

“Oh, oh my!”

The madam was startled and moved her body back, but Orland’s taste of alcohol had already fallen.

“Clean it up.”

He didn’t want to talk long.

He had chosen the most secretive bar to quietly tip the wine glass by himself, but he was upset because he was disturbed here as well.

“Oh, Duke, that’s not what I meant……!”

“Get out.”

Zen slapped the woman out with one hand. He was less merciful in his hand because he knew very well what day it was today.

Orland stood up from where he was sitting quietly. Now that he had been disturbed once, he had no intention of drinking here anymore.

“Let’s go somewhere else.”

He used to drink at Brellof Mansion, but it seemed like Tanashia and Noksia were worried, so he started drinking outside.

Orland, who took a few steps, staggered with alcohol, and Zen quickly approached to support him so he wouldn’t fall.

“You drank too much.”

It was as if he had been drinking all night, and if he were an ordinary person, he would have fainted drunk.

“……it’s not enough with this much.”

Orland, who lived sober, needed the help of alcohol only once a year, and today was the hardest day to endure.

He needed more alcohol to fall asleep as if he fainted tonight.

Zen had a lot to say, but as he had seen every year, he had no choice but to guide Orland as he wished.

“I will serve.”

It was when Zen, who was supporting the wobbly Orland, was about to leave.

Knock, knock, the knock on the door and a cautious voice came from outside.

“Sir, a maid sent by Miss Tanashia has come to see you.”

It was the voice of the coachman who drove Orland’s carriage.

Caught off guard, Orland shook his head to keep his sanity and responded.

“What’s the matter?”

“Miss… Miss had prepared food that’s good for accompanying drinks and for hangovers,” he said.

“Tanashia?”

Everyone knew that Oland would get drunk on Charles’s anniversary, but it was a cautious matter that no one spoke out loud.

He thought he could only tell his still young daughters not to drink, but he didn’t know that they would send food like this, meaning that they should take care of the accompaniments if they were going to drink anyway.

He somehow let out a hollow laugh, feeling like he had been unexpectedly understood by Tanashia in this way.

“I only thought it was a hellish time……”

Every moment without Charles was unbearably painful.

He tried to pay attention to Tanashia and Noxia as much as possible, but it didn’t work as he wished….

“……My daughter has grown up like this during this time.”

Oland’s heart swelled at the thought that there wasn’t nothing good about the passage of time.

It was a moment when he wanted to tell Charles that our daughter had grown up like this and was taking care of her father.