Fearing he might be like himself, he had constantly looked back in vigilance and anxiety, so while defining him as a romantic, he was disappointed as if he had been waiting for a small discrepancy.

However… now, he was looking at Ansi with eyes full of affection.

“What did you talk about with Mother?”

“…Just everyday things. Talk about parties held by other attendees, styles of clothes and hats fashionable in the capital.”

“And?”

“And… that the parliament will end in mid-June, and that Sobelvio is beautiful in June.”

“Do you want to go see it?”

“Of course.”

“Let’s go, then.”

“Really?”

Ansi separated herself from him. The country house of Orfe located in the north. He’s suggesting to go there together?

Damion nodded and smiled.

It was fortunate. Finally, he could properly enter Orfe. Not as a blemish left by the second son of Orfe acting on his own, but as a real member of Orfe.

However, it wasn’t unconditionally joyful. It was strange.

Ansi stared blankly at Damion. Along with the fairy tale she had just burned, she recalled something he had once said. That he disliked fairy tales where children suffer hardships.

He couldn’t have experienced such hardships. Yet… Ansi somehow felt that the emotion etched on that man’s expression was loneliness.

She unconsciously reached out her hand.

As she caressed his cheek, Damion turned his face and kissed her palm.

She pulled her hand away in surprise. Then, blinking awkwardly, she hurriedly fumbled for the pocket at the side of her skirt.

As if making an excuse, she took out a small box from inside and held it out.

“…It’s your birthday tomorrow.”

“You prepared a gift?”

Damion looked at the box with surprised eyes.

“I should do at least that much.”

Ansi took a breath and continued.

“Because I’m your wife.”

Damion received the box with a bright smile. He immediately untied the ribbon and opened the box. What appeared inside the small box was a pair of cufflinks.

On the round cufflinks was engraved a pattern reminiscent of undulating waves.

It wasn’t a gift with great significance. It was just that she couldn’t forget the memory of those cufflinks from that day, the day Damion almost died… She just wanted to give him different cufflinks.

“Thank you.”

But Damion stretched his lips as if pleased. He immediately removed the cufflinks he was wearing on his sleeves and replaced them with the ones from the box.

“…Do you like them?”

“Even more because they resemble you.”

Resembling me? Ansi blinked, not understanding his words. However, the man didn’t add an explanation. Instead, he turned to the side with a grinning face.

After briefly scanning the flowers with his eyes, he reached for one of the long-stemmed lavenders.

The flower, which seemed like it would be difficult to break due to its thick stem, snapped off surprisingly easily. Damion held out the lavender flower to Ansi.

“…But it’s not my birthday.”

“This isn’t a gift.”

“Then what is it?”

“An alibi.”

Along with the transparent excuse, her husband smiled with narrowed eyes.

Ansi felt her heart flutter for some reason.

“Please follow me, young master.”

Damion, who had been sitting in the reception room, moved his steps following the butler of the Duke Orfe’s household who appeared shortly after. It was treatment as if he were a guest rather than a family member, but he was used to it.

The place he was guided to was the Duke’s office.

“I’m busy, so state your business quickly.”

Duke Basilov, who had been sitting at the desk, stood up. While Basilov walked to the sofa and sank into it, Damion surveyed the room.

“I’d like to see Mother as well.”

“I’ll relay it to her.”

“You’re not good at that, are you? Persuading Mother.”

Basilov glared at Damion. He let out a sigh and clicked his tongue.

“Marianne isn’t inherently harsh by nature. If you had just spoken sweetly, you might have been in your mother’s good graces too.”

Might have been in her good graces? There couldn’t be a more irresponsible and ignorant statement.

Damion still remembered clearly. That time when Marianne pretended not to see, even though she knew Kardian treated Damion like a toy, even after witnessing that horrific scene right before her eyes.

While applying ointment directly to the burns of the young Damion, Marianne had said that.

Marianne didn’t look into Damion’s eyes.

He could tell she was trying to maintain a calm tone.

For that reason, it remained an even greater wound for Damion.

He realized that the adult he should have been able to rely on couldn’t do anything for him. He understood that the one she had to protect was Kardian, and that for his sake, Damion’s small sacrifice was considered unavoidable.

It was truly cruel to an 8-year-old child.

The burn healed quickly. Just as she said, new skin grew back soon. But the wound deep inside Damion never healed again.

New skin didn’t grow, and Kardian kept inflicting wounds on top of the wounded area.

Marianne no longer told him to forget. She just pretended not to see.

It was still somewhat better than his birth father Basilov, who had pretended not to see from the beginning.

Everyone was the same.

Those who knew how Kardian treated Damion were shocked at first. But soon, everyone became numb.

Except for Elma.

Everyone pretended not to see, and now they’ve forgotten. So they acted as if such a thing never happened. To them, Damion de Orfe was an insolent and shameless son who went against the wishes of the parents who raised him.

“I know Mother isn’t a harsh person.”

Damion smiled. Basilov frowned at the meaningful smile.

“Just look at how she forgave a father who sowed the seed of an illegitimate child like me and came back.”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Why are you so angry? I was just agreeing with what Father said.”

Basilov’s face contorted and turned red and blue.

“Liesel, who gave birth to you, wasn’t…”

“Don’t say that name.”

The chilling tone cut off Basilov’s words. Basilov flinched momentarily at his son’s piercing gaze.

Damion extremely disliked any mention of Liesel’s name. It was unclear whether he simply thought his father had abandoned him and his mother, or if he really knew something.

“Ahem, I’ll call Marianne.”

Basilov pulled the bell rope. After instructing to call Marianne, she came to the office shortly after.

Seeing that she wasn’t surprised to see Damion, it seemed she had already been informed of his visit to the house.

“I thought you’d just see your father and leave.”

“I heard Mother wanted to see my wife very much. How did you find her after meeting?”

“She’s very pretty and intelligent. Well, Rubellsa may have collapsed in an instant, but it’s a family that has produced many clever people for generations.”

Damion’s eyes narrowed. At that gaze, Marianne crossed her arms and sighed.

“Damion, now that I’ve accepted her as a daughter-in-law, I have no intention of viewing that child negatively.”

The emotion contained in her eyes resembled sincerity quite well. Indeed. It seemed Ansi had been fooled by such an expression too.

Damion, who had been observing Marianne since he was 8 years old, immediately recognized that emotion as false.

“I’m satisfied. Then please continue to act like that.”

He knows Marianne’s reaction is false, and Marianne also knows that Damion doesn’t trust her.

There was no need to continue with such transparent lies between them.

“Well, how I act will depend on the situation, won’t it?”

Marianne let out a scornful laugh. She was displeased with her second son speaking in a commanding tone without knowing his place.

Damion held out the envelope he was carrying. Basilov came closer and snatched the envelope from Damion.

After checking the paper inside, he stroked his beard, pretending to be nonchalant.

Stock transfer certificate.

It was for a company with quite good prospects among the businesses Damion operated.

“What are the conditions?”

“First, my wife believes we are a normal family. Make sure she continues to feel that way. Then that company will continue to grow.”

“And second?”

“Do your best to prevent my brother from meeting my wife. For instance, when I visit Sobelvio. I don’t want my wife to encounter Kardian.”

“…I see. And?”

“That’s all.”

Damion’s demands were simple. Easy demands, if you could call them that. They had acted as an affectionate family in front of others all their lives; couldn’t they do it in front of that small woman?

Exchanging glances, Basilov and Marianne spoke affectionately to Damion, as they do in front of others.

“There’s no reason we can’t be a normal family.”

“Don’t forget that we are your parents who raised you, Damion.”

Damion nodded with a slight smile.

“Of course, Father. And Mother.”