Everyone was only muttering with their lips.

The twins, who had been rolling their eyes to assess the situation, began to shed tears. The sudden mention of divorce had filled the children with fear.

Following the twins’ tears, Bernard also showed signs of weeping. Felicia, the eldest daughter, remained stoic until her siblings one by one started to cry, at which point she finally let a single tear fall.

What about me, then? While my siblings were crying, I was observing my father.

“Isabel, what is the meaning of this?”

Father surprisingly kept his calm, assuming Isabel was just being capricious.

“…….”

“Isabel, what has angered you again?”

Isabel was sincere. Only Father didn’t realize it. The siblings cried, the maids were anxious, and I couldn’t control my trembling lips.

When had Isabel foreseen this? Since Mrs. Bacchus came?

Perhaps it was much earlier than that. Although unspoken, I had also imagined this situation a few times. The first time I imagined it, I was six years old.

It was expected. Father had frequently committed acts that threatened his marriage. So it wasn’t surprising if he and Isabel were to divorce at any point.

“If you do not understand, let me clarify, my lord.”

“…….”

“If you do not comply with my request, I will divorce you.”

Upon Isabel’s blunt words, Father’s face reddened. Still, perhaps he had better control over his anger than before; he did not shout immediately but swallowed his voice.

“……Is this because of last time? Last time……I admitted my mistake.”

Father recalled the incident when a woman claiming to be my real mother showed up at the Marsen mansion.

“It’s not specifically because of that.”

“Then? You seem rather tired lately. Maybe you should rest first.”

“If you don’t want a divorce, then please agree to my research.”

“Research? What sort of research? Is it something about physics, like when you were a student? Such things won’t make money! Why would you want to foolishly waste time seeking unsolvable problems?”

“The research I want to conduct is in a different field.”

“Either way, it’s still foolish!”

Father’s face twisted. In this era that bordered on modern times, the label of divorce was fatal, and being engrossed in scholarly research was a starving occupation if one had no talent. Father could tolerate neither.

“My lord.”

Neither divorce nor research was an option. Frustration creased Isabel’s brow.

“Huh. Isabel, the children are crying.”

Father eventually pointed out the weeping siblings.

“Don’t worry. If I leave the mansion for my research, I plan to send all the children to prestigious schools. Their regular classes last until late in the afternoon, so they will return to the mansion with me.”

“…….”
“Don’t worry. I will take care of the children. If I have to leave the house for research, I plan to send all the children to a prestigious school. Their regular classes last until late afternoon, so they will return to the house with me.”

“……”

“Even if we divorce, I will raise the children. I will take them to the Polong estate and raise them well.”

A deep sigh was heard. After a long silence, Father, who had been suppressing his anger, glared at the sobbing siblings next to him.

“Stop crying, you’re too loud!”

The arrow of his anger was aimed not at Isabelle but at the children.

At their father’s shout, the children bit their lips or teeth to stop themselves from crying. My heart ached at the sight of my siblings tightly clutching their clothes to hold back their tears.

“What I wanted to say was this. The rest is between us…”

Isabelle said, her voice tinged with a glance at the children.

“Stop thinking about leaving. I’ll finish the conversation here.”

“Then let’s send the children back to their rooms.”

“That’s not possible either. You were the one who brought the children here in the first place, so why are you changing your words? The children are also children of the Marsen family. They have a say in this matter.”

Father held onto the children. Ostensibly, he claimed the Marsen family while holding them, but in reality, he was holding the siblings for his own sake. The siblings were Isabelle’s only weakness.

Father knew this well.

Felicia, who was forced to sit still on the sofa, gripped my arm tightly. Swell, sitting to my left, also placed his hand on the back of my hand. I was as scared as my siblings were of this situation.

‘What happens to me if the two of you really divorce?’

Though Isabelle claimed to take responsibility for all the children, I didn’t know if that included me.

‘I’ll be left alone.’

Isabelle has no reason to be responsible for me. Only my father’s blood flows in my veins. Unlike my siblings who look similar, I distinctly stand out.

Unless Isabelle is not a blonde angel, she would not take care of a redhead like me.

“Isabelle… if you are serious about this, you can’t divorce. Have you forgotten why we married? The Polong and Marsen families have a close business alliance. Thanks to that, the Polong family has grown significantly.”

“The Marsen family has also benefited.”