“Medicine? You say you’re aiming for the Duke’s position, but what more medicine do you need?”

However, when they arrived at the Count’s mansion.

Helen spoke innocently. Gabe sighed in frustration and held out his hand.

“I’m going to Alpern to see it completely finished.”

Oh my. For a moment, Helen covered her mouth with her palm. Gabe could bet his entire fortune that those red lips under her palm were smiling.

“My goodness, darling. How could you think of such a thing…! No, they say the position makes the man. Can you really obtain the Duke’s title soon?”

Helen jumped up and down with joy overflowing in her blue eyes. It was the most thrilling story she had heard recently.

To think that Gabe’s request for medicine was because of Nerea in Alpern!

“It’s not like that yet.”

But Gabe’s next words pulled Helen back to reality.

“I need to make sure. It seems that after the recent painting of Lessor, due to rumors about Nerea, our Crown Princess’s masquerade ball has been pushed back until after the knight tournament.”

“What!”

Helen, who had been on cloud nine just moments ago, screamed sharply as if she had heard something terrible.

“How can this be? How can a ten-year tradition be changed so easily overnight!”

Helen thought of her daughter who had been preparing sleeplessly for this tenth anniversary victory celebration festival.

Despite working so hard that her delicate and beautiful face was half-ruined, to think that the order of her daughter’s masquerade ball, which she wanted to do her best on as it was her first event to organize, was pushed back! This was too unfair.

The eyes that had been shining brightly just moments ago were now filled with venom. Her breathing became heavier.

“…Is this because of Nerea again?”

Hearing the chilling voice through gritted teeth, Gabe blinked. Helen, instantly hiding her deep hatred, smiled brightly as usual and clung to Gabe’s arm.

“Then I’ll go with you.”

“What? You?”

Gabe shook his head.

“You have to make the black armor.”

“Applying the drug to the armor can be done in a day.”

“This isn’t a vacation to the summer villa. We need to go quickly without rest. Even if you get motion sickness, I won’t stop the carriage.”

“But you said you needed medicine. And I know the most about medicine.”

That’s true, but… When the word ‘medicine’ came up, Gabe took a step back. Helen didn’t miss that moment.

“Anyway, according to the current noble registry, she’s ‘our daughter’.”

Masking her voice that was rippling with malice, Helen whispered into Gabe’s ear.

“As a mother, I feel sorry for not seeing her for nearly five years. Let me watch over her last moments. Please?”

After a moment of conflict, Gabe finally nodded. As if she had expected this, Helen kissed Gabe’s cheek and left the reception room with light steps.

It was a joyful gait as if she was going on a picnic.

But when she arrived at the tea room, Helen let out a soft sigh as she opened the display case.

This won’t be enough.

Looking at the fifteen bottles of clear medicine, Helen narrowed her eyes. This medicine, which could hold and shake the Countess Nobury in her grasp, was all she had until the herb harvest season six months later.

For that son to be completely addicted to the drug, he would need at least three bottles a month. If he becomes addicted, the Nobury Count’s family would be in her palm.

Suddenly, she felt reluctant to part with the medicine. It might become a weapon to control other families in the future, based on the state of the Nobury Count’s family this time.

After hesitating for a moment, Helen packed one bottle of clear medicine and one empty medicine bottle.

Just in case, the condition might be too bad to use the medicine.

.

.

.

A journey of several days without disclosing the destination.

After informing the mansion staff as such, Gabe and Helen boarded the carriage. The staff lined up in front of the entrance bowed.

“Have a safe trip.”

As she watched this scene, Helen suddenly made eye contact with Johan Jenax. An ally who hated Nerea as much as she did. Perhaps due to her excited mood, Helen gestured to Johan.

As Johan quickly approached, Helen whispered gently like a flower.

“Lord Jenax, aren’t you curious about Nerea?”

At this question with unclear intentions, Johan thought for a moment before answering a beat late.

“…As the reporting deadline has passed, I will check immediately and report back.”

It wasn’t actually a reprimand for the lack of reports. Helen hadn’t read the reports containing Nerea Esteban’s recent news for the past few years, even though they had been submitted.

At one time, seeing that child’s ruined state was her greatest joy, but soon she became more focused on the comfortable happiness and peace she was enjoying.

“There’s no need for that. I was just asking.”

“What are you doing? We’re about to leave.”

The grand iron gates of the Count’s mansion opened.

Johan Jenax, the loyal vassal who had seen off the Acting Count couple until the end, soon stood up. And faster than anyone else, he went up to his room and scribbled on a piece of paper.

−To Alpern.

A single telegram. This telegram, delivered only through outsiders without passing through anyone else’s hands, entered the Rosa Count’s mansion via the Rosa trading company in an instant.

***

−[Breaking News] Valere Grand Duchy. In turmoil due to riots by Gauwe’s reinstated forces. A midnight pandemonium.

−The forces of Gauwe that the Crown Prince suppressed through his tour, why can’t the Grand Duke stop Gauwe?

−Gauwe, which the shield Nerea Esteban failed to finish. Continuously attempts to cross Castarty’s borders. Castarty needs a new hero.

It was good that she came to her room as soon as she received the newspaper. If Alejandro or Heather had been with her, they would have caught her messy expression.

Nerea let out a shallow sigh as she put down the newspaper. It was exactly the same method as ten years ago when they completely cut her out of high society.

An attack aimed at the incompetent Grand Duke and Nerea Esteban who didn’t properly finish Gauwe.

The main attackers, her father, and probably the Emperor who wanted to erase the Grand Duke along with him as his backing.

Her father, who had Marvin Moore incite riots, no longer even deserved the title of Acting Count. The Emperor who attacked his own people was no different.

Nevertheless, the reason Nerea’s gaze kept returning to the newspaper was one:

−The suffering night at the border. Is Nerea Esteban truly a hero who saved the nation?

A blatantly disparaging headline article about her.

From the moment she saw the phrase that was already etched in her mind even when the paper was turned over, Nerea had bad thoughts.

Was it really because of me?

For ten years, the easiest thing was to blame herself. Nerea shook her head to shake off the learned self-blame.

The newspaper is all nonsense and on her father’s side. This riot is something Gabe had Marvin Moore do to use as a foothold to attack Nerea. How could all of this be her fault?

“If only the Count had come a little earlier!”

But for a moment, Nerea hunched forward, curling her back. A thunderous voice and bloodshot eyes heavy with tears.

It was the resentment she heard when she recaptured the Oren region, which was the first area taken by Gauwe in the Kirkley Peninsula.

“If only the Count had come a little earlier, our child wouldn’t have died! Why only now, why!”

It was words she couldn’t say to anyone. To think that the first words she heard after the recapture were resentment. But in front of the parents holding their dead child and crying, Nerea couldn’t say anything.

Old memories she had been forgetting while drinking heavily crept up stickily from her toes. Come to think of it, how many of those who cheered and called her the Black Knight would still remember her now?

Moreover, Alejandro said there had never been such a large riot until he revealed Lessor’s painting.

If because of her existence, her father and Helen, and the Emperor made innocent people suffer.

Wouldn’t that really be her fault?

A bad habit came up and choked her. Helen laughing even after ruining Baron Jenax’s leg, the civilians on the battlefield looking at her with resentment, and now the Valere territory where riots have broken out.

It felt like all the things that hated Nerea would pounce on her at once and tear her apart. As her aqua eyes shook aimlessly.

Knock knock−.

The sound of knocking pulled Nerea back to reality. Slowly exhaling the breath that had been caught in her throat, Nerea gave a bitter smile towards the door.

It was obvious who it would be.

“Alejandro. Could you come back a little later?”

“Count, it’s Martha.”

“Martha…?”

Surprised by the unexpected person, Nerea took a couple of steps towards the door. Meanwhile, the voice outside the door spoke clearly, though trembling slightly.

“I wasn’t sure if I should bother you, but I felt that if I missed this moment, I would truly regret it.”

Regret. For nearly ten years, it had been the emotion most familiar to her, and Nerea quietly approached the door.

“The newspaper, please don’t mind it at all, Count. The trash scribbled by ignorant people who don’t know the horrors of war shouldn’t be in newspapers.”

“…”

“What should be in the articles is gratitude towards the Count who finished the hundred-year war that even the imperial family couldn’t, and criticism of the imperial family’s complacent response, making a fuss without providing proper support to war-torn areas.”

It was strange.

Martha was saying exactly what Nerea wanted to hear most right now. With each sound of Martha’s voice, it felt as if the resentments that had been stabbing her were popping and disappearing one by one.