“Is there really no way?”

“They say only servants who have worked at the count’s residence for a long time can even set foot there. It’s impossible to infiltrate a new servant, and even more impossible to recruit one of the count’s servants.”

“How frustrating. Use your head and think of something. There’s always a proper way to do things.”

“I understand your frustration, but there is no way. Moreover, this child is of royal blood. How could we possibly extract a child who carries the blood of His Highness the Grand Duke?”

Isaac’s grumbling continued. He couldn’t understand Marina, who kept insisting on the impossible while threatening him to get it done.

“If we can’t go in to steal, why not make them come out on their own?”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“If you just think about it differently, the answer becomes clear… tsk tsk.”

If they couldn’t go in to steal, make them come out. As Isaac pondered Marina’s words, a faint smile finally appeared on his face.

“We may not be able to infiltrate or recruit someone, but we can make them come out on their own.”

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying. Now we’re on the same page.”

“There must be someone who can make contact with the count’s servants. I’ll look into it.”

Everything was falling into place for her and Franz. Just as it had happened many times before, it felt like they could soon eliminate the rival standing in their way and place Franz in the position they desired.

Marina smiled with satisfaction.

Carl said he wanted to talk about that day, the day Valerie was created. I thought it would be an extended version of the grueling sex education lesson, the practical edition.

But Carl began a truly unexpected story. It was a long speech, but to summarize, it went like this:

‘I don’t remember. I’m not sure.’

I had prepared myself for anything, thinking nothing could be as shocking and unsettling as the sex education lesson, but that preparation proved futile in that moment.

“What…?”

You don’t remember? How? You made a child but don’t remember?

“It’s exactly as I said. I don’t remember. I recall you coming to find me, but that’s all.”

“W-wait a minute. So you remember that I, I mean Celeste, came to find you, but you don’t remember anything after that?”

“That’s correct. Even then and now, I’ve been curious about how you knew where to find me in the first place. So I wanted to ask you instead. How did you find me, and what happened between us that day?”

“That can’t be…”

“But before I could ask, you disappeared without a trace, and two years passed. When I finally found you, you said you had no memory.”

“So… it was just one day? The day you and I… were together?”

I didn’t know what words to choose, so I vaguely expressed it as ‘the day we were together,’ but my face still burned. Probably because it wasn’t simply being together.

“That’s right. In fact, I had never properly exchanged words with you before that. Come to think of it, even sitting here talking with you like this is quite remarkable to me.”

How and why did you suddenly make a child with someone you’d never even spoken to?

I thought I would get clear answers about the past if I asked Carl. But instead, I became even more confused than before. What on earth had happened?

“Where were you two years ago?”

I wondered where he had been for Celeste to have ‘come to find him.’ Carl’s eyes widened at my question. It was an expression that seemed to ask if I really didn’t know.

“At my villa.”

“Your villa? Where is it?”

“That’s…”

When I pressed him because he clearly couldn’t answer, he said it was top secret. I found it strange that the location of a villa would be top secret. Everything was strange.

“It’s a place to hide when I feel threatened, when I need to conceal myself. So naturally, the location must be kept strictly confidential. If it were a place everyone knew about, it wouldn’t be suitable for hiding.”

“So the location was secret, but I came to find you. How?”

“That’s what I’m curious about too. How did you know about my secret villa?”

I was at a loss for words. What was Celeste thinking when she went to Carl’s villa? And how did she know the way? He said it was top secret.

“Let’s skip that part since you don’t remember… Then what? What did you talk about with me after I suddenly showed up at your secret villa?”

“We didn’t talk about anything in particular. I was quite surprised to meet such an unexpected person in such an unexpected place, and when I asked how you got there, you didn’t give a proper answer.”

“I didn’t answer?”

“No, you were rambling incomprehensibly. At first, I was suspicious of your purpose for visiting, but it was strange that you came all the way there alone without even an aide or a knight. I assumed something must have happened to you, so I asked various questions and provided a room for you to rest.”

You just accepted someone who was practically a stranger showing up at your secret villa that no one knows about? And you say Valerie was conceived after exchanging just a few words?

The story didn’t add up. It wasn’t an explanation that made sense logically.

Moreover, Carl at that time, though it seems he’s still like this now, was someone who viewed women as if they were stones. If it had been Franz, who doesn’t turn away women who come to him or chase after those who leave, I might understand, but I couldn’t comprehend or imagine Carl suddenly spending the night with Celeste who came to find him.

It felt like I was missing the most important piece of the puzzle. When laid out, it might seem like just one piece, but it was the kind of crucial piece that, when completed, would make it impossible to see the whole picture without it.

“Was providing a room all you did?”

It was a rather direct question. The tips of Carl’s ears turned slightly red.

“Well. We had a meal together. I think you said you had no appetite, but still, it wouldn’t be right not to offer a meal to a guest.”

“So you had a meal with me who suddenly showed up.”

This is where I started to feel bad. I don’t know why I felt bad, but imagining Carl from a time I didn’t know sitting at a table with Celeste made me inexplicably uncomfortable.

I just didn’t like the idea of Carl sharing his private moments with a woman I didn’t know. Even if that woman was me from two years ago, the Celeste of that time was just a stranger to me now.

“I don’t drink alcohol.”

“Pardon?”

“I dislike the feeling of losing control against my will, but more than that… the main reason is that my body can’t handle alcohol.”

Suddenly talking about alcohol? I blinked in surprise.

“But that day, you made me drink.”

“What? I made you drink?”

Celeste did something so cunning and bold? Why?

“I don’t know if you knew that I can’t handle alcohol at all, but in any case, I refused your offer of a drink. But then…”

“But then?”

“At that moment, Clovis said he had something urgent to report, so I left my seat for a while. When I came back after finishing the conversation, you were quietly eating your meal as if you had never offered me a drink.”

“…”

“But as it turns out, you had secretly switched the contents of my glass.”

“You switched it…?”

Is she a card shark? I became very curious about what Celeste was thinking, what her intentions were.

“I emptied the glass thinking it was water, but I quickly felt the effects of alcohol. Anyway, after that, I blacked out. When I opened my eyes, it was dawn the next day. And you were gone.”

“What…?”

And Valerie was conceived? How? There were too many holes in the explanation.

According to his words, Celeste had deliberately sought him out and planned and executed all of this. I don’t know what her plan was, but it seemed clear that one of her goals was to seduce Carl.

“So I intended to ask you everything when I met you again – why you came to find me, and why you made me drink. But I never expected the situation to turn out like this.”

Carl shrugged as he spoke.

So he wanted to ask why I suddenly showed up, made him drink, and ran away, but he couldn’t meet me for two years, and when he finally did, I was with his child. This was Carl’s perspective.

I felt worse and worse. Although I didn’t hear a detailed explanation of that ‘night’ directly from him, I could sufficiently infer the cause and process before it through the clear result.

To think that Valerie was the fruit of that one-night encounter. In some sense, both Celeste and Carl were quite remarkable. In just one night, just one time…