No matter what, hitting a grown adult. I lowered my head.

“I’m sorry. I’ll scold him later when I see him.”

“Yes, please do.”

Hail nodded quickly. I also lightly pointed out his mistake.

“Still, it was wrong of you not to return to the Knights after leaving the mansion. It was during your work hours.”

“…Yes, I’ll reflect on that.”

After sorting out the story, all that was left in front of me was a sandwich full of greens and thinly sliced ham.

I’m hungry, but seeing the green color makes my appetite flee like a ghost.

I swallowed hard. Then, with a solemn heart, I gripped the tray tightly and said to Hail.

“I’m going to eat now, so please wait outside the room. Isn’t it enough if you don’t leave the mansion?”

There’s no need to show him my struggle with the sandwich.

But Hail firmly shook his head at my suggestion.

“No. I was ordered not to leave the lady’s side for even a moment.”

“What? That’s a bit much.”

“The Commander had to go to the Dragon Knight Order briefly because of a guest. Since I haven’t reached the level of achievement to sense all movements in the mansion like the Commander, it’s better for me to stay by your side, my lady.”

“A guest?”

A bit late, I remembered that Lady Briar had said yesterday she would come back the next day.

I shuddered.

‘Wait, does that mean she was planning to send an assassin to kill me, and then immediately talk about remarriage with Cedar?’

Could Lady Briar be even more dangerous than I thought?

Getting goosebumps made my appetite disappear even more.

As I stared blankly at the sandwich, Hail, thinking I couldn’t eat because of him, took a step back and said:

“Please think of me as if I’m not here.”

That’s easier said than done. How can I pretend someone isn’t there when they’re standing right in front of me?

As I was pouting, suddenly a good idea came to me and my eyes sparkled.

“Then, will you not tell my husband if I eat without the vegetables?”

“…Is that the issue?”

There’s no need to tell Hail about Lady Briar.

I didn’t wait for an answer and quickly started removing the vegetables from the sandwich.

I don’t know where they sourced them from, but there were cucumbers, tomatoes, all evenly distributed.

‘Tomatoes, I get sick of them after just one slice.’

And the bread gets soggy, making the sandwich tasteless.

It’s not that I dislike vegetables, I’m removing them for the sake of the sandwich’s flavor. Yes, that’s right.

Hail watched me removing the vegetables as if this was his chance, then shrugged.

“Well, the Commander is a bit overprotective.”

“That’s right! People can live healthily without eating vegetables! If you really want vegetables, you can eat potatoes!”

“That’s not quite right.”

You need to eat a balanced diet to be healthy. After adding that, Hail hesitated a bit before slowly starting:

“I heard there was a big incident last night.”

I thought Hail didn’t know about the attack, but it seemed Cedar had told him. I nodded.

“…Yes, it was quite a shock.”

Looks like Hail has more of Cedar’s trust than I thought.

I made sure to firmly note that in my mind.

Hail shook his head and continued speaking.

“The Duchess must be at her wit’s end too. Of course, I can understand her feelings to some extent.”

“She’s been quiet for a year, why would she suddenly become so urgent?”

“Because he has returned.”

“He?”

This was a part I hadn’t heard from Cedar, so I tilted my head in confusion.

Just as Hail was about to answer, opening his mouth—

Bang bang—

“Oh? Looks like we have a guest.”

Right on cue, there was a knocking sound. Not from the main gate that I had melted the lock of, but from the front door.

Hail quickly turned and ran out, urging me:

“Please don’t come out, my lady. I’ll go check and report back.”

It’s true that I should maintain my bedridden state and not show my face to any guests.

But somehow, I couldn’t just sit still.

‘This is a matter of my life at stake, I can’t just let Sir Hail handle it alone, can I?’

If I look down from my room’s window, wouldn’t I be able to see the person standing right in front of the entrance?

I quickly got off the bed and pressed my palms against the window, sticking close to it. As I expected, I could see the guest.

“Oh?”

When I confirmed who it was, I was so surprised my eyes went wide.

Then, tightly pulling the shawl Cedar had wrapped around me, I rushed downstairs.

Hail, who was arguing with the guest in front of the entrance, saw me running down and turned pale, shouting:

“My lady, you shouldn’t come ou…!”

“Grisha!”

I called out the guest’s name loudly. At my voice, the young man standing still’s eyes, as blue as the sea, curved gently.

“Nelly.”

A deep voice I had never heard before called my name.

I smiled brightly and ran to him, hugging him tightly.

Grisha, who I had been like family with at the academy, had come to visit!

‘What am I doing here?’

Cedar, sitting in the office chair, thought that with his chin resting on his hand.

Across from him sat a beautiful woman with her silver hair elegantly twisted up.

It was Cedar’s mother, Lady Briar.

‘Is Nelly alright? She must have been very shocked by yesterday’s incident.’

I wanted to comfort her, but the divorce talk came up unexpectedly and I ended up yelling and leaving.

Remembering the conversation from this morning, Cedar’s head throbbed and he sighed through his nose.

‘I should quickly send mother back and go to the mansion.’

I promised to give her three days to think, not that I wouldn’t see her face at all.

Cedar naturally looked at his mother. It was a cold gaze as if asking when she would leave.

“It’s been a while, Cedar.”

Feeling Cedar’s gaze, she began with a beautiful smile.

Even her voice was indescribably beautiful, like a small bird chirping.

But to Cedar, it all felt terribly unpleasant. He replied in a brusque voice.

“We just met yesterday, what do you mean it’s been a while?”

“Yesterday was just a brief chat on the street, so it can’t be called a meeting, can it?”

She added with a bright smile.

“I’m really happy to be sitting face to face having tea with my beloved son like this.”

My beloved son.

As a child, Cedar loved it when his mother called him that.

No matter how grueling the training, a single word of praise from Lady Briar could make him forget it all.

That is, when he was very young.

‘Talking as if I’m her son.’

From the moment he realized that her affection wasn’t simply loving his existence for being her child, the way she addressed him just sounded detestable.

‘It means her beloved son who handed over the position of Duchess to her.’

And now that he was going against her wishes, he had become a very dislikable son. Cedar smirked and mocked her words.

“Didn’t you mock me for being immature yesterday?”

Lady Briar flinched slightly at that remark.

Hadn’t she spouted all sorts of harsh words yesterday, carried away by her position as a parent thinking of her child, and then gone home?

Lady Briar’s eyes, beautiful like a porcelain doll, scanned Cedar’s face.

Even when she put on a pitiful expression, he didn’t waver at all. She twisted her lips imperceptibly to Cedar.

‘How annoying.’

When he was young, just a word or two of coaxing would soften him up and he’d listen to her words.

Now that his head had grown a bit, he clumsily inserted his own emotions.

‘But Cedar is important right now.’

With Grisha’s return, it wasn’t good for Cedar to keep staying outside the Duke’s family.

Lady Briar suppressed her irritation and squeezed out an affectionate voice.

“I’m sorry about yesterday. I got emotional and said things I shouldn’t have. But you know that this mother loves you more than anyone in the world, right?”

“…Of course. Mother, you haven’t changed. I was worried you might have changed and felt disappointed.”

Cedar gave a bitter smile. Then he pulled out a box that had been pushed to the corner and held it out to Lady Briar.

“This is a gift.”

“Cedar.”

As he set down the box, blood that had seeped out from it stained the tablecloth red.

It was a trace of the assassin who had suddenly attacked Cedar’s house yesterday.

The moment she saw the blood, Lady Briar’s face hardened. Cedar shrugged as if it was no big deal and said:

“I prepared this myself after meeting the guest you sent yesterday. I hope you like it.”

“What do you mean I sent a guest? What are you talking about?”

“Keep pretending if you want. Whatever you say, I’ll still think it was a guest you sent. I even wrapped it nicely, why don’t you open it?”

Lady Briar, who had been trying to feign ignorance, realized that her son had already firmly made up his mind and sighed.

‘I was planning to pin it on Grisha if things went wrong.’

Fearing that his already married older brother might take away the Duke’s title, he sends an assassin to his wife.

What a plausible scenario.

‘But with Cedar being so stubborn…’

Seeing her eldest son already certain that she was the culprit, Lady Briar let out a heavy sigh.

Then, as if giving in a bit, she voiced the condition she had wanted:

“If you dislike it that much, I won’t say anything more about marriage. Instead, come back to the Duke’s family. What’s going on with the Duke’s heir staying in such a shabby mansion?”

Cedar smirked.

Her true intentions were so shallow, there was no need to even gauge them.

“You want me to leave the mansion so you can send guests without worry? You sent one yesterday too, thinking I wasn’t there, right? Because the gate was locked.”