Cedar lowered his eyes when he unexpectedly encountered Princess Aristella in the colonnade-style corridor.

Even at his young age, he knew what he meant to her, so he dared not raise his head.

He thought if he kept his head down like that, she would pass by without noticing him as if he weren’t there, but the pretty pearl-adorned shoes didn’t move away from in front of his eyes.

Cedar had no choice but to bow his head even deeper as he greeted her.

“How do you do, Duchess.”

As soon as he greeted her, the maid accompanying Princess Aristella shouted angrily.

“You little! How dare you speak first?”

“……”

Regardless of the situation, Cedar was properly recognized as the legitimate son of the duke’s family, so it wasn’t a situation where he couldn’t greet first.

So the maid’s scolding of Cedar was a kind of venting, treating Cedar as an illegitimate child.

‘I can’t help being mistreated like this.’

Cedar gave a bitter smile.

Even if it wasn’t his will, the fact that he was born out of wedlock and was an unblessed existence remained unchanged.

And the fact that he was bound to be hated by her, the official duchess.

A gentle voice sounded above Cedar’s head as he silently endured the pain.

Unexpectedly, it was words taking Cedar’s side.

“Stop that. What sin has that child committed?”

“But my lady!”

Princess Aristella, who had been soothing the indignant maids, made eye contact with Cedar.

Her deep blue eyes like a vast ocean were impressive.

“Cedar, was it?”

“…Yes.”

“You look exactly like His Grace the Duke.”

“……”

At those words, Cedar pressed his lips tightly together again. He didn’t know how to respond.

Typically, illegitimate children of noble families couldn’t be recognized as children and had to leave with their mothers and some money when they were born.

But Cedar was different.

There was a strong opinion that they should prepare for the possibility that Princess Aristella might not be able to bear a son.

And what gave strength to that opinion was the fact that Cedar resembled the Duke to an uncanny degree.

‘Is she trying to test me? Or is she mocking me in noble speech?’

No particular emotion could be seen in Princess Aristella’s blue eyes.

She asked Cedar in a gentle tone as he hesitated.

“Do you like sweets?”

“Yes. I like eating them with black tea.”

“Do you have time?”

“My lady!”

The maids were shocked at Princess Aristella’s action of offering tea to an illegitimate child. But Princess Aristella didn’t flinch.

“I was just feeling bored, so this is perfect. Come along with me.”

Her teatime with him was very quiet and peaceful.

Although her imperial language had become much more natural, there was still a unique accent mixed in her tone, which only sounded gentle to Cedar.

What seemed like just one or two such teatimes eventually became a fixed routine.

Once a week, the two of them drank tea together.

Since there wasn’t much for the two of them to talk about, naturally their conversation topic became Grisha.

“Grisha seems to like you.”

“I like Grisha too.”

“That feeling, don’t let it change.”

When Princess Aristella made that request, Cedar could understand the purpose of this strange teatime.

She was worried that Cedar might harm Grisha.

“I promise.”

Cedar swore to her.

And as if she had been waiting for that promise, not long after, Princess Aristella collapsed.

“My lady! My lady!”

Everything felt like an illusion.

The slender woman crumpling to the ground, the maids screaming as they held her.

The sunlight seemed to stab his eyes.

Was his head spinning because of the hot weather, or because of the thick smell of death felt right before his eyes?

It was the first time he had seen a person stagger like that before his eyes.

Crushed by fear, Cedar, pale-faced, ran to his mother.

“M-Mother! The Duchess!”

But Briar’s reaction was strange. She sipped her tea peacefully with an elegant smile.

“Has that woman finally died?”

Since the Duchess had collapsed during teatime with Cedar, there was no way Briar could have been informed that she had collapsed.

Yet Briar spoke of the Duchess as if it were natural.

“…Mother?”

“What a disgusting woman. She was so suspicious, drinking only plain water, eating vegetables raw.”

Briar’s slender hand caressed Cedar’s chin.

The words flowing from her angel-like beautiful face were terribly venomous.

“That woman must have really hated you. How could she not? When I see young master Grisha, I want to pull his hair and trample his small body.”

“G-Grisha is kind. He follows me like an elder brother. And the Duchess was kind to me…”

“Do you believe in that false kindness created by her pitiful pride?”

Briar flatly dismissed the time Princess Aristella spent with Cedar as pitiful pride.

And she sipped her tea with a snicker, seeming pleased.

“She wanted to boast about her generosity for not taking out her anger on an innocent child, so she even had teatime with you. What a foolish woman.”

“Mother, surely you don’t mean…”

Her words were ultimately pointing to one fact.

‘Are you saying Mother is the culprit?’

Cedar’s eyes shook back and forth as if an earthquake had occurred.

As he stared at Briar, who looked composed, Cedar turned his body again and ran somewhere.

Towards the Duchess’s room.

The doctor who had just finished examining the Duchess was explaining her condition to Grisha with a gloomy face.

“The poison she was poisoned with is bitter, so it would have been impossible not to notice if it was mixed in food. It seems she has been taking it for a very long time.”

“If it’s bitter food, then?”

“Like black tea…”

Grisha’s blue eyes turned towards Cedar. As the word ‘black tea’ left the doctor’s lips, Cedar felt as if his throat was being strangled.

According to Briar, the Duchess was extremely wary of poisoning and rarely drank tea.

Except, that is, for once a week. During the time she spent with Cedar Granite.

Whether he had reached the same conclusion, Grisha turned his back on Cedar.

Cedar called out to him in an anguished voice as he chased after him.

“Grisha!”

“Don’t call my name so casually.”

Grisha strongly swatted away the hand trying to grab his shoulder. Cedar clutched his throbbing hand.

There was quite an age difference between Cedar and Grisha. The boy before him looked much younger to Cedar.

But the betrayal and condemnation in those eyes pierced Cedar deeply like needles.

Cedar stammered out excuses in a trembling voice.

“I-I didn’t know either. If I had known, I wouldn’t have had tea with her.”

“Or were you so brave because you knew the poison wouldn’t affect you?”

“Grisha!”

It was true that he didn’t know. And that was still true now.

He only had circumstantial evidence; he didn’t know what poison he had drunk with the Duchess, or if he had drunk an antidote.

Perhaps there was no antidote at all.

If Briar had truly cared for her son, she wouldn’t have put poison in that tea in the first place.

There was no time to make such pitiful excuses. Cedar clung desperately to his much younger brother.

“It really wasn’t me. Please believe me.”

“Then will you be a witness?”

“What?”

“I’m going to bring your mother to court. I’m asking you to be a witness then.”

“You want me to report my own mother?”

Those blue eyes were cold as ice. Cedar hesitated for a moment, unable to answer. Grisha snorted as if he had expected this.

“…I guess your apology was just empty words after all.”

But Cedar hadn’t hesitated because he really wanted to protect himself or shield Briar.

Even as a witness, he had almost nothing to testify. Everything was just circumstantial; he didn’t know anything for certain.

That’s why Cedar quickly turned around and shouted to Grisha.

“I-I didn’t directly see the poison, or know what kind of poison it was! But there must be someone who followed Mother’s orders! I’ll find that person!”

‘The maid who followed Mother’s orders is obvious, so…’

When he first set out, Cedar thought it wouldn’t be difficult to find a witness or the culprit.

But Daisy, Briar’s personal maid, was nowhere to be seen in the mansion.

Cedar went as far as Daisy’s room and bit his nails anxiously.

“Where did Daisy go?”

Just then, a heavy voice sounded behind him.

“Why are you looking for her?”

“Father!”

Duke Granite was somehow in the maids’ quarters.

‘In this situation, shouldn’t he be at the Duchess’s chambers?’

The young Grisha shouldn’t have been the one to hear about the Duchess’s condition, but the Duke should have. She was his wife, after all.

Though feeling strange, Cedar obediently bowed his head and answered.

“I came looking for Daisy because I have something to ask her.”

“Cedar.”

A large, hard hand rested on Cedar’s shoulder. Though it was his father’s warm hand, Cedar didn’t feel comfortable.

His face was reflected in eyes of the same silver-gray as Cedar’s.

“You are my eldest son. Now your mother is the Duchess.”

“Wh-What are you saying? The Duchess is still alive…”

This overlapped with the image of Briar asking if that woman had finally died while sipping tea.

Surely not, right?

Cedar called out to him with trembling lips.

“…Father?”

As if confirming that suspicion was correct, the Duke admonished in a heavy voice.

“So you should quietly stay by your mother’s side.”

Behind Briar’s evil deeds, he had been supporting her.