Eida had just placed the newly sealed letter on the table.

The new letter joined the three already completed ones.

From the left: Gloria, eldest daughter of Viscount Pedis; Zelda, second daughter of Count Owen; Evelyn, only daughter of Count Clenid; and… Princess Eloise of the Polishuard Kingdom who had just joined.

They were all candidates to be Edric’s second wife.

She mixed the letters and ranked them anew.

She would send them in order, starting from the top.

Surely it wouldn’t even get to the fourth one.

Who would dare refuse my son?

One failed marriage is hardly a blemish.

Rather, women impressed by his devotion will rush to console his broken heart.

Aren’t there still women paying attention, hoping his obsession will fade, even after he rudely turned them away at the door with terribly impolite words?

While criticizing him with other ladies, aren’t they secretly asking me, his mother, how Edric is doing? If he’s showing signs of recovering from his heartbreak, if I could invite them as my guests?

Now if only Edric would settle his heart, things would progress smoothly.

Feeling satisfied, Eida rang the bell.

Her personal maid Anna entered and bowed her head demurely. Eida picked up the topmost of the five letters and handed it to her.

“Deliver this to the Pedis viscounty.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Anna received the letter in both hands as if it were a treasure and left the room.

Watching the door Anna exited through, Eida curled up the corners of her mouth.

‘It should be fine to make a move now.’

Much time had passed. Edric had wandered enough, and tried hard enough.

Eida saw his current order to investigate the backgrounds of all women in the empire as his final struggle.

If he failed to achieve results this time, he would gradually resign himself. He may have developed deep feelings for that thing in body and soul, but what could he do if he couldn’t find her?

No matter how eternal a love may seem, when it’s out of sight, the density of the heart’s emotions also fades. Nothing can escape this timeless truth.

Even for someone as obsessive as Edric.

Eida’s job was to keep showing other women to her son, making them more familiar to him than Melly. After all, wasn’t that thing also just someone who became a duchess through familiarity from living together?

So there’s no problem.

Eida was smiling pleasantly as she neatly stacked the remaining letters.

Just then.

Knock knock−.

Following the knock came the voice of the butler, Russell.

“My lady. It’s me.”

“What is it?”

“The duke wishes to see you for a moment.”

“Edric?”

Eida tilted her head, as if surprised.

Recently, while she might have sought him out, Edric had hardly ever sought her.

As he often skipped meals, there were few chances to meet, so Eida was all the more puzzled.

‘What wind has suddenly blown for him to want to see me?’

Suddenly she remembered that he had taken a walk in the garden for over an hour that morning. He who prioritized checking the backgrounds of women in the empire above all else, shut up in his office, had set that aside to take a walk.

At this, a smile formed on Eida’s lips.

The fresh air in the garden and his calling for her, all seemed like evidence that her son was slowly emerging from his heartbreak.

“Tell him I’ll be right there.”

Eida said to the door. The sound of the butler bowing and withdrawing with clicking shoes was heard.

Eida rose from her seat in good spirits.

She felt lighthearted, as if finally turning in a positive direction after a long tunnel.

She intended to ride this momentum and ask to lift the ban on young ladies entering.

She headed for Edric’s quarters. But he was not in his living room or office.

He was in that lowborn thing’s bedchamber.

“You’ve come?”

Sitting in a chair with his legs crossed, her son’s smoothly smiling appearance seemed as leisurely as if he had returned to his old self.

But perhaps due to the discomfort of the place, Eida did not feel joyful.

“Why are you here?”

“It’s not strange for a husband to be in his wife’s bedchamber. Please, sit.”

Edric offered his mother the seat opposite him.

Eida, who had been full of anticipation until just moments ago, sat down with a face unable to hide her disappointment.

“I heard you were looking for me.”

“There’s something I wanted to give you, Mother.”

“What is it?”

Before the puzzled Eida, Edric placed a box he had lifted from the floor.

“Please open it.”

Eida, who had been alternately looking at the box and her son as if trying to grasp its meaning, let out a deep sigh and reached for the box.

She untied the ribbon crossing the box and lifted the lid.

“What’s this baby clothes for? Is someone pregnant?”

“The Crown Princess is.”

“Oh, is that all.”

It was a fact she already knew. Eida chuckled and continued speaking.

“I was planning to visit the Imperial Palace soon to pay respects to Her Majesty the Empress anyway, so this works out well. I’ll stop by to give a gift to the Crown Princess while I’m there.”

“…”

“By the way, the craftsmanship is quite good. Who made this?”

“Melly did.”

At Edric’s words, Eida’s expression hardened.

“…Who?”

“My mother’s daughter-in-law made it. With a heart-wrenching effort.”

“…”

A suffocating silence swept through the room.

Only the ticking of the clock’s second hand, like the footsteps of an intangible ghost, indicated the passage of time.

Edric’s calm voice set the frozen time in motion again.

“Why did you do it, Mother?”

“What… do you mean?”

“Why did you do that, knowing how much Melly longed for a child?”

Eida spoke nonchalantly, trying to calm her anxiously pounding heart.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

At Eida’s words, Edric chuckled and placed several stacked documents next to the baby clothes.

Eida picked up the documents with trembling hands. Slowly, horror seeped into her eyes.

The ugly secret she had believed no one would ever know until she entered her grave appeared before her eyes in the form of text.

September 2 – Lindsey Nia – Additional order of 100 doses of Grapellisin (10g increase requested)

November 24 – Lindsey Nia Monthly regular order of 150 doses of Grapellisin. 5g increase every 60 days considering tolerance. Side effects explained.]

“It’s quite strange, isn’t it?”

“…”

“Why do I keep associating the name Lindsey Nia with Eida Lindsey Clonia Esdera?”

“…”

“Is it just my delusion? Mother?”

Edric continued his interrogation, staring straight at her.

“Did you really never purchase contraceptives through dark channels?”

Dark channels.

At the expression that so accurately revealed her ugly deed, Eida’s fingertips stopped trembling.

She looked straight at her son’s face and admitted.

“Yes, I did it.”

“…”

“I’ve been feeding that thing contraceptives for over three years. I did it because I hated the thought of my bloodline growing in her womb. Is that enough for you?”

Edric’s expression grew cold. In contrast, Eida continued speaking, raising her chin proudly as if without an ounce of shame.

“I never once acknowledged her as my daughter-in-law. I never once acknowledged her as my family. Didn’t I tell you once before?”

‘I can never accept such a beggar as my daughter-in-law.’

“Have you ever seen me retract words I’ve spoken?”

Eida was consistently proud.

“…”

Edric narrowed his eyes and glared at her, then burst out laughing.

‘Blood will tell.’

He had felt it long ago, but Edric could once again confirm that his selfish and cruel tendencies came from his mother. It was no wonder Melly had left…

“Edric.”

Suddenly changing her stance, Eida called her son affectionately.

“Now, end this marriage and remarry someone suitable. Haven’t you suffered enough over the past five years? How much hardship have we endured for the sin of welcoming a mistress of the house who couldn’t do anything properly? Have you already forgotten how many times she embarrassed our family at events?”

Eida continued speaking in a scathing tone.

“You resent me for feeding her contraceptives, but Edric. If she had gotten pregnant again, would she have taken proper care of herself? It was she who clumsily fell down the stairs while pregnant. Is there any guarantee that wouldn’t happen again?”

“…”

“If one’s origins are lacking, they should at least bear children well. The lady of House Pelton miscarrying from falling down stairs? I couldn’t show my face anywhere for shame.”

Having thrown off her mask, Eida now freely mocked Melly.

Perhaps she was sick of the pretense she had kept up for the past few years.

Rather than self-loathing for finally revealing her true nature, she felt unburdened first.

She wanted to keep tearing Melly down and cursing her. If she were here, she would have grabbed her hair and spanked her.

‘How dare the likes of you covet my son? Covet my place?’

“Mother.”

Edric’s calm voice cooled her boiling emotions in an instant, like a bowl of cold water poured on a boiling pot.

“You’ve now lost two things, Mother.”

“…”

“First, you’ve lost your only son. And next…”

Edric lightly rang the bell on the table in front of him and continued.

“You’ve lost the title of Dowager Duchess Pelton.”

“…”

Eida’s blue eyes, which had been full of venom, became bewildered in an instant.

What do you mean? As she was about to ask, the butler entered.

Seeing the ominous atmosphere, he hesitated between the two. Edric gave instructions.

“Escort Mother out.”

“Wh-where to, sir?”

The butler asked in a trembling voice.

“Anywhere she wants to go.”

Edric added coldly.

“As long as it’s out of my sight.”