“So, basically, I couldn’t carry out my order not to hurt him. Since he jumped off and half of his bones were broken due to the height… I’m sorry.”

“Wait a minute, you mean he suddenly fell over the railing by himself?”

“Yes, perhaps due to drunkenness he made a mistake while trying to escape from me.”

‘Was he that drunk?’

I tried to think about it, but I didn’t care much, so my memory was fuzzy.

“There were some witnesses. As soon as I opened the balcony door, he jumped.”

“I don’t doubt you.”

I was just bewildered by his drinking habits. 

As I tried to confirm a few more things with Dame Grinell, the Emperor shouted.

“Hooo, the little lioness of Rihan is here!”

When he found me in the distance, he beckoned the nobles to rise.

“Thank you for pleasing us with your presence at this banquet. I want to see the Lady up close, come, come here!”

Reluctantly, I approached the Royal couple and bowed my head.

“I greet His Majesty the Emperor, and Her Majesty the Empress. I am Terryl Rihan.”

It was a simple greeting, but he did not fault my rudeness. Rather, he seemed even more pleased and poured wine into a glass. No matter how much of a puppet the Emperor was, his reaction was excessive. I appreciated Rihan’s power anew.

As my father instructed me, I dealt with the Emperor with moderate courtesy. I congratulated him plainly and he asked for my father. It was a boring chat.

Then, the Emperor exclaimed as if he had remembered something.

“We are going to hold a hunting competition hosted by the Imperial Family soon. Shouldn’t we relish the joy of autumn?”

“I see.”

“You’re also Rihan, my Lady, I presume your swordsmanship skills are great. How about you participate? We have a prize for the winner. It will be for fun.”

‘Since the death of the late Emperor has not yet been erased, are you trying to cover people’s eyes by doing whatever you can?’

It was a perfect time. Autumn was a good season to hold a hunting contest.

If Rihan’s heir participated in the competition, people’s interest will be drawn further away from the death of his predecessor. 

…Perhaps he just wanted to deepen the relationship with Rihan Duchy.

Nevertheless, since it was a hunting contest, I was reluctant to accept since as a northerner I was all too used to hunting.

As if he knew my thoughts, he hastily added,

“The young nobles who participate in the contest often offer their prey to others. It doesn’t mean much, but it’s a pretty good sight. Isn’t it interesting?”

I couldn’t see the fun in it… 

As soon as I opened my mouth to refuse, an idea suddenly popped into my mind.

“If you recommend it that much, I’ll take part.”

“Oooh! It would be a very sumptuous hunt for Lady Rihan to attend. Is there anyone you would like to offer your prey to?”

Instead of answering, I turned to Jemon. The Emperor and many others’ eyes followed mine and turned toward him.

I heard people gasping and small voices everywhere.

‘What if I had known the truth three years ago?’

If Jemon had confessed everything at the moment he said goodbye to me, I might have rationalized that it was an inevitable outcome by comparing our differing situations.

Most of a person’s emotions, no matter how intense, cannot surmount the barrier of time. Just as rocks are carved out by waves, the heart wears out.

As Jemon Deibrik gave me a rude ending, I felt all sorts of emotions, but all that remained was frustration.

If the truth of his betrayal had been revealed to me earlier, I could have erased those feelings during the three years in Whitefall.

“If it’s permitted…”

However, I realized Jemon’s true intentions now.

The old Castle and the mansion now felt more familiar than the shabby house from the past. The same held true for my last name. I was more Rihan than Winterglass.

During my stay in the North, my self-esteem increased. I even fell in love with Whitefall and began to cherish Rihan.

And the betrayal and deception that Jemon subjected to Terryl Winterglass had now provoked Terryl Rihan. 

And after the love I had for him turned into ashes, the feelings of humiliation, hatred, and shame had reached their limits and evolved into a dreadful thirst for revenge.

“I would like to dedicate it to the young Lord of Deibrik.”

At my announcement, Jemon wore a blank expression, and the Emperor looked troubled.

He secretly peered at the side, as if glancing in Duke Gretel’s direction, but soon changed his expression.

“I see, it is not common to offer the trophy to a man with a fiancée. But not all participants do it from affection, so it could be.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“What do you mean?”

Before the Emperor could react, Jemon’s face gradually distorted as if he had understood the true meaning of my words. Twisting my lips and smiling at him, I turned my head.

From Jemon to the man right next to him. From a nauseating charming former lover to his brother, whom he hated so much.

Making eye contact with Cesio Deibrik, whose face was blank as paper, I said firmly.

“The one to whom I offer my hunt is young Lord Cesio.”

There was no justification for his actions if it was for the sake of the Marquis title. 

However, I was willing to accept that sorry excuse. Since you betrayed me for the succession and to protect your mother, I was willing to seize that place from you.

I will make that illusion of losing everything to him come true.

I had the power to do that now.

* * * *

There was a small interlude until the hunting competition. In the meantime, I ordered Dame Grinell to investigate Deibrik and rest.

Invitations arrived in my name, and some snooped around the mansion, but I pretended not to know. However, when Jemon sent me another letter requesting a meeting as if there was anything else to talk about, I had no other choice but to take up a pen.

[If you send me one more letter, I will return it to Duke Gretel.]

Fortunately, my true feelings were acknowledged, and no further correspondence arrived. 

Not long after, Dame Grinell handed me a report.

“This is the result of the investigation you ordered.”

On the first page, Deibrick’s rough circumstances were written.

Albert Deibrik, the current Marquis, suddenly adopted a distant relative’s child one day before his marriage. At the abruptness and without a proper explanation, his Fianceé at the time declared the termination of the engagement

He reluctantly married Dallant Weger, the current Marchioness.

Since his wife wasn’t from a proper birth, he treated her coldly. In addition, her family, wary of Cesio’s existence, encouraged her to kill the child.

Those years accumulated, and twenty years have passed. Suffering from the inside and the outside of her family, the Marchioness became mentally ill and hated Cesio as brainwashed by her family to feel.

Of course, the same applied for Jemon, who grew up in her arms.

“It wasn’t like she didn’t have any reasons.”

The real story began in the next pages.

The rumors I heard in the dance hall were written in detail. I learned a lot. For example, Jemon called me a snob.

The story about the Deibrik’s servants mocking me was old-cliché-boring history so I passed over that section. I didn’t want to get tired.

While he was courting Lobtina, Jemon feared that his relationship with me would be leaked so he tried to keep it secret.

[She stayed with me because she likes me a lot, like a little sister, but I feel troubled. No matter how much I reject her, she doesn’t stop. That’s why some people think she is my lover.]

Reading the determination to create a story as false as a smokescreen, made me laugh without heart. Jemon Deibrik was far more tawdry than expected.

He fooled a lot of people while pretending to do everything out of concern for his mother. 

I started to sympathize with young Lady Gretel.

I sighed as I turned the last page of the report and heard Dame Grinell’s voice.

“It can be handled as an accident in less than three days.”

‘Why are you talking about murdering someone so easily?’

It was a brutal comment, but I laughed a bit. I felt comforted by her anger at what had happened to me.

But…

“It’d be hard to kill him.”

“If you do it without anyone know–”

“That’s too luxurious.”

As she hesitated, I continued.

“I understand what Dame Grinell feels after reading the report, but that man is greedy for the Marquis’ title. He grew up half-brained, and he has severe paranoia toward Cesio.”

“That…”

“It would be worth seeing him lose his title to such a brother.”

At one point, his excessive hatred towards Cesio made me uncomfortable, but now it made me giggle.

‘The more Jemon hates Casio, the sweeter the fruit of revenge.’

Dame Grinell nodded, apparently agreeing with me.

“Anyway, the facts haven’t changed, as I thought. There’s no need to change the plan.”

I threw the report with Jemon’s face in the fireplace and got up from my seat.

“I would like to see Cesio, please send a letter to the Deibrik’s household.”

* * * *

Cesio’s schedule wasn’t tight, so the appointment was quickly set. It was the day when all members of the Deibrik family, excluding the one I had to meet, were away from the mansion. 

I made a mistake in calculating the time and arrived a little early, but it was worth the wait.

The carriage stopped at the Deibrik’s entrance.

As soon as I set foot outside the wagon, the butler approached as if he had been waiting for a long time.

“I am Baron Nicholas Corvo, Marquis Deibrik’s butler. It is an honor to meet Rihan young heir”

It was a familiar face, but his attitude was completely different from what I remembered.

His eyes, which always had a stern look, were curved with flattery, and his every gesture was polite and careful. He didn’t look at me, so he didn’t even realize who I was.

I felt like laughing.

“That’s new. Didn’t the Baron already have the honor several times before?”

“What does that– gasp!”

When he raised his head doubtfully, the butler gasped.

As if a dead man had come back to life in front of his eyes, his face was pale without any sign of the formerly dignified demeanor.

He checked the pattern on the carriage again. That didn’t mean that the lion on the insignia would magically turn into a cat. 

“How much longer will you make the little Duke wait?!”

Without waiting for the man to regain his composure, Dame Grinell shouted. Surprised, the butler beckoned in a hurry.

The door opened and a familiar mansion came into sight. Only then did I feel I was back in the Deibrick’s mansion.

As if his neck was broken, the butler bowed deeply as if guilty of something. His face was paper-white, and his hands trembled as if he had been poisoned.

It was funny, but on the other hand, I felt a little bit of sympathy, although it didn’t last for long.

“Since Sir Cesio is not yet ready, it’ll be better for the Lady to go up and wait.”

Seeing that he called his master carelessly, it seemed that he was the same old fox.

It wasn’t a good feeling, but for the time being, I persevered and went up as the butler guided me.

And the moment I went into the room and saw Cesio, I froze, stunned, in place.