Unlike a moment ago, the surroundings were quiet.
People couldn’t swallow their saliva properly.
Because Viscount Acmel knelt before Daphne.
“What is happening…”
Wessler let out a cry of astonishment.
Leon, who followed, also kept his mouth shut for the first time in a while and only blinked.
“My thoughts were short.”
He looked serious.
It wasn’t an apology tossed to avoid a crisis.
It was sincere.
“Even though the grand duchess found several ways, I tried not to admit it until the end.”
It was about costs and expenses.
Because the viscount tried to dishonestly blame someone else for his mistake.
“I will accept any punishment. Please forgive me for my rudeness.”
Daphne looked at the viscount in silence, and then smiled.
“Get up.”
Daphne held out her hand.
The viscount’s face was dark as he rose.
The stubbornness and obstinacy that he had held out all his life were snap! broken at once.
It was a natural result.
‘Now it’s time to give the carrot.’
It was time for Daphne to splint the shattered pride.
“Viscount Acmel.”
“Yes, Grand Duchess.”
“You said you’d be punished.”
The viscount nodded his head darkly, and his eyes widened at Daphne’s words.
“Then come as an advisor to His Grace the Grand Duke. That is the punishment I give to the viscount.”
“No, an advisor. I don’t think I am a person who can do that.”
“I’m sure the viscount knows too.”
Daphne cut off the words of the viscount.
“His Grace is still young and lacks someone to hold him by his side.”
The most reliable support, Ritena, passed away.
To make matters worse, even his father, Zegman, fell ill.
Even the education of the successor was not completed properly.
Kael got lost.
‘The other vassals and Sir Wessler are helping, but they are not enough.’
He needed someone who was more capable, more loyal, and would never betray him.
Not someone who doesn’t betray, but someone who can’t.
And today Daphne intended to make the viscount like that.
“Viscount.”
Daphne lowered her voice so that only the viscount could hear her.
“Don’t you see that I’m here? If you stay like this, the emperor will kill you.”
It was a truth that the viscount already knew.
However, hearing it through the mouth of the person sent by the emperor had a different weight.
It feels like the distant future is just around the corner.
“If even Zegman dies, Madeline, who currently occupies the position of advisor, will consume Bertrand.”
The Bertrand family had very few relatives because of the curse running through their lineage.
Ruling Bertrand was too much for the few survivors.
So when Kael dies, the grand duchy will beg, and someone close will take it.
That was Madeline.
“……”
The viscount’s fists trembled.
His eyes turned red with anger.
“Why are you so surprised?”
Daphne laughed.
“Isn’t it the viscount who knew everything but left it alone?”
“That!”
The viscount shouted without realizing it, but soon lowered his voice.
“…That, I did.”
The excuse was incomplete.
The viscount drooped his shoulders.
“I know I still don’t know how to treat His Grace yet.”
It must be hateful.
That’s how sad it must be.
Although Kael was the direct cause of Ritena’s death, Kael was also a victim.
Wasn’t the real cause the curse?
But the viscount could not accept it.
The viscount, who was shaken between the two emotions, ran away under the pretext of hatred.
“I know you don’t know how to fill the gap.”
Daphne continued speaking softly.
“You think that when he gets older, it will be solved after more time.”
But is that really so?
“Everything can’t go in a good direction.”
In the original story, in the previous life.
The emotional gap between Kael and the viscount deepened and eventually became a trap to catch Kael.
“If you stay like this and His Grace dies, all the guilt will be yours.”
Only regrets will remain.
“I’m telling you to move before that.”
Hasn’t she broken his stubbornness and obstinacy?
Once was difficult, twice was not difficult.
Daphne reached out to apologize to Kael as well.
“And, Viscount.”
Daphne lowered her voice further.
It was such a small voice that it was hard for even the viscount to hear.
“When His Grace dies, the Bertrand Grand Duchy will end.”
Kael was the only son.
He had no relatives because of the curse.
So.
“Miss Ritena’s blood will also completely disappear from this world.”
All traces of the person you followed so blindly will be erased.
“……!!”
The viscount’s face turned white.
It seemed he didn’t think that far.
“Come on, Viscount Acmel. Please help His Grace.”
It was a request. But at the same time, it was an order he couldn’t refuse.
The viscount nodded.
“Then are you apologizing to His Grace as well?”
Daphne deliberately raised her voice.
Kael, who was standing a little further away, looked at the two in surprise.
“That’s great. Really!”
Clap!
Daphne rejoiced, clapping her hands. Then she winked.
During that short walk to Kael, the viscount’s pale face returned to normal.
But it must be complicated inside.
A little bit of hatred, the guilt that makes that hatred bigger, sorry, longing, and the responsibility to keep it.
All those emotions are tangled up.
‘I will protect Kael.’
“Your Grace.”
Viscount Acmel knelt on the white snowfield.
The gaze that had been looking down insolently until a few hours ago fell to the floor.
“Until now, I have been rude to Your Grace.”
“……”
“I won’t ask for your forgiveness. However.”
The viscount breathed in and raised his head.
His face was a mess of many emotions, but only a ray of sincerity was clearly visible.
“Give me a chance to die for you, Your Grace.”
Kael was silent for a long time. He pursed his lips as if to say something, then soon nodded.
And quickly swept his face. But it was after Daphne saw a tear falling from Kael’s eyes.
“Assent.”
He only said one word.
“Since you have left the castle at will, I hope that you will finish this job successfully and come back with that misdeed.”
“Thank you, Your Grace.”
Kael turned his head. But Daphne could see Kael’s face at that moment.
“Good.”
“That’s what I’m saying. I thought the viscount and His Grace would never reconcile.”
Wessler muttered, and Leon nodded.
Daphne laughed alone among the people watching the scene in disbelief.
Done.
***
Rattle!
The carriage shook violently, perhaps because a wheel was caught in the stone.
Nevertheless, Kael did not raise his head.
He’s been like that since they left, so it’s been about an hour?
No, it’s been longer.
“Your Grace.”
“Yes.”
“Your Grace, Grand Duke Kael Bertrand.”
“I’m listening, please speak.”
He didn’t raise his head, but answered well.
“Don’t you have a stiff neck? You’ve been like that since the start.”
“It’s all right. It doesn’t hurt.”
She didn’t think it was okay.
Daphne tilted her head.
“Are you going to stay like that until we get to the castle?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. No way, Your Grace.”
Daphne leaned forward, putting her arms on her legs and cupping her chin.
The corners of her mouth curved up like a joke.
“Is it because you cried earlier?”
Kael’s body visibly flinched at Daphne’s words. He quickly denied it.
“No.”
“Really?”
Daphne’s voice was full of mischief.
There was no answer this time.
“Can you please raise your head if you’re not embarrassed?”
“I can’t.”
Kael replied firmly.
But it was too late.
“You’re already red even at the back of your neck?”
As she said that, Daphne poked her finger at the nape of his neck, which was visible through his hair and his clothes.
“……!!”
Kael raised his head as if he had been electrocuted.
He wrapped his hand around the nape of his neck and stuck close to the wall of the carriage.
“Ah, if you know.”
His face was bursting red and his eyes were moist.
“Can you pretend you don’t know?”
Then he lowered his gaze to the floor of the carriage.
“What’s wrong with crying? It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Kael was only fifteen years old.
Isn’t he at the age to cry?
“But I am the Grand Duke of Bertrand. Besides, I cried so much in front of Miss Daphne.”
Having said that, Kael pressed his lips together and looked at Daphne.
His silver eyes glistened with tears.
“I don’t usually cry this much.”
And then he quietly added.
“…Really.”
Daphne had to struggle not to laugh at the sight.
Isn’t it too different from her previous life?
The grown-up Kael was someone who wouldn’t bleed even if stabbed.
‘Now, when poked, he blushes and cries.’
Daphne nodded.
“I’ll believe you.”
Then she took out a handkerchief from her pocket and held it out to Kael.
“Why are you giving this to me?”
Kael, who took the handkerchief unexpectedly, asked.
“It seems that Your Grace will no longer be able to use yours. Oh, it’s okay to have it! I’m sure you’ll use it a lot.”
It was around the time they almost arrived at Bertrand Castle that Kael finally spoke up at Daphne’s jest.
“Miss Daphne.”
Daphne, who was looking out the window, turned her gaze, as if to let him speak.
Kael asked, holding the handkerchief given by Daphne.
“The hot spring, it’s not by chance.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Daphne nodded.
“I knew where the hot springs would come from. I also knew a little about Viscount Acmel and Your Grace.”
Mushrooms were really accidental.
‘Will you ask me now?’
How did you find out.
How did you know the situation so thoroughly.
Why you have the power to suppress the curse.
‘I thought he’d ask already.’
Contrary to her expectations, Kael didn’t say anything about that.
‘It would have been best to hide it.’
It’s all coincidence, it’s all luck, it’s God’s blessing.
It was comfortable to say that.
‘But not for Kael.’
It was fine with other people, but it was hard to hide from Kael.
Kael had a lot of work to do, and she had the power to suppress the curse.
That power was something Daphne couldn’t explain.
“Actually, I—”
Before Daphne could come up with an excuse she had thought of beforehand.
“I won’t ask you anything.”
Kael spoke first.
“When you want to talk, tell me then.”
“What are you going to do if I keep not talking?”
Kael lowered his head slightly.
What she saw at that moment was definitely a smile.
“I believe Miss Daphne will tell me one day.”
Daphne stiffened at Kael’s words.
After blinking slowly, Daphne turned her head first this time.
“I see.”
Trying to look out the window, Daphne bit her lip.
‘Calm down.’
Anxiety crept in at the word ‘believe’.
“Trust this uncle.”
“Daphne, my sister. I believe in you.”
‘It’s in the past.’
Her hands, which grabbed the hem of her skirt, naturally became tense. Thin hands turned white.
‘Pathetic! You’re going to be like this whenever you hear that one believes, Daphne?’
From now on, she had to hear more of this. It was a normal word that didn’t matter to others.
‘Kael can’t kill me.’
To Kael, she was a necessary and reliable person.
But he was not yet confident. Yes, not yet.
So there was no reason for Kael to betray and kill her.
“Hoo…”
She finally calmed down. Daphne closed her eyes, leaning her head against the window as if she were tired.
So she didn’t see it.
Where Kael’s gaze reached as he sat across from her.
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