Layla grabbed his hand and dragged him to her room. She pointed to the evidence scattered haphazardly on the desk in a state of panic.
“What are you going to do about this?”
“……”
Duval, who was meticulously checking the evidence, sighed deeply in front of the document with Count Valentine’s handwritten signature.
Witness testimonies of the date could be dismissed as misunderstandings. The recorded conversations could be brushed off as mere relationship advice between friends.
But when the person committing the affair leaves a signed document like this—
‘The authorities will see it as solid evidence. That’s why they demanded alimony, holding him responsible for the divorce.’
“Do you really not have any money? Really?”
Layla asked desperately.
If the alimony is not paid, according to the Empire’s law, the evidence will be made public, and Layla’s prospects for marriage will be completely blocked.
Her sister’s blocked marriage path means that Essite loses the means to ally with another family.
Duval racked his brain, looking for any possible source of money. However, the amount was so large that nothing came to mind easily.
After agonizing for about ten minutes, he reluctantly resorted to the last option in response to Layla’s desperate cry of ‘Is there really nothing?’
“I’ll have to tell Father.”
“Oh, no!”
Layla was aghast.
What kind of person is their father? He would rise from the grave for money.
In fact, the reason for trying to entice Count Valentine this time was the desire to earn money and gain recognition from their father.
But to tell him everything and ask him to pay back 10 billion?
“I might really get kicked out!”
“You have to tell him you’ll make up for it.”
“How! I spent all the money believing in the promise of a share if the business goes well!”
Duval sighed in frustration and ran his hand roughly through his hair.
It was already driving him crazy with Tirielle whining about whether he really loved her and when he would break off the engagement with Siella. Now, with his sister acting like this, he was on the verge of losing it.
“I’ll help you, so stop whining. But how did you gather the evidence?”
“I don’t know. Didn’t this woman hire Sielle Romance Manipulation Guild?”
“I don’t think so.”
Duval flatly denied it.
Aria Valentine didn’t have enough money to hire Sielle Romance Manipulation Guild.
‘Wait. Did she take an advance to pay it back with alimony?’
It was a plausible possibility that needed to be checked.
To do that, he first had to go to the Labyrinth estate. He had to get past Siella, who was guarding Aria like a gatekeeper.
“I’ll find out, so you just tell Father.”
“I’ll also say that you made me start this.”
“…Do as you please.”
Knowing that he might lose 10 billion because of him, his father would be furious, but he wasn’t afraid.
To be honest, he didn’t have the mental capacity to worry about that. It was more important to quickly resolve the engagement dispute with Siella.
The person who had been clinging to him for over ten years suddenly acted as if she had become someone else overnight, so he brought up the engagement breakup as a warning that he would leave if she continued like this.
And now, a new lover as if she had been waiting for it.
‘The engagement must not be broken.’
He had to stop Siella by any means necessary. Duval gritted his teeth.
*** *** *** *** ***
The next day, Duval visited the Labyrinth estate early in the morning.
Although he went partly because of Layla’s situation, the main reason was to settle the engagement dispute.
He planned to threaten Siella by presenting the information he had obtained from Sielle Romance Manipulation Guild, telling her to follow his words if she wanted to show her face in society again.
However, he couldn’t even enter the front door, let alone meet Siella.
It was because of Siella’s personal maid, May.
“She is not feeling well. She is not in a condition to meet anyone.”
The maid, with a resolute expression, blocked Duval with her entire body.
A servant blocking the path of a noble. It was an unimaginable situation in Essite, and Duval gritted his teeth inwardly.
If it weren’t for the need to restore his relationship with Siella, he would have dealt with this insolent person somehow.
“Move aside. I need to see for myself how sick she is.”
“You cannot. She said she doesn’t want to meet anyone.”
“Not even her fiancé?”
“Especially not her fiancé.”
Duval, enraged by her cheeky words, raised his hand. However, he couldn’t bring himself to slap her.
She was a maid cherished by Siella. If he touched her recklessly, he didn’t know how Siella would react.
Grinding his teeth, he turned back helplessly. As he boarded the carriage with nothing gained, he looked up fiercely at the window of Siella’s room, where the curtains were drawn.
He didn’t believe the excuse of being sick. Hadn’t she done this before and then brought some man, claiming he was her lover?
What on earth is she plotting this time?
*** *** *** *** ***
After handing over the evidence and the handwritten signed document to the authorities to direct the alimony to Aria.
I had been unable to leave my room for several days.
“Cough, cough.”
I had succumbed to a summer cold that supposedly even dogs don’t catch. To be precise, it was more like fatigue from overwork that started as a cold.
For the past few days, I had been running around non-stop with Siella’s weak body and even opened the labyrinth, so this was the natural result.
With a swollen throat and a raging fever, life was truly miserable.
“My Lady, please have some honey water.”
In the dimly lit room with drawn curtains.
I painfully raised my heavy body from the bed where I had been lying.
As I sat up slightly, leaning against a large pillow, May handed me hot honey water.
Although it was difficult to swallow due to my swollen throat, I drank it all, blowing on it to avoid burning my tongue.
As I handed back the empty bowl and tried to lie down, May advised against lying down immediately.
So I decided to stay in a position looking at the ceiling with a cold compress on my forehead for a while.
Feeling bored just lying there, I spoke to May, who was nursing me. May had been refraining from speaking first unless necessary, considering my sore throat.
“Duval came, didn’t he?”
“You knew?”
“How could I not know with all that commotion? I could hear his voice all the way up here.”
For reference, my room is on the third floor.
I praised May’s efforts with my hoarse voice.
“You did well. You weren’t hit or anything, were you?”
“Of course not.”
“If you were, don’t hide it. I’ll get revenge for you.”
“Really, I wasn’t. Oh, my Lady.”
Suddenly clapping her hands together, May leaned in close and whispered in a low voice.
“What happened with the request to Sielle Romance Manipulation Guild? Is there any progress?”
“Ah- yes. It’s almost done now- cough!”
A cough came at that moment.
As I coughed violently enough for the compress on my forehead to fall off, May, startled, helped me lie down, saying I should rest now, and replaced the compress with a new one.
“Let’s talk about that after you’ve fully recovered.”
May left the room, taking the empty honey water cup and the lukewarm compress.
‘I guess she’ll want to go to the guild again once I’m better.’
There’s no need for that. Now that Aria has become Countess Valentine, all that’s left is to get the notary’s signature on the engagement cancellation document and send it to the authorities.
Speaking of notaries, I wonder if Aria managed to secure the alimony.
I hadn’t heard how things turned out after collapsing right after handing over the documents to the authorities.
‘Let’s get better quickly.’
Now that the authorities have moved, they won’t dare to resist paying the alimony.
Promising myself to ask Aria as soon as I could get up, I closed my eyes.
And I drifted off into a light sleep.
*** *** *** *** ***
– Beep, beeep…
In a state between sleep and wakefulness, I heard what sounded like a small animal crying softly and cutely.
I also heard the rustling of clothes as if someone was getting dressed, along with the light fluttering of curtains.
“It’s cold…”
Even though it must be the muggy summer air, I felt cold due to my poor health.
I curled up like a shrimp and wrapped myself in the blanket. Maybe May had opened the window and left… No, she hadn’t opened it.
‘Am I dreaming?’
I was thinking it was a remarkably vivid dream, even feeling the cold.
Then I heard the sound of the window closing.
Only then did I open my eyes slightly and look at the window.
Judging by the darkness outside, it seemed to be night. The curtains that had been billowing in the wind were now still, and in front of them was a silhouette in the shape of a person.
If I had been in my right mind, I would have panicked, thinking it was a thief, but in my current state, I was so dazed that I couldn’t even distinguish whether this was a dream or reality.
So I just blinked slowly.
As my blurry vision cleared, I could see what the intruder was doing.
The person was looking at me in a very awkward posture, like someone caught in the act of closing the window.
The hair that slightly covered the ears was black, and the eyes were red. However, in the moment I blinked, they both turned golden. Was I hallucinating due to my poor health?
In any case, he was someone I knew very well.
“Your Highness?”
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