Chapter 14

Chapter 14. The One Who Tied the Knot Must Untie It (2)

The dramatic incident that unfolded in my room during the night was quietly buried.

The only people who knew about it were the Duke, the Head Steward, Mother, and I.

Mother did not know the details either. She only knew that the Duke had saved me from an assassin.

I did not know what had happened after the Duke left my room that night, but I learned the result from what took place in the manor the following day.

The second Duchess, Duchess Maria de Gresia, was suddenly sent away to her viscount father’s house.

It was said that she was going away to recuperate because of health problems, but the sudden decision caused quite a stir among the people in the manor.

Still, in this manor—no, in this territory—there was no one who could refuse the Duke’s orders.

Moreover, when people saw the dark look on the Duchess’s face, as though she had truly fallen gravely ill, they buried their doubts deep in their hearts.

The Duke stood before the window of his study, looking down at the carriage waiting in the front courtyard.

People had gathered around it to see off the Duchess, who was leaving so suddenly.

Since the Duchess had long been loved by everyone in the manor, it almost seemed as though every person in the household had come out to see her off.

Not only the servants, but also the first Duchess and her sons were there, and even Amanda, the concubine, stood at a distance with her son to bid her farewell.

Lastly, her daughter Elena stood before her, weeping without pause.

But Maria seemed to be truly unwell, for she could not even properly greet her daughter, much less anyone else.

People tilted their heads at the change in her demeanor, yet still they bid her farewell sincerely.

After giving one final glance toward the study window, she swept her gaze over the crowd, then hastily climbed into the carriage as though something had startled her.

A moment later, the carriage set off amid everyone’s farewells.

It was a journey undertaken in haste, but since it was the movement of the Duchess, everything had been properly prepared.

Guards escorted the splendid carriage from front and rear, and a knight rode ahead to lead the procession.

The carriage passed along the road between the flower gardens and went out through the manor’s front gate. The gates closed, and the carriage gradually disappeared into the distance.

As he watched it recede, the Duke spoke.

“I wrote it in the letter, but warn the viscount once more. Make sure he fully understands that Maria is never to leave his house again, and that she is never to meet Elena either.”

“Understood.”

The Head Steward’s reply came from behind the Duke.

“However, what do you intend to do about the young lady...?”

Before the Duke could answer, the voice of a young girl rang out from outside.

“Father! Duke! I am here! Please let me in!”

The Duke turned his head.

“Let her in.”

“Understood.”

The Head Steward opened the door, and Elena, her face soaked with tears, ran inside.

“Why is Mother leaving? She was not sick yesterday. What in the world is happening? Why will no one tell me anything?”

The Duke looked at his daughter.

Her face was very much like Maria’s, who had just left the manor.

Like the Maria he had seen before he came to his senses.

The face of Maria he had seen yesterday rose over his daughter’s.

When she saw the Duke come to her bedchamber, she had smiled with extraordinary brightness.

“You came! I thought you would not!”

It had been the face of someone who was genuinely delighted.

At the sight of that radiant face, the Duke’s expression darkened even further.

Because she was still sincerely in love with him.

Though the atmosphere was different, her smile was not one bit different from when they had first met.

“Please, come this way. I cannot believe I did not prepare properly.”

She had not changed from back then, but the Duke had.

As he looked at her, the Duke frowned.

That was because the emotion he had felt the first time he shattered her ability with mana rose once more within him.

That day, he had realized that the love he felt for her had been false, and that the other person’s love was nothing but desire steeped in possessiveness.

The moment he realized that, he had felt suffocated and could no longer remain by her side.

From that day onward, the Duke never visited her chambers again. Even when they met during the day, he maintained only a formal relationship and kept his distance from her as much as possible.

He had continued living the life of a Duke with his heart shut tight and a mask pulled over his face.

Even so, the Duke had not punished her.

Her crime of deceiving him had been grave, but the Duke had pardoned it by simply never seeking her out again.

Because she had borne his daughter, because he had already taken her as his wife.

Or perhaps because he had once believed he truly loved her.

But that weak decision had led to a day like this.

“I was in Alex’s room just a little while ago.”

“What?”

At the Duke’s words, Maria’s smile shattered.

Only then did she see the sword in the Duke’s hand.

Spatters of blood stained both the hand that held the sword and the scabbard into which it had been sheathed.

Her face drained white.

“When Alex nearly fell victim to poisoning a few years ago, letting the matter be smoothed over was my final act of forgiveness.”

Maria stared blankly at the Duke after hearing those words.

“And yet you dared to bring an assassin into this manor and try to kill my child. Did I, did this House of Gresia, seem so laughable to you?”

As soon as the Duke finished speaking, Maria suddenly screamed.

“Because you would not look at me! I love you this much, so why do you keep pushing me away? I endured and endured just to be loved by you. I held back even when I was angry, and I smiled even at those I hated. Everyone loves me, so why are you the only one who keeps his distance from me?”

Even without her ability taking effect, the sight of her shouting like that looked desperate and pitiable.

But the Duke’s expression did not change.

“It is all because of Amanda. If only that brat died, I could drive Amanda—that bitch—out of the manor...”

“So that was your thinking?”

At the Duke’s words, Maria nodded. Tears poured from her lowered eyes.

But over those falling tears came the Duke’s cold voice.

“I made a mistake. Your mind was far more broken than I had thought.”

He placed a hand on top of Maria’s head. Startled, Maria lifted her head, but the Duke’s eyes were cold.

“No, perhaps both of us were broken.”

The Duke poured mana into his hand.

Wooooong.

Startled by the force sinking into her head, Maria shook her head violently.

But the Duke did not release the grip with which he held her head.

“I will not kill you. But you will not remain in this house any longer.”

“Th-this... how...?”

The mana flooding into her mind began to tear through it savagely.

Her inherited ability. The mental ability that won people’s affection lay deep within her mind.

The Duke’s mana cut into that deep-seated ability and began to tear it apart.

She could tell. Her ability was steadily disappearing.

She could not believe it. Not even once had she imagined something like this could be possible.

Moreover, the Duke’s power—no, the power of House of Gresia—should have been nothing more than one of the mana circulation arts.

There was no reason he should possess an ability capable of destroying another person’s power.

“No... no!”

She screamed and clutched at the Duke’s hand, but she could not wrench free the grip of a man who possessed strength surpassing that of a knight.

A short while later, the Duke removed his hand from her head.

Maria collapsed to the floor.

“With that ability, you will manipulate no one ever again. Return to your family tomorrow. You will remain there quietly until the day you die.”

At his words, Maria’s shoulders trembled.

“If, from tomorrow onward and until the day you die, I hear so much as a whisper of anything else, then not only you, but your entire viscount’s house will suffer greatly. Elena will not go with you. If you remain quiet, Elena will remain a young lady until the very end, but if not...”

Maria slowly raised her head. Her face was twisted with pain and resignation.

She slowly opened her mouth.

“You are not the man I loved long ago. Now you are truly a frightening man.”

He turned away.

Maria burst into tears, and as the Duke stepped out through the door, he muttered quietly,

“I changed that day. Because of whom, I wonder.”

“Sniff, sniff, sniff. If Mother did something wrong, please forgive her. I will apologize for her too.”

Maria’s sobbing changed into the crying of her daughter.

The Duke returned to the present.

While he had been lost in recollection, his daughter had been begging him for forgiveness.

The Duke stared fixedly at his daughter.

She had a face much like her mother’s, but Elena was different from Maria.

Her face was not an artificial one plastered over with falsehood. Elena was still a young girl untouched by the grime of the world.

“I see. Then it will be difficult for you to remain in this manor alone. It is a little early, but you too should prepare to go to the academy.”

“What?”

Ignoring the startled Elena, the Duke issued an order to the Head Steward.

“Since her inherited ability is the kind related to mental recovery, it would be best for her to attend an academy affiliated with the Sisterhood. Send word.”

“Understood.”

The Head Steward led the crying girl out of the study, and the Duke looked out the window once more.

Far away, he could see a child walking together with his concubine.

He had been a child who stirred up trouble ever since he was a baby.

A child who brought about strange events. Though famed as a genius, he seemed somewhat different from a genius.

A child who negotiated with him as though he were no child at all.

And a child who possessed a special inherited ability.

“Well then, after making me go to such lengths, prove your worth for yourself now.”

The Duke gazed at the child with a cold face, while the child, perhaps because his ear itched, scratched inside it with his finger.

---

After the second Duchess left the manor, several things happened.

First, Young Lady Elena left the manor to receive her education.

She was still too young to enter an academy, but she could not defy the Duke’s command.

Elena departed the manor with a gloomy face, and Mother and I comforted her as she left.

To be honest, I did feel somewhat sorry for Elena, but that did not mean I could simply die in silence, so I had no choice but to bury that guilt deep in my heart.

Second, I, an illegitimate son, began receiving proper knightly training at a very young age.

It was training conducted in secret at the ducal family’s training ground behind the manor, but word among the people spread quickly all the same.

People whispered, and the number of eyes watching me increased, but I had no energy to spare for such things while trying to keep up with the training.

Still, fortunately, no one came to kill me after that.

And so time continued to pass.

Four winters went by.

And in the spring when I turned ten,

a guest came to the manor.

She was a beautiful girl.

The daughter of a marquess, and the fiancée of my eldest brother Simon.

The moment she saw me, she raised her sword.

“So you are the hidden blade of the ducal house? Fight me. I will teach you a lesson.”

At the words spoken by the beautiful girl, dressed elegantly in a fine gown, I could only stare at her with my mouth hanging open.