Along with the request to exchange the ruby, a red Seal Stone arrived at Master Servator’s.

He was an excellent jewel craftsman.

Although he didn’t know about the existence of Seal Stones, he instinctively recognized at once that it wasn’t a simple ruby.

It was like the instinct of someone who had been handling jewels for decades.

However, the problem was that he was too excellent a jewel craftsman.

[I was aware that I was participating in some kind of conspiracy. However, at that time, I became deeply engrossed in bringing out the maximum light from this mineral I had encountered for the first time.]

The reason he accepted the suspicious request was not because of the promise to pay with his uncle’s ruby as a guarantee of secrecy.

It was purely out of pride as a jewel craftsman.

[To never forget my sin, I have been keeping the ruby commissioned by Jonas Blanche. To express my apologies, however inadequate, I am enclosing the ruby I received as a commission.]

I took out the ruby from the envelope and touched it with my fingertips.

The cold sensation of the jewel seemed to painfully pierce my heart.

[I don’t know about the client. I only remember the face of the person who came to find me and that he had a token proving he was from the Blanche family.

His eyes and hair were brown, and he had a faint but long scar on his left cheek.]

I could clearly picture in my mind the face of the culprit revealed at the end of the letter.

It matched the description of the former Stray dog who was now Sybel’s assistant.

I put away the letter and took a deep breath. Then I summoned the quest window.

[Quest] Where am I? Who am I?

▼[new] Obtain the final reward

If I obtained this reward, I could deactivate the translator.

For this, I had been committing unspeakable acts and trying to understand Belinda all this time, but as I approached the goal, my steps slowed.

For the first time, I was afraid to see Belinda’s memories.

I was afraid of losing myself, swept away by the tides of the past like before.

‘But I can’t stop now.’

I need to acquire the last piece of memory, if only to decide whether to execute that ‘plan’ or not.

After hesitating for a moment, I turned to look at Sir Penadel, who was quietly standing behind me.

“Sir, won’t you come here and see the flowers your disciple has bloomed?”

“I……”

He who was about to refuse my offer suddenly paused as if he had discovered something.

Then he nodded and stood beside me.

“I will do so.”

Due to the rain, even the moonlight was dim and the surroundings were dark, but Sir Penadel’s massive figure was distinctly present even in the darkness.

Using his presence as an anchor, I quietly closed my eyes.

‘Obtain.’

As I whispered that, my eyelids fluttered as if in a shallow dream, and for just a fleeting moment, my consciousness sank into the swamp of the past.

***

“Lady Belinda, what were you thinking insulting Young Duke Erneco! He was someone we should never have turned into an enemy. He was from one of the few families who supported your succession to the Marquis title!”

Belinda looked at Viscount Cleo, who had come to find her and was nagging, with an annoyed expression.

“He’s just a second son, isn’t he?”

“Even if he’s the second son, he’s still of Erneco’s direct lineage. The head of the Erneco family will not stand idly by this matter.”

“Viscount Cleo, stop barking like a stubborn old dog, and look at this.”

Belinda, waving her hand as if shooing away an annoying fly, pointed to two hats with elaborate decorations on the brim.

“Which one suits me better?”

“……”

“The dress code for the masquerade I’m attending this time is Rococo style. Wasn’t this in fashion when you were young, Viscount? Which one do you think is better?”

At those words, skepticism clouded Viscount Cleo’s wrinkled face.

Why does she keep destroying herself like this?

She used to be intelligent and never mistreated her subordinates.

The Viscount spoke again with a gloomy face.

“You are the legitimate heir of the Blanche family. Please secure your position as the successor……”

“Viscount, what did I ask? Didn’t I ask you to choose a hat?”

“When was the last time someone from the Rechel and Dukoff families came to see you?”

Despite Belinda’s irritable words, Viscount Cleo did not lower his voice.

Cleo, Rechel, and Dukoff.

Those three were vassal families that had been following the Blanche family since the old days when they were a Count family with vast territories.

Even when the Blanche family’s fortunes declined, and they had to sell off all their territories to live like fallen nobles in an old mansion in the royal capital, they never lost their loyalty to the Blanche family – truly the most loyal among the loyal.

Adelia Blanche, not forgetting their loyalty, distributed important business rights to the three families as soon as she restored the family.

Therefore, to become the head of the Blanche family, one could never ignore the influence of these three families.

Viscount Cleo is saying that among them, the heads of the Rechel and Dukoff families have abandoned Belinda and sided with Sybel.

Only then did Belinda stop fiddling with her hat at the Viscount’s heavy declaration.

“My lady, you must face reality. Currently, the Marquis is not of sound mind. If he were to write a will with his delirious mind……”

“That’s enough, Viscount.”

“No, perhaps he had planned everything for this moment from the beginning. He might have been deceiving you to pass on the position of family head to his own child……”

Crash!

Finally unable to contain herself, Belinda threw the teacup on the table to the floor.

“It seems you’re the one who’s delirious, Viscount. You can’t even grasp what I’m asking now. If you’re not going to choose a hat for me, please leave.”

“……If you send me away now, I will never come to see you again.”

Cleo pronounced it as the last chance.

However, Belinda paid no heed and instead urged the innocent maids and servants.

“Didn’t you hear me? Viscount Cleo is unwell in body and mind due to old age. You should escort him out, do I have to give instructions for everything?”

“I understand your wishes well, my lady.”

Viscount Cleo, his face reddened, abruptly stood up.

He shook off the servants’ support and left, limping while leaning on his cane.

Belinda watched silently as Viscount Cleo’s carriage left the mansion.

Only after his carriage was out of sight did she speak.

“I’m going to see Father. Prepare everything.”

“Yes.”

***

The head of the Blanche family was currently recuperating at a villa on the outskirts of the royal capital.

Belinda visited her uncle from time to time, but she could count on one hand the times she had seen him awake.

He was intoxicated with medication all day due to severe mental confusion and headaches.

She dismissed everyone, took a deep breath in front of her uncle’s room, composed her expression, and opened the door.

“Father.”

Inside the room, where the scents of withered flowers and death were terribly mixed, there was an indescribable, nauseating sweet smell.

Nevertheless, Belinda sat down beside her sleeping uncle, maintaining a faint smile.

“You’re always lying down whenever I come.”

It wasn’t this bad even two years ago.

The illness that even the high priests couldn’t cure began to eat away at her uncle from the inside.

Such a gentle person became irritable due to the pain, but he never once got angry at his niece.

Belinda tightly grasped her uncle’s bony hand.

That day, her uncle believed Belinda when she said she hadn’t pushed Sybel down the stairs.

However, he also believed Sybel’s claim that Belinda had pushed him.

He wasn’t cruel enough to believe only one of his children.

It was because her uncle was such a person that she chose him and finally accepted him as family, but at that time, she couldn’t forgive him.

Thinking that he too would prioritize his blood-related child, Belinda caused all sorts of trouble to confirm her uncle’s affection.

Even when Belinda returned after doing things that damaged the family’s reputation, her uncle always embraced his niece gently.

“Bel, are you hurt anywhere?”

“Your uncle will solve everything. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

“I’m sorry for being an incompetent father, Bel.”

She knew it was a foolish thought, but she couldn’t control herself.

Even after going that far, this is how it ended up.

She doubts her uncle dozens, hundreds of times a day.

‘Did Uncle really plan all this to put Sybel in the position of family head?’

‘Why is Sybel so naturally acting as the family head’s proxy instead of my collapsed uncle?’

‘I’m the one who received the successor training, so how does Sybel know all the family affairs?’

Maybe…….

“Perhaps he had planned everything for this moment from the beginning. He might have been deceiving you to pass on the position of family head to his own child……”

Maybe Viscount Cleo’s words are right.

Even those tears shed while hiding in the grass on the day of her father’s funeral might have been a lie.

But.

“It’s okay anyway.”

I can still forgive.

Because if I believe that my uncle’s affection is real, even if it’s a lie, it becomes the truth for me.

“So just say one word, Father. That you love me like before. With that one word, I’ll be fine with everything.”

As if by miracle, her uncle’s eyelids fluttered at those words.

His drug-addled, hazy eyes vaguely scanned the surroundings before focusing on Belinda.

Then, his hand, bony like a dry branch, caressed Belinda’s cheek.

“Bel, you poor thing. Won’t you become my daughter?”

I know. I know that my uncle’s mind is not sound.

That the present and past are all jumbled up, and he can’t even properly recognize the person in front of him.

That there’s no meaning or intention in the words Uncle is uttering now.

Nevertheless.

“What… do you mean? I’m already your daughter. So why are you saying such things?”

Belinda ended up shouting like that.

“Tell me. Tell me why you needed me!”

She couldn’t bear not to ask that.