If the House of Hagbris is the empire’s finest noble lineage, the ducal house of Oppenheimer is the empire’s wealthiest family.

People’s goodwill goes to the prestigious family, but power ultimately submits to money. The empire’s famous investors, nobles included, blindly followed Wilhelm Oppenheimer, master of the ducal house and Iris’s father.

Being the very man who made the ducal house of Oppenheimer the empire’s wealthiest, Wilhelm knew how to make money roll. He was an investor who never failed even once, so the empire’s nobles would invest according to Wilhelm’s choices.

Five years ago, Iris was imprisoned for the crime of killing her younger sibling. From that time, the House of Hagbris began pursuing a pharmaceutical business, following the will of its head, Elias Hagbris.

The Hagbris house’s venture quickly drew the attention of investors. Their interest doubled when Wilhelm Oppenheimer put in funds.

When Wilhelm invested an astronomical sum in the Hagbris venture, others poured in their money one after another.

The Hagbris venture seemed to sail ahead in that way.

Until Wilhelm suddenly, without warning, pulled out his investment.

The other investors who once supported the Hagbris venture followed Wilhelm and withdrew all their funds. With the money to run the factories gone, the business collapsed in an instant, and Elias Hagbris was forced to sell the vast lands his ancestors governed for generations in order to save the house.

But Wilhelm’s tyranny didn’t end there. Seemingly intent on truly ruining Hagbris, he began withdrawing funds from its other ventures one after another.

Through the tyranny of a single man, the House of Hagbris found itself overnight owing enormous debts it could never repay. To avoid bankruptcy somehow, Elias threw away all his pride as a count, went to Wilhelm, and knelt before him.

After Elias knelt, Wilhelm’s tyranny stopped. But on the way back from Wilhelm’s mansion, Elias died instantly in a carriage overturn accident.

The condition of Elias’s carriage, revealed by the accident investigation, was certainly strange. The carriage wheels on the way back from the Oppenheimer mansion were all different from the ones on the way there, and the joints were loose too.

But the investigators, already bought off by Oppenheimer money, buried the case as it was. Thus Elias died by accident rather than murder, and on his corpse, like it was arranged beforehand, only a single item was found.

A will left to Michael.

A will stating that he should marry Iris Oppenheimer.

***

The rain that blackened the whole world didn’t stop even in the afternoon. Michael glared with displeasure at the white-haired woman reflected in the carriage window, Iris.

Like someone going to a funeral, Iris wore a black dress covering her whole body. It wasn’t hot yet, so clothes covering everything weren’t awkward, but an unpleasant sense of incongruity lingered somewhere.

After glaring fiercely at Iris’s profile, Michael soon snorted and turned his head away.

Michael’s domain, called ‘Sergio,’ lay at the southernmost tip of the empire, adjacent to the Ankert Sea. Far from the capital and right next to the sea, Sergio was, since old times, one of the cities where road maintenance was difficult.

Because the roads weren’t properly paved, the carriage jolted badly. Michael smiled gloatingly at Iris, who frowned with every jolt.

Fortunate or not, the ducal couple of Oppenheimer lived in a rural village very close to Sergio. They purchased an old castle once owned by the third empress, remodeled it to their own taste, and moved there as soon as Iris and Michael married.

Naturally, Michael didn’t help Iris down from the high carriage. Holding a pitch-black umbrella, he merely watched blankly as she grunted.

Though she merely stepped out of the carriage, Iris was gasping for breath. Her already wrecked body was left even more battered by the sword match with Michael.

A murky shadow slowly fell over Iris’s face after she stepped down from the carriage.

Michael was holding the umbrella over her.

He gazed at Iris from a height two heads above hers. Then he reached out a leather-gloved hand and pushed back her snow-white bangs.

“Your face is swollen so ugly.”

“My face has swollen at all hours since I was young.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Your eyes are bright red too. What do you think your father will think when he sees that?”

“Come to think of it, I ended up like this because of you, Lord Michael. Still, it seems you were willing to consider my father’s reaction.”

“…You ended up like this because of me?”

At that moment, Michael’s shoulders shook noticeably.

Distorted sparks flew in his beautiful golden eyes. The hand that was slowly pushing back her bangs slowly moved down and gripped Iris’s shoulder.

No strength entered his hand yet, but Iris felt Michael would soon crush her shoulder painfully. While she held her breath in tension, the throb of an enraged beast rang out from deep within Michael’s chest.

“Strictly speaking, it’s not because of me, Iris Oppenheimer. If you weren’t a murderer who killed your younger sibling, if your father weren’t Wilhelm Oppenheimer, this wound would never have formed in your entire life.”

“…”

As always, the tension vanished and Iris’s gaze sharpened in an instant. Under the black umbrella they shared, Michael and she glared at each other like they wanted to kill.

With eyes that seemed to be measuring something, Michael stared at Iris’s blue eyes for a very long time. By the time he withdrew his hand, the rain that filled the world had eased somewhat.

Perhaps because she fell so many times at the training ground, Iris’s left leg throbbed faintly. Pretending nothing was wrong, she steadied her breathing and said,

“Surely you don’t intend to call me a murderer in front of my father?”

“Saying that word is better than saying your name. But unfortunately, I don’t intend to. To look good to your father, I must smile brightly at you.”

“…It’s a wild horse, so wouldn’t it be dangerous to let it loose? People could get hurt.”

“That fellow fears humans. A few lashes and he turned docile quickly. Still, just in case, be sure to take a servant with you.”

“Yes.”

Her father’s tender concern brought a soft smile to Iris’s lips. Standing still, she met Wilhelm Oppenheimer’s blue eyes briefly, then followed the servant out.

The huge door of the reception room closed very slowly.

For some reason, Michael couldn’t take his eyes off Iris’s back, with her white hair hanging down. No one noticed, but he alone noticed her pitiful gesture.

‘…She was definitely trembling.’

It wasn’t a mistake.

Even after leaving her father’s sight, Iris was definitely trembling faintly all over.

***

Even though the rain stopped completely, the wind blowing in carried a faint dampness. A breeze mixed with the sea’s salt and the scent of rain lightly brushed Iris’s hair as it passed.

Having said she was going to see the wild horse, Iris was hiding behind a huge pillar in the castle’s rear garden. In the center of the sunlit garden she was watching, there was no ‘wild horse’ like the one she discussed with her father.

Instead, a woman who looked just like Iris was playing with a toy there.

Each time Iris’s white hair fluttered in the wind, the strength in her clenched fists grew stronger. Watching the eyes of the guards nearby, she soon dashed lightly toward the middle of the bright garden.

The moment Iris wrapped her arms fully around her, the gestures of the woman playing with the toy stopped dead in midair. To soothe her, Iris had to hurriedly speak.

“Sorry for startling you. It’s me, Iris. You’ve changed a lot since it’s been so long, haven’t you? My hair has turned white too.”

“Ah, Iri…. Iris…? Is it really you?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I couldn’t come see you for so long. Something personal came up.”

Iris gave a small smile, seemingly to reassure the woman. The woman didn’t smile back, but she relaxed her whole body.

Unlike someone living in the empire’s wealthiest house, the woman’s clothes were all worn and torn. Her eyes were the same blue as Iris’s, and her looks were similar enough that anyone could tell at a glance they were mother and daughter.

The woman wasn’t of an age to play with toys. But like a five-year-old’s soul entered her body, she handled a small pony-shaped toy without hesitation, even in front of the guards and Iris.

Watching the woman play with the toy this way and that, Iris swallowed a single word down the back of her throat with great difficulty.

‘Mom….’