Chapter 11 (Part 1)

When Jeremy woke up in the morning, for once, he didn’t have a headache. However, instead of feeling good, he felt uneasy.  

“……”  

He quickly glanced at the spot next to him, but all that remained there was the shirt Therese had been wearing the night before.  

“Guards! Guards!”  

Jeremy, hastily throwing on a robe, called for the soldier standing watch outside the tent.  

Startled by his voice, the soldier rushed inside and stood at attention.  

“Your Grace, what is the matter?”  

“Has anyone entered or exited this tent?”  

“Other than a servant leaving at dawn, not even an ant has passed through.”  

The soldier, nervous about possibly having made a mistake, stammered his reply.  

“Go out and investigate immediately.”  

Jeremy collapsed onto the bed upon hearing the report.  

“Yes, Your Grace!”  

Left alone in the tent after the soldier departed, Jeremy buried his head in his hands.  

The servant who left at dawn was undoubtedly Therese. She had left him while he was asleep.  

“……Ha.”  

Though he tried to console himself by thinking something urgent must have come up, the ominous feeling he had since the day before lingered.  

“No, it can’t be. It can’t be.”  

Shaking his head, his eyes caught sight of a small envelope.  

‘Therese left this.’  

Carefully opening the envelope, he first saw a signet ring. A wave of overwhelming fear washed over him, making his head spin.  

“……Ah.”  

Clutching the ring tightly, Jeremy unfolded the paper enclosed with it. It was a divorce agreement, already signed by Therese.  

“Divorce…”  

His hand, which held the signet ring, trembled as his entire body convulsed.  

The tears and smiles she had shown the day before vividly flashed through his mind, leaving him unable to bear it.  

“She came all this way to help me…”  

But was it only to hand me the divorce agreement?  

Deep down, he had always known he wouldn’t be able to hold onto her.  

He had resolved multiple times to accept it gracefully when the day came that Therese left him.  

But he never imagined that day would be today.  

“……Ha. Therese.”  

He tried to suppress the tears welling up, but his head felt like it was about to explode.  

Before her scent on his body could even fade, the two of them had parted ways.  

“It’s all my fault.”  

No matter how much he begged and pleaded for forgiveness, Therese was no longer there.  

After staring at the document with bloodshot eyes for a long time, he finally spoke in resignation.  

“I have no choice but to honor your wishes.”  

Jeremy was determined to keep his word.  

“Even if you leave me, I will never leave you.”  

Blood dripped from his clenched fist onto the bed sheets, but he didn’t loosen his grip.  

The pain of his heart being torn apart was so overwhelming that he couldn’t even feel the physical pain.  

Picking up her shirt, he buried his face in it. The illusion that it still held her warmth made his eyes sting.  

“Your Grace! The soldiers have all assembled!”  

“Have them stand by.”  

The voice of the Knight Commander outside finally brought Jeremy out of his reverie.  

“How pathetic.”  

No matter how much he suffered, he couldn’t abandon his duty.  

“This is my love for you.”  

Even if his knees buckled, Jeremy would wield his sword.  

‘For you to safely distance yourself from me, I must protect the border.’  

After donning his armor, he hastily wrapped a cloth around his bleeding hand before putting on his gauntlet.  

Once Jeremy placed his helmet on, his flawless appearance betrayed no trace of the sorrow he had just experienced.  

Jeremy Richard inspected the lines of hundreds of infantry and archers, walking among them.  

The soldiers, who had looked exhausted until yesterday, now brimmed with unprecedented hope.  

“Your Grace, the reinforcements have raised everyone’s spirits.”  

Additionally, Derrick’s arrival had allowed the injured soldiers to receive treatment.  

“Today, we will achieve victory.”  

Jeremy Richard declared loudly to the soldiers.  

“May Goddess Diana bless us!”  

“Follow Duke Richard!”  

The gathered soldiers responded to the Duke’s words by striking their swords against the ground.  

***

Beneath the rugged mountain range on the outskirts of the Empire, Gabriel Richard was passing through.  

After riding for a long time, he arrived at the monastery where Maria Richard was confined.  

Standing before the gates of the monastery, which resembled a massive fortress, Gabriel called for the gatekeeper.  

“I am Gabriel Richard, here to see my mother.”  

As soon as he revealed his identity, the tightly shut gates opened. The bowing gatekeeper spoke.  

“From here on, you cannot ride your horse.”  

When Gabriel dismounted, the gatekeeper took the reins.  

“……Hmm.”  

Since it was his first visit to the monastery, everything seemed unfamiliar to Gabriel.  

The sharp, red roofs seemed to touch the sky, and even his faithless heart felt a peculiar resonance.  

“Lord Richard, this way.”  

A servant assigned to guide him appeared and led him forward.  

After walking for some time, they arrived at a small building in the rear garden.  

“You may use the reception room over there.”  

As he entered, the creaking of the worn wooden floor echoed.  

Though the space was immaculately clean, it was overall shabby.  

Waiting for his mother in the reception room, Gabriel couldn’t hide his restlessness.  

On his way there, he had continuously questioned himself, fate, and his late father.  

‘But in the end, I found no answers.’  

Soon, Maria appeared, dressed modestly in a gray dress with a white scarf over her head.  

“……Mother.”  

“Yes. Why have you come all this way?”  

Before Gabriel could even sit, Maria questioned him sharply. She showed no sign of joy at his visit.  

“……Ha.”  

He had no expectations that his mother would have changed just because she was at the monastery.  

After all, she had never once offered him a warm embrace, even during his childhood.  

Straightening her back, Maria erupted in anger.  

“If you think I’ll stay trapped in a place like this forever, you’re gravely mistaken!”  

When she had first arrived at the monastery, Maria had been too stunned to even express her anger.  

‘Maria, you are now severing ties with the mortal world and being reborn anew.’  

The monks had spouted nonsense and forced her to do menial tasks like mopping and knitting.  

Maria had adamantly refused.  

It was humiliating enough to be confined to the monastery—she couldn’t bear to do such work.  

But the monks treated her not as the Dowager Duchess of the Richard family but as a criminal.  

‘Those who do not work shall not eat.’  

When she defied them, they tried to lock her in solitary confinement. Frightened, Maria pretended to comply.  

‘Fine, I’ll do it.’  

Maria firmly believed that Duke Richard, realizing his mistake, would soon come to free her from this place.  

Clinging to that hope, she endured making lace until her hands blistered, all while wearing rags.  

‘Do they know who I am?’  

Her suppressed anger boiled over once more.  

“Our poor Duke Richard must be under the spell of a witch.”  

In her delusion, Maria believed she was the only one in the world who could save her beloved eldest son.  

Watching his mother, still deeply mistaken, Gabriel felt a flicker of self-mockery in his eyes.  

“Do I not exist in your eyes, Mother?”  

Did she realize that after he had traveled all this way, the first thing she said was to scold him for coming?  

“W-What do you mean by that?”  

“Was Father and I the life you gambled away to the sorceress?”  

Gabriel asked directly, without beating around the bush.

In his childhood, though Gabriel had received abundant love from his father, it didn’t mean he didn’t yearn for his mother’s affection.  

However, instead of giving him love, his mother used him as a sacrifice.  

When Maria remained silent, Gabriel shouted,  

“Are you saying I was cursed even before I was born?”  

“What insolence is this!”  

Maria couldn’t tolerate Gabriel’s audacity. In truth, this was the first time she was facing Gabriel alone.  

She had entrusted the newborn Gabriel entirely to his nanny.  

She didn’t even have enough time to care for Jeremy, the heir.  

In fact, Maria was afraid of looking at Gabriel. Every time she saw him, it felt as if he was exposing her deepest flaws.  

“To die for the family is an honorable thing.”  

Rather than feeling remorseful, Maria justified her poor choices.  

“Thanks to you, I now have a strong will to live.”  

Suppressing his bitterness, Gabriel spoke.  

Duke Richard was searching far and wide for a way to lift the terrible curse placed on Gabriel.  

So, as long as he buried his dark past here, all he had to do was move forward.  

As he stood up, Gabriel glanced at Maria’s shabby attire from head to toe and smirked.  

“That outfit suits you very well.”  

“How dare you!”  

Maria jumped to her feet, shouting, but Gabriel didn’t look back as he left the room.  

The son Maria had abandoned had now abandoned his mother in turn.