Rhys opened her eyes in a damp space without a hint of light. It seemed she had fallen straight into the basement below the stairs.

Her entire body ached. She must have hit her ankle hard during the fall as she couldn’t put proper weight on it. Just as she was getting up, brushing off her torn dress hem—

“My Lady, can you hear me? Answer if you can hear me!”

Theophane’s voice echoed from above Rhys’s head. He sounded quite alarmed after seeing Rhys disappear into the darkness before his eyes.

“I’m fine! It seems I fell straight into the basement.”

“Are you hurt anywhere? I’ll come down right away.”

“Could you bring a lantern on your way? It’s too dark here. There should be one in the carriage.”

“Understood. Don’t move from there, it’s dangerous.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Rhys heard Theophane’s footsteps leaving the mansion.

While waiting for him, Rhys felt along the surrounding walls when a faint light entered her field of vision. It seemed to be flowing through a small gap.

“……”

Unconsciously, Rhys moved toward the light.

The source of the light was a gap between dusty frames haphazardly piled together. Just as Rhys, as if entranced, was about to reach her hand into the gap, the floor shook with a thud.

“My Lady!”

“Ah, Duke. I’m over here.”

“I told you to stay put, and you moved anyway?”

Ignoring his scolding, Rhys smiled and pointed to where the light was coming from.

“I think I’ve found the crest.”

As Theophane approached with the lantern, the space where Rhys stood became clearly visible. With each frame that Theophane removed, a faint blue light gradually filled the surroundings. Finally, after retrieving the crest, Theophane brushed off the thick layer of dust covering it.

The crest was slightly larger than Theophane’s palm. On a solid metal plate, Sylvester’s majestic sword and two stars were engraved in platinum.

“……”

As Theophane carefully exhaled and caressed the carving, the crest emitted an intense blue light.

Theophane’s face, his hood now removed, was clearly visible in the light. His eyes, the same blue as the intense light, flashed fiercely.

“The crest has finally returned to its owner’s possession.”

The blue eyes turned toward Rhys’s voice. Instinctively retreating from that fiery gaze, Rhys stepped back.

“Ah…”

Unfortunately, she stepped with her injured foot. As Rhys lost her balance, Theophane grabbed her arm.

“You are injured after all.”

“Ah, it’s nothing serious. I think I just twisted my ankle when I fell.”

“Hold on to me. Now that we’ve found the crest, we should head back quickly.”

Rhys carefully took the arm Theophane offered. Although her throbbing ankle was uncomfortable, she could still walk on her own. But for some reason, she didn’t want to refuse even this small kindness from him.

“……”

Rhys soon realized that Theophane’s attention was fixed elsewhere. Following his gaze, she saw faces painted in frames. The faces trapped behind broken glass fragments seemed to be smiling eerily.

The frames of a long-fallen family were stacked randomly as if to mock and insult them, and between them, Sylvester’s crest had been wedged like a discarded object. Rhys understood what this meant.

As Rhys’s hand gripping Theophane tightened, he finally tore his gaze away from the horrific sight.

“…There should be stairs leading up.”

Finding a proper path in the vast basement with just a small lantern proved more difficult than expected. Rhys walked silently, leaning on him, lost in thought.

After accepting her proposal, Theophane had shown no emotion. While he quietly followed her lead, he always maintained a certain distance and attitude.

Naturally, she didn’t expect the same unwarranted kindness or affection he had shown in her previous life. But his refusal to reveal his thoughts also meant he wouldn’t show even the hatred that should rightfully be directed at her and her family.

Suddenly, that realization weighed heavily on Rhys’s heart.

The two stopped walking after finding a narrow staircase hidden behind the building’s debris.

“The stairs are collapsed.”

“They were deliberately destroyed.”

Theophane stepped forward and calmly answered as he cleared away the debris.

Soon, his hand moved toward Rhys’s waist, and he lifted her up.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

For an instant, Theophane’s chest came close to Rhys’s view, then receded along with his scent. Her body had already been moved beyond the broken debris.

Theophane, who had crossed the debris with an unaffected demeanor, now followed Rhys up the stairs.

Between the footsteps echoing in the narrow passage, Rhys spoke.

“It was all my father’s doing.”

Despite her sudden words, there was no question from behind her. Rhys simply continued speaking quietly.

“Destroying this mansion so miserably, preventing anyone from entering, and deliberately abandoning Sylvester’s crest here.”

“……”

“My father wanted this mansion and Sylvester, which he trampled with his own hands, to remain like this forever.”

As they emerged from the basement, the setting sun was already staining the inside of the mansion red. Rhys looked up at Theophane standing beside her. His eyes still revealed nothing.

“I thought I said the past doesn’t matter. Do you want me to hate you?”

Theophane asked as he pulled his hood back on. His tone was indifferent, as if it didn’t matter either way.

“Of course not. You’re the only one who can help me.”

“If not that, then perhaps you feel obligated to confess.”

“It’s not that either. I simply don’t want to hide anything.”

A tense atmosphere hung between the two. Rhys moved closer, narrowing the gap between them. Even like this, she had something she wanted to convey.

“At least about what the past events I know mean to you. I don’t want to face you while pretending not to know.”

At least for now, she thought it would be fine even if he hated her. If Theophane’s guard came down even a little, he might reveal something.

“Even if it seems like an unkind confession to you, I can’t help it.”

The silent Theophane finally let out a small sigh. Under his hood, his eyes showed faint traces of fatigue.

“I don’t know whether to call you brazen or unnecessarily honest…”

“……”

“Anyway, what’s important now is that you are my collaborator who returned the crest to me.”

His voice, reciting the facts as if tired, carried firmness. Theophane’s gaze dropped to Rhys’s ankle and then back to the front.

“I can see clearly that you’re a person who keeps promises. Now that I’ve received this, I won’t go back on your proposal either. …This level of trust seems sufficient.”

Rhys silently nodded. Soon, Theophane extended his arm to her again.

Yes, at least for now. This was enough.

***

Under a tree standing tall amidst a lush garden and flower beds of various colors, a couple sat on a bench watching their son.

“You’ve improved a lot, Theophane! You could rival knights on the battlefield.”

“It’s not quite that level, dear.”

“My, you’re too stingy with praise.”

The woman, after scolding her husband, reached out to her son. The boy with distinct features on his youthful face sheathed his sword and approached the bench.

“I’ll work harder, Father.”

“Yes, Theophane. The ancestors of old Sylvester were the most skilled swordsmen in this empire. You have the talent to continue that legacy.”

The man, though strict with his hard-won son, couldn’t hide the pride in his eyes.

The couple, who had been childless for a long time, began building a villa in Laskaria immediately after having a child late in life. After the villa was completed, they held their son’s birthday celebration there every year.

A mansion built solely for family. The peace they once believed would last forever.

Theophane, watching the garden, grabbed his hood fluttering in the wind. The memories overlaid on this now colorless and collapsed place began to scatter and fly away with the wind.

“Duke, Viscount Alois has returned.”

A voice intruded, shattering all the memories that had surfaced.

The Agente woman who had brought him back to this place with his own consent. She seemed unaware of the dissonance surrounding him.

—Whoosh. A desolate wind swept between the two.

All Theophane could see now was the miserably fallen bench.

“Let’s go.”

He turned his back on the distant past and walked toward the carriage.