Marquis Würetti lightly patted his daughter’s shoulder as if trying to comfort her.

“I’ll be going now. Please don’t get on the duke’s bad side anymore.”

As the marquis left the reception room saying he didn’t need to be seen out, a desperate smile spread across Roina’s lips.

‘If I were to ask Conrad for help….’

Suddenly thinking of her husband, she swallowed hard and shook her head.

Even if she revealed her situation to a man who no longer trusted her, nothing would change.

Why she thought of him even in this situation, Roina didn’t know, but she tried hard to erase his face from her mind.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Conrad, working in his study after returning from work, slightly contorted his eyes.

‘I can’t concentrate at all.’

Despite the mountain of documents piled up, he could hardly focus on them.

He moved to the open balcony, partly to get some fresh air.

Perhaps because he was reminded of Marquis Würetti who had suddenly barged in that morning, Conrad was extremely displeased.

He had deliberately set the visitation time when he would be at the mansion to prevent any mischief, yet the marquis had stubbornly acted on his own.

The marquis with his obvious disrespectful attitude, and the woman who was embarrassed in front of him.

He wished they would all just disappear from his sight.

“Ha—.”

As the man exhaled a deep sigh, his gaze suddenly fixed on one spot.

On a woman whose pale blonde hair was dyed red by the sunset light.

Roina was walking through the colonnade with her fragile body.

‘I wish she wouldn’t catch my eye at all.’

Conrad’s straight brow gradually narrowed.

Recently, he had heard that the Second Prince’s forces were reforming by joining with the progressive faction.

The central figure was, of course, Roina’s father, Marquis Würetti.

The Emperor was not one to simply watch this happen, so he chose to gain the trust of both the new forces and the council of elders.

His purpose was to absorb their power and strengthen imperial authority.

The Emperor and conservatives, the Second Prince and progressives. The conflict between these opposing forces was all but inevitable.

‘Only the timing remains unclear.’

That’s why he needed to understand what the Second Prince and progressive forces were planning.

Whether it was treason aimed at usurping the throne, or pressure in some other form. Of course, whatever it was, he would respond accordingly.

Tapping the balcony fence with his finger, the man raised one eyebrow as if something was bothering him.

“What exactly do you want?”

Conrad was well aware that Roina cherished her family more than anyone.

She even pretended to like him for Marquis Würetti’s sake.

Yet such a woman had mentioned what her father was planning.

‘How am I supposed to believe that?’

Caught in an unsettling feeling, Conrad exhaled a deep sigh.

Then he recalled the report from Astor, whom he had assigned as a guard to monitor Roina.

“There was something that bothered me a bit.”

“What is it?”

“The household atmosphere was somewhat… unsettling.”

The servants certainly showed respect to Roina, but it seemed only the Würetti siblings truly welcomed her.

Though Astor usually had remarkably good intuition, this time Conrad thought he had barked up the wrong tree.

Nevertheless, as unsettling thoughts crossed his mind, Conrad frowned.

Having ignored and avoided Roina throughout their married life, he now found himself wondering anew.

Why Marquis Würetti had specifically wanted his daughter to marry him, using the prophecy book as leverage.

If it was merely to monitor him, Roina’s actual power within the ducal residence wasn’t that significant.

Though she had lost her memories, the three years hadn’t created a major gap.

That’s why he had probed Roina about the marquis.

“What does the marquis mean to you?”

“I respect him as my parent.”

If he had only heard her answer, he wouldn’t have doubted it at all.

It was a perfect response by anyone’s standards.

However, Roina’s expression as she spoke seemed somewhat uncomfortable. As if she were hiding something.

It differed in texture from the typical reactions stemming from affection or respect for one’s parents.

The mechanical answer, the ambiguous gaze, the somewhat anxious hand movements.

Conrad narrowed his brows at Roina’s strange attitude that suddenly came to mind.

‘What on earth are you hiding?’

He couldn’t shake the sense that he was missing something important.

Conrad, who had been leaning on the fence, straightened up and exhaled a long sigh.

Perhaps there was something more hidden in the Würetti family.

At that moment, hearing heavy footsteps inside the balcony, he turned his head indifferently.

“Your Grace, it’s Harrison.”

The aide, who showed his respect with a light bow, deftly handed over a document envelope.

“Here is the information about the Madam and the Würetti marquis’s household that you requested.”

Receiving the documents, Conrad quickly read through the materials, unchanged from before.

Without any discrepancy, all of Roina’s upbringing had taken place within the Würetti marquis’s residence.

“Is it just my suspicion?”

Feeling annoyed at the thought that he was watching a well-crafted play, he frowned.

The portrait he had obtained with difficulty clearly indicated her.

Anyone could see that the painting faithfully captured Roina’s childhood appearance.

‘Perhaps she only resembles them in appearance.’

When he first met her, Roina didn’t resemble the Marquis and Marchioness Würetti enough for him to immediately recognize her identity.

The only resemblance was her violet eyes, which matched the marchioness’s, but even these were a common eye color in the empire.

After examining the documents to the end, Conrad’s cold golden eyes soon turned to his aide.

“Were there no other strange points?”

“There was once a rumor that she might be the marchioness’s illegitimate child.”

Considering it a meaningless rumor, Conrad lightly clicked his tongue.

Unlike her husband, Marchioness Würetti didn’t have that kind of character.

Moreover, if it were true, the marquis would have suspected and investigated long ago.

He wouldn’t protect and care for Roina if she weren’t his own child.

Thus, the marquis’s extraordinary love for his child quickly quashed the rumor of illegitimacy.

“Good work. You may go now.”

When Conrad gestured toward the balcony door with his head, Harrison gave a short bow before disappearing.

‘It might be faster to ask directly.’

By talking with Roina, he might at least find clues he had missed.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

In the dark bedroom without a single point of light, Roina lay with her eyes tightly closed, her face buried in her pillow.

Her insides, which felt like they were burning up, had long since turned to black ash.

The more she pondered her father’s words, the deeper she fell into the abyss of despair.

“Bear the duke’s child. Or if you dislike that, kill him.”

Marquis Würetti had so easily thrown these difficult choices at her before leaving.

There was no way Roina could kill her husband. The marquis must have known this too.

In the end, perhaps the marquis wanted his daughter to bear Conrad’s child.

‘What exactly is Father thinking?’

Countless questions swirled in her mind, but none led to a conclusion.

A long sigh escaped Roina’s lips as she thought of her utterly inscrutable father.

Marquis Würetti had given her just one year.

The deadline to prevent Aila’s marriage.

Although she couldn’t stop Aila from becoming the Second Prince’s partner at the debutante ball, which was just over a month away.

“So I need to think of another way.”

She had to protect her sister without going against the marquis’s wishes too much.

Just as Roina was calmly organizing her thoughts despite her heavy heart,

Knock knock—.

Someone was at her bedroom door. Even though no one should be coming at this hour.

To hide her swollen cheek from the marquis’s slap, she had dismissed all the servants early.

She thought if she pretended to be asleep, whoever it was would go away.

But soon she heard the sound of the doorknob turning.

Roina frowned and turned her head to see who had entered her bedroom without permission.

“……!”

At that moment, her expression instantly hardened as she recognized the visitor.