The journey back to the ducal residence from the temple seemed to take forever.

They had barely noticed the passing of time, and before they knew it, it was dusk. But it was not just the darkening sky that weighed on them; the atmosphere itself was oppressive. Their conversation with Lawrence had not been a positive one.

“Ha…”

Martiana let out a quiet sigh as she gazed out of the window. The way she squeezed her eyes shut spoke volumes about how exhausting the day had been.

And it was only natural. They had only visited the temple and returned, yet they had been forced to accept far too much.

Martiana’s conclusion was no different.

“Ramelata is a heretic.”

That.

When she first heard what Lawrence had been through, the suffocating feeling in her chest was overwhelming. At the time, she had only felt anger and resentment towards the faceless attackers.

But the moment Lawrence pulled the torn cloak from the box, she couldn’t think at all. It was as if her mind had gone completely blank.

She had never imagined that she would see the black mark she had once noticed here of all places.

And that mark—

‘A heretic.’

She had learned that it was connected to them.

Even as she listened, she was so stunned that she could barely process the conversation. Throughout it all, her gaze remained fixed on the black stain.

In fact, it would be more accurate to say that she could not tear her gaze away.

‘Why is that there?’

‘What does that have to do with heretics?’

The questions churned through her mind without pause.

Then, at some point, she came to a decision.

When had that happened? Perhaps it was while they were deep in discussion about the heretics.

Or when she heard what they were trying to do?

In a fleeting instant, Ramelata surfaced in her thoughts, along with the black mark that had been where she had once stood.

After that, she began to retrace her steps, one by one.

Ramelata.

The black mark.

Heresy.

Sacrifice.

The missing family.

‘Licorice.’

When her thoughts reached that point, her body trembled of its own accord.

She hadn’t wanted to jump to such an extreme conclusion, but once she had started thinking that way, she couldn’t stop.

Ramelata is a heretic.

This was the starting point of the hypothesis.

They seek to resurrect the dead and demand sacrifices in return. To that end, they had tried to obtain something from a priest. But what purpose did the missing family serve?

‘A mere coincidence?’

No.

It did not feel like one. In any matter, there is intent. They would have chosen similar targets for a reason.

Then—

‘A sacrifice?’

And the child who had been beside Ramelata…

‘Isn’t that dangerous?’

If that child really was Licorice…

From that moment on, her body began to shake uncontrollably. It was still only speculation, but she was afraid it might be true.

Of course, nothing was certain. The odds were still evenly split.

The child could be Ramelata’s.

Or she could be Martiana’s daughter.

Either way, she had to find out.

If she wanted to move forward, she had no choice.

‘But how?’

What could she possibly do? She didn’t even know where they were. Besides, Lawrence had just told her not to get involved.

“We’ll handle it with the temple and the guard. This isn’t something you need to step into.”

And she could not tell Siliar either. Even if she did, the reaction would be obvious.

“It’s dangerous. I’ll resolve it, so you stay home and wait.”

He had said the same thing before when Martiana insisted on joining them in searching for the child.

Nobody wanted her to accompany them to the scene.

The only small consolation was that only Martiana could see the black mark.

Just as with Tapnad at the annexe, Lawrence could not see it either. She tried to explain it to him as sincerely as possible, even pointing to the cloak in front of him, but he just looked confused and baffled.

Melissa had reacted no differently.

‘Then…’

‘Wouldn’t I be of help?’

If that truly was the mark of heresy, then no one would be better at finding it than she was.

‘Yes. I can do it.’

Martiana gave herself a faint nod.

But the problem was still the method. If the two men who had been telling her not to interfere found out, there would undoubtedly be an uproar.

At least one of them—

“Your Grace.”

“Yes?”

Melissa’s voice brushed past her ears, and Martiana lifted her head abruptly.

“We’ve arrived.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

She answered blankly, her gaze fixed on the view outside the carriage window. Lost in thought, she hadn’t realized they had arrived at the estate.

The butler and servants were already waiting outside to greet her.

“Thank you for your work, Melissa.”

“It was nothing.”

“By any chance, could you contact Tapnad before the day ends? I’d like to know how things are progressing.”

Martiana spoke to Melissa as she stepped down from the carriage.

It seemed wiser to wait and hear from him first. She needed at least some information before deciding on her next step.

The real problem, however—

“Little Madam.”

—came from an unexpected direction.

“A reply has just arrived to the tea party invitation.”

“What?”

Martiana’s brows knitted together at the butler’s words, delivered the moment she stepped down.

A tea party invitation? She had never heard of such a thing.

Because she had never sent one.

Yet here was a reply to an invitation she had not sent.

***

“I sent it.”

In the reception room of the Duke of Vandyk’s residence, a woman sat with her chin raised, looking arrogant, and declared it without hesitation.

It was Drisena, adorned once again in striking red. She was the mother-in-law who had been grinding her teeth at her daughter-in-law, Martiana, for days.

“You sent them, Mother?”

Martiana held the stack of envelopes that the butler had handed her, then spoke. The emotion flickering across her face was pure disbelief. Most people would probably have reacted the same way.

After all, these were replies to invitations she had never intended to send.

She hadn’t planned to meet anyone in the first place, which made the situation even more absurd. If Drisena had sent the invitations in her own name, that would have been understandable.

But the host listed on them was Martiana.

The tea party was scheduled for four days’ time.

“Why would you do such a thing? You should have told me at the very least.”

“I was going to. But haven’t you been rather busy? So I did it on your behalf. Is there a problem with that?”

Drisena widened her eyes as she spoke to Martiana. She was shamelessly open. It was clear to everyone that she had done this on purpose.

It was clearly an act of retaliation for the budget cuts. There was no other possible explanation.

Ah—no. That wasn’t it.

Mother had disliked her from the beginning.

“It is a problem. Just look at the estate. We’re nowhere near ready to receive guests. And yet you’ve arranged a tea party? You were far too hasty.”

“Oh my? Listen to this child. Are you saying your mother-in-law did something wrong? How heartless of you. I was only trying to help.”

“Help? In what way?”

“You said you would take on the role of mistress of the house, didn’t you? Then you should show the outside world that our family is still standing strong.”

Drisena placed her hands on her hips and glared.

Her look at Martiana was clear: how dare you talk back to your mother-in-law?

She had always been like this from the start.

Still, wrong was wrong.

“That is something I will handle myself. It isn’t for you to step into. I’ll inform those who sent replies that the event has been canceled, so please keep that in mind.”

Martiana said firmly as she flipped through the envelopes in her hand.

One, two, three, ten, fifteen.

She had sent quite a number.

“Cancel it? This child, honestly! If you cancel after inviting them, they’ll think something has happened to our family again!”

“Then you should have discussed it with me from the beginning.”

“You didn’t know what to do, so I helped you. You’re not exactly the life and soul of the party, are you? You hadn’t planned on inviting anyone, had you? Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

Drisena pounded the table sharply, her voice rising. She looked more flustered than when they had first met in the reception room.

Nevertheless, Martiana did not yield.

“I was planning to invite guests after the estate was properly restored. Not now.”

“And what good is planning? You have to act. Honestly, you really are something. You could simply say thank you—why are you being so stubborn?”

“The one being stubborn here is you, Mother.”

Martiana met Drisena’s gaze directly as she replied.

“It would be good to show that our household is still strong. But, as you know, receiving guests in our current state would be of no benefit to us.”

This must be exactly what Drisena wanted: to watch Martiana struggle to host unexpected guests at such short notice.

Otherwise, someone who truly cared for the ducal house would never have arranged something like this.

From the outset, this was a game designed to put Martiana at a disadvantage.

The invitations in her hands made that painfully clear — every single reply was from one of Drisena’s acquaintances.

There she was, a daughter-in-law being humiliated in front of her mother-in-law’s friends.

That was undoubtedly the scene Drisena had envisioned. But Martiana had no intention of playing along.

“In any case, as I said, I will inform them that it has been canceled. As for this matter, there’s no need to discuss it further—”

But at some point—

“No.”

Martiana changed her words.

“Since the invitations have already been sent, it would be better to hold the tea party. Let’s proceed as planned.”

Unlike before, her eyes sparkled as she looked at Drisena.

“What?”

“Let’s receive the guests.”

There was such an unmistakable gleam in her eyes that even Drisena found it strange.