Either he had killed the real Carlisle Obellian and was impersonating him, or the divine being from the founding myths, the first Duke of Obellian, was Carnesis himself.

If it was the latter, he had likely been changing his face and living on through the generations. Changing one’s appearance was no difficult feat for the divine.

I had sealed his power, but it had not been a perfect seal, and a great deal of time had passed since then. He might not be what he once was, but he could probably still use simple forms of authority.

‘The latter is probably more likely…….’

That would also explain the Obellian family’s inexplicable pattern of dying young. If Carnesis had been changing his face and carrying on the lineage himself, he couldn’t have a father and son existing at the same time, so he would have had no choice but to stage the previous head’s death.

What I couldn’t begin to understand was why he would go to such lengths to remain in the human world.

The man I remembered had little interest in humans. If anything, he had been closer to disliking them.

He never expressed it openly, but I had often sensed that he regarded humans as an inferior race.

Whenever that happened, I had told myself it wasn’t that he had no interest in humans, but that he simply didn’t want to be entangled with them.

And yet here he was, living among them. What was he after?

“Actually, I was a little surprised when I heard from His Majesty about the marriage to you. I thought marriage was a luxury for someone confined to their domain as a war criminal.”

When I said nothing, he added with a slightly awkward smile.

“Back then……. I did push for the war rather forcefully. It’s only right that I bear responsibility for the defeat.”

His becoming a war criminal had happened several years ago now.

The empire had invaded the Kingdom of Hers at his urging, and they had lost.

It was not a defeat severe enough to shake the empire to its foundations, but the emperor’s prestige had taken a blow.

Somewhat humiliatingly, the empire had been forced to promise the kingdom that it would hold the one who had pushed for the war accountable.

The emperor had confined him to his domain as punishment for the defeat. That this had soured the relationship between the emperor and the Duke of Obellian was an open secret.

“Was it not difficult to make up your mind about the marriage?”

His courteous face disgusted me.

Difficult to make up my mind. War criminal or not, he was the Duke of Obellian. Every noble in the capital was desperate to marry their daughters off to him.

But I buried that thought and replied curtly.

“Yes. It was. Obellian territory is not exactly close to the capital.”

Dorothy’s face flooded with shock. I could practically hear the thought going through her head: ‘Why is my lady acting like this?’

I had always been the very model of a proper, well-mannered noble young lady. For me to behave rudely was enough to startle Dorothy.

But I was going even further than that. If I could, I wanted to hurl every insult I had at this despicable man.

“Given my circumstances, I’ve put you through needless trouble. I’m sorry for that.”

“Yes.”

Truthfully, the journey itself had felt rather like a trip, and I had found it quite enjoyable, but the words ‘it’s alright’ refused to leave my mouth no matter what.

Carlisle laughed, looking at me as though he found my attitude interesting.

“Obellian territory is quite a pleasant place to live, all the same. That’s part of why I chose it over my other domains for my confinement.”

The emperor had allowed him to choose his own place of confinement. The Obellian ducal house had accumulated generations of merit, so it was the emperor’s way of showing the family a minimum of respect.

The Obellian family owned many domains beyond this one. The lands received at the founding were concentrated in the south, but the domains earned through generations of service were scattered across the empire.

Among them were several that were closer to the capital and large enough to be called cities. He had passed those over and chosen this place specifically. His tastes were unusual.

“I’m sure you’ll grow fond of it quickly. You’re not confined here the way I am, so you’re welcome to visit the capital from time to time.”

It wasn’t the domain that was the problem. It was him. Even sitting across from him at a meal made my skin crawl with how much I loathed it.

“Sir Rinaldo was fond of this place as well.”

“Was he?”

I asked without much thought and turned my mind to Rinaldo. He was a relative, not a distant one, but the gap in our ages had kept us from being close.

Still, from the few times I had met him, I had gotten the sense that he was a careful, cautious person. A fitting temperament for our line of work dealing with artworks.

But I had also heard that his caution bordered on paranoia even outside of work, and that it wore on the people around him.

“He said he’d like to stay here a long time, even apart from the work. If only that accident hadn’t happened…….”

Carlisle cast his eyes downward with what looked like regret.

The accident. I didn’t know the details of Rinaldo’s accident either. All I knew was that he had gone hiking alone on a day off and slipped off a cliff to his death.

I remembered his parents wailing that they couldn’t understand why a boy who never liked exercise had gone up a mountain of all things.

A thought surfaced, and I looked at Carlisle’s face.

‘What if it wasn’t an accident? What if someone killed him?’

If he truly had not liked exercise, the sudden hike was strange in itself.

What if he had done something to displease this bastard, been killed for it, and the death staged to look like a fall? Or what if, just as the emperor suspected, Carlisle had something to hide, and Rinaldo had found out?

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Carlisle asked, puzzled.

“Oh……. I was thinking of Rinaldo.”

Others might call it wild speculation, but I thought it was a reasonable enough theory.

Was it not this man who had killed me? He had killed his own wife. Killing an antique specialist he had kept in his domain would hardly be much harder.

The fury and sense of betrayal surging back through me made my whole body want to shake.

I exhaled slowly and steadied myself. I felt like I had made this resolution dozens of times already, but I made it once more. I couldn’t let myself be rattled here.

I was not Erflus right now. I was Adelheid. My life now mattered more than my past life.

‘But if I marry this bastard, I might be killed again.’

If Rinaldo really had been killed by him, I was in danger too. And if he ever realized I was Erflus……

This marriage could not happen. I had gone to the trouble of being reborn, and I had no intention of being killed by the same man all over again.

I had to escape this castle somehow.

……But how?

The biggest reason I had agreed to the marriage in the first place was to avoid giving the emperor cause to find fault with me.

The wedding date had already been set. Breaking off the engagement now might make the emperor feel I had made a fool of him.

If it were only my own problem, it would be a little easier, but the emperor’s wrath was unlikely to stop at me alone.

It would affect my father, and beyond him, the entire family. With the clear charge of defying an imperial command, it would be easy for the emperor to sweep my family away entirely.

‘This is maddening, truly.’

I had been gnawing anxiously at my lip. I set down my utensils and asked him.

“I’m sorry, but I’m quite exhausted from the journey. Would it be alright if I went up?”

With him right in front of me, I couldn’t think clearly no matter how hard I tried. Every time I worked to calm myself down, memories from my past life crept back up and made it impossible.

If I stayed and kept trying to have dinner with him, I knew I wouldn’t be able to follow the conversation properly.

I also worried that a slip of the tongue might tip him off that I was Erflus.

“…….”

Carlisle, who had not yet finished eating, raised an eyebrow and looked at me. He was probably puzzled by my lack of courtesy toward someone I was meeting for the first time.

But he did not look particularly offended.

“I failed to consider your comfort.”

“Not at all. I’m the one who should be sorry for behaving so rudely.”

I said something I did not mean and rose from my seat.

“Please rest well. Greyson……. the butler will show you to your room. We’ll both be busy until the wedding anyway, so let’s save the talk of work for after.”

Carlisle gave me a light smile.

“Yes. Have a good evening.”

I offered the standard parting words and followed Greyson’s lead out of the dining room. Dorothy fell into step beside me and whispered with a worried look.

“Miss. Are you feeling very unwell?”

I said nothing in reply and only let out one long sigh after another.

* * *

Even with a simple ceremony, there was much to be done.

Busy as I was, I kept turning over the question of how to get out of this castle, but time passed without any particular answer presenting itself.

In all that time, I had not crossed paths with Carlisle once.

Carlisle seemed less busy and more simply uninterested in me. Occasionally he would ask through the butler Greyson whether I was uncomfortable or needed anything, but even that seemed like a courtesy check rather than genuine concern.

For me, given how uncomfortable I found being around Carlisle, it was a relief.

“Miss, if you want to take a walk, wouldn’t the garden be nicer?”

Dorothy asked as I made my way through Obellian Castle.

I had been putting off exploring the castle, not feeling any particular need to do so until now. The sheer size of it made the prospect feel daunting.

The reason I was wandering today was simple restlessness. I had grown tired of wedding preparations I had no real interest in and wanted to do something different.