At winter’s end, in the living room-cum-kitchen of a shabby cabin, a man and woman sat facing each other across a small table.

“Please, have some.”

Though she offered tea, the woman didn’t expect him to drink it.

It wasn’t tea worthy of a man like him, and she knew he resembled his master in always keeping things “brief and to the point.”

As expected, the man got straight to business.

“……Please come back.”

The woman’s eyes widened slightly.

She never expected to hear such words from him.

Fino Ecre, her ex-husband’s aide, had personally seen her off when she left Pave Castle two years ago. His words from that day were still vivid.

“Don’t ever think of coming back. No matter what happens.”

And now, two years later, he said the exact opposite.

“Why?”

Though she had no intention of returning to that hellhole, she was curious about the reason.

“His Grace has been injured.”

“How badly……?”

The aide’s answer described something that seemed impossible even if the sky fell—the woman’s heart pounded violently. Fortunately, her voice didn’t tremble as much as her thoughts.

“There was a major accident. His life was in danger for a time, but he began recovering about two weeks ago and regained consciousness a week ago.”

It was a report without any excess. He had no intention of explaining detailed circumstances or reasons from the start. The woman didn’t ask further either.

Though her desire to ask how such a major accident happened, how much pain he endured, and exactly what condition he was in now swelled ready to burst, habits cultivated over a long period suppressed her questions.

These were questions not permitted even when they were married. Moreover, she and Grand Duke Hebrandt were now more distant than complete strangers.

So she offered only the familiar condolence.

“That’s fortunate.”

Fino’s lips twisted slightly.

Though he was a husband far from love or affection, considering how much his master had provided for her, how could she give such an indifferent answer?

But Fino set aside his personal feelings once again and explained the situation.

“However, there’s another problem. It’s……!”

“Wait a moment.”

Briefly flustered by Eisha’s unprecedented attitude, Fino soon calmly allowed her question.

“Please speak.”

“Why are you telling me about this problem? His Grace’s issues shouldn’t be revealed to outsiders.”

She was right. The wellbeing of the Grand Duke who controlled the Empire was top secret. Naturally, it shouldn’t be revealed to her, now an outsider.

However, what came from Fino’s mouth was even more incomprehensible.

“That’s because you’re still the wife of Grand Duke Hebrandt.”

The woman’s brow furrowed deeply.

“……Is there something wrong with my memory? I received divorce papers stamped with the temple’s seal.”

“Yes, I’m aware.”

“Then?”

At the woman’s retort, Fino swallowed a short sigh inwardly before revealing the truth.

“Eishatria Hebrandt, you are still the Grand Duke’s wife. In Grand Duke Claven Hebrandt’s world, that is.”

Even hearing her own name after so long, Eisha couldn’t react for a moment. She found it difficult to immediately understand what he meant.

But only briefly—a quiet exclamation of realization flowed from Eisha.

“Ah! That’s the problem you were trying to mention earlier. Memory.”

Fino nodded slightly before continuing his explanation.

“The Grand Duke is currently living in memories from exactly three years ago. So he has no idea that he divorced you.”

“And so?”

Was it fortunate? 

Compared to her surprised heart, the question came out more indifferently than expected.

Though a question, it was also an answer. That single emotionlessly thrown question contained all of Eisha’s meaning. That as someone who had already become a stranger, she had no connection whatsoever.

Fino gazed at Eisha once more—seemingly unchanged yet somehow changed.

Then he soon rummaged through his clothes and pulled out a document to show her.

“Currently, your financial situation is extremely precarious. Moreover, while your grandfather Baron Demir’s condition is worsening, the hospital is demanding overdue medical bills, isn’t that right?”

It was a report on her financial status.

Without her childhood friend Philip’s help, she would have been evicted from this shabby cabin and thrown onto the streets immediately. In fact, without even needing the information guild, this was common knowledge if you asked anyone in the village.

Eisha neatly folded the report and held it back out to him.

“Then you understand well. As you can see, I don’t have the luxury to grant anyone’s request.”

Eisha had no time to spare even taking care of herself.

She woke before dawn to help neighboring farmers with their fields, went to the castle for lessons with Philip’s son Luca, and had to finish odd jobs late into the night before she could sleep.

Even scrimping and saving everything she earned, Eisha always lacked money. Her grandfather’s medical bills alone kept her constantly in the red.

“We can help you.”

“That’s not necessary.”

To Fino’s proposal without a hint of emotion, Eisha shook her head.

Even if she starved to death, even if she was beaten to death by debt collectors, her resolve not to extend her hand to him remained unchanged.

“I’ll resolve my own affairs myself. Don’t worry…….”

“How do you plan to manage?”

Fino cut off Eisha’s words cleanly and laid down another document with a cold sneer. Seeing the cover of the fairly thick report, Eisha’s brow immediately narrowed.

“Philip……?”

“Are you trusting Baron Philip Trier like the village rumors say?”

“What……, pardon?”

Bewildered by her childhood friend’s name appearing out of nowhere, she now seemed to understand. The source of the mockery underlying his words.

Somewhere in that report, the gossip-loving villagers’ rumors about the divorcée frequenting the Baron’s castle surely occupied a corner. That she was trying to push out his sick wife and take her place.

The terrible thing was that part of the rumor about her was gradually becoming true.

It started after his beautiful wife’s illness deepened and both her appearance and personality changed pitiably. Whenever he suffered from his wife’s hysteria, he came to her to complain and seek comfort.

And Frida went increasingly mad, saying her trusted husband’s affection was turning toward her most trusted best friend.

After several months passed, Philip’s gaze toward her resembled the rumors. Even when she kept refusing, he subtly tried to hold her hand and attempted embraces disguised as greetings. 

So when she drew a line with Philip saying they could never become like the rumors, he finally came to her house to plead.

“Eisha, you know it too. The person I actually liked was you. Mother would welcome you too. Luca follows you well. So please, accept my feelings now.”

Then she slapped Philip hard across the cheek when he tried to embrace her and press his lips to hers. Philip then thrust a bundle of her grandfather’s overdue medical bills at her with a warning.

“Don’t forget. I’m the one who took care of your grandfather during the year you disappeared, and I’m the one helping him not get kicked out of the hospital now! So shouldn’t you repay me with your body at least?”

He left saying he’d return in a few days, along with the threat that unless the divorcée planned to remain chaste, she’d better accept his proposal.

Frida’s earnest request echoed in her ears.

“Eisha, can’t you please leave? Please!”

Yet the reason Eisha couldn’t leave immediately was one thing. The hospital where her last remaining family member, her grandfather, stayed was run with Philip’s patronage. 

Eisha couldn’t abandon her grandfather, who had enlisted in the war with his aged body to feed his granddaughter abandoned by her stepmother, only to become broken in body and unsound in mind. 

If he was kicked out of that hospital too, her grandfather would truly have nowhere to go.

Even at Fino’s point, excuses didn’t easily come from Eisha’s lips.

But Fino’s next words were another shock to Eisha.

“But did you know that Baron Trier will soon be buried in debt?”

‘Will be? No way!’

Hebrandt’s power was truly tremendous. Enough to create whatever future they wanted for a small family.

‘But why? Just to make me come back?’

It was an absurd reason. She couldn’t believe they would drive a family to ruin just to make her return.

“You still seem to have lingering feelings for him, so please look at this.”

“That’s not the reason…….”

Cutting off Eisha’s words once again, Philip thrust another document at her.

Eisha’s eyes widened.

“Th-this can’t be?”

It was a medical bill payment record.

For the past two years, Eisha had poured all her meager income into her grandfather’s enormous medical bills. 

Yet when the constantly overdue medical bills reached the point where her grandfather would be kicked out of the hospital, she barely managed to avoid it with Philip’s help.

But why was her ex-husband Claven Hebrandt’s name written prominently as the payer of the monthly medical bills?

“You didn’t know, but for the past two years, the person paying Baron Demir’s medical bills was His Grace.”

“How…….”

“You were deceived. By that dog, Baron Trier.”

Eisha’s hands hidden beneath the table trembled. Her nails dug into the back of her hand, on the verge of drawing bl＊＊d.

She was struggling desperately to maintain a face pretending composure until the very end.

“What do you want?”

Fino returned to his original expressionless state, showing no trace of his earlier sarcasm, and stated his demand.

“Nothing else. We only need you to return to His Grace’s side.”

“I…….”

Eisha opened her mouth then closed it tightly again.

Her mouth wouldn’t open easily. For her, returning to Pave Castle was like jumping into h＊ll.

But from the moment she saw the bottom of the medical bill payment record, Eisha truly had no other choice.

‘Right, this is how Hebrandt’s people operate.’

Eisha bit the inside of her cheek.

Her grandfather’s discharge date—one she didn’t know about—was written there. They had spirited away her grandfather.

As long as her sick grandfather’s wellbeing was in their hands, there was ultimately only one answer Eisha could give.

“Fine.”

“I’m relieved.”

Though he hadn’t worried about her refusal at all, Fino smiled as though reassured. Watching such a Fino, Eisha asked. About the real purpose he hadn’t yet revealed.