Chapter 28

“There’s no particular issue with your health…”

What Ash said next made both Erin and the physician freeze in shock.

“…If it’s about pregnancy, that’s something we can take care of from now on.”

“What?!”

Erin stared at Ash in disbelief. His eyes were once again burning, just like when he had come at her earlier.

“If that happens, you won’t ever think of leaving again. I don’t know why you’re trying to run away now…”

“…It’s all because of you!”

Her anger burst out as she jumped up, and this time Ash looked completely clueless. He blocked the door as if to prevent her from leaving and asked,

“Because of me?”

“Yes, because you betrayed me…”

“Betrayed?”

His genuinely confused expression was infuriating. Erin, unable to hold back, finally shouted,

“You’re an industrial spy!”

She poured out everything, her voice trembling—she’d heard it all from the reporter, she’d suspected something, she saw him at the report meeting handing her new medicine and report to a woman she’d never seen before…

“……”

“Huff, hng…”

Tears poured down Erin’s face again as she vented everything. Even though she wasn’t actually pregnant, her emotions were all over the place.

‘Why didn’t I just hit him like I did with Viscount Talben!’

Ash had taught her to fight back—she could have just hit him and walked away.

Just as another wave of sorrow crashed over her, a timid voice came from behind.

“…I told you that you should have explained things beforehand.”

“…I see.”

“This is all the Duke’s fault.”

…The Duke?

The unfamiliar title confused her. Erin lifted her tear-stained face.

Whoosh.

A familiar scent drew close, and she was enveloped in a warm embrace.

“Let me go!”

Erin struggled instinctively, but Ash only sighed and held her tighter, kissing the top of her head.

“I’m sorry.”

“What…”

“I should have told you sooner…”

Ash’s voice faded, and Erin felt her strength leave her body. The final blow came when the physician, as if to excuse herself, stood to leave.

“And don’t push a patient suffering side effects too hard. It’s not like the Clebania Dukedom urgently needs an heir.”

“……”

“You’ll be punished if you try to get someone pregnant for that reason.”

Thud.

The door closed, and Erin blinked in surprise.

So, what she had just heard was…

‘Heir to the Clebania Dukedom?’

Was it the Clebania she knew?

The one rumored to own half the Empire’s wealth, shrouded in mystery? The Clebania who sponsored her research and pressured her?

Hiccup.

Unconsciously, Erin hiccupped and looked up. Ash, staring at her with desperate eyes, whispered,

“That’s right.”

“H-huh?”

“It’s true.”

“What is…?”

“It’s me. Aston Clebania.”

“……”

“…That’s me.”

As his words sank in, Erin’s lips parted in shock.

【 Ash’s Story 】

The Clebania Dukedom, a family that moved in the Empire’s shadows, controlling information and investing in every industry and technology to amass enormous wealth.

But the previous Duke of Clebania was a notorious scoundrel, flaunting his power and wealth and chasing women everywhere. The Duchess of Clebania, tired of such a husband, was just as notorious, changing lovers almost weekly.

After countless irresponsible affairs, the Duchess became pregnant. Naturally, the child was not the Duke’s.

“You damned bastard child!”

And so Ash—Aston Clebania—was born as the shame of the Clebania Dukedom.

“I told you never to show yourself!”

Whenever the Duke came home drunk, he would beat or berate Ash.

Even Ash’s biological mother, the Duchess, ignored him, annoyed that his birth had given the Duke a hold over her.

“Mother…”

“Don’t call me that, you filthy thing.”

“……”

“It’d be different if you looked like me.”

Unfortunately, Ash resembled neither the Duke nor the Duchess.

Nor did he resemble his real father.

“Where did that color come from?”

His ash-gray hair and red eyes were just a genetic mutation, but in this world, they were seen as an ominous sign.

“Disgusting.”

“……”

“Did your real father bring home a curse or something?”

“……”

“Repulsive.”

Whenever their eyes met, those were the only words the Duchess ever spoke to Ash.

He received no affection and slowly withered.

‘If only…’

If only he’d been thrown out of the Dukedom.

Life on the streets would be better than this.

‘It wouldn’t be much different anyway.’

Even while living at the Dukedom, Ash was given meals worse than scraps and worn-out clothes.

He was treated worse than a servant, and even the staff looked down on and bullied him.

“You shouldn’t have been born.”

“Why are you alive, suffering like this?”

He’d heard those words so often he was numb to them. Even the violence became routine.

Ash simply withdrew inside himself. His resentment grew, but he learned how to hide it.

“D*mn it! Filthy bastard child!”

Yet, there was a reason the Duke never cast Ash out.

“If only I had a proper heir!”

The Duke had problems with fertility.

If every woman he’d touched had given him just one child, he could have filled the estate with heirs, but none produced an heir.

For a great Dukedom like Clebania, this was a fatal weakness, and for a proud man like the Duke, it was unbearable.

He obsessed over techniques for producing children and curing male infertility.

But the solution he wanted never appeared.

“D*mn it!”

Eventually, the Duke gave up and officially registered Ash—the Duchess’s child—as the heir of Clebania.

To convince others of his virility, he publicly declared Ash his biological son.

He’d previously claimed the heir was too sickly to introduce, but now declared him healthy enough to present.

But nothing changed for Ash inside the Dukedom.

“How dare this filthy thing try to eat with us!”

He couldn’t join the Duke and Duchess at meals.

His education was given by subpar, inattentive tutors.

Though forced to announce Ash as his son and heir, the Duke spent money recklessly, as if not wanting Ash to inherit anything.

The Duchess was just as extravagant, and soon the family’s fortune was on the brink. Their waste threatened to erase a third of Clebania’s assets, one of the Empire’s pillars.

Despite this, Aston did his best.

The tutors were poor, but he had access to the library and was intelligent.

He absorbed every bit of knowledge he could.

He listened to guests to learn about the world, and studied the Dukedom’s ledgers to learn management and commerce.

So Ash grew up neglected and abused, until he was fifteen.

“Extra! Extra!”

“The Duke and Duchess of Clebania died in an accident!”

Their carriage overturned on a rainy road.

Returning drunk from a social event, the couple—who fought constantly—died together on the same day.

“Now Clebania’s fortune is ours!”

“What can an inexperienced heir do?”

When greedy relatives came for the remaining wealth…

Click!

“What is this?!”

“Do you know who we are?!”

“Please leave.”

“Hey!”

“It’s the Duke’s order.”

“Wait. If this continues… Eek!”

Somehow, the private soldiers of Clebania—thought to be disbanded—appeared, along with a pile of servants’ bodies who had abused and exploited Aston.

After that, Aston disappeared beneath the veil, controlling everything from the shadows.

He didn’t want to appear in public. Social events were just a bother. Most of all, having to look in the mirror and dress up for such events was t*rture.

‘It’s pointless anyway.’

He knew objectively he was handsome, but he couldn’t feel it. Years of being looked at with disgust made him see his own face as hideous.

He hated meeting people, and only felt pleasure when he could claim the achievements of previous Dukes as his own.

Aston sponsored more people than any Duke before him, and amassed more wealth than any in Clebania’s history.

And, with the name of a mere bastard, he set records in every achievement.