“What, what…?”

Wasn’t this the kind of greeting knights gave noblewomen or ladies when showing utmost respect?

Even with the bandage and herbal paste in between, the soft sensation left me flustered.

But the funny thing was, Benjamin seemed even more flustered by my reaction.

“W-why are you looking at me like that? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, it’s just… why did you kiss my hand?”

“My brother said that when you’ve done something really wrong to a girl, you should apologize like this…”

Midway through his rambling explanation, Benjamin suddenly seemed to realize something and scowled.

He shouted angrily,

“That brother of mine, always teasing me…!”

But his words completely erased the shock I’d felt from his earlier action.

I stared at him, my mouth agape.

“You…”

“Uh-oh.”

“You have a brother?”

Hearing something I hadn’t anticipated, I felt a wave of betrayal wash over me.

Without realizing it, I jumped to my feet and raised my voice.

Benjamin, who had hastily pulled his hands back, bit his lip and stepped back.

“…He’s not my real brother. Anyway, I’m sorry for today. I’ll be going now.”

With that, Benjamin bolted out of the infirmary in the blink of an eye.

All that remained in my view was the infirmary door swinging open and the empty hallway beyond.

“…He scolded me for lying, and yet…?”

There was no one left to hear my belated complaint.

—

“Hmmm…”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Thick fingers tapped rhythmically on the document placed on the desk.

Marquis Diarmuid glanced sideways with his pale blue eyes.

He lowered his gaze and looked at the document on the desk.

At the top of the document, the word “Marriage Contract” was written, and at the very bottom, two signatures were placed one above the other.

The Marquis stared intently at the upper signature and furrowed his brow deeply.

“…Jack Esperanza.”

Unconsciously, he clenched his hand.

The corner of the marriage contract crumpled slightly with a small, sharp sound.

“What is he scheming?”

The original Jack Esperanza was not the kind of person who would obediently sign a marriage contract with the Marquis of Diarmuid.

[Ah, I’d like the wedding to happen as soon as possible. I want to call the young lady my wife even one day earlier.]

However, not only did Jack Esperanza readily sign the marriage contract presented by the Marquis, but he also made such shameless remarks, urging the marriage to proceed quickly.

According to Jack, he had come to confirm the beauty of Gretel Diarmuid, whose reputation for stunning looks was widely known. Upon seeing her, he claimed to have fallen for her at first sight.

Frankly, it was hard to believe entirely.

Considering how Jack had always looked at the Marquis as if he were a bug on the street whenever they met, the thought still made the Marquis’s stomach churn.

But Jack’s attitude toward Gretel was entirely different from how he treated the Marquis.

Before leaving the Marquis’s residence, Jack, with a face that seemed ready to melt, kissed Gretel’s hand deeply.

[Even the beauty of Vanessa, the first saint and the goddess protecting the empire, would pale in comparison to yours.]

…Such nauseating nonsense he had uttered.

Even thinking about it again was horrifying.

The Marquis closed his eyes tightly and shook his head as if to rid himself of the unpleasant memory.

Still, regardless of the disgust and suspicion, there was no denying that this was an excellent opportunity.

How much contempt had the Marquis endured over the years?

How many people had looked down on him, treating him like an insect, simply because his title was lower than theirs or because he lacked noble blood?

Through this marriage contract, the Marquis would gain a legitimate excuse to interfere with the Esperanza ducal family.

Considering that the Esperanza family was one of the central pillars of the empire’s nobility, the Marquis’s influence would rise significantly.

Thinking about all this, the Marquis decided he could overlook Jack’s little antics.

With that thought, the Marquis regained his composure.

Leaning back in his chair, he clicked his tongue as he recalled Gretel, whose face had flushed slightly at Jack’s actions.

[Even if you act as if your love is eternal, it won’t last ten years.]

[Until the day I die, I will curse you.]

That was what Gretel had said with crazed eyes when the Marquis had torn apart and killed the lowly gardener’s son who had dared to covet her.

But look at her now.

Even the love she had acted as if she couldn’t live without eventually lost its luster.

If Gretel had followed the Marquis’s words from the beginning, gotten rid of the child, and waited for a better love to come along, things wouldn’t have gotten so troublesome for both sides.

“Foolish girl. She must take after her mother.”

The late Marchioness had been a beautiful but exceedingly frail woman.

If her family hadn’t promised to hand over the sapphire mine, the Marquis wouldn’t have bothered to take her as his wife.

“Well, at least she left behind her looks, which were her only redeeming quality.”

The Marquis shook his head again and straightened his posture.

He reached out, picked up a quill, and dipped it in ink.

“There’s much to be done.”

First, he needed to send a letter to Duke Bryan informing him that the arrangement had fallen through.

The Marquis had proposed the marriage to Duke Bryan and sent knights to bring Gretel to him.

On the very day Gretel arrived at the Marquis’s residence, a letter arrived from Duke Bryan stating that he wanted to meet Gretel Diarmuid first.

And while Duke Bryan was returning to the capital with his army, an even more appealing target, Jack Esperanza, had appeared.

Losing some face was a small price to pay for gaining the Esperanza family.

“After all, until recently, he was nothing more than a commoner. He won’t dare show too much discomfort. Besides, despite his accomplishments, his personality is said to be rather timid.”

The Marquis’s eyes gleamed coldly.

He began writing a letter to Duke Bryan, informing him regretfully that the marriage proposal would have to be canceled.

Knock, knock.

“…!”

The Marquis flinched and turned his head.

A falcon with a small letter tied to its leg was tapping the window with its beak.

The Marquis got up and walked to the window.

When he opened it, the falcon flew in as if it had been waiting and extended its leg.

“Good work.”

The Marquis untied the letter and held it in his hand. The falcon, as if accustomed to the routine, flew to a perch in the corner and began drinking water.

Murmuring a faint word of thanks, the Marquis unfolded the letter.

The upright handwriting, as steady as its author’s personality, greeted him.

[No body found. Traces discovered on the opposite cliff. In pursuit. Direction: south.]

“…”

It was a short note. The Marquis narrowed his eyes and reread the contents.

“No body found, heading south…”

Gilbert had reported that a knight named Paul had developed sympathy for the child and helped them escape.

But that was only Gilbert’s assumption.

What the Marquis could accept as fact was simply that “Paul and the child disappeared together.”

Of course, any reasonable person would think as Gilbert did.

Could a mere nine-year-old orchestrate an escape?

Especially a child who had spent their entire life confined to a narrow tower?

“Ridiculous.”

But Marquis Diarmuid was a merchant by nature.

A merchant’s role is to see what others cannot and to do what others cannot imagine.

At the same time, it involves gathering scattered pieces of information to discern a favorable flow.

Under normal circumstances, the Marquis would have thought similarly to Gilbert.

But now, an extremely irrational event has occurred—Jack Esperanza’s sudden proposal.

When irrationalities pile up and overlap, they transform into possibilities.

Jack Esperanza’s proposal.

The child’s escape.

At first glance, the two events seemed unrelated.

But the Marquis did not ignore his instinctive sense of unease and racked his brain desperately.

Even now, others were convinced the child was dead, but further investigation revealed no body.

“Gretel didn’t seem to have orchestrated the escape.”

The book lists Gretel had sent in her occasional letters, claiming they were for her daughter.

The story of how the child had stood up to an adult twice her size when Paul insulted her.

These pieces began to fit together in the Marquis’s mind.

The Marquis considered a “what if.”

“What if.”

What if the child was so intelligent that even her mother couldn’t comprehend her?

What if she recognized someone who felt guilty toward her and successfully manipulated that guilt to convince a knight to help her?

“What if…”

What if Jack Esperanza’s sudden proposal to Gretel Diarmuid was connected to the child’s escape?

The thought sent a shiver down the Marquis’s spine.

“It’s a leap.”

Yes, it was a leap. An absurd and nearly baseless leap.

But the Marquis had reached his current position by never ignoring even the tiniest possibility.

Even the faintest possibility couldn’t be overlooked once discovered.

The Marquis rang the bell on his desk without hesitation.

Not long after the clear sound of the bell echoed, the butler appeared and bowed respectfully.

“What is your command, my lord?”

“Send this letter to Duke Bryan. And to Gilbert… What’s that in your hand?”

The Marquis paused mid-sentence, his brow furrowing as he noticed the butler holding a letter similar to the one he had just handed over.

The butler smiled politely and exchanged the letters.

“I was just about to report to you, but since you summoned me, I came immediately. This is a letter from Her Majesty the Empress.”