Jeffrey’s eyes wandered across the ground; he could not bring himself to look directly at the gravestone.

After clearing his throat and shifting his feet uneasily, he turned away from the graves of his wife and daughter.

Once again, rather than finding the courage to confront the truth, he did what he always did and pretended not to know, walking away.

Pulling his hat back on, Jeffrey hurried out of the cemetery. As though he no longer had the strength to stay, he walked quickly, like a man fleeing from something.

There was neither remorse nor repentance in his retreating figure.

All that remained was a pitiful excuse to turn his back on an uncomfortable past.

Jeffrey Wood.

For a man who had lived his entire life this way, reflection and responsibility were words that had always remained distant and unfamiliar.

***

The butler, Robert, whose worries had grown noticeably heavier, followed the physician out of the Duke’s bedchamber.

Lowering his voice as much as possible in case a servant overheard, he asked,

“Is His Grace suffering from anything serious?”

“For now, his body is holding up. But if he continues living like this, his health will be the first to give way. Insomnia, excessive drinking, and on top of that, he frequently skips meals.”

“…Yes. His Grace refuses to take the sleeping pills and medicine prescribed to him. No matter how much I urge him, he won’t even look at them. But it’s not as though I can force him to take them…”

As the butler trailed off, the physician let out a deep sigh.

From his professional assessment, it was obvious that the Duke’s various symptoms stemmed from emotional causes.

“Everyone treats me like a patient. I’m not in that bad of a state yet.”

When they had spoken in the bedchamber, Eden had coldly drawn a line, insisting that he did not need medication.

Yet the eyes fixed on him had been far more strained and tightly wound than before.

“Hmm.”

It was unlikely that a healthy young man would become bedridden so easily. However, this alone was not enough to ease the physician’s concerns.

Even if he prescribed the medicine again, there was little he could do while the duke refused to take it.

Nevertheless, after handing the bottle of medicine to the butler, the doctor repeated the same advice he had given countless times before.

“What matters most is helping His Grace find some peace of mind. I feel guilty repeating the same advice over and over again. Well then, I’ll be on my way.”

“Thank you. Please travel safely.”

In the late afternoon, after seeing the physician off, Robert checked the time.

The Crown Prince — His Grace’s cousin — was due to arrive in an hour.

Every preparation had been made to ensure that no detail was overlooked in receiving such an honored guest. However, Robert’s greatest concern was Eden.

He had long since heard the rumors about the head of the Mayer household and how drastically he had changed.

‘The Crown Prince must have come all the way here because of that as well.’

At least the two of them had always got on well, which offered Robert some comfort.

Pushing his complicated thoughts aside, he adjusted his gloves.

There was no time to dwell on it now. It was time to receive a guest.

After instructing the servants to line up at the appointed hour, he headed towards the colonnade where refreshments had been laid out.

***

The colonnade stood beneath the quiet afternoon sunlight, its arched ceiling stretching into the distance.

Thick marble columns stood in neat rows on the polished floor, and beyond them lay a lush garden brimming with deep shades of green.

As a breeze drifted through the gaps between the columns, the hanging ivy swayed gently like curtains.

In the center of the colonnade stood a round table draped in ivory silk with a silver teapot on top.

Crown Prince Lionel lifted a teacup adorned with delicate golden trim and spoke first.

“I thought it was just a ridiculous rumor, but you’ve really lost half your face.”

“So you had nothing better to do. Coming all the way here just to inspect my complexion.”

Without even looking at him, Eden replied flatly.

Lionel shrugged with practiced ease.

“That’s right. It’s been a while, so I thought I’d play the role of a caring older cousin.”

Bathed in the bright afternoon sunlight, the man standing before them bore no resemblance to the one described in the rumors. He appeared composed and well-groomed, his manners as polished as ever, and there was no obvious sign of instability.

At first glance, there seemed to be nothing unusual about him.

However, the longer Lionel observed him, the more cracks he began to see beneath the surface. The sharpness of his expression and the deep shadows in his eyes were far from normal. Years of discipline and refinement had simply taught him how to hide them well.

He had seemed troubled even before he disappeared during the Founding Festival.

Yet now, there was no sign that things had improved.

In fact, he looked even more worn down than before, as though he were barely holding himself together.

“I’m asking seriously…”

Lionel’s gaze lingered on him.

“What happened?”

The atmosphere turned serious for a moment, and Eden fell silent.

There was no way he could be unaware of the rumors circulating among the public.

Lionel was probably just trying to keep the conversation going, but that felt like too much for Eden now.

“I’m tired. Even meeting people is tiring.”

“Then don’t think of me as a person. That solves the problem, doesn’t it?”

Lionel smiled faintly as he looked at Eden, who was clearly trying to shut the conversation down.

His cousin looked eager to end the visit as quickly as possible, but Lionel had not come all this way just to leave so easily.

“His Majesty is very worried about you, Eden.”

News of the incident in the small border village quickly reached the royal palace.

Who could have imagined that Eden Mayer would dig up the grave of a deceased person?

That he would dig up the grave of someone who had died?

In the end, even the king, who had been trying to arrange a new duchess for the Mayers, gave up.

At least the palace had managed to keep the matter under wraps before the rumors could spread any further.

“Lionel, you can reason with him better than anyone. Go and try talking some sense into him.”

“Father, just leave him alone for now. You know Eden’s personality better than anyone.”

“Of course I do. Even so, I thought he’d pull himself together in a few months. But we can’t just sit back and do nothing.”

Lionel frowned as a conversation he had had with his father a few days earlier came back to him.

To the outside world, the Duke of Mayer was the epitome of the perfect gentleman.

But Lionel knew that this was only part of the truth.

Beneath his polished manners and effortless elegance was an iron will and fiercely determined nature. Eden was not the type to lose his temper or raise his voice. Instead, he quietly and relentlessly pursued what he wanted until he found a way to achieve it.

However, the man sitting opposite him now looked nothing like that.

Eden sat motionless, burdened by a guilt so profound that escape seemed impossible. There was a heaviness about him that made him look almost broken.

Lionel had no way of knowing how much Winter Wood had meant to Eden or how deep their relationship had been.

For this reason, he felt it would be inappropriate to mention Winter’s name outright.

After carefully considering his words, Lionel finally broke the silence.

At the very least, he wanted to leave his cousin with some gentle advice.

“Take care of your health. Don’t ruin your body over something that couldn’t be helped.”

“…”

“You’re not going back to Ceres anymore, are you? The dead should be left in the past. That’s the natural order of things. Given enough time, you’ll forget. In the end, it simply wasn’t meant to be.”

At that moment, the emptiness in Eden’s eyes twisted violently.

The turbulence that surfaced within them was raw and fierce.

“If that’s all you came to say, then leave.”

Until now, he had kept his voice under control, but it broke out in a rough, strained manner.

It wasn’t quite anger.

It was more like something he had held in for far too long finally breaking through the surface.

The weight of that brief remark caused the atmosphere between them to freeze.

Lionel raised both hands instinctively.

It was a gesture rather than a response — a silent signal that he would not pursue the matter any further.

Faced with this retreat, Eden said no more.

Instead, as if to end the meeting, he rang the call bell.

“Wouldn’t it be best if you returned now, Your Highness?”

His tone was calm, but unmistakably cold.

Lionel took out a cigarette and placed it between his lips.

Rather than replying, he drew in a mouthful of smoke.

As he turned his gaze away, the butler who had been summoned appeared at the entrance to the colonnade.

If he truly wanted to, he could remain and press the issue.

But the master of the estate had already risen with a frosty expression.

‘Eden isn’t the type to listen just because someone tries to comfort or persuade him, Father.’

This thought crossed Lionel’s mind as he slowly exhaled a stream of pale smoke.

Along with it came the regret of having said things that could never reach him.

He watched silently as Eden turned away, offering nothing more than a brief nod.

Judging by the figure disappearing without so much as a backward glance, he had unintentionally struck a nerve.

“Your Highness, has your conversation already concluded?”

The butler had somehow arrived before the round table and was clearly trying to gauge the mood.

Extinguishing his cigarette at a leisurely pace, Lionel replied,

“When the master of House Mayer—my dear cousin—tells me to leave, it’s rather difficult to stay. I’d feel terribly out of place.”

“Surely that isn’t the case. It’s only that His Grace appears somewhat fatigued…”

“Haha, that’s enough, that’s enough. I didn’t come intending to stay long anyway.”

Lionel cut Robert off in his desperate attempt to explain, then uncrossed his legs.

It was a shame the visit was so brief, but neither of them would have benefited from staying any longer.

As he headed towards his waiting attendants, Lionel suddenly stopped.

He found himself standing beneath Eden’s portrait, which hung at the end of the long corridor.