5.
The Duke of Bergis had five children — daughter, daughter, son, daughter, daughter. Was he that close with his wife? No, that wasn’t it.

The reason he had many children was because he needed many cards to use for political marriages.

As for feeling unfaithful — well. The Duchess of Bergis shuddered, saying she had been wrong to think that even if he didn’t love his wife, he would love his own children.

The incident that disappointed her most was when Lenore was kidnapped. The kidnappers demanded a huge ransom from the Duke’s family for their daughter.

Though called huge, it wasn’t so much that the Duke couldn’t afford it. But he firmly insisted he couldn’t pay the money.

“It’s fake.”

He was strangely calm and convinced the kidnapping was fake. When the source of money showed no intention to pay, the kidnappers stopped sending letters and news of the missing Lenore ceased.

Hopefully it was a lie as he said. On a day when they were hoping for Lenore’s return, she really did come back. The Duchess was relieved, thinking the kidnapping claim had indeed been false.

“Why didn’t you save me?”

But good heavens, the daughter had indeed been in their hands.

“They told me. The parents of the child kidnapped with me paid money, but my parents wouldn’t pay because they were stingy.”

In her daughter’s eyes was an indescribable sadness of being abandoned by her parents. The Duchess’s mind went blank and she couldn’t say anything.

You said it was fake.

The Duchess looked at her husband, pleading him to say something. At this rate, they would truly become parents who valued money over their daughter.

“Did Father and Mother not care if I died?”

“That’s right.”

“…Am I not your daughter? Why don’t you care?”

“Why should I go out of my way to save someone who left home on her own and was stupid enough to get caught by kidnappers?”

He asked while looking straight into Lenore’s eyes. The Duchess finally realized why her husband had been so calm. Even if it was real, he had no intention of saving her.

This was his own flesh and blood, not someone else. How could he be so cold to his own daughter?

Another unbelievable statement entered the shocked Duchess’s ears.

“Did you lose your virginity to those men?”

Lenore shook her head.

“Then that’s fine. Clean yourself up before dinner time. You smell.”

Duke Bergis wrinkled his nose once and left. The Duchess couldn’t recover from the shock as she watched his back as he left without looking back.

Never mind not being able to say sorry for not saving her, but to ask about her virginity? Was that something a father should say to his twelve-year-old daughter?

That day, her faith in her husband completely crumbled.

“Lenore, what your father said isn’t true. I prayed every night for your safety.”

The Duchess hoped her daughter would understand that she hadn’t been abandoned by both of her parents. But it seemed too late to heal her wounded heart.

“But you didn’t save me.”

Lenore shed tears without meeting her eyes. The Duchess tried to hug her while apologizing, but Lenore pushed away her mother’s embrace and cried in her brother’s and sisters’ arms.

“Lenore!”

Even when her mother called, Lenore had already firmly locked the iron door of her heart.

She caused her daughter deep wounds. The Duchess felt her heart would collapse from guilt. But her husband acted as if it was no big deal. He thought it was enough that their daughter had returned without losing her virginity.

“You terrible person. Falling into hell wouldn’t be enough punishment for a demon like you…!”

The Duchess wished for him to be punished. She prayed to God every night. The merciful God did not grant her wish.

Whether he controlled and abused the children under the name of discipline, or married them off as he pleased, no unfortunate accidents befell him.

The first and second daughters tried to fill their empty hearts with lovers. The third suffered from anxiety while craving their father’s love that could never be received.

Lenore neither wanted love nor lovers, turning away from reality to enjoy fantasies.

“Why does he receive no punishment when he’s made everyone unhappy?”

Just when she was about to give up praying to God, the unfortunate accident she had wished for finally happened.

Duke Bergis was struck by lightning and died in the forest while returning to the castle after inspecting his territory.

* * *

A funeral was held for Duke Bergis’s death that came without warning. While there were occasionally people who shed tears at the funeral, it was notable that neither the Duchess nor their children showed a single tear.

“Now that the funeral’s over, we can finally relax. I’m tired — shall we all take a bath together?”

Lenore’s second sister spoke up. She patted her shoulder, saying she was tired from three days of horse riding.

“That’s a good idea. I’ve been wanting some warm water. It’s really too cold here.”

The eldest, who had married to the southernmost part of the kingdom, agreed it was a good idea.

“We’ll get scolded by Father if we use the bath when it’s not bath time.”

Mironica expressed concern with a fearful face. She soon realized her mistake when her family’s expressions changed strangely. Their father had already been struck by lightning and the funeral was over, so there was no one left to scold them.

But just because there was no one to scold them didn’t mean the habits ingrained in their bodies would suddenly disappear. Mironica wasn’t sure if it was really okay to take a bath.

“Poor Mironica.”

“She’s never known life away from Father.”

“It’s okay, Mironica. You’ll get used to life without Father.”

The sisters who had already married and escaped their father’s shadow to live new lives comforted Mironica.

The atmosphere naturally settled on bathing together. But ‘together’ here only included the women. Daniel, who hadn’t left Lenore’s side even for a moment, couldn’t follow.

Daniel had no choice but to stay behind with Meric, who kept glaring at him, while constantly biting his nails.

“Shall we do something else while the ladies are bathing?”

If you like chess, how about a game of chess?

Daniel made the first suggestion to overcome the awkwardness. Meric glanced at him with a glare and lowered his bitten nails.

“I decline. I’m not in the mood.”

Then he left abruptly. Daniel was certain then. That Meric hated him. No, perhaps the entire family was wary of him.

He had noticed them exchanging strange looks several times when he spoke while by Lenore’s side. Given the uncomfortable atmosphere, it probably wasn’t for a good reason.

Meanwhile, Lenore headed to the large bath without noticing her family’s wariness, her mind preoccupied with the major event of her father’s death. As she soaked her body in the warm water, a relaxing sigh naturally escaped.

“So how’s married life?”

The eldest sister asked Lenore. With her eyes closed enjoying the warm water, Lenore didn’t hear the question well and responded with just a questioning “Mmm?”

“How is Count Sillingdeer?”

“Ah, mmm. Not bad.”

Actually, her heart tickled wanting to talk about this and that. But Lenore held back, worried it might seem like she was bragging too much.

“He kept holding your hand the whole time. Asking if you were cold, if you were tired. Constantly asking beside you — it made those of us who didn’t bring our husbands feel lonely.”

“Oh my, do you think if brother-in-law had come, he would have watched over you devotedly like a lover too?”

“That would never happen. I’ve never even held hands with my husband. Have you held hands with yours?”

“Yes. Once during the wedding ceremony when the officiant told us to.”

“Hey, I did that too.”

The sisters’ laughter filled the bath. Mironica, who had been repeatedly diving underwater until she ran out of breath, joined in.

“I want to marry someone like Count Sillingdeer too.”

“Are you envious? But it might not be something to envy.”

The laughing sisters suddenly stopped laughing and looked at Lenore simultaneously.

“Lenore, Mother said she received some strange information.”

“What information?”

“That you’re being threatened by Count Sillingdeer with your family’s lives as hostages.”

The sisters added that Mother was very shocked and extremely worried.

What is this about, Lenore blinked slowly. The word ‘threat’ didn’t match at all with her husband’s always bright smiling face.

Why would they receive such strange information?

As Lenore was thinking how strange it was, suddenly one line of dialogue came to mind.

‘If you don’t follow my orders, I’ll kill your parents.’

Right. Daniel had said something like that while acting as a villain. That’s why even the servants had whispered about whether something was wrong between the Count and Countess.

“So that reached Mother’s ears!”

“Something comes to mind?”

“I understand how the story got passed along. But it’s not true. That wasn’t a real threat.”

Lenore explained the whole story of how he was just acting as a villain, and why he started acting as one in the first place. As her family’s faces grew increasingly dumbfounded, her words became more jumbled.

“Why do such things? I knew you had serious delusions, but isn’t this going too far?”

“I somewhat understand. There are s*xual preferences where people get excited by playing such roles.”

“It’s not a s*xual preference!”

Lenore denied with a red face. Looking back, there were times when things had flowed in that direction so she felt stung, but anyway that wasn’t the original purpose.

“We were just having fun teasing and it went a bit too far.”