The marquis’s voice clearly showed that he never expected you to do such a thing.

However, the answering side felt the same way.

“Sorry for the suddenness. I have something urgent to tell you, but the matter is quite pressing.”

“……Please come in first.”

Marquis Avalanche guided this unexpected guest to the third-floor study.

Only after climbing the stairs in silence did a heavy, thick door that considered soundproofing open.

The space that appeared was a large study illuminated by lit lamps as lighting, without a single window.

Marquis Avalanche, who instructed all the following servants to leave, first offered a seat to the crown prince.

“Please sit.”

“Thank you.”

The maids who arranged the seats quickly left at the marquis’s command.

“Your Grace. Somehow we meet again like this. I’m Ellen, the eldest daughter of the Crient family.”

At this, Marquis Avalanche’s eyebrows furrowed openly.

“A bit rude, but since I know, I won’t say more.”

“There was reason for that. I came here to tell you everything, so please calm your anger.”

Marquis Avalanche glanced at the crown prince before reluctantly offering Ellen a seat as well.

“……I’ll overlook it for His Highness’s sake for now. You sit too.”

“Thank you.”

Once the seating was somewhat arranged, Kaiden began to speak.

“First, I want to apologize for barging in like this.”

“Not at all. You said the matter was urgent.”

Marquis Avalanche did not readily accept the crown prince’s apology.

The point was that he would listen first, and if it wasn’t truly an urgent matter, he wouldn’t forget this incident for a long time.

“Actually, I’m merely an intermediary. Today’s business is between you and Lady Crient. I only accompanied them because you’re both my subjects and I couldn’t ignore this.”

“I understand. If I heard any more, I would become embarrassed.”

“I see.”

With Kaiden’s words, the speaking rights passed to Ellen.

She took out neatly sealed letters and a necklace from her coat and held them out to the marquis.

“What is this?”

“I think you’ll know who I received this from if you look.”

The marquis, who spat out complaints as if to say it was riddles from the start, picked up the necklace with a somewhat insolent attitude.

But the moment he saw that pendant……

His arm froze solid.

“……The beginning of the story I’m about to tell was when my younger brother Elsier got entangled in a fight with the young master of the Periwinkle family.”

She began the story step by step.

That her younger brother Elsier was attending the academy in the imperial capital, that Elsier burned with hostility toward him due to the fight with Periwinkle, that Periwinkle’s strange behavior caught attention in the process, that Lady Sorbon was involved in it……

“What?”

At the sudden mention of his beloved niece’s name, the marquis showed a sensitive reaction.

It was a rough voice as if angry, but it couldn’t completely hide the subtle fear underlying it.

“I imagine you have questions, but please listen to my story to the end first.”

Ellen continued the story.

That May Sorbon was suffering excessive bullying at school, that May Sorbon’s roommate, a commoner child, reported those actions to Elsier who maintained an antagonistic relationship with Periwinkle, that the two had a carriage accident together yesterday, and that she visited the academy yesterday and secured testimony that it was Periwinkle’s doing.

“……So, you’re saying what you handed me was entrusted by May?”

“Yes. This letter was also written by Lady Sorbon. The rest were written by academy students who reported these problems to me.”

Ellen said, pushing them toward him again.

“The lady currently has a head injury and a broken left wrist. As Your Grace knows, for a child interested in swordsmanship, fractures are……”

When she trailed off, the marquis also let out a groan.

He picked up the letter placed before him, but couldn’t even take out the letter inside, just holding the envelope.

Unable to continue speaking for a long time, he quietly shifted his gaze to stare at his niece’s necklace that he had personally chosen and gifted.

Eventually, he checked the letter he was holding with trembling hands.

Rustle. Rustle.

The crumpled paper unfolded, and inside, his niece’s humiliation and resolve were calmly written in neat handwriting.

In the quiet, only the marquis’s eyes and trembling hands moved.

And not long after, he grabbed his face with weakened movements and muttered blankly.

“……Is her condition serious? Is the child okay? She didn’t cry, did she? Bullying, that child……”

“For now, we’ve asked our family’s physician to perform the surgery. If we’re lucky, she should be able to manage daily life.”

“May I go see for myself?”

“By all means. Will you go right now?”

“I should.”

The marquis bowed his head to Kaiden.

“Your Highness. I apologize for the rudeness I committed earlier.”

“Not at all. It’s true that I came unreasonably.”

Kaiden stood up and patted his shoulder, saying.

“Let’s go quickly. I’m also worried about the lady’s condition, so how much more must the marquis be.”

“Thank you. Your Highness. I’m also grateful to Lady Crient.”

“If Your Grace hadn’t shown interest in Lady Sorbon at the party the other day, I wouldn’t have thought to visit you like this.”

“That’s very fortunate. Still, thank you anyway.”

“Stop with the greetings and let’s go quickly.”

When Kaiden said this while putting on his coat, the two others also hurriedly arranged themselves and stood up.

* * *

The small clinic within the Crient mansion.

The door opened, and a middle-aged man entered.

The man entering the room stopped walking as soon as he saw the person waiting for him.

His gaze fixed on a girl lying in bed.

The girl who turned her head at the sound of the door opening also couldn’t take her eyes off the middle-aged man.

“……Uncle.”

The voice carried deep sorrow.

The girl had no uninjured places.

Bandages wrapped around her head and an arm thickly fixed due to splints. Scratches all over her face and legs hanging limply.

Tears shimmered in her eyes that she tried to keep open to appear calm.

“……You.”

The marquis couldn’t continue speaking. He was speechless.

Even though he already knew, seeing her appearance stuck in his eyes, and his throat choked up so he couldn’t answer.

His face, which had begun to wrinkle with age, contorted completely.

“Why, why didn’t you tell me? Why did you lose heart in advance over adults’ fights!”

Unlike his shouting voice, he caressed his niece’s wounds with trembling fingers.

“Why didn’t you tell me……”

“……I’m sorry. Uncle.”

May Sorbon’s eyebrows also began to rise toward the sky as she watched the marquis.

Bitten lips. Trembling voice and heated eyes.

The uncle and niece looking at each other eventually burst into tears.

“I’m sorry. Because I couldn’t give you trust, so……”

“No. I’m sorry, Uncle……”

“Is your arm okay? It didn’t hurt too much, did it? You hit your head too, so you must have headaches. I have good medicine……”

“Right now I’m just uncomfortable lying down, but I’m fine. Fortunately, Lady Crient helped me a lot. They say if my arm heals well like this, I should be able to manage daily life.”

At her words, the marquis finally relaxed his tense body and let out a long sigh.

“Whew…… Yes. What a relief.”

He turned to Ellen and bowed his head in greeting.

“Thank you so much.”

“Goodness. Please raise your head, Your Grace.”

“Thank you so much. I know well that this child being here before my eyes is greatly due to the Crient family’s help. I will definitely repay you with whatever I can, to the best of my ability.”

“Not at all. What repayment.”

Ellen waved her hands as she spoke.

“Rather, may I ask what Your Grace intends to do from now on?”

“……What is there to do or not do. I’ll put all of them on the guillotine. I truly won’t forget this favor.”

Ellen shook her head and said.

“The reason I sought Your Grace today is because I judged that Count Sorbon’s apparent hesitation about surgery and abandonment of retaliation wouldn’t be very helpful to my goals.”

“……What? He hesitated about surgery?”

The marquis asked back as if wondering what that meant.

“Yes. Count Sorbon gave up surgery due to the 400 gold surgery cost, and similarly gave up retaliation upon hearing it was Periwinkle’s doing.”

He looked at May to ask if Ellen’s words were true.

At that gaze, May opened her lips to say something.

But she soon closed her mouth and avoided his gaze, and the marquis’s face began to boil with anger upon realizing Ellen’s words were true from that reaction.

“That…… that pathetic bastard!”

The marquis stood up abruptly, seemingly filled with anger.

“I didn’t like it when sister got married in the first place, but even to his own child……!”

“Your Grace.”

Ellen’s voice calling him was quite resolute.

Marquis Avalanche looked at her.

“Now that even Elsier has become a target, I have no choice but to think of retaliation against the Periwinkle family. And it’s the same for Your Grace.”

“That’s right.”

“So I speak for more effective retaliation. How about Your Grace establishing the lady as your heir?”

“Heir? I don’t understand what you’re suddenly talking about.”

The marquis frowned at the suddenly changed topic.