Celia looked up at the sound from above. Due to the sudden closeness, the contours of his face were even more visible. She could even see his bright blue eyes staring at her. A tension incomparable to their brief encounter in the chapel flowed through her entire body.

“Thank you.”

Celia quickly straightened herself. As she sat on the opposite seat catching her breath, she heard Eugen’s voice again.

“Miss Celia.”

“……”

Celia raised her lowered head. The fact that he had changed how he addressed her felt like being hit on the head with a heavy statue.

“It seems we have some matters to settle.”

“Just a moment.”

Celia steeled herself. She had to address the fact that he had called her, someone old enough to be his mother, in such a manner.

“It’s disrespectful to address me like that.”

“……”

“Even if I’m younger and we’re not blood-related, I still shared a bed with your father. The wedding ceremony… was omitted due to circumstances, but I came to this family as a proper wife.”

After finishing her words, trying her best not to tremble, Celia looked at Eugen. His face was expressionless. It was impossible to know what he was thinking.

After a moment, a faint smile spread across Eugen’s lips. He clearly found her words amusing. Since this was an expected moment anyway, she steeled herself even more. If she gave in to her husband’s grown son, everything would be over. That couldn’t happen.

“So, you are my son.”

“……”

“I… if not as a mother, at least treat me as your father’s wife.”

For some reason, Celia had said all she needed to say, and Eugen, who had heard it all, showed no reaction. He just stared at her blankly, seeming to reconsider the recent shock.

“Son?”

“……”

At the word that finally came out of his mouth after a long while, Celia felt as if her heart had dropped.

It was something that couldn’t be done unless one was out of their mind. To fearlessly call the duke, who had newly become the master of this mansion, ‘son’. However, words once spoken couldn’t be taken back.

“…That’s just a manner of speaking. It’s not wrong, is it?”

As she finally managed to open her reluctant mouth, Eugen also spoke.

“Oh, I made a mistake. I apologize.”

“……”

It was Celia who was surprised by this unexpected behavior. He even bowed his head in apology, and she was quite taken aback by this.

“You are my father’s wife, so you’ve become my stepmother. I momentarily forgot that. Please forgive my rudeness.”

His tone was extremely polite, but he didn’t seem particularly remorseful. Nevertheless, since he had apologized at least on the surface, Celia responded by nodding her stiff neck.

“I accept your apology.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Celia felt as if she was sitting on thorns at his response. Thinking that she absolutely must not give in, she had unknowingly said too much. It was something she had done believing that her vision was somewhat blocked by the veil.

“Then, would you spare some time after we inter the coffin? I think we have things to discuss.”

“…Alright.”

Celia nodded at the duke’s quiet request. She had a rough idea of what he wanted to talk about. Just thinking about it made her whole body stiffen with tension.

It was at that moment.

Eugen’s hand entered Celia’s veil and unhesitatingly lifted the thinly layered fabric.

“N, no.”

She tried to grab the veil in panic, but it was useless. The veil, already flipped over her head, had completely exposed her face.

“……”

The face that had suddenly entered the veil stared at Celia. Trapped in an inescapable gaze, she blankly looked up at him.

The gaze looking down at her while holding up the veil with one hand was a deep, blue light. The face she had only glimpsed through the veil was beyond what she had imagined.

The two were trapped together inside the veil. A suffocating silence descended in the carriage interior, which she had thought was relatively spacious. Their breaths mingled, and Celia seemed to have forgotten even to breathe under the choking pressure.

The line flowing from his appropriately protruding brow bone to his nose bridge was graceful, and his straight forehead and sharp jawline were enough to make the ladies’ hearts flutter even at a funeral.

Every feature exuded the dignity and arrogance befitting the heir of a great noble family. It wasn’t mere pretension, but something he was born with.

“As you said, we’re family, so does it make sense to hide behind this mere veil?”

The corner of his mouth twisted up slightly. It was a smile that didn’t suit his utterly proper face, yet it also suited him perfectly. A smile that would have looked mean on anyone else transformed into something entirely different on his lips.

“Since you wouldn’t show yourself at all, I committed this rudeness. Still, since you’re to be my stepmother, I should see your face.”

“……”

His words were so formal that the rudeness of his action was momentarily forgotten. His extremely elegant and gentle tone had the power to override everything.

“It’s our first time meeting properly.”

His blue, sparkling eyes looked at her as if they would devour her.

“Mother.”

***

The interment of the former Duke Hilbert, Andro, proceeded smoothly. The only direct family members were his son Eugen and his recently married second wife, Celia.

She looked at Eugen’s profile through her rain-soaked veil. Even in the rain, his appearance remained unruffled.

He was watching his father’s final moments being interred with downcast eyes.

Throughout the interment, the rain poured down steadily. As a matter of principle, the children and wife of the deceased were not to use umbrellas out of respect, so they had to endure the falling rain fully.

The veil and dress, heavy with absorbed water, weighed down her entire body. The cold was an added discomfort. Being rained on in the chilly late autumn weather was certainly not pleasant.

“It would be terrible if the frail madam caught a cold. Let me hold an umbrella for you.”

“No, I…”

As Celia waved her hand saying she was fine, a maid approached and held an umbrella over her. It was the maid who had bathed and dressed her on the night she had come to the duke’s family like a thief.

“It’s the duke’s order.”

The maid offered the umbrella to Celia, who was trying to refuse persistently.

“I don’t need it.”

“You must use it.”

The maid tried to cover Celia with the umbrella more insistently, while Celia continued to refuse.

Thud. After the struggle, the umbrella fell to the ground.

“……”

The maid looked alternately at the umbrella stuck in the ground and Celia for a moment, then hurriedly left.

The rain started to soak her entire body again. To others, she might look like an incomprehensible person who rejected a kindness offered, but even knowing it was a needless stubbornness, she couldn’t help it.

This was a kind of pride. She couldn’t shake the feeling that if she, the widow, used an umbrella, she would be losing to his son.

“It’s our first time meeting properly.”

Eugen had brazenly lifted Celia’s veil and remained confident. It was inevitable given his upbringing. Even if he were to kneel before her, he didn’t seem like someone who would look servile or intimidated.

Suddenly feeling a gaze, she raised her head. She felt Eugen’s eyes on her, as if he had witnessed the recent commotion. A smile briefly appeared on his lips. It might have been an illusion due to the rain, but it certainly looked that way.

Wet with rain, he looked even darker than he had at the funeral earlier. This reminded her of what happened in the carriage earlier, and an indescribable wave of emotions began to surge.

She felt frustrated and angry. But she also felt pathetic for not being able to properly confront him.

He had invaded her space in an instant. As if mocking her for feeling safe hidden behind the black veil all this time, his action was without hesitation. She felt completely played.

The shame of having what she believed to be a solid defense suddenly stripped away.

Thud.

Finally, as the coffin was deeply interred in the ground, soil began to pile on top.

It’s all over now.

Celia’s legs gave way without her realizing it, and she staggered.