Each time she heard news that he had survived the long war, Lea could not deny the rush of relief that swelled in her chest.

Since Eve’s birth, she had admitted it to herself: she had left him, but she could never escape him. With Eve’s true father living within her daughter’s very being, it was impossible to forget him completely.

“Even the Emperor treads carefully around the duke now. Thanks to him, there is no one left in the Empire who dares treat a lupus as a slave. That’s what he accomplished in ten years.”

Egon spoke deliberately, telling story after story of Shed—as though he wanted her to hear just how far he had risen, as though to remind her of how utterly different he had become from Liana Serpens.

“Do you… want Eve to meet her real father someday?”

“…No. That wasn’t what I meant.”

A shadow fell across Lea’s face as her voice sank low.

Egon studied her silent expression for a moment before rising to his feet.

“I’ll go check on Eve.”

He entered the room where Eve had fallen asleep earlier than usual.

Lea watched his retreating figure, thinking. He was a good man. She was grateful. Eve adored him.

Even if he would one day leave, wasn’t it right to hold on to his hand now? For Eve’s sake, what was she supposed to do…?

As her thoughts circled, Egon suddenly rushed back out of the room.

“Lea, something’s wrong with Eve.”

His face, so rarely unsettled, was filled with alarm. Lea shot to her feet and hurried inside.

Eve’s small body lying on the bed gave off a heat that burned when touched.

“Eve, Eve…!”

Lea clutched her tightly, her heart plummeting as she felt her daughter’s labored, rasping breaths. No matter how she called, Eve did not wake.

“I’ll fetch the doctor!”

Egon bolted out of the house.

Eve would usually have begged to stay up late whenever Egon came to visit, too excited to sleep. Lea had assumed that Eve tiring so quickly and falling asleep was simply the result of her excitement over the presents.

However, now Eve’s breathing was harsh and shallow, accompanied by coughs and phlegm.

“Eve, Mommy’s here.”

Lea laid her down gently and hurried to prepare a damp cloth.

As Lea undressed Eve and wiped her down with water, she noticed angry red blotches spreading across her daughter’s skin.

Her chest tightened with panic. She had never seen such a symptom before. She was terrified that this tiny breath might stop at any moment.

It felt as though the unease she had always carried was now becoming reality, that her forbidden happiness was returning to her in the face of the greatest misfortune.

“Please…”

Though unworthy, a heretic who had no right, she dared to pray to God.

‘Please, save this child. I will do anything—just do not take this innocent life. If someone must be punished, let it be me, not her.’

As Lea prayed, clutching Eve close, Egon returned with another man.

One of the retired birds was an expert in medicine and pharmacology. Despite not being a qualified doctor, he served the island in this role.

He examined Eve carefully before lifting his head.

“It is the venom of a red widow spider.”

He revealed a tiny wound on Eve’s finger—a bite mark.

“It can be cured, but the antidote is not available here on Janna Island.”

It was an isolated place. Though some herbs were stored, none could counteract this particular poison.

“The main island should have the ingredients.”

He handed over a written list of what was needed. On Scizlon, the island on which Vitel’s golden fortress was located, such ingredients would be easy to obtain.

After glancing over the list, Egon turned to Lea. He could collect the herbs himself, but if he did, time would slip away. If the antidote failed, more time would be lost seeking another solution.

“Lea, let’s take Eve with us.”

It would be better to take her straight to the main island.

Lea did not hesitate. Although she had never left Janna Island since Eve’s birth, she would go anywhere for her child.

“Please, Egon.”

She lifted Eve, her small body fever-hot, and held her close.

🌺⟡───⟡🌺 🌺⟡───⟡🌺

Lea stayed at her daughter’s side through the night.

Thankfully, Scizlon—where the wealth of the world gathered—had the antidote.

“She will be fine after about a week on this medicine.”

The apothecary who had prepared the cure offered words of comfort to Lea, who had spent the night in restless fear, before taking his leave.

Lea stroked Eve’s cheek, finally past the worst of it.

“It’s a relief. It didn’t turn into something worse.”

At Eclace’s words, Lea turned her eyes toward him.

En route from Janna Island to Scizlon, he did everything he could for Eve. He had his men prepare a vessel in advance, secure a berth in the harbor and have a carriage ready and an apothecary on hand to brew the antidote before they even arrived.

Everything flowed seamlessly, without a single obstacle.

Lea could sense the power that Eclace Vitel held. Without him, Eve might well have lost her life on that island.

“Thank you.”

Once again, she was indebted to him.

Eclace had even opened one of the golden fortress’s chambers for Eve.

“…And I’m always sorry.”

The debt she could never repay only seemed to grow heavier.

But Eclace sat beside her, his gaze lingering quietly on Eve.

“This is for Eve.”

He spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Lea’s chest tightened with heat.

In moments like these, her resolve wavered, and the distance between them disappeared without her intending it to.

He was the one who offered her kindness in her moments of crisis. He was the one who cherished Eve and became her daughter’s pillar of strength.

For Eve’s sake, wasn’t he what she needed? If something like this happened again and it meant protecting Eve…

“Stay here until she’s fully recovered.”

The refined, deep scent of the sea that clung to him drew nearer.

“You should rest, too. You haven’t slept a single moment all night.”

Eclace’s hand touched her shoulder, gentle, reassuring. Lea nodded quietly.

🌺⟡───⟡🌺 🌺⟡───⟡🌺

“Haa…”

Leaving Lea and Eve to rest, Eclace returned to his study.

‘By now, you should be ready to cross over, Luise.’

Despite his endless duties, he had spent years carving out time to visit Janna Island and care for her. Without pushing too hard, he ensured that she lacked nothing. He gave Eve everything he could, too.

And yet, she never crossed the boundary she had set.

At times, impatience burned within him. He wanted to hurl every sacrifice in her face — every coin, every comfort — and demand: Was it not enough? Should you not come to me now? Should you not accept me?

But his instincts always restrained him.

Because the moment he said those words, she would repay her debts and leave him forever.

‘…And it’s not as if she’ll meet Shed Lester again.’

Eclace lifted a weary hand to his eyes and tilted back his head.

“But someday, you’ll have a real family of your own, my lord.”

He recalled the words Lea had once spoken.

‘Does she truly not know—or is she only pretending not to?’

Eclace could not understand her excuses.

He was certain of it — he had devoted himself entirely to Eve. His duties with the merchant company meant that he could not always stay long, and with eyes constantly upon him, sometimes he could not stay at all. Yet he believed he had shown her enough affection to be considered part of her family.

It was no different with Eve.

Initially, he had seen the child only as a means to an end — a way to reach Lea. But somewhere along the way, he found himself smiling at her. When she fell ill, his heart sank with terror. That, too, had been genuine.

‘By now, surely, she should have crossed over…’

Five years had seemed enough. But she was always in the same place, unchanged.

As the end drew nearer, his impatience grew sharper.

So he resorted to cowardice—encouraging Eve to call him Daddy, working to win the child’s affection. If Eve became attached, then perhaps Lea would yield. For her daughter’s sake, she might cross over at last.

But now he began to think he had made a mistake from the start.

‘I never should have set an end to it…’

How short five years turned out to be.

There had been only one reason he placed the name “Egon” on their marriage contract instead of “Eclace.”

Any woman who married Eclace Vitel would inevitably attract worldwide attention. She could never hide her identity or disappear.

However, Lea needed to vanish from the world. Therefore, her husband could not be someone under the spotlight.

That was how ‘Egon’ was created.

He could never confess that he invented that name for her sake and married her with that in mind from the beginning.

“Is it too much? My desire? Is that it?”

Eclace whispered, staring at a gold coin he rolled between his fingers.

At that moment—

“My lord.”

Bannern appeared before him, his face grave.

🌺⟡───⟡🌺 🌺⟡───⟡🌺

“Hey! Watch where you’re going…!”

The sailor at Scizlon Port stammered to a halt after colliding with a man.

Cloaked in an ashen robe, the stranger towered above the rough seamen of the harbor. His eyes glinted with a murderous light, as if he could slit a throat without hesitation.

‘A lupus…?’

The sailor swallowed hard under the cutting gleam of those violet eyes.

Beneath the black robe, his cold, harsh features looked like those of a demon risen straight from hell.

‘He must be insane.’

The sailor knew better than to cross paths with such a madman.

As he hurried away, the ominous figure staggered from the port and into the streets of Scizlon.

“At last…”

The robed man ground his teeth and fixed his gaze on the golden fortress of House Vitel in the distance.