He looked down at the tiny child in his grasp who was no bigger than a puppy.

After shaking off Eclace’s trained servants, he stepped into a quiet corridor, only to find a seemingly impossible little girl running about.

She wore a dress and tumbled clumsily along, breaking into sudden laughter.

‘Why would there be a child in House Vitel…?’

House Vitel was not the kind of place that allowed noisy children to wander freely.

‘…A hatchling in training?’

Despite his sharp senses, he wondered if she might be one of Eclace’s birds, trained from a young age. If he left her alone, she might scamper off to inform Eclace.

Or so he thought—until—

‘D*mn it. She looks just like her.’

He saw it in the girl’s eyes, shimmering with tears about to fall.

Had he been searching for Luise too long?

But it was unmistakable. In this child’s gaze, he saw Luise.

And more—her platinum hair, her delicate, fine features—

‘She looks exactly like Luise as a child.’

It was only a stranger’s girl, and yet his chest ached sharply.

“Please, mister… don’t hurt me…”

Her tiny lips trembled as she whimpered.

At that sight, memory flared—of Luise’s final moments.

Feelings he thought had dulled over the years came back, vivid as a blade.

Irritation, sudden and fierce, surged through him.

“You—where are your parents?”

“I don’t know… hic…”

The little girl—so like Luise—finally broke down, tears spilling freely.

Each drop that pattered down made his heart sink lower.

“…D*mn it.”

He had come to find Luise.

And now here was a child who bound his steps, clinging to his heart with her resemblance. He had no time to spare. And yet… he could not bring himself to abandon her.

So Shed lifted the girl—“Eve,” she was called—into his arm.

And at that moment, a scent rose from her.

Familiar. Precious. Etched deep into his memory.

‘You…’

But before he could speak—

“I’m sorry! Waaah!”

The child broke into loud sobs, crying as though he had done her some terrible harm.

Shed grimaced, bewildered.

He had done nothing—and yet she cry as if he were the villain himself.

He had slipped away from the servants to avoid being noticed. Now, the child’s wailing would certainly draw everyone’s attention.

“Quiet.”

Shed’s voice came stern, his face set in a hard line.

But Eve only burst into louder cries.

“Please don’t kill meee!”

“Don’t make it sound like I mean to kill you…!”

At a loss, he clamped a hand over her mouth.

Her tears and snot smeared across his broad palm, along with her muffled cries. Her muffled wails vibrated against his skin.

And then—

“Lord Lester…!”

The unwelcome voice called out.

‘D*mn it! It’s all because of this brat that I’ve been caught!’

Shed turned, inwardly cursing the little girl he held.

Eclace stood there, his face tight with anger and unease.

The moment she recognized him, Eve threw her arms out wildly.

“Mmff—!”

Her muffled cries reached out towards him in desperate appeal.

“…Daddy?”

Shed’s eyes narrowed as he slowly withdrew his hand from her mouth.

“Put the child down first.”

Eclace said. His voice, sharp as a blade, was nothing like his usual calm.

‘So I’m the villain here, am I.’

Shed set the girl down on the floor.

At once, Eve bolted on her short legs and threw herself at Eclace.

“Daddy!”

With tears streaming down her cheeks, she clung to his trouser leg.

Without hesitating, the viscount bent down and lifted her into his arms.

Watching this, Shed’s lips twisted into a cold, cruel smile.

“So. I must have missed the news that you became a father. Ah, perhaps I should have first heard that you married?”

“Mind your tongue in front of the child.”

Eclace bared his teeth in warning, uncharacteristically fierce.

No matter how high Shed Lester’s power had risen after the war with Blancas, he could not be allowed to go further than this.

At that moment, hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor.

“…!”

Greeta froze in her tracks at the sight of Shed and Eve together.

“Greeta.”

At Eclace’s sharp glance, she rushed to his side.

He transferred Eve into her arms.

“Daddy…”

“Go back to the room with Auntie, Eve.”

Eclace stroked her gently, his voice soft again.

Sniffling, Eve nodded and nestled into Greeta’s embrace.

Shed’s gaze clung to the retreating child.

She was only a tiny slip of a girl, and yet he could not look away.

Only after Eve’s small figure vanished at the far end of the corridor did his eyes finally turn back to Eclace.

“Where is that child’s mother?”

“…She’s dead.”

Dead?

For a moment, Shed’s composure wavered.

Although he didn’t know who the woman had been, he was struck by the words as though he had just heard of the death of someone very important to him. His chest lurched suddenly and hollowly.

“I couldn’t leave a motherless child alone, so I took her in.”

“…So your heart has softened? If you would bring in a brat without even weighing the scales first.”

“If you came here only to pick a fight, then I suggest you leave.”

“Liana Serpens.”

Like a man possessed, he repeated her name over and over again. He repeated it so often that it became maddening.

“She looked like her.”

His thoughts returned to the little girl—Eve.

At once, Eclace’s eyes narrowed.

“Is there anything in this world, Lord Lester, that does not remind you of her?”

His voice carried a scornful edge.

“Would you not even look at a scrap of cloud drifting overhead without seeing her face in it?”

“I’m not in the mood for wordplay.”

“I’m offering you sound advice. You’ve spent years chasing her ghost, while everything else has been left neglected, haven’t you?”

At the cold rebuke, Shed’s teeth ground together.

“All of it will end when I find her.”

“And what will you do then?”

“That is none of your concern.”

“Will you set yourself against House Marlhein entirely, then?”

Eclace’s laugh was sharp and cutting.

He remained silent, his expression blank and his eyes unflinching.

Before he marched to Blancas, Giselle had called off the engagement. She could no longer endure his relentless pursuit of Liana.

Lea never knew, of course. Eclace had never told her.

In any case, the engagement was called off, which put a strain on relations between the two families. Their alliance survived only because they still needed each other. She was the Empire’s greatest hero, while Giselle was a high priestess tipped to become the next pope.

Would he risk it all to take Liana back?

To cast aside Giselle Marlhein for a mere maid?

“You’d be better served going to House Marlhein and falling to your knees. Even if Lady Liana were alive somewhere…”

But before Eclace could finish, Shed’s killing glare cut him short.

His eyes burned with a fury that allowed for no doubt: even the suggestion that Liana might be dead was something he would never permit.

Eclace drew in a sharp, irritated breath before speaking again.

“In any case, a marriage between you and Lady Liana is impossible, isn’t it?”

“What if it isn’t?”

“…What?”

Eclace’s brow furrowed, startled.

“She’s a maid. A commoner.”

“And I was a Lupus. A slave. Did you forget?”

Shed tilted his head and asked the question calmly, almost indifferently, as though such things were meaningless. His expression, unusually pure for Shed, seemed to mock the concept of titles entirely.

“Do you realize how catastrophic a political blunder it would be?”

“D*mn politics. Have I ever been treated as anything but a pawn in that game?”

Shed’s eyes narrowed.

The so-called title of “undefeated hero”? It was nothing more than a gilded façade. He had lived as a slave far longer than he had ever lived as a noble. And even when he wore the name of nobility, he had never truly belonged among them.

The Empire had wielded his fame only as a weapon, sending him to the bloodiest fronts again and again. That was all he had ever been to them.

And when he saved the Emperor, what was his reward? The forsaken lands of Ideana—a poisoned gift, a stage prepared for his slow ruin.

It had never been about honor. He had never been part of their indulgent games, their decadent wealth, their polished hypocrisies.

He had never desired them, and he never would.

The only thing he wanted—was Liana Serpens. No. Luise Ideana.

“Your choice will bring her nothing but misery. Wherever she goes, she will be met with scorn, derision, whispers and contempt. House Marlhein may even seek her death. The Imperial Court will also exploit her to bind you, viewing her as your weakness.”

Shed’s face hardened, turning to ice. His steps fell slow, deliberate, each one closing the distance between them.

“And why, would you be the one to worry about that?”

His cold gaze bore down on Eclace.

“Whether she’s happy or miserable—that’s no concern of yours.”

The words brushed across Eclace’s ear like a knife’s edge.

It was then that Eclace realized he had overstepped. He had gone too far.

“You’re an informant. I pay you. That’s all this is. So take the coin and do your d*mn job.”

The blade-like stare pressed down on him with suffocating weight.

Yes. Eclace was right. Shed Lester would bring Liana nothing but misfortune.

But so what?

‘If she is not by my side, then I’ll lose my mind in misery anyway.’

Be it so. Let her be cursed by my presence. If that’s the price I must pay to keep her, then so be it.

Lester had already made his choice.

He was prepared — indeed, willing — to be the cause of her misfortune.