“E…ve.”

Ah. Emil had quietly taken her hand, approaching without her noticing.

Emil… now it’s just the two of us. Let’s live happily together, just the two of us. Let’s do that.

Still tearful, Yvonne firmly grasped Emil’s hand.

“Eve. Pour out all your sorrow. That’s how you can rise again. There’s no shame in crying. So cry all you want, and stand up tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a little better than today. I promise.”

She tightly embraced Emil, who always said such admirable things. Thank you, Emil.

And so, Yvonne held Emil tightly and shed tears to rise again. She sobbed to live again. She poured out all her sorrow. She had to empty everything to be able to stand up.

That tear-soaked time passed painfully slowly.

* * *

“Luke. I think it’s best to do as you suggested.”

The family meeting continued. He had now reclaimed the name Luke. But he would soon set it aside. After this meeting ends.

After learning the whole truth, the family elders raged furiously, demanding the immediate beheading of Leon. They were furious that because of that one person, their great ducal family nearly faced extinction. They angrily insisted that such a person should be dealt with immediately. He barely managed to stop them. Then he proposed an alternative.

“I don’t think there’s a better way than that.”

“This matter ends here. No one outside of us should know about it.”

This was unanimous. The truth that there was a spy communicating with the enemy in the family would now be buried. Without anyone knowing. This was the way to save both the Duke’s family and the Count’s family. Until the end, he kept silent about Count Heywood writing the letter and conspiring. He made everyone believe it was Leon’s act alone.

“The conclusion has been reached. Implement it immediately.”

The meeting ended. Things went as he wanted.

The fake Luke, trembling in fear, was relieved just to have saved his life.

Soldiers who had been standing by entered the conference room at his grandmother’s direction.

His brother, who had collapsed on the floor, was dragged away by their hands. Then he was immediately loaded into a black carriage waiting outside. That carriage, with its opaque interior and barred windows, was known as a prisoner transport carriage.

In the name of the family, his brother would be exiled to a small island belonging to the duchy, a barren land where hardly anyone lived. The charge: squandering almost all of the family’s wealth. The amount was so staggering that the family council decided to strip him of his position as heir and send him into exile. The royal family would accept this too.

And he would take the position of heir. That’s how everything ended.

* * *

Leon, who had been pretending to be the heir, still couldn’t believe it. Sitting in the gloomy carriage made of solid iron, he even wondered if this was a nightmare. How could things turn out like this in such a short time? So it must be a dream.

In just a few hours, everything had been turned upside down. Everything he had been hiding was exposed. He lost everything. He barely saved his life. All of this happened in just a few hours. So he still couldn’t believe it.

This is a dream.

I need to wake up quickly.

Leon’s consciousness began to gradually fade away.

Thud.

The heavy carriage door opened. Ah… as expected. Since they hadn’t departed immediately, perhaps they intended to just scare him and then show mercy.

Leon looked eagerly at his brother, who entered the carriage and sat opposite him.

“Lu…ke. Thank you so much for sparing my life. I’ll never forget it. So please take pity on me and show mercy just once more, and the exile……”

“Leon.”

His younger brother Leon, trying to sweet-talk his compassionate brother, had to close his mouth when his brother interrupted him. Right now, his brother, Luke, held the greatest power. So he hoped the exile would be revoked…

“Don’t misunderstand.”

His brother’s eyes and voice were eerie. He looked like he might kill him at any moment. Goosebumps covered Leon’s entire body, and his pupils trembled.

“Sparing your life wasn’t an act of mercy toward you.”

Younger brother Leon trembled before his brother. He had never seen his brother like this before. He felt like he might die at his brother’s hands right here. His brother was choking his neck with a gaze like a sword of anger.

“You wanted to kill me so badly. Because of that, I had to lose all my subordinates, so why would I let you go easily with one stroke? That can’t be.”

Younger brother Leon’s eyes widened as if they might pop out, and even his lips trembled.

“I have to make you suffer until you die. I have to engrave what sin you committed into your bones. Don’t you think?”

The most frightening thing in this world was his brother. He had only been lenient until now.

“Luke… please spare me. Please… what should I do……”

“I already told you. Live in agony on that island with chains on your ankles for the rest of your life. Feel to your bones what it’s like to live a life where you can’t die. Even that won’t satisfy my resentment.”

Younger brother Leon realized that nothing would get through to him anymore. His pale face gradually turned blue.

“Let me ask one thing. Your answer will determine the amount of food you’ll eat in exile.”

All that authority rests with the heir. So he needed to answer well.

“Yvonne’s father. Did you kill Count Heywood too?”

Ha. To think he would ask… this.

Younger brother Leon kept his mouth shut tight. Though he was out of his mind right now, the answer to this question…

“N…o. Absolutely not. He was attacked by the enemy while escaping. I was too. Believe me on this. Would I lie in this situation?”

His brother still glared at him with disbelieving eyes.

“Really. How could I kill the Count who was to become my father-in-law? That’s impossible.”

Though he had committed many impossible acts, he had no choice but to insist like this in front of his brother.

“Luke… so please… spare me.”

“You.”

His brother’s angry expression caused convulsions throughout his body. Please…

“When you touched Yvonne, you were already finished.”

After throwing those words, his brother, who had been glaring at him fiercely for a while, rose and left the carriage. Leon, blankly watching his brother leave without any lingering attachment, came to his senses at the sound of a voice.

“Depart.”

Clunk.

Finally, the carriage began to move. Now this was truly reality.

Aaagh!

His scream couldn’t escape the thick carriage and echoed piercingly inside.

* * *

“Luke.”

At last, the old duchess could embrace the real heir inside the mansion. She shed tears of emotion as she embraced Luke, who had always been dependable and upright, fully qualified to become the next duke.

“Grandmother……”

In all his life, this was the first time he had seen his grandmother’s tears. He couldn’t help feeling deeply sorry. He would make up for causing her such heartache for a long time to come.

“It’s all right. Everything’s all right now.”

His grandmother smiled with her tear-stained face while stroking his arm.

His hand, caressing his grandmother’s wrinkled face that had aged even more because of him, trembled with sadness.

* * *

Leon, who had given up everything and was slumped in the black carriage, was barely breathing. This place felt suffocatingly claustrophobic. He would have to travel like this for days. He didn’t even know when he would arrive. He was being sent to exile, treated as a traitor.

But he did one thing right. That one thing he managed to deny with a clear mind was truly well done. He had evaded it well, fearing future consequences.

“You idiot. I killed the Count too. Did you think I was crazy enough to admit that?”

This truth would remain unknown to everyone. If his brother, who was infatuated with Yvonne, had found out, he would have imposed an even harsher punishment here. And what was even more frightening was Emil.

Though just a child now, when he grew up and inherited the title, if he discovered that Leon had killed his father, he would try to kill him by any means. He would send assassins to the island or use whatever method to kill him. So he absolutely had to keep it secret.

“Leon. This is different from what we agreed upon, isn’t it?”

That night. The night the enemy attacked, the two of them left the campsite and rode away on horseback. Since there were soldiers where his horse was kept, he had no choice but to escape on his brother’s white horse that was nearby. When they briefly dismounted to let the horse rest after getting some distance away, the Count confronted him with an angry voice.

“I’m just as bewildered as you are.”

He lied. He had indeed ordered them to kill only his brother, but an attack like this would almost annihilate everyone. But regardless. He only needed to achieve his goal. In contrast, the Count was raging furiously.

“We agreed to deal with just Luke, didn’t we? This isn’t right. We should go to headquarters and request reinforcements. We can’t let our troops die like dogs like this.”

The Count looked ready to dash to headquarters alone.