That young lady is as delicate as glass artwork.

“Sister Emily, please come here.”

James asked with disgust.

“Emily Milden……? Customer, wait a moment, what kind of strange thoughts are going through your head right now?”

“That’s just circumstantial evidence. In the end, Emily needs to speak for herself. That’s how we can be certain.”

When the servant opened the door, Emily entered the reception room. Emily walked to the front of the sofa, sobbing. Then she knelt before Catherine and began to cry.

“Catherine, I’m sorry. I…… did everything wrong!”

“Did wrong?”

“You’re forgiving me, right? You said you would forgive me.”

Emily was busy clinging to Catherine and sobbing. Catherine quietly sighed.

My dear fragile sister.

She was too weak.

“Sister Emily, don’t cry. I told you, didn’t I? I don’t want you to be blamed for the crimes our mother committed.”

“This sister’s heart aches too. Because it’s my mother who committed the crime, right, it’s proper for me to make amends. I’m sorry. So, so sorry.”

The awkward drama had awkward speech and awkward lines. Emily knelt on the floor.

Was kneeling so easy?

Then why had Emily remained silent all this time? If her knees were this light, she could have knelt and apologized for her sins many times already.

“It’s what my mother did. Everyone, our family did wrong! You may punish us. Please just don’t hate the name Milden. Milden is our pride!”

“That word ‘pride’ comes so easily.”

“Please help ensure that the crime my mother committed ends with her!”

It’s disgusting. How did my pride become your pride? How did my Milden become your Milden? Why do you take Milden away from me?

That shamelessness is disgusting. The place where Catherine and her father had lived was Milden. It was purely Milden itself.

“You love Milden, don’t you? I won’t ask you to forgive us. But still, Milden…… for the sake of our dead father, please allow Milden to maintain its honor. I’ll make sure mother receives her just punishment!”

“Where did you get the poisonous herb?”

When Lorendis asked, Emily cried and explained.

“Mother obtained the salsa! I don’t know the distribution route well either. Just, she always gave it as flower tea only to Catherine and strictly warned me not to drink it!”

Her rambling voice sounded like someone who was entranced. Lorendis crossed his legs and glanced at Catherine. Have you made up your mind to forgive this person, with such a weak heart? Eyes tinged with disappointment looked at Catherine.

“My sin is also great for not stopping what my mother was doing! I will never show my face in Helen again. I’ll live as if I were dead!”

Lorendis slowly rose from the sofa. Then he drew the sword from his aide’s waist. That rough energy emanated a threatening killing intent as if about to take someone’s life.

“Your Grace. This is the reception room. Someone dying here is……”

“To forgive her because it wasn’t your doing…. How foolish. Your silence until now is also a crime. I’ll cut off that shameless face and take it to your mother, and I’ll cut you down too.”

Catherine pulled at Lorendis’s clothes.

“Calm down. Lorendis, you’re agitated.”

“Why do you…… why do you speak of forgiveness?”

Brady also carefully examined Catherine’s face, saying he couldn’t understand it either.

“Catherine Helen, you need to become more cunning. If you say you forgive her now, who will appreciate your kind heart? Only you who will die will be wronged.”

Lorendis looked as if he would behead Emily right there. The killing intent usually seen only on battlefields filled the reception room. It was suffocating.

Even though she had anticipated this, the intensity was sharper than expected. Emily, facing the killing intent head-on, had long since fainted.

“Please withdraw your killing intent. Right now, I…… can’t breathe.”

“Excuse me! Are you determined to kill the patient? This person is my customer. How many gold coins and purses of money have I not yet received!”

James grumbled that he had poured out so many inhibitors and painkillers, and before he could recoup the cost of those medicines, they were sending someone to their death with killing intent.

Lorendis threw the sword onto the reception room floor and approached Catherine. Those fierce eyes carefully examined her.

“Are you in pain somewhere?”

“N-no.”

When Lorendis ordered Dennis to diagnose her, Dennis gestured to James. James reluctantly examined Catherine and prescribed a sedative. Still feeling anxious, James whispered softly so only Catherine could hear.

“Don’t get sick. If your breath stops, I feel like mine will stop too.”

Dennis continued to offer half-hearted excuses to Lorendis afterward.

“Please understand my rough manner, sir. I never learned proper speech because I grew up on the streets.”

“Weren’t all doctors in the capital nobility? This is the first time I’ve heard of a commoner becoming a doctor……”

That story came back vaguely. Doctors in the empire typically came from noble families that produced doctors for generations. That’s why doctors frequently mentioned in academic circles were all nobles, and factions often formed among them.

Dennis gathered several disciples while living in Helen and remained indifferent to factional disputes. He had established a small clinic in the remote north and focused solely on research, which made his stance obvious.

Dennis simply loved medicine. Being indifferent to academic background and factions, he could take James, a commoner, as his disciple.

“Commoners can access medical knowledge too. They just can’t obtain licenses directly because they lack resources.”

“Then you and James?”

“I took him as my disciple.”

Catherine, listening to this story, quietly asked Dennis.

“When did you build this master-disciple relationship?”

“I experienced his talent by chance. When I was nearly killed in an avalanche in the north, James picked me up and treated me.”

The process hadn’t been entirely smooth, judging by Dennis’s dark expression as he mentioned it. That bastard, tearing and suturing human flesh…… He vaguely recalled that time, saying it was hell without anesthesia.

“I took James as my disciple and raised him…… I took him as my disciple but couldn’t really raise him. His skills were exceptional from the start.”

“I did everything I could by saving a dying man. Even this young lady wouldn’t have lived much longer without me!”

James weakly added honorifics again. It seemed like a conscious action because of Lorendis sitting across from him. James prostrated himself in an extremely flat posture.

“Sir, I’m sorry, but could you please withdraw your killing intent? You may have withdrawn it from the young lady, but it’s still directed fully at me…… I apologize. I’ll keep quiet.”

Lorendis ruffled his hair and withdrew his killing intent. The stiff, tense energy subsided into languid calm.

“How is her body?”

“She’s fine. I’ve prescribed a sedative, so she should gradually stabilize. Still, please don’t display such crude killing intent in front of a patient.”

Dennis couldn’t hide his dismay at his disciple’s manner of speaking.

“Your Grace, I’ll take this child out.”

Eventually, Dennis took James out first.

Even though Lorendis had withdrawn his killing intent, his presence remained sharp. He tapped his knee with his finger and took a deep breath.

“Do you have more secrets to hide from me? I’d prefer if you told me everything now.”

“I’m not hiding anything anymore. I’ve told Lorendis everything, and I’ve just reunited with that outside doctor…… There’s nothing you don’t know.”

Lorendis looked down at his feet as if annoyed and instructed Brady.

“Make sure the servants keep quiet.”

“Understood. I’ll caution them in advance.”

Brady sighed softly and whispered.

“Still, my lady, you’re extremely lenient.”

“Hmm, why do you say that?”

“This crime deserves death. Did you mention the monastery to me to punish these two women?”

“Yes. But I was quite firm, wasn’t I? A monastery should be a reasonable punishment.”

Why monasteries are considered terrible places for nobles becomes clear when you look inside them.

The sinners in monasteries all have their heads shaved and lose their freedom. Their every move is monitored, they cannot leave, and each action is controlled by a supervisor.

“Since Helen has the authority to judge its vassals, there should be no difficulty in sending them to a monastery.”

“There’s no need to use Helen’s name for such matters.”

Lorendis gripped her shoulder with his thick hand.

‘It hurts.’

As she frowned, the grip of his hand grew increasingly firm. The blue-veined back of his hand stiffened.

“But are you satisfied with just that?”

“It’s a bit disappointing, but they’re family.”

Lorendis nodded indifferently.

“You have absolutely no other expectations.”

“Ah, it hurts. Ugh!”

“You haven’t realized your position at all. From that position, crushing people and ending it just like that.”

Lorendis played with Catherine’s hair and smiled. Sometimes when I see that fragile interior, I feel the urge to turn everything upside down. I almost want to make you cry. A strange obsession dwelled in his calm yet cold expression.

“Has your heart softened? Do you now long for family affection?”

Lorendis released his grip on her shoulder.

“Then I’m quite disappointed.”

“My heart hasn’t softened.”

“Then?”

“I’m letting go.”

I’m letting go with my own hands. To leave no lingering attachments. I’m laying the groundwork to let everything go and leave.

“I’ve found that what needs to be cut should be cut with scissors.”

When Catherine tidied her hair, Lorendis hesitated and withdrew his hand. He withdrew his arm without unnecessary movement and straightened his uniform.

“Did you finish your business in the capital successfully? I thought His Majesty would keep you longer, but you returned early.”

Noticing that Lorendis wanted to steer away from the topic, she responded instead of probing further.