Gathering n*ked prostitutes in the reception room and showering them with gold coins was a common occurrence, and it wasn’t unusual for him to dig a round hole in the middle of the garden, fill it with wine, and engage in group orgies with dozens of men and women.

He would crawl around the castle like a dog, high on opium secretly imported from distant lands at great expense, or string up slaves in a row and whip them as he pleased or torture them to the brink of death.

All the while, he went through women endlessly, from young maids with barely budding br*asts to old prostitutes with flabby waists, courtesans, noble ladies, dancers, singers, merchants’ wives brought in under semi-coercion, daughters of fallen nobles, and wives of knights out inspecting the territory—their number was beyond counting.

While he rutted like an animal everywhere—bedrooms, dining rooms, gardens, reception rooms, stairs—Drake never went near the office. Thus, the office was the only space in Elmano Castle without Drake’s filthy traces.

Young Kais sat alone at the large office desk, enduring all kinds of moans and screams from outside the door while processing documents, managing the territory, governing the servants, attending imperial events, and cleaning up the endless messes his father created.

But it was too much for Kais, who wasn’t even of age and had never received proper successor training, to handle alone. Moreover, Drake’s crazy actions grew increasingly worse day by day, and the honor of the Elmano family fell not just to the ground but into a cesspit.

If Drake had lived as duke for about ten years, the Elmano family would have ended up no different from the current Ramona family.

Unfortunately for him but fortunately for everyone else, Drake contracted syphilis about two years after becoming duke.

Having had relations with countless women, it was impossible to know which one had infected him with syphilis. Rumors were rampant that people who had committed suicide because of Drake had cursed him, but only God knew the truth.

Despite searching for healing springs, consuming and applying everything said to be beneficial, and soaking in various remedies, Drake eventually died miserably in a carriage on the way to a temple. His corpse had his lower body completely rotted and decayed, his manhood completely gone, and a hole punched through his groin.

But no one mourned his miserable death.

After Drake’s death, what seventeen-year-old Kais inherited wasn’t just the title of duke.

The stigma of being “the son of Drake, the disgrace of Elmano” that followed him like a shadow on a summer noon, the responsibility for things his young self couldn’t properly handle, and the duty to restore the status and honor of the Elmano family that his father had ruined—all fell to him.

Duke Kais managed himself with terrible strictness. He castrated all emotions and showed none outwardly. He was meticulous about his appearance and never made a careless step or gesture.

He devoted eight full years to restoring the honor and fortune of the Elmano family.

Now twenty-five years old, Kais was counted among the wealthiest, most splendid, and perfect nobles in society. His businesses succeeded daily, and whatever he wore and carried became the fashion in society.

Nobles of Bayaroman, regardless of age or gender, strived to spend time with him and were desperate to catch his eye. Now no one thought of “Drake, the disgrace of Elmano” when they saw him.

But he still sat alone at the large desk in the desolate office, just as when his father had confined him there at fifteen.

“Did you find out who it was?”

Kais glanced briefly at Worklan entering the office, then lowered his eyes back to the documents. He had asked him to find out who had secretly opened the office door for Arete.

“A young servant confessed. He said he couldn’t refuse because the count’s daughter begged him with tears in her eyes.”

“Throw him out of the castle immediately.”

“You and your temper.”

Though Worklan clicked his tongue with a “tsk, tsk,” he knew well why Kais was so sensitive and didn’t scold him further.

The office was the place where Kais could feel most at ease in Elmano Castle. In other words, in this vast Elmano Castle, the only place where its master could feel comfortable was just this office.

Except for Worklan and the head butler Willis, no one could enter this place without Kais’s permission. This applied even if the Emperor or Prince came.

And even when Kais had to bring guests into the office, he never allowed women inside. Even the cleaning of this room was handled by male servants, not maids.

But Arete had conspired with her father and sneaked in here. Because of her, the servants and attendants of the Elmano household had to scrub the walls and floors of the office all day with rags soaked in lye.

Arete resented Kais for being callous, but from his perspective, not twisting her hair or neck was already showing tremendous generosity.

“Why not just accept her? I mean Count Ramona’s daughter. She’s quite a beauty.”

Watching Kais turning pages with his usual expressionless face, Worklan broached the subject.

Worklan was Kais’s cousin. He was the eldest son of Bator, Drake’s youngest brother whom the family had tried to place in the dukedom instead of Drake.

Though they now had separate positions as lord and knight commander, he had been Kais’s closest friend, best brother, and most reliable colleague from childhood until now. He was also the only person who could openly criticize Kais, whose temperament was growing increasingly stiff.

Kais briefly looked up at Worklan’s words and replied curtly.

“If you like her so much, you take her. I’ll lend you the three hundred gold.”

“I have that much myself. And that’s not what I’m talking about! People are already whispering about why Duke Elmano hasn’t married or even taken a lover at his age, and you’re planning to pour oil on that fire? Why did you send away a woman who was begging you to embrace her? What will you do if everyone in society starts thinking Duke Kais Elmano is a eunuch?”

Worklan thought that being called a “eunuch” was the greatest insult and dishonor for a man.

As the commander of the knights guarding the Elmano territory and as a sturdy, robust man of the Elmano family, he couldn’t just stand by and watch this situation.

But Kais, who was actually labeled a “eunuch,” remained calm.

“It’s not entirely wrong, so what’s the problem?”

Worklan made a face like he’d bitten into rotten meat at Kais’s answer.

The two had received knight training together since childhood. They practiced swordsmanship daily, went camping, rode horses, and went hunting together. Even now, Worklan was always by Kais’s side when he went out to inspect the territory. That meant Worklan had seen Kais completely n*ked well over a thousand times.

With one corner of his lip twisted upward, Worklan shook his clenched right fist up and down vigorously in front of Kais’s eyes.

“What nonsense are you talking? What kind of eunuch walks around with a c*ck head this big between his legs?”

Naturally playful and free-spirited, Worklan made a show of being polite in front of others, but when alone with Kais, he was uninhibited in both words and actions.

Frowning at Worklan’s explicit expression, Kais slapped down the fist that was dangling obscenely in front of him.

“It’s not about whether it’s there or not. The problem is that I don’t feel any s*xual desire at all.”

“You don’t feel s*xual desire? Why not? It gets up just fine every morning, doesn’t it? Isn’t it a man’s instinct that once it’s up, you want to thrust it in, and once you thrust it in, you want to move it, and once you move it, you want to ej*culate?”

Worklan, who had long lived faithfully according to those instincts, couldn’t understand Kais, who lived like a monk despite having an excellent c*ck.

“No, not at all. I don’t feel any s*xual desire no matter what woman I see. I just don’t want to do it. Especially when I see women desperately throwing themselves at me like earlier, I feel like vomiting. My head also feels like it’s about to split.”

Kais pressed his temples firmly with his fingertips as if the mere thought gave him a headache.

Whether because he’d been traumatized by his father who pounced on women like a madman, or because he’d long suppressed all instincts and emotions thoroughly, or because he was tired of women who clung to him desperately trying to secure a place by his side no matter what—whatever the reason, he never felt the desire to do it with anyone.

It was just like how the stomach growls when hungry or how one wants to urinate when the bladder is full—he naturally had erections in the morning, and when his t*sticles were full, he simply expelled his seed with a few hand movements.

“Anyway, let people spread rumors that I’m a eunuch. I’m sick of women constantly throwing themselves at me. If rumors spread that I’m a eunuch, they might be less annoying.”

Having concluded, Kais lowered his eyes back to the documents. They were contracts exchanged with nobles hoping to invest in his merchant ships.

After carefully examining the contents, Kais picked up his pen and skillfully signed his name.

Just as he had always done sitting in this place for the past ten years.