If he had known then, he would have been shocked, angry, frustrated, and felt some guilt, but would have gradually forgotten. Just as even the deepest wound, if properly treated, remains only as a scar that no longer causes pain.

But the incident with Gladys was like a boil that had been sealed without properly squeezing out the pus. Eventually, it became a troublesome chronic ailment for Kais.

In a way, they had succeeded. They had left such a deep gash in Kais’s mind that it caused an unconscious aversion even though he couldn’t remember it.

“If you had regained consciousness from the alcohol and later happened to discover Gladys while looking for her, I might have told you later.”

Kais’s eyes sharpened again at Worklan’s words.

“What do you mean by that? Then how did I discover Gladys?”

“Drake deliberately called you to see it. To teach you with your own eyes what happens when you reject a woman who asks to be embraced.”

That day, Drake burst into laughter, saying Kais would have learned a lot from this incident. If his father hadn’t been there to stop him, Worklan’s fist would have flown toward Drake’s face.

Recalling that bastard’s grinning face, Worklan ground his teeth and continued.

“Drake was trying to make you like him. You were seventeen and much more vulnerable than you are now. Enough to lose consciousness for days after seeing Gladys’s corpse. But if such a situation were repeated, you might have found it difficult to reject women then. Drake would have sent more and more women to you, gradually conditioning you. What would have come next—alcohol, gambling, opium—who knows.”

“Haa……”

He thought he knew how crazy his father was, but his father was far crazier than he had realized.

Did he want to ruin his son who didn’t resemble him that badly? Or did he want to confirm the similarities between himself and his son so desperately? Or perhaps he thought that if his increasingly stubborn son grew up normally, he would become the biggest obstacle to his own dissolute lifestyle.

Whatever the reason, the thought that he might have lived like Drake sent chills down Kais’s spine and made his whole body shudder.

“Then you regained consciousness after three days but couldn’t remember anything about the incident. My father said it was for the best and made sure the servants who knew about it kept their mouths shut. With Drake already being difficult to handle, if his heir ended up the same way, the Elmano family would be finished.”

And to conclude the matter, Bator confronted Drake.

Worklan had never seen his father so angry in his life.

At that time, Bator grabbed Drake by the collar and threatened him in a voice full of killing intent. If he touched Kais again, he would expose everything Drake had done, starting with the opium, and make him stand trial before the Emperor, the Chief Justice, and the great nobles.

“Drake swore he would never touch you again, but how could we trust his word? So my father left me, who was an apprentice knight at the time, here. Officially, I was there on His Majesty the Emperor’s orders to monitor the opium trade at Elmano Castle, but in reality, I was told to watch over you in case Drake tried to do something to you again. Not long after that, Drake contracted syphilis, so the matter of Gladys was simply buried and forgotten.”

When Kais regained consciousness then, he had wondered why Worklan was at Elmano Castle. He was told it was because of the opium and just accepted it, not knowing these circumstances.

Now that he knew everything he hadn’t known, Kais felt both relieved and empty.

He felt resentful about those terrible nights when he couldn’t move a finger despite having Lariella beside him because he didn’t know the reason. He was also angry about the time he had to lie with his back turned, unable to even face his pretty bride, let alone embrace her.

For over a month he had suffered, unable to sleep properly, yet it could have been resolved much earlier with just a few words from Worklan.

Kais was grateful to Worklan, who had stayed by his side from then until now. He was also thankful to Bator, who had left Worklan at Elmano Castle for his sake. But gratitude was gratitude, and anger was anger.

Kais crossed his arms over his chest with a crooked expression.

“Fine, let’s say you couldn’t tell me before. But you should have told me when we were preparing for the marriage. Or at least when we met in the hallway on our wedding night. Instead of talking vulgar nonsense about ej*culating before insertion, you should have told me what was really important. The revulsion I felt climbing those stairs on our wedding night wasn’t because of the Duke’s room itself, but because of Gladys who hanged herself in front of it. If I had known earlier, I would have found a solution. But what is this? Do you have any idea how much I’ve suffered for over a month because of you?”

Worklan was utterly flabbergasted by Kais’s unreasonableness.

He had painfully completed the territory inspection alone, which took over a month, so Kais could enjoy his honeymoon. Yet instead of gratitude, Kais was grilling him the moment he arrived and even blaming everything on him. Worklan’s normally mild temper flared up.

He abruptly stood from his chair and walked toward the desk where Kais sat. Then, knowing full well that Kais hated it, he deliberately sat on the desk with a thud.

“How could I have known it would turn out like this? And you should have spoken up first. When you complained about not feeling s*xual desire for any woman, I naturally assumed this marriage was just formal. How was I supposed to know this marriage was sincere when you never said a word? You kept quiet about it yourself and now you’re blaming me? Your personality is so shitty that your c*ck can’t get hard, you impotent bastard!”

“What? Impotent? Why am I impotent?”

In the past, being called “impotent” wouldn’t have bothered him, but these days it was different. With his lower body refusing to rise when it should and rising when it shouldn’t, Kais had become extremely sensitive to the word “impotent.” So when Worklan openly called him “impotent,” Kais’s temper flared violently.

“Weren’t you the one who admitted you were impotent? Then I’ll call an impotent man impotent, what else should I call you? Should I call you ‘Lord Impotent’? Lady Lariella must surely think you’re impotent too. Right, Lord Impotent?”

Worklan raised his eyebrows alternately, taunting him.

“So it’s all because of you, you bastard!”

His temper finally exploding, Kais jumped to his feet and roughly pushed Worklan against the wall. Then he grabbed him by the collar.

Since childhood, they had fought countless times, rolling around together, and even as adults they trained in combat and wielded wooden swords together, but it had been a long time since they’d grabbed each other by the collar. However, today both were in such an agitated state that neither was willing to back down first.

“Fine. I’ve been wanting to grab your collar for a while now, so let’s do it properly today, you impotent bastard!”

Worklan charged forward aggressively, but what Kais was wearing happened to be a silk shirt, a cravat with delicate lace, and a jacket covered in embroidery. Finding no suitable collar to grab, Worklan wrapped both hands around Kais’s thick neck.

“Hey! How dare you grab the lord’s neck? Let go right now!”

Kais twisted his neck to the side while shaking Worklan’s collar back and forth.

“If you don’t like it, fire me. There are plenty of other places calling for me anyway. I worked my as$ off for over a month, and instead of thanking me, all you do is pick fights and grab my collar. I don’t want to work for a lord like you either!”

After standing there grappling for quite some time, the two men finally couldn’t contain their anger and rushed to the training ground. They wielded wooden swords until they were completely exhausted, rolling on the ground and drenched in sweat.

Only after lying spread-eagled on the training ground floor, covered in dirt from head to toe, did Kais tell Worklan that he had worked hard inspecting the territory. Worklan apologized to Kais for telling him about Gladys so late. Then the two returned to the castle, arms around each other’s shoulders in friendship.

Now his consummation with Lariella was truly imminent.

Now that he knew everything, he just needed to avoid whatever might trigger his aversion. Nothing could stop him now.

However, waiting for him when he returned from the training ground was a message from Lariella saying her menstruation had just started, so please refrain from visiting for the next week.

Kais waited another week, feeling like he might suffocate.

When he finally completed the week, what he received was not Lariella’s message permitting him to visit. Instead, it was news that an unexpected guest had just crossed the drawbridge of Elmano Castle.

The unexpected visitor was Baron Ronais Polar.

Ronais, who had brought a book so large that two servants had to carry it, opened it on Kais’s desk in his office. It was a book containing records of all trials held since the founding of the Bayaroman Empire.

“Here, here, and here too are records of the same content.”

Ronais opened the places he had marked beforehand and read the contents to Kais.

After reading the third record, Ronais closed the heavy book. Then, with a very proper face, he announced to Kais.

“A marriage that has not been consummated is invalid, as can be seen throughout the long history of the Bayaroman Empire. Therefore, I declare this marriage invalid, and as the head of the Polar family, I will take my sister Lariella back to the Polar territory immediately.”