“From what I know, he once burned down an entire house.”

Randolph, having worked in banking for many years, claimed to know something about the Grand Duke’s history, along with Norbert, who had served as chief butler for a long time.

Norbert quietly nodded at his words, offering no denial.

“Did he really?”

I looked up at the Grand Duke in surprise, and he replied indifferently with the most nonchalant expression.

“It was to build a new house for someone.”

“…Build for whom?”

“One of my teachers from school.”

“Well… if you liked the teacher that much, couldn’t there have been a kinder, more appropriate method?”

“Asking permission would have been troublesome.”

A person with normal thinking wouldn’t consider burning down someone’s home to provide them with a new house.

This was something most people couldn’t even dream of attempting, yet how could he speak of such a terrifying story with such a casual expression?

“I still vividly remember how shocked the late Grand Duke was.” 

Norbert added discreetly, looking at the boy’s parents in the portrait.

The portrait showed an imposing middle-aged man with a large build sitting alongside a beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.

“I can hardly imagine having such an extraordinary childhood. Your parents must have suffered quite a bit.”

When I playfully looked at Norbert, he continued, subtly defending the Grand Duke.

“He caused many incidents, large and small, but he never did anything truly bad.”

“Wow, so setting fire to something isn’t considered bad?”

“Looking at the results, he was always right.”

Blood is thicker than water, indeed.

Both Randolph and Norbert, having known the Grand Duke since childhood, seemed to acknowledge and accept him as the perfect Grand Duke.

“But…”

I noticed two sons standing beside his parents.

One must be the young Grand Duke, and the other appeared to be his brother.

What had happened to the Grand Duke’s impressive-looking parents and brother?

Looking back, I realized I had never seen or heard anything about his family since arriving here.

“Where are your family members?”

When I asked curiously, everyone except the Grand Duke looked at me with a start.

Randolph glanced at the Grand Duke before carefully beginning.

“…They passed away. The late Grand Duke died in war, and the late grand duchess from illness.”

“Ah…”

“His Highness’s brother, Count Wilhelm, also died during the war. He was young and capable, but unfortunately…”

Momentarily speechless, I hurriedly looked at the Grand Duke, who turned away with an unreadable expression.

“Enough of that story.”

As he began walking, the others started moving one by one.

All his family members dead.

No wonder he didn’t want to discuss the subject at length.

I followed him with mixed feelings, but suddenly froze. This differed from what I knew from the original story.

“……”

The Grand Duke’s brother being dead made no sense.

In the original story, the male protagonist Clint was definitely the Grand Duke of Hedegen’s nephew.

“Wh-when did this happen?”

After watching the Grand Duke’s retreating figure, I turned carefully to Norbert, who was following behind me, and asked.

Norbert cautiously looked at the group walking ahead and lowered his voice to explain.

“He passed away last year.”

Wilhelm died a year before the Grand Duke was murdered?

That was even more impossible according to the original storyline.

“He had… only one brother, right?”

“That’s correct.”

Norbert looked at me as if it were obvious, then belatedly realized I had amnesia and made an expression of sudden realization.

He looked back at the family portrait showing the young brothers, then slowly began.

“Last year, during a battle, the enemy launched a surprise attack at dawn, causing a massive explosion. His Highness fortunately survived, but several soldiers sleeping nearby lost their lives, and sadly, Count Wilhelm was among them.”

“……”

In the original story, the Grand Duke of Hedegen was described as having died thirty years ago.

Thirty years after the Grand Duke’s death, when the male protagonist Clint came seeking revenge, he was 25 years old.

How could a son be born more than six years after his father Wilhelm had died?

As I kept turning this impossible situation over in my mind, Norbert continued his explanation.

“Due to the aftermath of that accident, we couldn’t even recover anyone’s remains. The families and citizens of the Empire could only bury their loved ones in their hearts. It was the Empire’s greatest tragedy.”

They couldn’t find the remains…?

I flinched involuntarily as I looked at Norbert.

This meant no one could confirm whether Wilhelm had truly died.

Norbert was looking up at the Hedegen family portrait with a face tinged with the sorrow of losing someone precious and the frustration of not finding their remains. Asking him if Wilhelm was really dead would have been absurd.

“Sigh…”

After washing my face, I wiped it with a towel and suddenly caught sight of myself in the mirror.

A pale-faced woman with moisture still clinging to her skin stared back at me from the mirror.

Though I had been Lea for quite some time now, this face still occasionally felt unfamiliar. Especially on days like today when I became aware of the “original story.”

“……”

The Grand Duke’s father died in war, and his mother passed away from illness, unable to overcome the shock.

The Grand Duke’s brother Wilhelm died last year, and his remains were never found.

According to the original story, the last remaining member of the Hedegen family, the Grand Duke himself, should have been horribly murdered.

Of course, the one who conspired with the Azanie comital family to murder him was the Count’s daughter and the Grand Duke’s only family—his wife Lea, whose face I was now confronting in the mirror.

According to the original story, the entire family would have died within the same era.

“It’s like… I’ve stumbled into a carefully orchestrated plot…”

Reaching this thought made the Azanie comital family even more suspicious.

The Azanie comital family had waited briefly for Lea’s execution to be forgotten before immediately seizing the Hedegen family’s main businesses, while the imperial family reclaimed part of the Hedegen family’s assets into the national treasury.

Since the Grand Duke also suspected the imperial family, perhaps the Azanie comital family and the imperial family had aligned their interests regarding the Hedegen family.

Then, as time passed, Wilhelm’s son Clint returned to the Empire to reclaim his family’s glory and fortune, eventually succeeding after a difficult struggle…

The emperor during Clint’s time was the current crown prince. That was the world in which he ascended the throne.

“That’s strange?”

But wasn’t the emperor at that time someone who had helped return all of the Hedegen family’s businesses?

“He definitely was…”

The emperor had tried to exile Clint when the Azanie Count attempted to frame and expel him, but when Clint clearly proved his innocence in the Supreme Court, the emperor supported him.

He abandoned Count Azanie and created an atmosphere of acceptance when Clint reclaimed all his businesses, raising no objections to the outcome.

I wondered how someone could be so inconsistent, agreeing with both sides like some imperial prime minister. When reading the original story, I thought he was just a character swayed by circumstances…

But reflecting on the information so far, I realized something. The imperial family never returned most of the fertile lands they had taken from the Hedegen family!

“Come to think of it… what? That person…!”

What a despicable man!

This confirmed that not only the Azanie comital family but also the imperial family were among the forces targeting the Hedegen family.

“…Since it was revealed that Clint was Wilhelm’s child.”

In the original story, the male protagonist Clint proved the Grand Duke’s innocence and was confirmed as a Hedegen bloodline through a “blood relation judgment” at the papal office, allowing him to inherit his uncle’s vast fortune.

Therefore, the fact that he was Wilhelm’s son and the Grand Duke of Hedegen’s nephew was undeniable.

So the conclusion was…

“…There are two villainous families targeting this house, and Wilhelm must be alive somewhere.”

Even as I said it, I felt defeated by the fact that there were two villain families.

While the Grand Duke was certainly stronger than the Count’s family, he couldn’t possibly be stronger than the imperial family in terms of status.

“Ah… the Grand Duke can’t win against all of them.”

How could one person possess enough wealth and honor to overcome two families?

“By the way, why didn’t Wilhelm reappear here then?”

What was the reason he hadn’t come to find his brother if he was alive?

Was he being held captive somewhere?

Or… did he really have amnesia from the accident?

Additionally, how to bring this up with the Grand Duke was another problem.

“I saw in a novel that later, specifically thirty years from now, your nephew named Clint will come looking for you. So your brother is alive.”

This would definitely sound like nonsensical madness.

“I heard said you couldn’t even find his remains. Doesn’t that mean he might be alive somewhere? Let’s search together!”

This would clearly stir up emotions he had barely managed to calm after believing his brother had died last year.

“For now…”

First, I needed to learn about the war during the period when Wilhelm was declared dead. Finding witnesses would be even better.

Perhaps visiting an information broker would be the quickest way.

I would need to investigate discreetly without anyone finding out, but I wondered if that was even possible for me, forbidden from going out alone…

“Huh?”

Lost in these thoughts, I opened the bathroom door and noticed the Grand Duke’s broad shoulders on the balcony beyond the carpet.

He was standing blankly in front of the stone railing, seemingly looking down at the illuminated garden.

“……”

Sensing my presence, he turned around.

My eyes naturally went to what he was holding.

“Is that alcohol you’re holding?”

“Yes.”

He agreed easily and looked at me quietly before casually speaking.

“Want some?”