At some point during her sorrowful sobbing, Jürgen’s movements stopped. After remaining completely still for a moment, he seemed to come to his senses and raised his head. Looking at Diez’s eyes, which were a mess with tears, he no longer had the same look in his eyes as before.

He seemed shocked. The moment Jürgen relaxed his body, Diez hurriedly pushed him away and escaped out of the bedroom.

* * *

He remembered longing for the Duchess’s embrace every day when he was young. The Duchess, whose affection for her only son was exceptional, was everything in young Jürgen’s world. Her warm smile and gentle gaze that looked at him as if he were the most precious thing.

Each time he received confirmation of his mother’s love, Jürgen felt like the happiest child in the world.

But opportunities to be held in the Duchess’s arms were few. Jürgen was a child who had to succeed his father and ascend to the title of Duke. Though he was barely seven years old, it was also an age when he had learned that acting spoiled was behavior unbecoming of a young duke.

Of course, it was difficult to suppress the desire to spread his arms toward the Duchess and whine to be held. After all, wanting to be in a mother’s embrace is one of the greatest desires and instincts of young children.

But Jürgen didn’t do that. He always held back to appear as a dignified son. He believed that if he endured his desire to be held, he would receive even more of his mother’s love.

He had endured so much to be loved longer and more deeply.

The tragedy that shattered his world in an instant came without warning.

From some point on, it became difficult to see the Duchess. For Jürgen, who knew nothing, this was perplexing. He asked the nanny and maids who looked after him.

“Where is Mother?”

Whenever he asked, the servants would exchange glances and show reluctance before eventually telling him.

“She went to her parents’ home for a while. Don’t worry too much, young master, she’ll be back soon.”

The maids didn’t lie to him. The Duchess had indeed left the mansion to visit her family home.

But her absences from the mansion became increasingly frequent, and eventually, she never returned to the ducal residence.

That’s when young Jürgen’s patience quickly ran out. He grabbed the maids’ skirts and asked.

“Can’t I go there too, to follow Mother? I miss her. She doesn’t come back no matter how long I wait.”

Of course, begging the servants who had no power was useless.

There was nothing to do but wait.

Just hoping that someday his mother would return.

Jürgen waited and waited. He had never imagined that the Duchess would abandon him and leave. Someday, the Duchess would return.

Maybe she would bring a wonderful gift.

As his time alone increased, all of Jürgen’s attention became focused on the mansion’s entrance. Even while playing with toys or reading books, he would drop everything and look out the window at the slightest sound of a car engine.

Though he had to repeatedly face disappointment, Jürgen didn’t give up.

It was the same at noon that day. By now, Jürgen had become a child who was sensitively alert to even the slightest noise from outside the window.

Noticing something, Jürgen jumped up and ran to the window. The first thing his eyes caught as he peered out with difficulty was the hem of a blue dress.

Though he couldn’t see her face because she was carrying a parasol, Jürgen smiled broadly with premature hope.

Until now, only gentlemen in suits had visited the ducal residence. The only woman who could freely enter and leave this place was the Duchess.

At least in Jürgen’s world that was true, so he was convinced his mother had returned and, forgetting his tutor’s teachings, ran toward the lobby.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the bright expression on Jürgen’s face to cloud with confusion.

The woman in the blue dress visiting the mansion was not the Duchess. He saw his father greeting her warmly, even kissing her, a woman he had never seen before.

Soon the two engaged in lively conversation with smiles all over their faces. Though he couldn’t hear the content clearly, one thing was certain.

The two really seemed to get along well.

The woman, who hadn’t moved away from the Duke, suddenly turned her gaze toward Jürgen. At that moment, Jürgen flinched. Should I run away? The thought crossed his mind.

Had he subconsciously realized that something was going wrong?

The woman approached Jürgen, who was seized by an unknown tension, and said,

“My goodness, what a cute son you have! He resembles you so much, Duke, I can tell at a glance. Oh, what an absolutely adorable child.”

Jürgen looked up at his father with confused eyes. After checking his father’s reaction, he greeted her with an uncertain voice.

“Pleased to meet you, madam.”

“Such a well-mannered and good child!”

The woman, who had exclaimed in delight, soon pressed her large bosom against the Duke’s arm and clung to him.

“I wonder what life is like raising such a child, Duke.”

“You’re acting like you’ve never seen a child before.”

“I wish I had a child who resembled you, Duke.”

“Jürgen, don’t stay outside, go back to your room.”

He silently watched as his father and the strange woman disappeared down the corridor, clinging to each other like one body. Though he knew in his head that he should follow his father’s words, for some reason, his body wouldn’t move.

The maids simply took Jürgen, who stood still in that spot, back to his room.

The Duchess was still absent from the mansion.

Jürgen no longer waited for his mother either. It had been a long time since he stopped looking out the window when he heard the sound of an engine.

He knew that the Duchess would not return.

He could tell without being directly told.

Mother had found it difficult to stay at the ducal residence and had left this place. Perhaps she had decided to part ways with Father forever? Had the two really become nothing to each other?

Then what about me?

Am I no longer Mother’s son either?

The sorrow that struck him was too overwhelming for a child to bear. Now Jürgen would flee in disgust at the mere sight of shiny dress hems. Not only that. The clicking of high heels, the unmistakably high and delicate voice of a woman—all of these things made him struggle.

He learned that his father spent time with strange women every night. The Duke didn’t even try to hide this fact. The sounds coming from his bedroom sounded like the shrill screams of a nightmare.

Hidden under his desk, Jürgen covered his ears with all his might even though he couldn’t hear anything. Cramming his body into a narrow space and squeezing his eyes shut gave him some peace of mind. It was a struggle to protect himself from everything that tormented him.

Though he grew day by day, the Duchess still didn’t return to the mansion.

Eventually, he even forgot his longing for his mother.

The childhood days of living for love and craving love had passed.

It would be impossible to return to those warmly shining days. To avoid following in his father’s footsteps, he chose to have a cold, thorny heart.

If he became a man difficult to approach, no one would try to drag Jürgen into the same quagmire. Living a life resembling his father was the nightmare ending Jürgen had dreamed of his entire life.

There were some young ladies who approached him with smiles, as he was the sole heir to the ducal family, but he never continued conversations with them.

Every time he faced them, he was reminded of the blue dress hem that had stepped into the mansion entrance.

It was a natural progression that he came to dislike social gatherings filled with young ladies adorned with dresses and accessories. Listening to the chattering voices of women mingled with maddening music gave him headaches and made him nauseous.

There were often quiet whispers about him.

‘They say the young duke is cold toward women.’

‘Could he be planning never to marry?’

There was no reason to react sensitively. Their words were true. Though he was of an age when he should be looking for a suitable bride, Jürgen had not once engaged in marriage talks.

Marriage, of all things.

If he needed to continue the bloodline, he would rather adopt a suitable child and raise them.

His mind wouldn’t change.

Until the day a dazzlingly beautiful golden afterimage flashed before his eyes.

It was the first time in his life he had seen such a sight.

It was a new light that entered his typically static life.

It was a rare occurrence. As the heir to the ducal family, his daily life had long been standardized. Though it was the life of a young duke who only needed to wait for a guaranteed future, a life without fluctuations meant days continued without expectation of new excitement.

Moreover, for someone like him who didn’t enjoy socializing, even the passage of time felt all the more monotonous.

Perhaps that’s why he couldn’t easily forget the vivid golden afterimage that had passed before his eyes.

The color that suddenly dyed his increasingly achromatic daily life was none other than a woman. The very thing he had tried to avoid his entire life.

Perhaps it was because she was a girl of his age, still showing signs of youth, rather than a woman. To Jürgen, she appeared somewhat different from others.