Finding no reason to remain outside, Diez headed toward her room. As she was almost at her destination, she hesitated at the sound of voices from a distance, then stopped walking.

“……But she doesn’t know that.”

“Ines, this doesn’t seem like a conversation we should have outside. Let’s talk after we return to our room.”

Diez recognized their voices immediately. There was no doubt. These were definitely her parents’ voices.

Were my parents here? Before she could hurriedly move toward the source of the voices, they appeared first. Their steps, which had been coming toward Diez as they turned the corner, suddenly stopped.

Right before her eyes were her parents, whom she had only been able to picture in dreams since being sold to the Duke’s residence. Her surprise quickly subsided, and emotions she thought had been dormant began to surge like waves.

She felt like crying. This wasn’t a dream. To meet her parents again in reality, not in a dream. And so quickly……

She wanted to run and embrace them right away, but Diez couldn’t bring herself to do it. A trace of worry held her back.

What if they don’t welcome me?

But as if to show that such worries were unfounded, Mrs. Schleicher, who had seemed momentarily bewildered, smiled and opened her arms toward her.

“Diez, our daughter!”

The moment she heard that voice calling her, Diez couldn’t hold back and ran toward them. Without realizing it, her face was a mess of tears as she fell into Mrs. Schleicher’s arms and cried out loud.

“M-mom. Hic……”

“Oh, dear. What if someone sees you crying like this?”

“I missed you. I…… really missed you so much.”

Mrs. Schleicher stroked Diez, who was crying sorrowfully in her arms, exchanged glances with her husband, and tried to comfort her while wiping her cheeks.

“Let’s go to our room first. We can’t stay here like this. Someone might be watching.”

Perhaps because she was overwhelmed, Diez caught only half of Mrs. Schleicher’s words but nodded anyway. What mattered was that she had reunited with her parents here. Nothing else mattered.

At this moment, Diez felt happier than she had ever been.

Following her parents to their room, Diez was only able to calm down after crying in her mother’s arms for a long time. Her face must have been a mess because of the tears, but Diez didn’t care about that at all.

She was seeing her mother’s face after a little more than five years. She was glad her mother’s face didn’t seem to have deteriorated. She had worried that they might have had a difficult time.

Both her parents looked fine. That fact made Diez happier than anything else. Their unchanged appearance from five years ago seemed to tell her:

It’s not too late. We can go back to how things were before.

To the time when they lived happily as a family……

Mr. Schleicher, who had seated the now tearless Diez at the table, poured her a cup of warm tea. Looking down at his daughter who was still trying to calm her emotions while sipping the tea, Mr. Schleicher stroked her head.

“Has it been very difficult for you?”

At those words, she felt like she might burst into tears again, but Diez barely held back.

“I just…… missed you both so much. I think I kept dreaming about going back to the house where we used to live.”

“But you endured well. We thought about you a lot during that time too.”

“I know you went through a lot. We wanted desperately to visit you, but we couldn’t. Our beautiful daughter made such a big sacrifice for the family, but we couldn’t do anything for you. We were truly sorry.”

“Please don’t say that.”

Diez said tearfully.

“As long as you’ve been healthy and well, that’s enough for me. Really……”

With the Duke’s help, they had barely avoided being buried in debt, but the Schleicher family had certainly fallen. How could a couple from a fallen family be invited to this place?

In her overwhelming joy, Diez didn’t even think it was strange. The single fact that she had safely reunited with her parents made all her troubles seem to melt away.

What mattered was that her parents were alive and well, and that they loved Diez. Assured of their love, Diez spoke in an excited voice.

“Actually, when I leave the Duke’s residence, I was planning to find where you live. Will you let me live with you, even if just for a while? It doesn’t have to be the house where we used to live. My wish was to live with you even if just for a few months, no, even a few weeks.”

Contrary to her expectation that they would welcome her, the Schleicher couple looked puzzled.

“Leave the Duke’s residence? What do you mean?”

“Oh……”

She had forgotten for a moment. Come to think of it, her parents didn’t know. That Jürgen had agreed to let her go.

Should she tell them about it in front of her parents? Jürgen might not like it if she carelessly spread the news.

“I wanted to say that when the day comes for me to leave eventually. I can’t stay at the Duke’s residence forever, can I?”

Were her parents worried about the remaining debt? The condition of the contract with the late Duke was for Diez to spend 20 years at the Duke’s residence.

According to the contract, 15 years still remained. Of course, there was no need to worry about that since Jürgen had agreed to let her go.

Wanting to emphasize that there would be no problems, Diez spoke in a bright voice.

“The current Duke has agreed to be very considerate of me. Thanks to him, I’ll be able to visit you at the mansion where you live soon.”

“Diez, darling……”

Mrs. Schleicher carefully began. Not understanding, Diez met her beloved mother’s gaze with wide eyes.

“Did the Duke agree to let you go?”

How did she know? Perhaps it was obvious to them. Her parents had always been perceptive people. Especially her father, who had been in business.

Though she couldn’t give them detailed information, there was no need to lie. At least, that’s what Diez thought.

“That’s right. I’ll be leaving the Duke’s residence earlier than planned.”

“Diez. We…… Honey, how should I explain this?”

Mr. Schleicher spoke in place of her mother, who hesitated, unable to continue.

“I know it’s been very difficult for you staying at the Duke’s residence. But…… we’d prefer if you didn’t leave the Duke’s residence.”

“……What?”

Unable to understand his words immediately, Diez blinked her eyes. What does that mean? They want me to stay at the Duke’s residence?

“There won’t be any problem with the debt. The Duke told me not to worry about the remaining debt.”

“What we want to say, child, is that debt isn’t the only issue.”

Diez’s gaze, looking up at her father, trembled slightly.

Then words she never expected to hear from them fell upon her head.

“We want you to win the Duke’s heart. That is, to become his woman.”

Around the same time. Jürgen, who had been awake since early morning, received a call from a royal official. Their business was that he needed to testify directly about the incident that had occurred before dawn.

After washing up quickly, Jürgen was changing clothes in front of the mirror when he suddenly let out a suppressed groan and grabbed his right arm. The pain, which had been just occasional stinging, was getting worse. It was because he had repeatedly burned over the barely healed burn whenever he felt self-loathing.

The pain, which had felt like being poked with needles, had now become as severe as having his skin cut with a blade. It was no longer just a matter of hiding it with his sleeve.

I hope it stays quiet when I’m outside.

What Jürgen needed now was a painkiller. Fortunately, all rooms were equipped with emergency medicine, and he was able to find a painkiller among them.

Hastily putting the pill in his mouth, Jürgen was finally freed from the pain.

He knew it was time to stop burning himself. But when he acted impulsively, as he had last night, it was impossible to resist.

That must be why the pain was particularly severe today. After leaving Diez trembling in shock, Jürgen had immediately looked for a cigarette upon returning to his room. He remembered holding the lighter with shaking hands, like someone suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

After that, it was as usual. Only after punishing himself until he felt somewhat better did Jürgen swallow a few sleeping pills and collapse into sleep.

Everything would be fine.

Once Diez left his side, everything would return to normal. She would no longer cry because of him, and he would no longer have to burn his arm and groan in pain.

As he was straightening his tie, someone knocked on the door. As expected, it was a royal official who visited him.

Following silently, Jürgen at some point felt something was off. No matter how he looked at it, they were heading toward the banquet hall. Wasn’t he being called for an investigation?

The place the agent took him to was a game room set up for various gambling games. Under the brilliant chandelier, Leopold approached him with a cue stick in hand as Jürgen stood there confused.

“Jürgen. Good morning.”

“I didn’t know investigations would be conducted in a place like this.”

“I didn’t want to talk in too formal an atmosphere. You’re not subject to punishment anyway. I’ve already talked to the guys who bothered the lady. All you have to do is confirm things. So what’s the problem with relaxing a bit?”