His quiet whisper pierced Breti’s heart all the more painfully. Tears welled up in her eyes. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

“Your Grace, it’s Benon.”

“Come in.”

As the door opened, Benon entered—accompanied by a woman Breti had never seen before.

The woman’s eyes were brimming with tears as she looked at Breti.

“Countess Abbott is here.”

“Miss!”

No sooner had Benon finished speaking than the countess rushed to Breti’s side. She seized Breti’s hands and burst into tears.

“The Lord has helped us.”

As she stroked Breti’s face, another wave of tears spilled down her cheeks.

“How beautifully you’ve grown.”

The Abbott family had served as loyal vassals to the House of White for generations, overseeing the southern part of the duchy. As the mistress of such a house, there was no way Countess Abbott could be unaware of Laterna’s existence or the circumstances of her disappearance.

“Emma, it seems Laterna is feeling uncomfortable.”

“Oh—my apologies, Your Grace.”

After a long moment spent embracing Breti, the countess hurriedly rose and bowed to Karsten.

“I greet the master of the White Duchy.”

“It’s been a while. I’ll be staying here for a time due to some business, and I called you here because I have a favor to ask.”

“What is it you need?”

“I’m not sure I’ll be able to look after Laterna myself, so I’d like you to care for her.”

Karsten’s gaze landed on Breti. She could feel the chill in his eyes, as if he was watching her every move.

💙💙💙 💙💙💙

Soon after, Breti was led out of Karsten’s office by Countess Abbott, who held her hand gently.

“Come with me, dear.”

The Countess said something and Breti followed her, her steps unsteady.

Karsten watched the two women walk away through the window of his office. His gaze lingered on Breti, bordering on obsession.

“Do you really think it’s okay to deceive your sick mother?”

The words Breti had spoken just moments ago drifted through Karsten’s mind.

‘Out of place.’

She should just do as she’s told. The sight of her running her mouth, oblivious to her own position, was almost laughable.

Unlike every slave he’d ever known, Breti didn’t bow her head or blindly obey—something about it both amused and irritated Karsten.

That unfamiliar defiance was a fresh provocation, one that made Karsten all the more certain he needed to keep her under even tighter control.

“Benon.”

At his low call, Benon appeared immediately.

“Benon, make sure that girl doesn’t try to run away—watch her closely.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Benon bowed nearly ninety degrees and left the office at once.

Even after Benon had left, Karsten continued to gaze at Breti as she climbed into the carriage. His eyes lingered on her, unyielding and relentless. Just as his stare followed her, there was a knock on his office door.

“Come in.”

Karsten said this, pulling his eyes away from the window and moving towards his desk.

A man entered, approaching Karsten before pulling a rolled-up scroll from his coat and handing it over.

“This is the information you requested on the girl.”

It was Tess, who had been sent to investigate Breti at Karsten’s command.

“Breti J. Harwin.”

It wasn’t until he read the name on the scroll Tess handed him that Karsten finally learned her full name.

As his eyes skimmed over the scroll, a subtle intensity could be seen in his gaze.

“They used to gossip that her mother might have been a nobleman’s illegitimate child.”

The words of the innkeeper’s wife from Aurora lingered in his mind—she’d speculated that Breti’s mother was the bastard daughter of some noble house. That thought still nagged at him.

If, as she suggested, Breti truly was an illegitimate child of a noble family, it could certainly become a troublesome affair. But fortunately, contrary to the innkeeper’s wife’s suspicions, Breti’s mother was of common birth.

As Karsten continued to examine the scroll, he noted with a frown that her mother’s direct relatives were still alive.

“Her mother’s family is still living—so why did she spend twelve years doing menial work there?”

“They say there was a serious conflict with her family over meeting her husband. It appears she cut ties after marrying him.”

“A marriage her family opposed, then…”

Karsten let out a low, derisive laugh.

“At least I won’t have to worry about them interfering with the girl’s affairs.”

With the situation now clear, Karsten dismissed Tess with a brief gesture. Tess bowed respectfully and exited the room.

As soon as Tess left, a chill wind brushed the back of Karsten’s neck. It was the sort of wind that didn’t belong in the height of summer.

“Haa…”

A sigh slipped through Karsten’s teeth, mingling with that unnatural breeze.

“Laterna…”

Suddenly, a woman’s voice crying out his sister’s name filled his mind.

“Luke, come here… Come here, my dear.”

The small voice calling his middle name belonged to none other than his mother, Meliover.

Two years ago, following the death of his father, the previous Duke of White, from a long-term illness, his mother, Meliover, also began to waste away.

“Laterna… I want to see my child again…”

Even when she was bedridden and close to death with a weak heart, the only person she wanted to see was Karsten’s little sister, Laterna White, whom he had lost so long ago.

When Karsten turned fourteen, Laterna was just nine.

Karsten adored his little sister. If only she could have grown up safe and sound, he wouldn’t have wished for anything more.

But Laterna was involved in an accident — she fell from a cliff during a family outing. At the time, they hadn’t been able to find her body. Because of this, the people of White believed that she was still alive and would return one day.

More than ten years had passed since then, and Laterna still hadn’t come back. At some point, it became taboo to mention her at all within the ducal household. Karsten thought that even his mother, Meliover, had eventually laid Laterna to rest in her heart.

And yet—

“If only I could see my daughter grown up, even just once before I die, I would have no more regrets.”

He could never ignore the look on Meliover’s face as she said those words.

Karsten pressed his aching head into the back of his chair.

“Damn it.”

It was the sudden image of Laterna’s final moments that triggered it.

The only thing the world knew was that her body was never found. However, Karsten and his father had found her body not long after the accident.

Although it had swollen in the water and become difficult to recognise, they were able to identify the clothes she had been wearing that day and the family crest on her necklace.

“Don’t tell your mother. She’s always been delicate—how much more pain could she possibly bear?”

So Karsten and his father buried that day deep in their hearts.

“She must be alive somewhere. Our Laterna…”

But his mother wept every night, convinced that Laterna was still alive and out there somewhere. Because of this, Karsten had always carried a weight in his heart.

He foolishly believed that, with time, his mother would forget Laterna.

That had been arrogance.

Afterwards, Karsten searched not only the Pensia Empire, but also neighbouring countries, desperately seeking anyone who resembled Laterna.

He wanted to find a girl of a similar age to Laterna with green eyes and golden hair to present to Meliover and finally put her heart at ease. However, finding such a girl proved far more difficult than he’d imagined.

Two long years passed this way.

“We’ve received information that a den of Haeriji has taken root in the southern reaches of the duchy, causing considerable damage.”

Haeriji are human-like creatures with only savage combat abilities and limited intelligence. Karsten heard that these beings had made their nest in the southern White lands and were harming the local population.

As soon as he learned this, he moved into action. That very day, he reached the southernmost edge of the White Duchy.

“A mere maid with golden hair? She’s probably a hidden bastard from some noble family, isn’t she?”

He happened to hear talk of a girl with golden hair, working as a maid. Karsten, all but forgetting his original purpose of clearing out the Haeriji, made his way straight to Aurora, where the girl was said to be.

“You little wretch!”

The moment he saw those green eyes flash with defiance as the mistress of Aurora slapped her across the face, a shudder ran through Karsten’s entire body.

If Laterna had survived, she might have looked just like that girl.

If he could clean her up and stand her before Meliover, even his mother might believe her daughter had returned.

The only flaw was…

“…Tsk.”

Recalling how Breti had spoken out of turn, Karsten quietly clicked his tongue.

He immediately pulled out a sheet of paper and reached for a quill.

[To Mother…]

He lifted the pen for one reason alone: to send a letter to Meliover.

As he began writing the letter telling his mother that Laterna had been found—

“…!”

—a sudden headache seized him, forcing Karsten to clutch his head. Pain hit without warning, and as he endured it, that same eerie wind from earlier swept across the back of his neck.

Riding on the wind came a voice.

“You idiot.”

It was a voice he recognised instantly: deep and low, identical to his own.

Startled, Karsten glanced around quickly, but he was alone in his office. Nevertheless, a cold, uncanny sensation crawled up the back of his neck, leaving him feeling uneasy.

He shook his head, trying to dispel the strange feeling lingering in his body. Soon, his composure returned and he resumed writing the letter.

Karsten had no idea that the strange sensation he had felt at that moment would later bring a storm he could never have anticipated.