Chapter 13 – Part 6

“Alaina is my daughter. I am of the Marquis of Salvator’s blood, so she is of the Marquis’s blood!”

In desperate outcry, the judge fell silent in an instant.

Callian bowed his head again, hesitantly, and Alaina looked back at him in surprise.

“The …… lady is your daughter?”

It was an unexpected revelation for Leonard.

He didn’t know if it was true or if it was a sign that his brother had realized he had no way to live and was now willing to side with the Emperor.

“I dared to lie to His Majesty to cover up the sins of my youth. My brother… because he consumed an infertility herb from the northern region long ago… he is incapable of producing an heir. So, I and my sister-in-law…”

“Callian, what are you talking about……!”

Isaac yelled in panic.

Callian looked at him and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, brother…….”

There was a long silence. Leonard spoke up.

“It would not have been easy for a Marquis to eat the grass that grows in the north. Are you saying that you made him infertile?”

“Oh, no.”

Callian quickly raised his hand. But he couldn’t continue his words easily..

After hesitating for a while, he finally closed his eyes, as if he had made up his mind, and spoke.

“M-my sister-in-law… she… she administered it.”

“What?”

The words caught Leonard completely off guard. Callian continued.

“You see, Isabelle…… knew of his relationship with the late Empress, so she wanted revenge……..”

“It’s a lie!”

Isaac shouted again.

“Isn’t it said that it is a grass grown in the North? Isabelle is from the South. Not only did he betray his brother, but he also tried to frame his sister-in-law… … .”

“Go on.”

Leonard glared at the guards, then turned back to Callian.

Callian watched ruefully as the guards silenced his brother, then opened his mouth again.

“Of course, Isabelle was from the south and couldn’t send anyone to the north to obtain the herb, avoiding my brother’s suspicions. But among those close to her… there was someone from the north…”

Having said that, Callian raised his head.

His gaze fell on Tenere, who sat quietly.

She was suddenly as still as a mouse.

Callian slowly opened his mouth again, looking at Tenner’s blinking eyes.

“Her Majesty’s mother and the former Marchioness…… Lady Tasha gave her that medicine.”

“My mother……?”

Tenere could not hide his embarrassment at the sudden mention of his mother.

Callian nodded in silence.

“As you know, Your Majesty,…… she and Isabelle were very close, though there have been bad rumors about her since Isabelle’s death…….”

As if everyone knew those rumors were mere superstition, Callian glanced around.

But he didn’t have the courage to look to his left, so he lowered his eyes again.

“Isabelle has…… noticed my brother’s relationship with Her Majesty from the beginning. She was too proud to let it show, but…… I heard that when Tasha found out, she gave away the poison she had.”

“My mother…… had those poisons?”

Patrona, who lives in the forest, knew about herbs, and Tenere knew about them as well.

But how could she have expected that her mother would have the infertility herb?

In the midst of her bewilderment, she felt a niggling suspicion.

If her mother had had it, and if she had given it to Isabelle, maybe she had also…….

“……From what I’ve heard, Patrona is quite skilled with herbs and poisons…… She also had a detailed knowledge of the grasses that grow in the forest, and as you know, Patrona has somewhat different values than the Empire, so…….”

Callian paused, then glanced in his brother’s direction.

Isaac’s eyes widened as their gazes met, but Callian quickly looked away.

“They believe that those deemed unworthy to spread their seed… were dried up with poison…”

“…….”

“Of course I believe it originated as a way to prevent incestuous relationships. If the Patrona keep conceiving amongst themselves, they would eventually have to avoid incestuous relationships by accepting external seeds…”

Nervously, Callian rambled on about nothing of importance.

Leonard raised his hand to interrupt him.

“So, are you saying that the deceased Marchioness poisoned the Marquis?”

“Yes, yes, Your Highness. During the time when Her Majesty the Empress was preparing for vacation… I heard there was an argument when my sister-in-law found out he was going to follow the Empress to Lake Zaber Villa. Originally, she was just keeping it for Tasha, but when my brother finally said he would go there, she fed it to him in a fit of anger.”

“…….”

“But at that time, there was no offspring between my brother and her… So when there was pressure about offspring, Isabelle confided in me about this. And…”

“H-he’s lying until the end!”

Isaac shouted, shaking off the guards that held him.

“Callian, how dare you, how dare you, try to frame me with such a lie, to accuse me, Isabelle……!”

Isaac’s face flushed with blood, but the guards quickly restrained him.

Callian looked at him in horror, then quickly turned away.

Leonard jerked his chin, as if to prompt him to continue.

“When this fact is revealed, not only will I be expelled from the Marquis’s residence, but it will also cause significant damage to Isabelle’s family … so her father asked for my help. Regardless of whether it’s my brother’s child or mine, it’s still the bloodline of the Marquis’s family.”

“I …… don’t understand.”

Leonard opened his mouth.

“Even if the late Marchioness drugged the Marquis in a fit of anger, why would she ask you, the brother of her husband, to do such a thing?”

“…….”

“Furthermore, you didn’t inform the Marquis about this fact… Is that what you’re saying?”

Leonard’s questions were not meant to deny Callian’s story.

Rather, it was to make his story more plausible.

Whether his story was true or not, it would be meaningless if the people gathered here were not convinced.

Of course, some, including himself, had already anticipated his response.

“I… had been in love with Isabelle for a very long time.”

There was a collective gasp as Callian finally answered.

“Oh my God…….”

“Really?”

Callian squeezed his eyes shut and pursed his lips as he heard the murmur.

“He knew about it as well, but since I was young at the time, he considered it a passing fancy and didn’t make an issue out of it. But when I reached adulthood and still couldn’t sort out my feelings…”

“Isn’t that unfair?”

Isabelle had said.

“You are the son of the Marquis of Salvator, and without his favor, you would have no title, no fortune, and nothing else.”

“…….”

“So this is my revenge: to stain this marquisate house with your blood, which has reduced you to nothing, and to give Isaac, who betrayed me, a cuckoo’s nest.”

“But sister-in-law, this is really…”

“If he dared to play around with other women, let him bear the consequences. Do you think I should bear his child after he’s already betrayed me? He can go to hell.”

“……”

“If you don’t like it, go tell your brother. Of course, even if you tell him, it won’t bring the dead back to life. Even if he drives me out and brings in another woman as the new Duchess…”

“Sister-in-law… … .”

“I thought you said the Marquisate blood was so important, so I’ll keep it alive through you.”

Slender fingers dug into his chest.

Callian still hesitated, but he couldn’t deny the greed that blossomed deep within him.

A child born of his seed, not his brother’s, would be the next Marquis.

Now he was nothing more than a vassal in the Marquis’s residence, but he would be the hidden father of the next Marquis.

It was a joy he could not comprehend.

But even if his bloodline truly became the Marquis, nothing would change.

He would still be in a position where he had to rely on his brother’s grace, and if his brother commanded it, he would have to leave this Marquisate at any time.

Even knowing that, his heart wavered at her words…

“Calian, you like me, don’t you?”

It was that impudent laugh. No, it was the anxiety it barely concealed.

He knew how upset Isabelle would be if he turned her down.

But he knew it too, even if he tried to mask it with shallow sympathy.

In truth, he was glad to have the chance to possess a woman he had never dared to desire.

He knows she has no one to turn to but him, and he knows that if he gives in to her demands, he can get back at his parents for never giving him anything.

“So, Calian, please help me. Okay?”

Isabelle smiled with narrowed eyes, as if telling him not to have any unnecessary guilt.

Because he was just reluctantly agreeing to bury her sins to appease her, not because he truly wanted to.

It was like a dream.

When he secretly made love to someone, he didn’t dare covet, and he finally heard that the fruit of his love was growing.

He had been so overwhelmed with joy that he had forgotten about his sense of guilt towards his unknowing brother.

He hadn’t even considered that Isabelle might leave the world behind, leaving only the child.