“So, what is it this time that made you so curious you came out to meet me?”

He gently lifted her face from his shoulder and studied her features. A faint, relaxed smile lingered on his lips, as though nothing had happened.

This calm, untroubled expression, seemingly oblivious to the news in the paper, made it difficult for Ilenia to speak immediately.

After a brief hesitation, she finally opened her mouth to speak.

“Delphius… have you seen today’s paper?”

“The paper? Which article?”

“…This one.”

She handed him the news sheet she had been holding. There was no need to unfold it—the name Luckhardt was emblazoned boldly across the front page.

As if noticing it immediately, Delphius’s gaze traced down that very section, slow and deliberate.

“Ah, this.”

“…Is it really alright?”

“It will deal a blow to the Luckhart name, certainly.”

After all, this wasn’t just any report: it had made the front page of Mateoi’s most influential newspaper.

Even Ilenia, who knew nothing about the situation as a whole, could feel her heart pounding with unease. Yet the man at the center of it all appeared completely unperturbed. Startled, she looked up at him.

“That blow won’t reach here, Ilenia. So there’s no need for you to worry.”

Delphius took the paper from her hand, the corner of his lips curling faintly.

“Though I must say… they’ve written it in quite a provocative way. One would think they’d show at least a little restraint, given the weight of the name.”

“Are you truly alright…? People who don’t know the truth will surely see you as being involved as well.”

“It doesn’t matter. There won’t be any loss.”

His eyes lingered on the headline, the kind that demands attention.

Leaving it deliberately vague and referring only to Luckhardt was a calculated and effective choice.

The reputation of the Luckhardt of today had long been divided into two: the fallen, disgraced Luckhardt and the Luckhardt that succeeded in everything it touched.

The former belonged to Daniel. The latter belonged to Delphius.

Daniel’s repeated failures had long since dulled the impact of his mistakes. But Delphius was different. When someone who had never known defeat stumbled even once, it became irresistible fodder for others — something far too tempting to ignore.

“This won’t end here. The losses are far too severe. Creditors will swarm like vultures. For days, perhaps even weeks, this will be all anyone talks about.”

That was precisely why he allowed it.

Even if it meant damaging his own reputation, he ensured that Daniel’s name — and his failures — would be revealed to Mateo Empire.

So that his reputation would be dragged through the dirt.

“And then, his name will surface. That Daniel Luckhardt is the one responsible for all of this.”

Ilenia flinched at the sound of Daniel’s name.

Even though her due date was approaching, she still couldn’t bring herself to drink tea. It wasn’t hard to see why. After everything she had been through, it was only natural that she would recoil from anything that reminded her of it. Because of Daniel’s reckless cruelty, she had lost the simple pleasure she once took in drinking tea.

“Daniel…”

If the anger had been directed at himself, he might have endured it as he always had. But harming his wife — his family — was something else entirely.

Delphius carefully adjusted his hold on Ilenia, drawing her closer with quiet care.

Her swollen belly, which looked as though it could burst at any moment, showed how close she was to her due date.

He lowered his lips gently to her hair as though sheltering her beneath him.

“So there’s no need for you to worry about anything, Ilenia. They’ll take care of it themselves.”

Though his tone was calm—almost mocking—his eyes burned with a cold, quiet fury.

***

“What the hell is going on here?!”

Daniel tore the paper apart in a fit of rage, only to erupt even further upon reading the report that not even the wrecked ship had been properly recovered.

“This was supposed to go through smoothly! You said it would arrive without a problem! Does this look like a safe arrival to you?!”

“A sudden pirate attack was beyond our control… It’s as unpredictable as a ship capsizing in a storm—”

“You can’t even manage a single ship properly, and yet you dare take my money?!”

Do they have any idea how much he invested in that?!

Grinding his teeth, Daniel thought of the men who had so boldly assured him that the ship would arrive safely. They had the audacity to express relief that there had been no casualties. But that meant nothing to him.

Every single one of them should have gone down with the ship.

How could they have allowed his ship to go down in the middle of the ocean yet still have the nerve to return alive? It was absurd.

Now they would claim they bore no responsibility?

“…No. No, that’s not right. Isn’t the real problem a nation that can’t even protect its own citizens’ assets? The state should compensate for this.”

“Th-that is… strictly speaking, the open sea does not fall under Mateo’s sovereign jurisdiction…”

“So what?!”

He snapped at the one who dared to speak reason.

“Are you saying you’ll pay it all back yourself? Hm? That enormous sum?!”

“N-No, of course not.”

Daniel raked a hand through his disheveled hair, looking frantic.

He had invested almost his entire fortune in this venture. If the ship — the trading vessel — had arrived safely, he would have amassed enough wealth to never bow his head to Delphius again.

Now, however, the ship had sunk and, instead of making a profit, he was in debt.

In fact, if it were only debt, that would have been fortunate.

The moment he thought of the people he had persuaded to invest alongside him, a chill ran down his spine.

“…Prepare to visit the Duke of Luckhardt. It’s shameless, but I’ll have to ask for his help.”

“S-Sir… forgive me, but this morning, a message already arrived—from the Duke of Luckhardt himself.”

“Oh? Really? What did he say?”

“Well… um…”

The servant couldn’t bring himself to answer right away. His lips parted and closed several times, as though carefully gauging Daniel’s mood, but no proper words came out.

“What is it? Why are you hesitating so much?”

Unable to endure the suspense, Daniel pressed him. At last, the servant squeezed his eyes shut and spoke.

“…The Duke of Luckhardt has said that… the family currently has no available funds. Therefore, they cannot take responsibility for the losses from this incident… and that you must handle it yourself.”

“…What?”

For a moment, Daniel stood frozen, his mind blank.

“No money in the family? What does that even mean? Why is there no money? Where has all of it gone?!”

“Th-that would be… Lord Delphius…”

The servant began to explain everything he had heard in careful detail.

Delphius had reached an agreement with a bank and deposited all the family’s money in it. Furthermore, the money had been locked away so securely that it could not be withdrawn prematurely. It was a long-term investment, and because Delphius had never failed before, the bank had approved it without hesitation.

Only then did Daniel understand.

It had all been a trap.

The enemy had never been far away — he had been standing right behind him all along.

“Ha… haha. Hahaha!”

For a while, Daniel laughed like a man who had lost his mind.

“D*mn it… so this was all that bastard’s doing.”

From the outset, Delphius had been in control of everything — every single piece. How else could it all have collapsed at once, as if waiting for this exact moment?

This time, Daniel was certain.

For someone who failed more often than he succeeded, that kind of confidence was rare.

He was that convinced. It was an unbeatable distribution business, and even the experts had expressed unusual optimism.

Trusting only his instincts, Daniel borrowed heavily. When his funds ran dry, he took out loans from others without hesitation.

People might have hesitated at the mention of his name, but they still lent him money because of his family’s reputation. Even if they didn’t trust Daniel himself, they trusted his family’s influence.

And yet, despite everything, he had failed.

Nevertheless, he believed that he could escape it all by relying on the Luckhardt name.

“…No…”

Pale as a ghost, Daniel muttered under his breath.

“Check again… check again. Ask them if there’s truly nothing left—if they couldn’t even recover a single piece floating on the water.”

“…Understood.”

Once the servant left, Daniel collapsed into his chair, all strength draining from his body. The wide office, filled with ornate and expensive furnishings, seemed unnaturally vast today.

“I have to find the money… no matter what it takes…”

But how?

He had already borrowed everything he could just to send out that one ship. At the worst possible moment, the family’s wealth, which had always been abundant, had been locked away. Even his father, who had always supported him, had turned his back on him long ago.

To make matters worse, he had secured loans from a neighboring country through Marquis Calante. If things went wrong, it could escalate into an international dispute.

“I have to repay it… somehow…”

Daniel squeezed his eyes shut.

The harder he tried to look away, the clearer it became that there was only one way out. But the moment he thought of those golden eyes that had always looked down on him, he was consumed by humiliation. Unable to bear it, he slammed his fist against the desk.

“This is all Ariella’s fault! Just because I played a small trick on his wife, he goes to such lengths? Not against some outsider, but against his own family? Tearing everything down just to do this?”

No matter how he tried to reason it out, this was the only explanation for Delphius’s sudden, ruthless actions.

Until now, Delphius had always provided money without hesitation. There had never been any issue. There was no other reason for him to cause such chaos in such a short time.

And yet—

Daniel couldn’t believe he would go so far as to drag his own family down and cast them aside as if they meant nothing.

Daniel felt a strange fear of his own brother creep into his chest.

At the same time, he remembered the man who had come to see him just a month ago.