IVMF 4

Chapter: 4

“Y-Your Grace, the Grand Duke!!”

The knights were overjoyed when they saw the Grand Duke return. Someone capable of stopping Heos had finally arrived.

“Young Master went into a rampage!”

It was said just like a child tattling on another to a teacher. After hearing this, Kaiden quietly scanned his surroundings.

Even he had been unable to stop Heos’s rampages. To stop them, force was required—and that risked turning into bloodshed. Yet the woman before him had stopped it easily and cleanly.

They had even gone as far as the capital to find a way to control Heos’s constant rampages, only to be told there was no solution. What he had witnessed today was completely different from what he had been told.

And then there were Heos’s words.

That alone was enough to put Kaiden on edge. Heos’s mother—the witch Erphylis—had been put to death by Kaiden’s own hand.

“I won’t waste words. You stopped the rampage. How did you do it?”

At his piercing gaze, Miliana had the reasonable suspicion that her identity had been exposed. She hurriedly opened her mouth to make an excuse.

“Ah… um, th-that is…”

What should she say…? Because she was so tense, Miliana’s mind wasn’t working properly. Seeing her hesitate, Kaiden nodded as if he had expected it.

“So you can’t say. Fine.”

He dismounted swiftly and walked toward Miliana. A large hand closed around the back of her neck. Her breath was cut off, and her feet lifted into the air.

“Ghk—!”

‘I’m going to die!’

Miliana struggled desperately to escape, digging her nails into his hand and kicking wildly.

“My son calls only one person ‘mother.’ You… are you a witch’s lackey?”

At the word witch, Miliana’s eyes flew open. Grinding his teeth, he spoke with fury.

She wanted to say something—anything—but her breathing grew more difficult, her vision wavering and darkening. Finally, everything went black, and she lost consciousness.

Miliana went limp in Kaiden’s grasp.

Anyone could tell she had fainted. The chilling atmosphere was barely brought under control by the butler, Ian. Thinking back on it made him shudder as he shook his head.

“Your Grace! What on earth were you thinking? You nearly killed a maid! And right in front of everyone!”

Ian let out heavy sighs one after another.

Kaiden listened to the scolding in silence, showing not a trace of remorse. With a contemplative expression, he looked at the résumé Miliana had submitted when she applied, then stared at it for a long while with dissatisfaction.

On paper, there was nothing suspicious.

‘She came all the way from the South to the North? At this exact timing?’

Kaiden roughly tossed the résumé aside and spoke to Ian, who was still lecturing him.

“Ian, I didn’t know your love for humanity ran so deep. Wasn’t she suspicious in every way? How she managed to coax Heos… one person came immediately to mind.”

His expression twisted viciously as he erased the image of a certain woman that flickered before him.

A newly arrived maid stopped Heos’s rampage and was even called ‘mother.’ And then there was Heos’s behavior afterward.

“I understand that you’re sensitive right now, but—”

Before Ian could step in, it was Heos who clung to Kaiden’s leg, crying and hitting him, begging him to let go of the unconscious Miliana. He had even thrown a full-blown tantrum.

“You know better than anyone that during a rampage, Young Master loses clarity and reason, don’t you?”

Ian suspected that because of the aftereffects of the rampage, Heos had mistaken Miliana for Erphylis.

Instead, the sight of Heos crying loudly while calling for his mother had been heartbreaking.

Heos didn’t know what had happened to Erphylis. No one could tell him. It was because the man standing right there had ordered that it never be spoken of.

“They say witches use many kinds of sorcery. There’s a chance that witch survived and returned. She might have taken on another person’s appearance.”

“Your Grace, didn’t you kill her yourself?”

Ian stated the objective truth, insisting that couldn’t be possible. Kaiden stared down at his own hand.

“I know. I felt the blade cut through flesh clearly. And yet… why do I feel like she’s still alive? Even as she was dying, she cursed me—cursed Heos.”

“You’re thinking too much.”

Kaiden’s fierce gaze softened slightly.

“…Fine. Let’s say that’s true. Then why did Heos mistake that maid for Erphylis? He wasn’t thinking clearly, but he called that woman ‘mother.’ I could understand if there was even some resemblance, but there wasn’t any at all.”

Heos’s rampages were frequent.

Yet he had never called anyone ‘mother.’ Miliana was the first—and the only one. And it had to be her.

Ian remained silent. He didn’t know the reason either. Miliana had a round, cute appearance, but compared to Erphylis, she could only be called ordinary.

When Erphylis was first seen, she had such an elegant and seductive aura that one might mistake her for a noble lady. Her hair and eye color were different as well.

Miliana was so ordinary she could be called a country girl. Her orange hair was unusual, but Erphylis had silver hair. Their eye colors—brown and red—were completely different.

“If it wasn’t the aftereffects of the rampage, then what could it be? Once Young Master calmed down, he didn’t call her ‘mother’ again.”

“I know that too. But I can’t afford to overlook even the smallest doubt. To prevent further chaos in the Etelhardt territory. To erase the shadow of Erphylis—that witch.”

Kaiden slowly rubbed his face. Watching him speak of Erphylis, Ian asked with concern.

“Your Grace… are your dreams still troubled?”

Ian knew that ever since Kaiden killed Erphylis, she appeared in his dreams. He had seen him wake repeatedly in the middle of the night from nightmares.

“I’m fine. Maybe because I left the estate, it’s gotten a bit better.”

“Still… nightmares…”

There was a catch in the words a bit better.

Ian pressed his lips together.

‘Erphylis’—a forbidden name. Not enough time had passed for them to escape her shadow.

She had appeared suddenly five years ago, claiming that the child she brought with her was the Duke’s son. Even now, thinking back made Ian dizzy. Rumors exploded, claiming the Grand Duke had a hidden child.

At the time, Heos was three years old. Calculating it, that meant Kaiden would have been eighteen when he met her—but no matter how one calculated it, it didn’t add up.

Back then, Kaiden had been hunting down all the seeds the Emperor had scattered. He hadn’t even had the time to meet women, and the knights around him swore there was no sign of such behavior.

She claimed Kaiden had been drunk and that they had spent a night together by chance. But Kaiden was not the type to get drunk. She said she couldn’t remember exactly when or where it happened, as it had been too long ago.

The Kaiden Ian knew was not a man who would sire a bastard, and Kaiden himself firmly denied that the child was his.

But the result was undeniable.

He was Kaiden’s biological son. The Grand Ducal House, which had believed otherwise, was thrown into shock. Ian vaguely recalled mocking remarks about how blood couldn’t lie.

Even after it was confirmed, many still refused to believe it—until her true identity was exposed, and the entire Grand Ducal House was turned upside down.

“That maid is a commendable young woman who came all this way out of respect for Your Grace. She doesn’t complain even about hard labor and works diligently. She’s quick with her hands and shows exceptional ability. Many have received her help.”

“She works hard to earn people’s trust. Judging by your description, she’s succeeded quite nicely.”

“Your Grace, please don’t take it so cynically. If you watch her—”

“You said she respects me? A woman who respects me wouldn’t tremble in fear the moment she sees me. That’s proof she’s hiding something.”

“Wouldn’t anyone tremble? I saw very clearly what kind of expression Your Grace had at the time.”

“……”

Kaiden averted his gaze. Ian let out a deep sigh. Once Kaiden began to suspect something, he clung to it relentlessly. There was no stopping him once he’d latched on.

“It’s only natural for Young Master to seek his mother. Madam… no, she is dead, isn’t she? Young Master doesn’t know that. When someone who was always by your side disappears, of course you feel lonely. One person will never return, and the other has gone away to recuperate. No one willingly wants to be Young Master’s dedicated maid.”

“They refused to be Heos’s personal maid? I thought the servants’ behavior was strange… this is unacceptable. I’ll purge them.”

He clicked his tongue sharply. Ian, with veins standing out faintly on his forehead, clearly had much to say.

“Isn’t it because Your Grace keeps your distance from Young Master? You know this well—servants move according to power. And since Your Grace left immediately after Madam’s incident, many misinterpreted your feelings as they pleased.”

“……”

“Didn’t I tell you to spend even a little time with Young Master?”

“What am I supposed to do when Heos hates me? He clung to Erphylis and didn’t even spare me a glance.”

“You were the one who stood by and did nothing because he disliked you. Considering Young Master’s position, isn’t that only natural? You haven’t forgotten shouting to his face that he wasn’t your biological son, have you?”

The moment Kaiden saw Heos back then, he had tried to drive Erphylis away, insisting it was nonsense.

At the time, he truly believed the child wasn’t his.

Even now, he doubted how the witch had conceived Heos—but no matter how many times the paternity test was done, the result was always the same.

“What do you intend to do about Young Master? What did His Majesty say?”

“My brother told me to do as I wish. He said he would respect my choice.”

“As expected of His Majesty.”

“He has already been publicly declared my son. Then he is my son. No matter what anyone says.”

There was no lie in that. Heos was his son.

“More importantly, didn’t I clearly order that no new servants be hired while things are still unstable?”

He had learned that the witch’s influence had infiltrated this Grand Duchy. To cut down every last trace of it, he had strictly ordered Ian not to hire new servants for the time being.

At that, a blue vein bulged on Ian’s forehead.