IBMLA 08

Chapter : 08

Berengela fell silent for a moment, then spoke in a low voice.

“……Countess. Do not slander the Count with careless words.”

“Whether it’s slander or not, you can check for yourself.”

Rachel extended the ledger she had been holding forward. It was a gesture telling her to take it.

As if offended in her pride, or unable to believe it, Berengela’s face hardened and she did not move for a long time. When she finally reached out to take the ledger Rachel was offering—

Thud. The ledger fell to the floor.

“I’m sorry. It’s a record revealing my husband’s slush funds and tax evasion, so my hands must have shaken without me realizing it.”

“……If there is even a shred of falsehood in this, I will not leave you alone, Madam.”

“By all means.”

“Peanut.”

At the call, a maid who had been standing anxiously in the back hurried forward. She picked up the ledger from the floor and handed it to Berengela. Rachel turned away without hesitation and left the reception room.

Berengela remained seated in the reception room for a long time, carefully examining the ledger Rachel had given her.

Theodore only returned to the mansion much later, running breathlessly with his arms full of food, after Berengela had finished reading everything.

“O-Oh, Mother! I bought everything that’s currently popular in the capital! I hope I’m not too late……”

“……Count. Is this how I raised you?”

“Pardon?”

Smack!

In the Elrosa mansion, the sound of Berengela disciplining her son did not cease until late into the night.

Late at night, in the office of the Grand Duke’s mansion of Dikarciñak, a steady sound of precious metal striking echoed.

Ting-grang, a clear sound rang out, then after a moment, ting-grang again.

Leaning crookedly in his office chair, Cian caught a small object in midair and held it up under the moonlight. It was a beautiful cufflink set with a pale pink diamond.

Rachel had asked him to prepare a gift that would serve as a token of love. The pink diamond cufflinks, currently the talk of high society, were perfectly suited to her request.

However, even after completing the request, Cian had not reported the result and had been idling for days.

Acquiring a pink diamond of this size was not easy. It was both extremely rare and expensive. That was under normal standards.

For Cian, the only Grand Duke of the Empire and an intelligence broker of the guild, it was not difficult at all. Even the price equivalent to an entire Elrosa mansion was nothing to him.

The problem was that this precious item was supposed to become Theodore’s possession.

It was unpleasant.

He recalled Theodore’s hands carelessly touching his mistress Jane in a dark alley. Just imagining those pink cufflinks hanging from the cuffs of Theodore’s shirt made him feel sick. He didn’t want to give it to him.

There was another reason he was delaying the report despite preparing the item. Rachel.

He had investigated her again, but found nothing.

‘I’ve never had someone this hard to uncover.’

Even compared to Emperor Sigarna or the Great Sage Titiyenis, whom he knew everything about, this was an unfamiliar situation.

In high society, Rachel was nothing more than a woman who loved her husband dearly, was oblivious to rumors, rarely showed herself, and had few friends. Her life was filled with traces of small mistakes left here and there.

‘The only unusual thing is her connection with Vice Bishop Rylas of the Yenis Order…… but that seems to be just a personal acquaintance of her father.’

There was no evidence anywhere that Rachel Elrosa was intelligent, shrewd, or calculating. She had never revealed her true nature for over twenty years. Not even once.

Was she someone so clever that she could see through Cian’s identity and read the Council of Elders’ suspicions, while pretending to be foolish on the outside? He could not even estimate how meticulous that would require her to be.

‘I thought I had accounted for all competent individuals in the Empire. How arrogant.’

Ting-grang. He flicked the cufflink up again and caught it tightly.

A thrill ran down his spine, as if he were holding Rachel in his grasp.

‘I want to capture her.’

He had appointed Whizius as guild leader to gather information, entrusted Stephan with the merchant guild to earn money, and placed Nick as his aide to assist him closely.

What role would be best for Rachel?

He lost track of time thinking about it.

‘There was a time I thought this kind of desire was an essential trait for becoming emperor.’

But that was now meaningless. His older brother Sigar had inherited the throne.

As he was lost in thought, a familiar voice came from the doorway.

“……Daddy?”

The only person allowed to enter his office without permission—his daughter, Dolorasa.

“……Dolly. You’re still awake?”

“I came because I was going to the bathroom. Why aren’t you sleeping, Daddy?”

Seven-year-old Dolorasa was clearer and more mature than other children her age. Cian was both grateful for it and sometimes in pain because of it.

The child had never once asked who her mother was or what kind of person she was. She seemed to already know she would not get an answer even if she asked. Perhaps she even knew that Cian was not her biological father.

Small rabbit-shaped slippers made soft shuffling sounds as she approached.

“Sleeping late is bad for your health. Dolly doesn’t like it when Daddy gets sick.”

“I made you worry. I’m sorry. I’ll go to bed now.”

“Okay. Good night, Daddy. I’ll go back to sleep too. I’m very sleepy.”

“Sleep well. I love you, Dolly.”

“I love you too.”

Left alone in the office, Cian brought the pink diamond cufflink up to his shirt cuff. The symbol of love shimmered brilliantly.

What he would do after capturing her could be decided after he caught her.

It was time to go see Rachel.

The next day, Theodore could not go to the imperial palace to work. His face and calves were swollen from being struck by Berengela.

At breakfast, Berengela looked terrifying, as if she might explode with anger again at any moment, while Theodore looked pitiful like a leaf trembling in the wind.

Between them, only Rachel and Graham were warm and cheerful.

“Here, Graham. This is beef you like. Mommy will cut it for you.”

“You should eat too, Mom. I’ll eat one piece and you take the rest.”

“Mom doesn’t need to eat much since she’s grown. You’re still growing, so you need to eat a lot.”

“Hmm… then I’ll eat two pieces, grow big, and protect Mom.”

How adorable…!

Rachel pressed her cheek against Graham’s.

Watching them, Berengela finally threw down her knife before she had even finished half her meal.

Crash!

“The mansion’s chef is incompetent. The food reeks of rot. It’s nauseating. Fire him immediately.”

“Y-Yes, Mother. I’ll fire him right away and replace him with a better chef……”

Theodore, his cheeks still swollen, bowed nervously.

Berengela shot her son a contemptuous glance and left the dining room.

As soon as the door slammed shut, Theodore sprang to his feet. Clang! The table shook, and dishes rattled loudly.

“Rachel. Are you insane? What is wrong with you lately?”

When Berengela was present, he couldn’t say a word, but now he was barking at his wife and son—it was almost laughable.

Rachel frowned and shielded Graham behind her back.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but we’re eating. Let’s talk later when it’s just the two of us.”

“You think I can swallow food right now?”

He didn’t look like he could, either. With both cheeks swollen, chewing seemed impossible.

“Still, wait. Graham and I haven’t finished yet.”

“Last time I brought Jane, you humiliated me like that—and now you take some ridiculous ledger to Mother? What are you plotting!”

“I’m not plotting anything. I already told you—Jane was the one who acted rudely first. And I gave the ledger to Mother because she is the head of the Elrosa family. Shouldn’t the highest authority know the state of the family’s affairs?”

“You dare talk back like that? Do you know what I went through last night because of you and Mother…!”

“The problem was created by you in the first place, wasn’t it? Inviting a woman who doesn’t even know manners into the house, creating holes in the family finances, committing tax evasion.”

And ignoring your wife who loves you, openly cheating on her.

Theodore’s face, already swollen red from being hit, turned crimson again with rage.

“Shut up!”

In a fit of fury, Theodore grabbed a silver cup filled with water and hurled it.

It all happened too suddenly. Rachel froze, unable to dodge, watching the cup fly toward her face.

Just as it was about to hit—

Clang!

A sharp sound rang out as the silver cup rolled across the dining room floor.

Rachel’s eyes widened in disbelief. Graham, who had been trembling behind her, had climbed onto the table. In his hand was a silver knife used for cutting beef.

“G-Graham?”

“Daddy is bad!”

Graham pointed the long knife—about a span in length—at Theodore. A chilling aura flickered in his blue eyes.

Even though he knew it was not a dangerous weapon, Theodore still stepped back.

“Graham. Put that down immediately.”

“N-No.”

“Graham.”

“Throwing things at people is bad! Didn’t Daddy’s Daddy and Mommy teach you that?”

Did Graham even know that Berengela was Theodore’s mother when he said this?

“You should be punished for doing bad things! If Daddy does bad things, I’ll spank Daddy too!”

Though it was a trembling, cute threat, the atmosphere was deadly serious. Even Rachel froze under the killing intent radiating from the small, fragile body.

In the original story, Graham becoming a killer was not only because Rachel died.

Graham was born with extraordinary abilities—unmatched dynamic vision, reflexes, strength, and a terrifying killing intent that could freeze anyone who faced him.

Those talents, hidden during peaceful times, were now beginning to sprout in the presence of danger directed at his mother, Rachel.