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chapter 06
“Lord Head, I apologize.”
After sending Senika back to her room with guards accompanying her, Rita entered the office and immediately dropped to her knees, those being the first words out of her mouth.
As Hale looked down at her, there was not even a trace of displeasure in his pale blue eyes—only boredom. His long lashes fluttered slowly.
“Get up.”
“I have no face to show you, my lord.”
“I said get up.”
Biting her lip for a moment, Rita slowly rose to her feet. Her head remained lowered.
“I tried my best to stop her, but—”
“It’s fine. Let Senika do as she pleases.”
“But…”
“It’s about time I let go, too.”
Resting an arm on the chair’s armrest, Hale tilted his head sideways against it as he spoke in a flat voice.
A trace of wistfulness flickered through Rita’s eyes before quickly disappearing. It was the kind of look Hale hated the most. She was relieved she had been keeping her head lowered.
“When I look at Senika, I sometimes think Erilyn may have sent her to my side so I wouldn’t keep living shackled to the past.”
“…My lord.”
Moved by pity, Rita unconsciously lifted her head and met Hale’s eyes.
One of Hale’s brows arched.
“You’re giving me the look I hate the most, aren’t you?”
Then he tossed out the words in an ice-cold voice. A chilling pheromone suddenly seeped into Rita’s very bones, covering her body in goosebumps.
But the pheromone quickly dissolved into the air.
In the Ivienne family, there was only one person capable of controlling pheromones so freely and precisely.
“I’m joking. Just joking.”
“……”
“Give Senika whatever she wants to do. Send the bill to Theo.”
Retracting the pheromones, Hale smiled brightly as though nothing had happened.
“Are you truly alright, my lord?”
“Hm? I never said I was alright.”
“……”
“I’m just trying to become alright.”
Despite his gentle outward appearance, Rita—who possessed healing-type pheromones—could clearly see how thoroughly blackened and burned Hale’s heart truly was.
It pained her deeply to see her lord trying to endure everything alone.
“You may leave now.”
“…Yes, my lord.”
Leaving the office, Rita leaned against the wall just outside and closed her eyes. Fragments of the past she had barely managed to forget slowly resurfaced one by one.
The garden Hale had forbidden anyone from entering was a place his wife, Erilyn, had loved dearly while she was alive.
Every plant in that garden had been carefully raised by her own hands, from sprouts onward. Flowers difficult to obtain, even trees.
It had been a warm place overflowing with love and affection, treasured by Hale just as much as by her.
At least until she was poisoned to death.
After Erilyn’s death by poisoning, Hale lived like a man who had nearly lost his mind. He refused food and drink, and in the end neglected even the egg that carried the future heir.
Simply put, he fled from reality. Because of her death alone, he had nearly abandoned everything.
That was how deeply Hale had loved Erilyn.
‘Thank goodness the head of the Black Dragon family arrived when he did.’
Whenever Rita thought back to that time, the bitter feelings remained vivid.
She still did not know exactly what happened in that room where the two had spoken alone, but after that day, Hale slowly began to regain his senses.
However, one tragic thing remained—he never accepted Erilyn’s death and chose not to learn the truth until the very end.
‘That’s why even when evidence appeared, he pretended not to see it.’
Rita could never forget the long, wavy platinum-blond hair found near Erilyn at the time. Fortunately, Theo had carefully preserved that evidence until now, and one day it would surely be used.
In any case, Rita had forgotten about that single strand of platinum hair, but after Senika was born, the memory resurfaced in her mind.
Not just Rita—all members of the White Dragon family had felt the same. From that day onward, changes had also begun appearing in Hale’s behavior.
‘Please… let Miss Senika truly be a gift sent down to Lord Hale.’
From that moment on, Rita made up her mind. Whether it brought misfortune or fortune, she would stake everything she had on Senika.
Late at night, an endless conversation continued inside Hale’s office.
“Theo.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“Theo.”
“You find me annoying, don’t you? Just give me vacation time and I’ll disappear immediately!”
Hale stared at Theo with utter exasperation.
Used to that look, Theo casually sprawled out in the middle of the office and closed his eyes.
What was happening right now was simple: unable to endure the sudden increase in workload, Theo had barged into Hale’s office demanding a vacation.
Unfortunately for him, this situation was far too familiar to Hale to have any effect.
The only one unaware of that fact was Theo himself.
“We’re busy. Where exactly do you think you’re going?”
“I’m not asking for a whole week. Just one day!”
“I don’t even take vacations myself, so why should I give one to you?”
“I heard you don’t even read the vacation requests from the other elders before signing them!”
“They can function without being in this mansion. You can’t.”
Theo nearly grabbed the back of his neck hearing how thoroughly his request was being shut down.
This used to work in the past, but over the past few decades, the method had completely stopped working. Damn it, should he try another strategy?
Only now realizing the truth, Theo slowly pushed himself upright.
“So you finally feel like working?”
“No.”
“I pay you well enough.”
“This is completely separate from salary.”
“That sounds like permission to lower your pay.”
“No! Absolutely not!”
No vacation and a pay cut? Absolutely unacceptable! If anything, his salary should be increased…!
Theo swallowed back the words he couldn’t dare say aloud, tears welling in his eyes.
“I happened to have something I need you to do. If you handle this well, I might give you two days off—”
“I’ll do it no matter what.”
The moment the word “vacation” entered his ears, Theo lost all reason and made an irreversible mistake before even hearing the details.
‘Well… even if I don’t want to do it, I have to anyway.’
It was a decision born from understanding his own circumstances.
Brushing dust off his clothes, Theo stepped beside Hale.
“Track the Empress’s movements over the past year.”
“…Pardon? All of a sudden?”
“I need to protect Senika.”
Theo frowned at Hale’s implication that the Empress and Senika were connected.
‘How could those two possibly be related? As far as I know, the young lady has never once left the mansion since she was born…’
Seeing Theo’s reaction, Hale felt a headache coming on.
‘…And I kept this idiot beside me as my aide.’
With a deep sigh, he explained.
“I plan to clean things up before the elders discover Senika’s connection to the imperial family.”
“…Ah!”
Only after Hale’s explanation did Theo finally understand.
Senika’s hair was silver mixed faintly with gold—a platinum-blond shade.
In this world, only the imperial family and the Golden Dragons possessed golden hair.
The reason Hale was certain it involved the imperial family was simple.
Because Senika was human.
Her hair was lighter than the imperial family’s platinum-blond, but the resemblance was undeniable.
“So you believe the young lady is a child of the imperial family?”
“No. She was born from the egg I cared for, so she is my child.”
“Then what exactly are you trying to uncover?”
“You know the Empress and Rikt joined hands, don’t you?”
“My lord, do you really think I wouldn’t know even that much?”
Hale nodded.
Theo let out a dumbfounded laugh.
“You were the one who personally chose me, you know?”
“If I’d known you were an idiot, I wouldn’t have.”
“My lord!”
Teasing Theo was strangely entertaining.
Still, enough joking around. There were things that needed solving first.
“No matter how capable Rikt is, switching the egg would’ve been difficult.”
“Of course. There were countless guards protecting the birthing chamber.”
“So they must’ve done something else.”
Hale tapped the desk, his expression growing grave.
“If we investigate where the Empress went over the past year, we’ll probably find some answers.”
“Ah, that makes sense!”
Clicking his tongue, Hale shoved Theo toward the door with his pheromones.
“Alright, alright, I’m going. But you’d better keep your promise about the vacation!”
Though they appeared to bicker constantly, they relied heavily on one another.
Theo was one of the few dragons Hale truly trusted.
After sending Theo out, Hale rose from his seat thinking he might take a bath.
But Theo was still standing there.
Rather than leaving immediately, he stood gripping the doorknob, deep in thought.
“What are you doing standing there?”
“Um… but, my lord.”
“Just say what you need to say.”
“…What if, while digging into the Empress’s past, we uncover a secret we’d rather not know?”
“A secret we’d rather not know?”
Hale tilted his head slightly, unable to guess what Theo meant.
‘There aren’t many things he’d hesitate this much to tell me.’
Theo lowered his eyes and bit his lip.
“Speak.”
“…The truth behind Lady Erilyn’s death.”
At the name that left Theo’s lips, the faint smile vanished from Hale’s face.
“Some people still believe the imperial family and several elders may have been involved.”
“……”
“I still have the hair we found back then. If you need it—”
“Theo.”
Thin layers of frost began forming around Hale, carrying the chill of midwinter air.
It was obvious what emotion he was feeling.
“Keep it safe. I don’t intend to run from the truth anymore.”
“My lord…”
“Now that I have someone to protect, I can’t afford to stay weak.”
Perhaps he really had been avoiding it all this time.
The truth behind her death.
But now, he couldn’t.
And he shouldn’t.
“Wouldn’t it be boring if the ones who killed Erilyn died too easily?”
For an instant, killing intent flashed through his pale blue eyes.
Theo felt a chill run down his spine and swallowed hard.
“I will serve you faithfully.”
“Good.”
After Theo finally left, Hale remained alone in the office, sinking into thought.
To be honest, when he first learned that the being born from the egg was not a dragon but a human, he had been angry.
He believed someone had tampered with it.
That didn’t mean Hale denied Senika as his daughter, but it was true he initially felt little attachment toward her.
Yet the moment he saw Senika, all those thoughts melted away like snow.
Because no matter who looked at her, she was Erilyn’s child.
Aside from the slightly different hair color, she was unquestionably a child born from him and Erilyn.
He had believed he’d forgotten Erilyn after more than thirty years.
But he hadn’t.
The moment he saw Senika, the emotions he had suppressed all this time came crashing over him like a storm.
That was why he treated the child so well.
Because the true owner of those emotions no longer existed in this world.
For the sake of the family to whom he could finally give the love he had been unable to give before, he would continue living this dull life.
Whether Senika wanted it or not, he would pave her path with everything he had so that the life she walked would be smooth and free of hardship.
