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Chapter 8
As soon as Anne arrived in the room, she called me in a trembling voice.
“My lady, I’m truly sorry.”
“For what?”
At my calm response—almost too calm—Anne bit her lip.
“Earlier… I couldn’t say it wasn’t true, what the young master said.”
“That I killed the Duchess?”
When I asked directly instead of going around it, Anne’s shoulders flinched.
After a long silence, Anne took a deep breath with a resolute expression.
“I have never thought that you killed Madam… not even once.”
“It’s okay.”
“…What?”
Anne doubted her ears.
“What did you just say…?”
“I said it’s okay.”
I spoke firmly, as if driving the point in.
“You don’t have to apologize.”
“My lady, I dared to let you be insulted. So how can you…?”
“How could you have said no in that situation?”
I truly meant it when I said it was fine.
Anne was just a servant. There was no way she could openly oppose the Duke’s second son.
Of course, it would be a lie to say I wasn’t hurt at all. But I wasn’t angry at her. If I were in her place, I wouldn’t have stepped forward either.
“You couldn’t help it.”
“My lady…”
Anne looked at me with moved eyes. I smiled lightly and said,
“I didn’t finish my apple pie.”
Anne, who had been quietly looking at me, nodded firmly.
“I’ll bring it right away!”
“Okay.”
Thud.
As soon as Anne left, the room became completely silent.
Through today’s conflict with Renzard, I realized something important.
‘Even trust becomes useless in front of power.’
I wasn’t angry that Anne didn’t defend me. It was more like I was forced to accept an unrealistic truth right in front of me.
At first, I didn’t know how to live here. But thanks to Anne taking good care of me, I adapted quickly. After that, I set a goal—to secure a source of money so I could survive even if I got kicked out of this novel world.
‘But now…’
I want to keep living in this mansion with Anne.
Eating Puichi’s apple pie, taking lessons from Dikal.
Now that I know what it feels like to be cared for, I decided to change my goal.
Before, I just wanted to gain a foothold in the mansion by catching Heinox’s attention and securing financial support. But now, like in the original story, I want to firmly establish my place to stop the collapse of Tanjeric.
‘To do that, I need to reveal the truth.’
Tanjeric is already in crisis because of someone’s manipulation that began with Priscilla’s death.
Because of that, Heinox wanders the battlefield, Chedman has become indifferent to everything, and Renzard vents his anger about his mother’s death on the wrong person.
And as for Roxina, who is falsely accused of killing the Duchess, she would grow up to be a broken, villainous woman.
I already know how everything turns out. That means I can stop it.
The most important goal now is to uncover the truth behind that death.
‘Whoever it is, I won’t let them do as they please.’
Meanwhile, an even colder atmosphere than midwinter filled Heinox’s office.
“I heard there was quite a disturbance.”
“I’m sorry…”
Heinox didn’t say much, but even that short question carried anger. Renzard shrank his shoulders.
“I didn’t call you here just to hear an apology.”
“F-Father, I…”
“I will explain.”
Chedman, who came after hearing that Renzard had been summoned, spoke up.
“I asked Renzard what happened.”
But Heinox had already heard everything from the butler.
Even so, he called them because he wanted to hear it directly from them.
“After training, I was walking down the hallway and smelled something sweet.”
Renzard wiped his sweaty hands on his pants and continued.
“It wasn’t mealtime, so I thought it was strange. I opened the dining hall door and saw her eating apple pie.”
“And then?”
Renzard swallowed hard.
“So I asked why she was there…”
He couldn’t continue. Heinox clicked his tongue as if he already understood.
“So the disturbance started because of you.”
“I’m sorry…”
Heinox watched Renzard bow his head, then turned to Chedman.
“Is what he said true?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
For a moment, Roxina’s angry shout flashed through Chedman’s mind, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
“…No.”
Heinox tapped the armrest with his finger.
“I see…”
To Heinox, it was just a brief moment. To the two sons, it felt like eternity.
Finally, the tapping stopped.
“You may leave.”
“Yes, Father.”
“They’re lying.”
Left alone in the office, Heinox recalled the situation.
He already knew everything. The reason he called them was to hear certain words—but those words never came.
It was understandable. The two boys must have been the most shocked.
Still, Heinox was the head of the Tanjeric Ducal House. There should be nothing happening in the mansion that he didn’t know.
“They wouldn’t think I wouldn’t find out…”
Renzard might have struggled to speak, but Chedman wasn’t like that.
Yet he still chose to hide it.
“The temple…”
According to the butler, Roxina said Priscilla’s death was because of the temple.
“Where did she hear that?”
Heinox’s eyes darkened.
It was true the temple played a part in Priscilla’s death.
On the day she was dying, multiple letters were sent to the temple—but no reply ever came.
If they had come in time, she wouldn’t have died so helplessly.
But the fact that this story came from a child inside the mansion—that was a different issue.
“Someone in this house has a loose tongue.”
Someone must have spoken carelessly in front of Roxina.
“Roxina… Roxina Tanjeric…”
Even saying her name felt unfamiliar.
She was the last child between him and Priscilla.
When he first held Chedman, he felt happy. The child looked exactly like Priscilla.
When Renzard was born, it felt strange—but also somewhat joyful. He had green eyes like Priscilla and black hair like Heinox.
Then he saw the third child.
Priscilla, barely breathing, handed the baby to him.
The child didn’t resemble her at all.
Still, she smiled.
“She looks like you.”
Her pale face was smiling so gently.
“Make our child happy. Don’t let her be hurt or lonely.”
And then Priscilla died.
That was her last wish.
And Heinox had failed every part of it.
He didn’t hate Roxina.
After Priscilla’s death, he tried to care for her.
But the child who resembled only him made him feel fear.
It felt like his guilt toward Priscilla was being projected onto the child.
He feared he might grow to hate her.
So he left for the battlefield.
Even if he couldn’t love her, he didn’t want to hate her.
When he returned, she was already four years old.
She could walk and speak.
Seeing her move made guilt flood him.
So he deliberately said harsh things, hoping she would resent him.
When he heard she had injured her head, he hesitated for a long time before visiting.
The child clearly felt uncomfortable around him.
In the end, he only brushed her hair while she slept.
At night, she wouldn’t even know he came.
Then he thought—
‘Maybe she resembles you, just a little.’
The way she demanded a teacher. The boldness the butler described.
Imagining her shouting at Renzard with that small body, a faint smile appeared on his lips.
“Haa…”
“Y-Young master…”
The maid cleaning Renzard’s room trembled at his sigh.
“That’s enough. Leave.”
“Yes!”
After sending everyone away, Renzard lay down on his neatly made bed.
“I’m a coward…?”
He recalled what Roxina had said.
“The only one who could help the Duchess back then was the temple. Not you, not me, not even the Duke.”
“So the temple is at fault…?”
She said his mother died because the temple didn’t come.
‘Now that I think about it… it is strange.’
Calling a priest to the mansion was extremely rare—it cost as much as a mansion itself.
“But…”
Heinox would never have refused for that reason. He loved his wife more than anyone.
“Then what happened that day…?”
What really happened?
And Roxina—
‘How does she know about the temple?’
Renzard’s mind filled with countless questions.
