IBOSML 12

Chapter : 12

Even when Eric Romford had worn the brooch and kept wandering in front of him several times, Glenn had never thought it was strange.

That was why he found it remarkable that the child had been able to recognize it.

Much later, after finishing his work, his son asked the same question.

“How did she know?”

Glenn was curious as well, but at the same time, he thought he understood.

“Didn’t you say from the beginning that she didn’t seem like an ordinary child?”

His son had often sent letters updating Glenn about the territory.

Glenn himself had rarely replied, but the son frequently wrote about Elisha.

Most of it was just “my daughter is so adorable I could die,” but mixed in were strange, unbelievable stories.

And rarely, even his son’s shoulders would twitch slightly as he recalled them.

“It’s because the blood of House Rollcade runs through her.”

“….”

“She is my granddaughter, after all.”

The son, who had been listening silently, suddenly turned his head sharply.

“She is my daughter.”

“She is my granddaughter!”

“My daughter resembles me in every way—her slightly raised back-of-head, her flat eyebrows, her round nose… no matter how you look at her, she is clearly my daughter who takes after me.”

“Nonsense! If you look closely, her ears are just like mine!”

A brief silence fell.

“Well… let’s leave it at that.”

As if conceding, the son added one more line that once again irritated Glenn.

“Though everything else about her resembles me.”

Their bickering only stopped after a considerable amount of time.

“By the way… if it’s the Diramis family, isn’t that the Empress’s house? Father, do you think the Empress is involved in this as well?”

“We cannot rule it out.”

Marquis Diramis was the father of the Empress. It was entirely possible that a request for murder had passed between blood relatives.

More importantly, the current Empress was a woman of strong ambition. Her dream was to place her own son—the Second Prince—on the throne, surpassing the First Prince born to the previous Empress.

To achieve this, she had been drawing many noble families into her faction.

Of course, there were also nobles who remained unmoved. House Rollcade and the neutral faction centered around them.

“Did they think we would support the First Prince?”

“Historically, many heads of House Rollcade have been obsessed with legitimacy.”

However, the Empress’s interference was not solely because of past generations of the family.

It was too risky to target such a powerful house for such a trivial reason alone.

Glenn had another reason in mind.

‘Anette.’

That was the name of his daughter-in-law—his son’s beloved wife—

and also the name of his regret, the woman who had once melted even Glenn’s hardened heart, only to leave after enduring his harsh words and cold treatment.

Glenn let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes.

Anette had been believed to have taken her own life, but the truth was different.

Before her death, she had been investigating the previous Empress’s demise.

“I heard there’s a witness who saw the person who killed Titi.”

Her face had been full of life, as if she might finally clear her friend’s name.

But what she encountered that day was not a witness—it was assassins.

Anette died, and all the evidence she had collected regarding the previous Empress’s death disappeared with her.

Yet the imperial court declared her death a suicide.

‘Ridiculous.’

Glenn left the estate and investigated the case alone. His son, who had lost his beloved wife, was in no state of mind—he was more beast than man.

Glenn spent his time searching for witnesses, turning speculation into certainty through evidence.

Two years.

Two years in which even lying still made blood vessels in his eyes burst and curses rise to his lips.

Fortunately, there had been progress.

He had found physical evidence linking the Empress to Anette’s death.

But it seemed the Empress’s side had noticed that Glenn had obtained something.

‘After all the effort of separating me from my son… what a waste.’

The position of Empress came with privileges. Most crimes could be buried under the name of royalty.

But murder—especially the killing of another royal—was different.

‘They plan to strike me first and silence me before I can accuse them.’

Crime always bred further crime. Just as Eric Romford had tried to kill in order to cover up his fraudulent entry.

Then his son asked:

“What do you plan to do?”

“I intend to follow the family creed.”

Repay kindness twice over, repay hatred tenfold.

It was a rule passed down since the founding of House Rollcade.

The heads of the family had adhered to it so strictly that, once, even the occupant of the throne had been replaced.

“Of course… before that, I’ll tighten the noose around them.”

His son understood and smiled.

“I see. Then it would be better to begin with a declaration of war.”

After all, there happened to be a faction in the imperial palace that the Empress deeply despised.

And three days later—

An invitation arrived at the First Prince’s palace.

Due to a series of suspicious incidents in the ducal territory, the imperial family requested an audience to hear the Empire’s stance.

“I will go.”

First Prince Claude accepted.

It was the summer when Elisha was three years old and Claude was eight.