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CHAPTER 69………..
…“Tisha, please. Could you tell that maid to leave?”
“……”
Etisha silently shook her head. Then Larienne gave the maid a direct order.
“Hey, you. Get out.”
“My lady’s wishes take priority. If my lady does not want me to leave, I cannot vacate this place.”
“What the—… Tisha. Fine. If that’s truly how you feel, then alright.”
Letting out a heavy sigh, Larienne lowered her head, as though she had given up. She looked like she was about to lean in and whisper to Etisha.
At that moment, Etisha frowned and pushed Larienne away.
“……!”
Larienne’s face went blank in shock at being pushed aside, then she muttered bitterly.
“Do you really… hate me that much?”
“Can’t you tell just by looking?”
“……”
Larienne rolled her eyes as though at a loss, biting down hard on her lip.
She wanted to snap back at Etisha right then, but no words came. No matter what Larienne said, Etisha wasn’t going to listen.
Even if she got angry, even if she threatened her, even if she apologized—it wouldn’t work on Etisha.
And of course.
It was Larienne’s fault.
Their relationship had ended long ago.
“You… I just…”
“……”
“No. Ha… forget it.”
Larienne cursed under her breath and closed her eyes tight.
There was no more time to waste. She had to tell Etisha before Lady Cyrilese arrived.
“Yesterday, while you were marrying in the chapel, I saw something.”
In a low voice, Larienne quickly summarized what happened. With the maid there, she couldn’t go into detail.
“A person in a robe.”
Etisha raised her hand to cut Larienne off, then gave the maid an order.
“Step outside for a moment.”
“Yes, my lady.”
The maid who had ignored Larienne’s command obeyed Etisha’s words at once and left the parlor.
Larienne glared at the retreating figure, then steadied her voice and continued.
“Right. The knights of Wintel chased after that robed person. They caught them and dragged them into the underground prison. But that person—I had seen them once before. Back then it was…”
Etisha interrupted.
“I know.”
Etisha believed the one imprisoned was Dite.
The robed figure matched, and Larienne had seen Dite before—after all, Larienne had assaulted her once.
“I already know everything.”
Larienne’s eyes widened.
“You already know?”
“Yes.”
“But they seemed to be hiding it so carefully. How?”
“I’m not obligated to explain that to you, sister. That’s enough. Leave the parlor.”
“But…”
Larienne blinked.
The knights had clamped down on rumors, and everything was done in secrecy—yet Etisha already knew?
Even Cayles Wintel himself seemed intent on hiding that man’s existence. And Etisha knew even that?
Larienne muttered in disbelief.
“But it was definitely strange. That man was—”
Then Etisha’s gaze sharpened.
Man?
Dite was a woman… a man?
“Wait. You said a man?”
“Yes, a man. Black hair, black eyes. He looked exactly like Cayles Wintel.”
“……!”
Etisha understood instantly.
The one imprisoned wasn’t Dite.
It was Kaiyen’s biological father.
And Larienne had witnessed it.
So that’s why… That’s why the Duke showed me that side of himself.
No wonder Kaiyen had seemed different from last night to this morning. She thought it was because of Dite, but it was actually because of his father.
“Tell me in more detail.”
Etisha lowered her voice. But just then, the parlor door opened again.
“My lady. The Madam has arrived.”
Lady Cyrilese had finally come.
Etisha and Larienne exchanged a glance. They’d have to continue this conversation later.
“Daughter-in-law, you must have waited long. Forgive me, I felt heavy today, perhaps from fatigue…”
Lady Cyrilese slowly entered the parlor. She greeted Etisha, then her eyes fell on Larienne seated beside her.
Etisha and Larienne sitting together at the tea table—
Lady Cyrilese frowned. Her expression was clearly that of someone seeing an unwelcome guest.
“Lady Heinz… Did you have business with me?”
“Of course not. I came to see Tisha.”
“I heard my daughter-in-law came to see me.”
“Yes, that’s right. Anyway, I was just leaving.”
Larienne, unable to hide her displeasure, stood up abruptly from the tea table. Lady Cyrilese replied coldly.
“Good. While you’re at it, it would be even better if you left Wintel Castle altogether.”
“Oh my, does the Wintel family throw out invited guests now? Sorry, but since Lord Cayles invited me personally, I can’t leave.”
“If necessary, we do throw them out. There are plenty of ways, Lady Heinz.”
“Well, I suppose so. After all, the Wintel family even barred me from attending my own sister’s wedding. What can’t you do?”
“……”
“Tisha, congratulations on your marriage.”
Larienne left the parlor.
The door slammed shut, and Lady Cyrilese turned to Etisha.
“Daughter-in-law. Don’t worry. I can throw Lady Heinz out whenever you wish. If you like, I’ll have her dragged out of the castle right this moment.”
Etisha slowly shook her head.
For now, she needed to hear more about what Larienne had seen—Kaiyen’s father.
“No, Mother. When the time comes, I’ll send her away with my own hands. Please don’t worry.”
“Yes… You are the Duchess of Wintel now. I’ll only watch.”
Lady Cyrilese sat down at the tea table. The maids brought fresh tea, and soon the fragrance filled the parlor.
“……”
“……”
Neither spoke.
Both knew why Etisha had come all the way to the Castle of Snow.
“Mother.”
At last, after sending the maids out, Etisha began softly.
“The Duke told me everything.”
“……”
“What happened, and how it came to be…”
At those words, Lady Cyrilese’s expression turned distant, as though flipping through the pages of an old book, recalling years long gone.
She swallowed a sigh and took a sip of tea.
“So. Kaiyen told you.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“No, daughter-in-law, you’ve nothing to apologize for. It’s all in the past. I should have let it remain forgotten. I was careless.”
Her gray eyes were filled with melancholy.
Etisha quickly shook her head.
“No. I just… I worry about you, Mother. I can’t help but worry.”
“……”
“I want to be your strength.”
Etisha took Lady Cyrilese’s hand, clasping it warmly between her own.
Lady Cyrilese’s eyes dropped to the small hand covering hers.
So tiny, so pale, smaller than her own—yet offering comfort.
“Daughter-in-law… Yes, I once told you, didn’t I? That wedding dress. I didn’t wear it at my wedding.”
“Ah…”
“The truth is, it wasn’t that I didn’t wear it. I couldn’t wear it.”
The Wintel family heirloom.
“That wedding uniform may only be worn by the bride of the Wintel heir. When I married Cayles, he was not the heir. In fact, he was never supposed to become Duke of Wintel at all.”
“……”
“The heir then was not Cayles, but his younger brother.”
“……”
“Reyen. Reyen Wintel.”
Though the younger son, his talents far surpassed the elder.
“Reyen was extraordinary since childhood. Cayles was exceptional too, but Reyen was greater. Quick, flawless, brilliant—in history, philosophy, military strategy, languages, ethics, biology, even theology… Cayles knew from the start that Reyen would be the true heir of Wintel.”
To ordinary eyes, both brothers would have seemed impossibly gifted. But there is always a higher sky above the sky.
Cayles had known from the beginning he could never surpass Reyen.
“Of course, the world assumed Cayles, the elder son, would inherit. Only a very few knew the truth. And that truth was made starkly clear at the brothers’ weddings.”
That wedding dress.
It was not Cayles and Lady Cyrilese who wore the heirloom uniform—but his younger brother and his bride.
“Cayles said he was relieved. That it was a blessing not to be heir. I thought the same. For if Reyen had not been the heir, I—unable to bear children—would never have been allowed to marry Cayles.”
Lady Cyrilese smiled faintly.
Her expression said more than a hundred words could.
Why the once-dominant star of the capital’s society suddenly descended to the far north. Why she was cold to outsiders yet endlessly gentle to her family.
Etisha could feel—without being told—how much Lady Cyrilese must have suffered when she discovered her infertility in her youth.
For nobles, no matter how humble the house, an heir is everything. And so, a noblewoman unable to bear children is nothing more than…
Nothing more than…
Etisha’s eyes welled with tears.
She didn’t want to cry, but her heart ached too much.
And the fact that Lady Cyrilese herself hadn’t mentioned her infertility only made it heavier to bear.
“I was truly happy.”
Lady Cyrilese gave a small nod. Etisha nodded with her.
“Even if I couldn’t bear a child, I had a husband to share my life with—that was enough. Reyen would lead the Wintel family, and Cayles and I only needed to live happily together.”
“……”
“But then… one day, tragedy struck.”
Her words trailed off.
Her face darkened, as though standing before a cliff.
Dragging out that long-sunken pain was visibly tormenting her.
And Etisha already knew what tragedy she meant.
The abuse wrought by Kaiyen’s birth mother…
Yes—that must have been it.
