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Chapter 50
“Your Grace, perhaps at least a little warm tea……”
Mrs. Drote spoke carefully, but Petunia did not even lift her head. Ever since leaving the South, she had not taken so much as a sip of water.
Though the anxious Mrs. Drote fidgeted restlessly, Petunia merely sat there numbly, like someone whose emotions had been completely stripped away.
Soon, the Hezest ducal estate came into view. The massive stone building perched atop a sheer cliff looked like an enormous coffin.
Petunia stepped silently out of the carriage. Only the sharp echo of her heels rang through the silent marble corridor.
“His Grace is in the study, my lady.”
The head butler greeted her.
Petunia headed straight for the study. The duke’s office was filled with an eerie stillness.
The Duke of Hezest was a man who always seemed preserved in place like a stuffed specimen. He was pathologically obsessed with keeping his daily routine perfectly undisturbed. Reviewing documents at set hours, hunting at fixed times, and sitting before the fireplace with strong wine in the evening—that was the entirety of the life he knew.
Cassian Hezest still possessed an imposing frame despite being in his late fifties. His features, once likely handsome, had long been worn dull and rigid by the storms of time.
There was only one reason for his obsession with Beryden Estate.
His father had spent his entire life loving a woman who became the mistress of the South. At the twisted end of that love, Cassian’s mother had taken her own life. To Cassian, Beryden was the symbol of vengeance for his own misery.
“So you’ve returned.”
Without even looking up from his paperwork, those were the duke’s first words. There was not the slightest warmth suitable for a reunion after months apart. Their relationship, forged like a cold contract, was always like this.
Petunia spoke in an icy voice.
“Roana betrayed us. She’s completely sided with Beryden now. While trying to catch a runaway dog, Morgan got caught instead.”
“……”
Only then did the duke set down his pen and raise his head. A cold fury settled into his indifferent eyes.
“To think you couldn’t even control your own daughter and allowed things to become this disastrous. What exactly is it that you do, Petunia?”
The criticism pierced like arrows. Over twenty-eight years of marriage, she had learned to the bone that arguing with this man was more useless than shouting at a wall. Excuses would never work.
“Don’t worry. Beryden will eventually fall into our hands.”
“And how do you plan to accomplish that? You still haven’t managed to kill even one man from Beryden. And now even that child has appeared. With Roana betraying us as well, how exactly do you intend to kill him?”
“Did you think that girl was my only card? Your greed to seize the South even if it must be drowned in flames—I’ll make sure it comes true. Because now, I have my own reason as well.”
The corners of Petunia’s lips twisted strangely.
The seed that neither Roana nor Cheres knew about had already finished preparing to sprout beneath the damp soil of the South.
After returning to her room, Petunia dismissed all the maids except Mrs. Drote. Her exhausted body seemed to sink even further. Candlelight flickered inside the room, stretching her shadow long across the floor.
Buried deep into the sofa, Petunia stared at the box resting on her lap. Then she rose and pushed it deep into a drawer.
Click.
The sound of the heavy lock turning echoed sharply. It felt less like locking away an object and more like a ritual to imprison the emotions threatening to burst free.
“Your Grace……”
“You may leave as well, Drote. Starting tomorrow, bring me only a light soup in the mornings.”
Relief softened Drote’s expression. After bowing her head, she quietly left the room.
Petunia removed her hand from the drawer and straightened her back, inhaling deeply before letting the breath out slowly.
‘I will not break, Morgan.’
Petunia clenched her teeth.
‘And neither will you. You will return to me no matter what.’
Her sharp nails dug into her palms.
That unbroken, vivid determination shone coldly beneath the northern night sky.
Early in the morning, before the fog outside the windows had even cleared, Lady Yurein knocked on the bedroom door. The single letter in her hand became the signal flare that shattered the peace of the morning.
“My lady, news has arrived that Count and Countess Buruate, Lady Linen’s parents, have departed the North and are on their way to the South.”
Lady Yurein’s voice was low but clear.
Ever since that conversation in the forest, Lady Yurein had changed somehow. Perhaps she had become more cautious and sharper.
She no longer overlooked even the smallest piece of information.
The formal immigration request had already been submitted, and Cheres had approved it with unusual speed. In my mind, the words immigrant nobles rose like poisonous smoke.
The Association was growing larger within southern high society.
They preyed upon those unable to establish roots in unfamiliar lands, gathering influence through those feelings of alienation and deficiency.
The moment Linen’s parents stepped onto southern soil, it was obvious that Lady Casrit would approach them.
“Do you think there’s any possibility that Linen’s parents could fall under Lady Casrit’s influence?”
Even the smallest possibility of betrayal had to be considered.
They were northern nobles holding the title of count. If Hezest offered them what they desired, was there any guarantee they would not betray even their own daughter?
At my question, Lady Yurein fell briefly into deep thought. She was the one observing Linen most closely right now. The important thing was Linen’s own resolve.
“I do not believe so. Lady Linen’s determination is stronger than expected. That child deeply hates Hezest for stealing away her voice.”
At Lady Yurein’s certainty, I nodded.
A parent’s desire for revenge against the family that had destroyed their child so cruelly became a blade sharper than anything else in the world.
If so, then I needed to be the one holding that blade’s hilt.
“Then what if we recruit Count and Countess Buruate first instead? If Lady Casrit approaches them, they should not refuse her, but gladly accept instead. We need an insider within the Association—someone who can serve as our eyes and ears. Right now, they hide behind the shield of charity and good influence on the surface. Even Cheres is struggling to drag out the truth hidden behind that shield. But what if the Buruates help us move from the inside?”
“Deceiving Lady Casrit will not be easy. Still, I believe it is worth attempting. Though first, we should hear the Buruates’ thoughts as well.”
The truth behind the Association was like wreckage sunken deep within a swamp. From above, people only saw the calm lotus flowers floating on the surface. No one knew what corpses were rotting beneath the mud below.
If the Buruates helped us, perhaps we could dig through that mire.
“I’ll proceed as you suggested, my lady. Through Lady Linen, obtaining her parents’ cooperation should not be difficult.”
A new chess piece was about to be placed upon the vast chessboard of southern high society.
Honestly, I never intended to involve myself this deeply in all of this.
I scratched my cheek with one finger.
But once I had decided to interfere in Hayden’s fate, then I would do everything in my power to make Hayden happy.
“Then I think it would be good to meet Linen first. Arrange it for me, Lady Yurein. And prepare plenty of the sweets Lady Linen likes as well.”
“Yes, my lady.”
