It was only six years ago that tragedy struck the Bernhard family. His mother had passed away, giving birth to the youngest son, Edwin, and the former Duke had remarried a Baroness named Katrina, whom he had met by chance.
Katrina had lost her husband in the war and was raising a single son.
'I wish I had a new foal. I want to learn swordsmanship. I wish I had a stepmother.'
It was the moment Edwin's long-held wishes came true.
'Mother! Mother!'
Edwin trotted after his stepmother like a puppy. Having only seen his birth mother's face in portraits, her touch must have felt nothing but affectionate and warm.
'Edwin, this is Ludwig. You can get along, right?'
Ludwig was a boy one year younger, and Edwin fell instantly in love with his new younger brother.
'Etienne. Please teach Ludwig some swordsmanship, too.'
However, Etienne, who was neither as optimistic nor as young as Edwin, was not particularly pleased with his new family. His brothers felt the same way, so only Edwin busily worked to mediate the situation.
It was a coincidence that the eldest brother, who was the heir, died in a fall from his horse. Before the grief of the Bernhard family could even subside, the carriage carrying the Duke and the second brother overturned, forcing them to hold another funeral.
'Mr. Etienne will now become the head of the family.'
Someone had said this to him, but Etienne didn't care. Not only was he far from the line of succession to the dukedom, but his personality wasn't suited to being bound by such things.
Before he could even recover from the grief of losing his family, tragedy struck him again. It was a night he could never forget.
He was tossing and turning in the middle of the night when his bedroom door opened, and he heard small footsteps. Since Edwin was the only one who walked on his tiptoes, he continued to pretend to be asleep. He intended to surprise him.
'...Brother.'
It was after hearing his younger brother's trembling voice that he realized something was wrong. Edwin rarely called him "brother."
Someone said that Edwin was ill-mannered for calling him by his name, but Etienne considered it his own way of spoiling his younger brother.
"Did you have another nightmare, Edwin?"
His younger brother would often come over to his room on nights when he had nightmares. He could never forget the face of Edwin, whom he witnessed as he turned to lie down.
Edwin covered his mouth with his hand, and red blood was flowing between his fingers.
"Edwin! Right now! The doctor!"
Startled, Etienne, dressed in a chemise, hurriedly hugged his younger sibling.
"It'll be alright. I'm here, Edwin."
He whispered while tightly holding his younger brother's growing hand. And as he tried to pull away to call a doctor, Edwin grabbed his hand.
"Etienne, it's no use. Because I'm dying."
Etienne's world crumbled just as Edwin spoke while spitting blood.
He found out that the accident involving his brother and father was intentional, and that there was a plan to poison him and Edwin.
Sadly, it was only after he was poisoned that he heard the confession of Ludwig, who was tormented by guilt.
'Ludwig told me this secretly.'
Edwin handed him a document he was carrying in his bosom.
There was the content of a letter exchanged between Katrina and someone else.
'Ludwig will soon become Duke Bernhard's successor.'
Katrina's true nature was revealed when his father passed away.
The smile vanished completely from her face, and at some point, she began to look at Etienne with displeasure. The mansion's servant changed, and the number of knights escorting Katrina increased.
However, Etienne did not take all those changes seriously.
'I was foolish for failing to notice an enemy even though they were under the same roof.'
He wanted to make an excuse that he did it because he was young, but he had lost too much to do so.
"Etienne, you have to run away. Tomorrow morning, the stepmother..."
Edwin's voice grew softer, as if speaking was becoming increasingly difficult. If what his younger brother was saying was entirely true, she should no longer be called Mother.
He didn't want to believe it, but holding his younger brother's growing cold body, Etienne felt as though the world were collapsing around him.
"Etienne, run away..."
"Edwin Edwin."
He had so much he wanted to say to his younger sibling, but the words got all squished up in his mouth.
That he had so much he wanted to do for him, and that he intended to do it for him instead of his mother or father.
"I'm sorry I can't stay with you any longer..."
As his younger brother, whom he had always seen as just a child, lay dying, he was worried about him being left behind. Tears streamed down the corners of Etienne's eyes as he struggled not to cry.
"Will you promise me you'll live for us too?"
Edwin, clutching his hand tightly, put one last ounce of strength into his eyes, as if he needed to get a definitive answer from Etienne.
Given his usual personality, it would have been correct to say that he could not live anyone's life for them.
However, with his dying younger sibling in front of him, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
'Yeah, sure.'
If that was his younger brother's last wish, he was determined to protect it at all costs. That was what he had sworn while embracing his dead brother. Had it not been for that, he would have searched for Katrina's bedroom that night for the life of his life.
After laying his younger brother on his bed, Etienne said his final goodbyes.
He secretly slipped out of the mansion under the cover of night. He rode his horse nonstop from Zone 1 to Zone 8. Then, he paid a large sum of money to the sorcerer and exchanged a few things.
'I changed my hair color and got a tattoo on my arm using sorcery.'
Because Katrina, who took the lives of his entire family, would never give up chasing the fleeing Etienne.
He had to become a completely different person.
"I wondered if there could ever be anything as painful as that time..."
A deep weariness washed over Etienne's pale face.
***
Shioana adapted to working in Raul's office much faster than she expected. Also, since she didn't have to sew under a dim light at night, she was able to get more sleep.
"Miss, if you are all ready, please come quickly."
“Yes, I’m done.”
Shioana answered as she tied her hair in front of the mirror. The dye had completely faded, leaving her natural brown hair, but because she had cut it short once, it was just past her shoulders.
"Miss, that guy really isn't pulling any stunts, is he?"
They were sitting side by side at a table tilted slightly to one side in the morning, eating porridge made with potatoes. Martha recoiled in disgust, calling Raul 'that guy.'
"The boss is really busy, and he doesn't care about me at all."
It was true.
There were many days when he didn't stop by the office at all, and even when she did, all he did was roughly skim through the ledgers she had organized. Since Thompson took care of her weekly pay, Shioana had absolutely nothing to be uncomfortable about.
'I feel like I've already told you this story several times.'
Martha worried about the same thing every day.
She thought that Shioana was still the daughter of a Viscount. Having lived that way for so long, it was indeed difficult for her to change in an instant.
"Oh, Miss, what was that story you were going to tell yesterday?"
Trying to explain the stand-in for Duke Bernhard's lover felt like bread was stuck in her throat. However, she couldn't explain it exactly as it was.
"That nobleman helped me when I was sick, you know. So I said I wanted to help in some way."
"Good heavens, you did well. It is only right to repay a favor."
"Yeah, so I'm saying I might go there sometimes."
It was a somewhat flimsy explanation, but fortunately, Martha didn't press the matter further. Instead, she asked an odd question.
"Could it be that the young lady has fallen for him?"
"That can't be true."
"What man wouldn't fall for your face, young lady?"
"Ah, no. Really."
Shioana, blushing for no reason at Martha's words, raised her voice.
'I guess my face isn't your type?'
It felt as if she could feel the Duke's persistent gaze and hot breath right beside her. Staring at his red lips, she swallowed dryly.
She couldn't bring herself to say that his face, like a delicate statue, wasn't to her taste.
The Duke was strangely obsessed with her answer.
Actually, there were many strange aspects to this incident as well.
She certainly isn't the only fresh face in Tabria.
'Why?'
The Duke didn't even seem to have any affection for her.
"You are the woman I like..."
What the Duke had said was also her past thoughts. Shioana didn't care about things like Etienne's status or wealth. Because Etienne himself was precious to her.
'He is not Etienne.'
But she doesn't know why her heart races so much whenever she thinks of the Duke.
"Our young master is awake!"
Shioana was barely able to escape from the Duke's thoughts thanks to Harriet, who had just opened his eyes and started whining.
"Harriet! Auntie's going out! I'll earn lots of money, so stay with Martha."
"Miss."
Shioana was actually taken aback by Martha wiping her eyes with her apron at the words Martha had said to cheer her up.
“Why are you doing this again?”
“I’m in charge.”
The well-bred young lady was speaking words fit for a maid. It deeply upset Martha, but with no way to resolve the situation, her heart burned with frustration.
Shioana looked at Martha's worried face and patted the back of her hand.
"Martha, I'll set everything right."
If you don't give up and keep looking for a way, a path is bound to appear. After all, the countless books she had read were telling the same story.
"So don't worry about anything."
"My young lady, you’ve really grown up."
"Does Martha still see me as a child?"
Bringing up words from the past, it felt as if they had returned to those days. The two of them burst into laughter over their humble meal. After finishing their noisy meal, Shioana packed her lunch and set off for work.
“The weather is really nice.”
There were still mountains of problems to solve, but Shioana forced a smile.
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