Chapter 127

Creak.

The hinge, un-oiled for ages, made a chilling sound. The Marquis, who had been sitting in the corner with a disgruntled expression, glanced at the door—then broke into a welcoming smile.

Nerys thought he didn’t look nearly wretched enough. Just bringing in an actress, passing her off as a relative, wasn’t quite enough to torture a great noble… but who could say for sure?

He thought he’d be released soon, idling away in a small solitary room in the main castle—a fate he’d never imagined for himself.

“Your Excellency, are you all right? I’m sorry I couldn’t visit you sooner.”

Nerys offered a polite, apologetic smile. The door closed behind her.

“What’s going on outside? Damn them, locking up a grandfather and a high noble of another territory in a place like this over such a trivial matter?”

To this man, every wrong he committed could apparently be summed up as ‘such a trivial matter.’ Nerys glanced around the room.

By commoner standards, it was an average room. There was a single, high-set window, a fireplace, and a bed. It was more than enough for someone who’d tried to kill his own daughter and grandchild.

But to the Marquis of Tipion, who’d only ever eaten and worn the finest, it probably felt like a storage room—especially with no one to serve him.

She found it ridiculous but didn’t show any sign of it, approaching the Marquis and whispering.

“Things have gotten complicated, Your Excellency.”

“Hm? What’s so complicated? Haven’t you come to get me out?”

The Marquis was completely confined in this room. This was about what he’d expected if his fox’s true identity was exposed.

‘She must want to vent her anger. The child who doesn’t even recognize her elders.’

He’d suffered all sorts of ‘hardships’—by his standards—in a place unworthy of his station, but he knew he couldn’t be here forever. There’d been no formal engagement, and just parading an actress around wasn’t enough to imprison another great noble.

Above all, he trusted Nerys. Here in this land of barbaric northerners, she was the only competent partner who knew his true identity—someone who even had significant influence with the Grand Duke.

So when he saw her come in, he’d thought, ‘Finally, I’ll be let out,’ but now… The Marquis scowled.

Nerys spoke in a soothing whisper.

“Please look at my hand, Your Excellency.”

Without thinking, the Marquis looked at her hand—and his eyes went wide.

“T-That’s…”

“You recognize it, I see.”

A ring set with a large baroque pearl. Of course he knew it. He himself had given it to the late Grand Duchess.

After her death, he’d tried to track it down for years, but never succeeded. It was the source of his crisis.

His hand instinctively reached for the ring on Nerys’s finger, but she pulled back with a sweet smile.

“No, you can’t. The Grand Duke entrusted it to me. If it goes missing, I’ll be suspected.”

“I-I see…”

He thought her eyes looked very cold, but he didn’t dare question it—or perhaps he didn’t want to.

Now that the ring had been exposed, without her cooperation, he could truly be in trouble. Instead of controlling the Grand Duchess…

Unconsciously, the Marquis’s right ring finger, with its emerald ring, trembled slightly.

“I’ve seen what’s inside the ring. I’m sure the Grand Duke knows too. As you know, Miss Haricote’s loud speculation in public about what you and I might be plotting has made my position awkward. Giving me the ring in this situation must be a test.”

“A test? To see if you destroy the evidence or not? The Grand Duke loves you.”

He said it hopefully, but Nerys’s eyes grew even colder.

“What does love mean to a great noble? And people become even more enraged when betrayed by someone they trusted. The Grand Duke’s anger toward you is no ordinary thing.”

The Marquis, relaxed when she entered, now broke out in a cold sweat. The more he met her gaze, the more fear crept in. His chest felt as if it were filled with ice.

“It’s all… ancient history. This time was a mistake, all right? Besides, unless you’re a high-ranking cleric—cardinal or above—you can’t even sense what’s in that ring. And there aren’t any of those in the north. If you just speak up for me, nothing will happen. I’ll return safely to my family, and I’ll make sure you become Grand Duchess. If your background’s a problem, I’ll even make you my adopted daughter. Where else could you find such an opportunity?”

“That’s far too generous. How could I ever fit into the Marquis’s family?”

She would refuse even a duke’s daughter’s position, so she replied lightly to his patronizing offer and gave a silent smile.

There were candles in the room, but as they were for a prisoner, they were low-quality and few. In the dimness, the Marquis thought Nerys looked out of place—like something wholly apart from this world.

It was a strange thought. Even though he, who had lived his life as a great noble, was now powerless in this storage-like room, that odd girl who had come from the gutter seemed as if she’d never be truly trapped—like she didn’t belong to this world at all.

He couldn’t help but be drawn to her eyes. They looked down on him—arrogant, calm, and shining like stars. The more he fell under that light, the more his thoughts grew hazy.

After a short silence, Nerys spoke slowly, her gentle but clear voice stamping each word into the Marquis’s mind.

“Your Excellency, the Grand Duke will kill you. The two of you are mortal enemies—neither can rest until the other is dead. So you should stop acting like your crimes mean nothing and your enemy owes you forgiveness.”

“Ah…”

Maybe so… the Marquis thought, dazed.

“The reason you haven’t been executed yet is partly for lack of evidence, but mostly because I persuaded him. The Grand Duke plans to imprison you for life. Of course, your son will object, not knowing that you killed your own daughter.”

“He… doesn’t know. My son’s too timid for that… He’s filial, he’ll surely try to get me back…”

“In truth, the world knows nothing. They’ll gossip that you were imprisoned over a mere affair with a woman, that it was all an unjust quarrel, and they’ll pity you and blame the Grand Duke.”

A foolish joy flickered across the Marquis’s face. He didn’t care about public opinion, but if it swung his way, the Imperial Family might intervene—then he could walk free again.

“Right, what did I really do…”

“Yes, so have hope. But you must remember one thing. At the very least, you’ll spend this winter in the cold, terrifying north.”

“…Remember… what?”

The suggestion was working. Nerys looked straight into the Marquis’s eyes and whispered.

“You killed your own daughter, Your Excellency.”

“My… daughter…”

“Yes. She believed in you—a wretched man—and risked her life to come here. In the end, you killed her. You never admitted it, but she was your daughter and probably trusted you.”

Nerys’s voice turned chilly. The joy vanished from the Marquis’s face. Pain surfaced in his unfocused eyes.

Maybe it was the first guilt he’d ever truly felt.

“Yes, she… believed in me. It was so easy…”

“It is a lonely thing to have no one to love in this world. Bastards know how to dig into that pain all too well. You probably think you’ve lived cleverly until now, but the day of judgment will surely come.”

Yes… If that day didn’t come on its own, she would make sure it did, with everything she had.

Nerys put on a look of pity.

“How sad. You’ll be betrayed by everyone you trust, unable to gain what you want, and no one will comfort you when you cry.”

Terror. Shock. Dim despair… The Marquis’s once-proud face was soaked in tears, his eyes wide with horror.

As he bowed his head in fear, Nerys knelt in front of him. Locking eyes so he couldn’t look away, she continued.

“Don’t worry. You won’t die right away. When winter ends, I’ll help you escape at the right time. Before you return to the marquisate, think long and hard. An old man who only ever yells at others, refuses to admit his own faults, and throws away his family—will your son really try to save you with all his heart?”

Timid and filial. Words that would please this old man, but Nerys thought she ought to read them differently.

Would anyone truly unable to handle the whims of this fickle old man know nothing?

Would a father who scoured the land for a green-eyed woman just to pair his grandson with someone like the late mother really inspire respect?

Would the timid Marquis’s son, now a middle-aged man, still naively believe his father would always be generous to him?

And the Marquis had lived so long, healthy and vigorous. Most of today’s great nobles were about the son’s age—could he be happy living forever under his father’s thumb?

The Marquis gasped, suddenly aware of his age at last.

Nerys stood. As if she alone could save him, the Marquis’s eyes followed her up.

“The Marquisate of Tipion will soon be nothing but a memory. You’re the one who will bring it to ruin, so there’s no point in resentment. I’ll visit from time to time so you won’t be lonely here in the castle.”

Realizing she meant to leave, the Marquis reached out and grabbed her sleeve. But Nerys coldly shook off his hand.

“Oh, I nearly forgot. If you want revenge on the Grand Duke, you’ll need to know about his secret passage. Aren’t you curious how someone like me, who’s never passed through the marquisate, suddenly appeared in the Grand Duchy?”

Yes, the Grand Duke’s weakness! He had to find it. His mind a mess of time and logic, the Marquis clung to Nerys’s words as if they were his salvation.

“Ailora. I came here through there. If you write a letter to your son and tell him, I’ll deliver it. If the Grand Duke moves in and out without passing through the marquisate, won’t that weaken your influence over the Empire?”

Ailora was a border region between the Marquisate of Tipion and an imperial domain—one of many small, unremarkable lands directly owned by the Emperor.

“I… must post… guards there…”

The Marquis, as if Nerys had given him a great boon, clenched his fist with hope.

Leaving him, Nerys walked out of the room and closed the door, her face turning fierce.

If the Marquis stationed soldiers in Ailora, the Imperial Family would be alarmed. He wouldn’t know, but there was a hidden military base there.

It was run by a small group of rangers, but stationing soldiers at the border with a non-hostile lord was a grave insult. If the Marquis began searching for a ‘secret passage’ in that area, the Imperial Family would think he was trying to get leverage over them.

Nerys’s ability was powerful, but it had the flaw of not working on someone she couldn’t make eye contact with. But so what?

With the right arrangement, she could influence even people far away in the imperial capital.

‘A gift for you, Camille.’

Her sister-in-law from a previous life would waste time hunting for spies, sending away loyal subordinates with her own hands—for nothing.

And in the process, the Marquisate of Tipion would begin its downfall.

Smiling faintly, Nerys began to walk down the dark corridor.