ICMMF | Chapter 4

Episode 4

“A child.”

Even after returning to her room, Grand Duchess Audrey couldn’t stay still.

Had anyone seen her, they might have whispered that her behavior was unbefitting of a duchess, but she didn’t notice.

Emma watched the grand duchess anxiously.

The grand duchess was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn’t even realize the maid was with her.

It had been ten years since Aicel Silva came into the ducal household.

The Silva family had brought her, saying she had healing powers—whether she became a concubine or a maid, anything was fine—and practically threw her in and left.

At the time, Grand Duchess Audrey didn’t think much of it.

Arden needed healing anyway, and the money the Silva family asked for was cheaper than summoning priests from the temple.

As Baron Silva suggested, she planned to have Aicel do maid work.

She was just a woman who’d be given an easier job than the others and would use her healing ability for the duke until she was discarded.

If she contracted sleeping sickness or something, they would treat her appropriately for the duke’s household status.

But one day, as if struck by lightning, Arden held an engagement ceremony with Aicel. Without saying a word to Audrey.

The grand duchess sank into the sofa and clenched both hands tightly.

Arden had changed since Aicel Silva entered the household.

He was always cold and fierce, but at least he used to pretend to listen to her.

After the engagement, he treated her as if she didn’t exist.

She was sure she’d be thrown out of the mansion and sent to some remote backwater of the Kreshmir territory.

Fortunately, Arden left on a subjugation mission against monsters by imperial order, and the grand duchess realized that was her only chance.

With nothing holding her back, she tormented Aicel freely.

Whether she really had healing powers or not, Arden’s health had improved, so she was no longer needed.

Even if his condition worsened again, there was always the temple—no problem at all.

At least, that’s what Audrey thought.

If only Arden hadn’t left again to find Aicel after returning from the mission.

They were engaged after all; maybe he was pretending to look for her for appearance’s sake.

He’ll be back soon.

Those thoughts shattered after six months.

Arden refused the imperial summons and kept searching for Aicel.

Could he really find her?

Would she return?

Would she tell Arden what Audrey had done?

She should’ve taken care of things properly when Aicel left.

A year passed with that anxiety.
After that, Audrey began to feel at ease.

Aicel, who had always been an annoyance in the mansion, had disappeared without a trace.

That alone was praiseworthy.

Two years passed. Then three. Audrey was finally relieved.

Arden, seemingly letting go, was spending more time in the mansion.

It was time she could start suggesting he continue the family line.

Since three years ago, he only frowned at women introduced to him and said nothing else.

But a child.

Audrey bit her lip, recalling the girl who had stared at her so directly.

“Madam, would you like some hot tea?”

Emma, standing in the corner, asked quietly.

She could guess the confusion in Audrey’s heart from her ever-changing expressions.

But Audrey didn’t react at all, as if she hadn’t even heard. Emma quietly left the room.

The grand duchess, unaware that Emma had left, recalled the girl’s face.

Her eyes were exactly like Arden’s when he was about eight.

Arden Kreshmir had entered the mansion at the age of five.

Audrey, unable to bear children, only watched as the former Grand Duke brought him.

He had stubbornly refused to take a second wife, then suddenly brought in a five-year-old.

Audrey was devastated by betrayal. Even more so because he hadn’t consulted her. Had he said even one word, she would’ve accepted it.

In those days, she had worried endlessly that the child’s mother might also come to the mansion, and she withered away day by day.

Would it have been less humiliating if she’d been thrown out?

Would it have hurt her pride less if he’d asked for a divorce?

She had enough of her own troubles, so she didn’t care for Arden.

There were plenty of people to look after him in the mansion anyway.

But Arden had approached her first.

— Your Grace, may I call you Mother?

Even now, the memory of that day made her heart tremble.

That was the first time Audrey really looked at Arden.

At five, he already resembled Evan, her husband and childhood friend.

His resemblance to Evan stirred nostalgia—and shame.

His hair and eyes, just like Evan’s, were lovely yet made her feel sick.

She turned away, imagining the woman who bore him, while pitying the child watching her anxiously.

Despite her cold rejection, Arden acted as if he had to win her approval to stay in the mansion.

The more she looked at him, the more she thought of Evan’s betrayal and the boy’s mother, and she couldn’t open her heart.

Then when Arden turned eight, he looked at her with emotionless eyes, as if he had given up everything.

He greeted her formally and never approached again.

The longing in his eyes turned cold that winter.

Just like the girl who appeared today.

“No one must know of the child.”

The grand duchess muttered anxiously.

Arden was finally starting to meet other women, no longer using Aicel as an excuse.

If he saw the child, there was no telling how his heart would change.

“Emma! Emma!”

Audrey called the maid in haste, like she was being chased.

She had to send a telegram quickly to one of Arden’s knights who kept her informed—tell him to delay his return as much as possible.

She rapidly made a plan.

If Arden returned, saw everything, and learned what had happened in the past, she would certainly be thrown out of the mansion.

So before that, she would cure Aicel quickly and send her away again.

Among a group of knights, one peeked his head out and muttered,

“Is it over?”

He trembled, clutching his sword tightly to his chest.

All he had done was watch from a distance, but he shook like he’d fought with all his might.

“Hey, don’t you know that’s a forbidden phrase?”

“Is he a newbie?”

“Who’s his senior? Teach him properly.”

Reprimands came from all sides, and the knight bowed his head.

The senior knights soon turned their eyes to their lord.

No matter how big the monster, even if it wielded magic, the only difference for their lord was how long it took to defeat.

When the head monster controlling the others fell easily to his hand, admiration broke out.

“Whhew! As amazing as always.”

“No matter how many times I see it, it’s incredible.”

The Aegis Knights cheered quietly in admiration.

Though it was called a monster subjugation, it was closer to a massacre. One completely one-sided.

Piii, pii!

A carrier hawk cried in the sky, signaling the mission’s end.

It circled once in the air, locked eyes with its master, and dove without hesitation.

As Arden raised his arm at the perfect time, the bird landed swiftly, rubbing its shiny brown head against his arm.

It had brought good news.

Since Emmet had smiled and told it to go quickly, it had to be something good for its master.

So it ignored the rabbits hopping in the field and flew without rest.

A journey that should have taken at least a week was done in four days.

Proud of itself, the black hawk puffed out its wings.

“Sel.”

Unlike the bird hoping for praise, its master’s voice was cold.

Kreee, Sel gave a hurt cry and straightened its body.

Only then did Arden take the letter tied to its leg.

“Ha.”

After reading the letter, Arden understood Sel’s reaction.

He looked at the bird again and returned to the letter.

His grip tightened unconsciously, crumpling the edge of the paper.
It was good news, but also the worst.

Sick, huh.

Emmet had said it wasn’t something to be said in a letter and spared the details.

He had only asked Arden to deal with the monsters quickly and return as fast as possible.

“Haa……”

How ill must she be to come back on her own?

Now that she was in the mansion, he could heal her no matter what it was.

Even so, something bothered him, and he crumpled the letter in his hand.

Eight years. No, soon to be nine.

It had been an exhausting, suffocating time.

“I’m returning,” Arden said briefly.