Yuan was a minor character who briefly appeared later in the story as an agent of an underground organization.
He was depicted as a ruthless intelligence operative with a disfiguring scar across his face. It was hinted that he once belonged to a noble beastfolk family.
The reason he remained memorable was because of his death scene.
Longing for his already deceased younger sister, he had died with a look of resentment, saying, “I wanted to avenge you…”—unable even to close his eyes as he passed.
Now that she thought about it, the original novel did mention that despite his rough appearance, Yuan’s hobby and specialty was handcrafting small items.
Originally, it had been his younger sister’s hobby, but he continued it after her death, almost as a way of honoring her memory.
‘I never even thought they could be the same person…!’
In the original novel, Yuan had such a ferocious appearance that it was hard to imagine him as the intelligent and gentle-looking man standing before her now.
“It’s so delicate and pretty, I thought it was something you bought.”
“I’m flattered.”
Perhaps feeling shy at having it seem like he was boasting about his sister, Yuan carefully packed away the keychain and thanked Railey again.
“It’s something very meaningful to me. Thank you for finding it. If you ever need my help in the future, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Oh, it was nothing! Although… I might end up relying on you a lot whenever something comes up that I’m not familiar with in the estate.”
Railey joked, and Yuan smiled softly.
“It is my pleasure to assist you, Young Madam.”
Even looking at him now, it was still hard to associate this face with the cold-blooded agent from the original story.
After parting ways with Yuan and returning to her quarters, Railey felt a slight unease.
‘Yuan’s younger sister… is supposed to die.’
Thinking back to the original novel—
Yuan originally worked for a noble beastfolk family, but after his sister was kidnapped, he quit his job and turned to the underworld.
In his desperate attempt to gather ransom money to save her, he engaged in all kinds of dirty work. But, in truth, his sister had already been killed long before.
Driven by grief and a desire for revenge, Yuan’s character often cooperated with and betrayed the protagonists, making him a brutal and complicated figure.
‘The problem is, I don’t know whether the kidnapping will happen tomorrow or years from now.’
It wasn’t like she could bluntly say, “You should be extra careful with your sister’s safety.”
‘I’ll just stay vigilant within the scope of what I can do.’
After all, it would be truly tragic for the young man who smiled so warmly when talking about his sister to end up becoming a cold-hearted agent after losing her.
***
Later that evening.
While resting in her quarters, Railey was guided by a servant to the dining hall for dinner.
She was nervous, knowing she would have to face her husband, Serge, and her father-in-law, Walter, properly for the first time since their brief earlier meeting.
However, when she entered the hall, she found, quite unexpectedly, that only Walter was sitting at the table.
“Good evening, Your Grace.”
“Yes, good evening to you too, my daughter-in-law.”
Walter smiled warmly as he greeted her. He seemed genuinely delighted just to be sharing a meal with Railey.
“Will Young Master Serge be joining us a bit later?”
“Ah, no. He’s feeling a little unwell, so I’m afraid it’ll just be the two of us for dinner tonight.”
“Oh, I see.”
“But he did send a message—he promised to join us for breakfast tomorrow.”
Railey suspected Serge wasn’t truly sick.
Most likely, he had transformed into his fox form again and was unable to appear before her.
Of course, since her role was to act as the oblivious daughter-in-law, she smiled as if she noticed nothing strange.
“I hope Young Master Serge recovers quickly.”
“Yes, I’ll be sure to pass along your kind words.”
Walter responded but let his eyebrows droop sadly.
“You’re… not disappointed, are you?”
“Disappointed?”
“Well, I was worried you might be, having to eat dinner with just me instead of Serge. I wondered if I was intruding without realizing it…”
Railey found the idea utterly unimaginable.
Considering Serge’s appallingly bad communication skills, dining alone with him would have been even more awkward.
“Not at all! Actually, I’m really looking forward to getting along well with you, Your Grace.”
“But still…”
Walter hesitated, lowering his gaze.
“You only call me ‘Your Grace’ because you find me intimidating, don’t you?”
“Pardon?”
“N-Not that I blame you! Of course it can feel awkward and uncomfortable. Even though we’re family now, until yesterday we were still strangers… It’s fine if you call me whatever feels more comfortable for you.”
At this point, he might as well have been shouting with his entire body language that he was hurt by being addressed so formally.
Railey stifled a wry smile.
“If it’s not too much… would it be alright if I called you ‘Father-in-law’ instead?”
Walter’s face immediately lit up.
“O-Of course! I’d love that!”
“Thank you. I look forward to getting along well with you, Father-in-law.”
A wide, foolishly happy grin spread across Walter’s face, looking rather mismatched with his refined, princely appearance.
‘The more I look at him, the more I realize… my father-in-law has a surprisingly adorable side.’
Though her husband Serge was absent, the meal passed pleasantly.
Unlike his extremely reserved son, Walter was a bit clumsy but an easy and comfortable person to talk to.
Walter continued chatting naturally with Railey, mixing in little bits of information about the estate.
“There’s a hall in the north where we keep a collection of artworks. If you’re interested, you should visit it sometime.”
“Yes, Father-in-law!”
“Do you happen to like jewelry, Railey?”
“Hmm, I haven’t really had the chance to wear any, so I’m not very familiar with it.”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t so much a lack of interest—her birth family had been too obsessed with selling her off to bother giving her any luxuries like jewelry.
In any case, there was no point badmouthing her natal family and throwing dirt on herself, so she brushed the topic off lightly.
“I see. Then maybe you could start taking an interest? The social season will start soon, and I’m planning to stay in the capital for a while. I thought it might be nice to visit some jewelry stores together then.”
‘Oh, right… the social season.’
Elestine was a family that deliberately kept their distance from central politics, preferring to remain isolated in the north.
However, the social season was the one exception.
During this time, noble gatherings and political meetings took place in the capital, and as the lord of a territory, Walter couldn’t afford to ignore them.
Still, Railey didn’t feel right about burdening her father-in-law, who was going to the capital for business, by asking for gifts.
“Just your offer alone makes me happy! Your thoughtfulness is more than enough for me.”
Walter’s face drooped sadly again.
“Was I being too pushy…?”
“No, not at all! I’m really touched! I just didn’t want to impose on you.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Something like this would never be a burden to me.”
Faced with the endless outpouring of her father-in-law’s kindness, Railey shrank inward a little, her conscience pricking her.
‘I’m such a terrible daughter-in-law… all I’m thinking about is how to escape…’
Trying to shake off the guilt, Railey quickly changed the subject.
“Then, will you be leaving for the capital soon, Father-in-law?”
“You’ll be coming with me to the capital, too. If there’s anything you want besides jewelry, feel free to let me know.”
“…Thank you.”
Walter truly seemed desperate to do anything he could for Railey.
There was no real need to bring his young daughter-in-law along to the capital, yet he insisted.
“Will you be attending noble meetings there as well, Father-in-law?”
“Yes. Actually, the Imperial Family is putting a Core Ruby mine up for auction this time. It would be nice if we could acquire it at a reasonable price, though it’s hard to say how it’ll go.”
The Core Ruby was an extremely precious ore in this world, widely used as a key component in countless magical devices.
Naturally, everyone coveted the Core Ruby mines—and it seemed the Elestine family was no exception.
“I see. I hope it works out!”
“With your support, I feel like it will! Still, talking about boring business matters over dinner isn’t very fun, is it? Let’s switch to something more interesting.”
Walter’s effort to be considerate made Railey smile, even as guilt pricked at her heart.
Even though she was just planning to run away eventually, she still wanted to get along well with him until that day came.
***
Outside the Viscount Vitence residence, heavy rain poured down relentlessly.
Clicking his tongue as he looked out the window, Viscount Vitence turned to his wife and asked.
“Do you think that girl Railey is managing alright at the Duke’s estate? I worry she might do something to fall out of the Duke of Elestine’s favor.”
Though he claimed it was ‘worry,’ there was no affection in his tone.
“No news so far. We did send Margaret, her old nanny, after her. She’ll keep the girl under control in our place.”
“She had better. This is finally the one time that useless brat might actually serve a purpose!”
He lit his cigar, a sinister gleam flashing in his eyes.
“It’s the perfect opportunity to extract as much information about the Elestine Duchy as possible.”
