Cracks slowly began to appear on Fernan’s innocent face. He had a gut feeling that something was definitely wrong.
Julia had an expression he had never seen before, and was saying something completely unexpected.
Fernan, who was trying to figure out what had happened to her, immediately took note of her shaking expression.
He slowly blinked, revealing his emotionless face.
“It’s up to me to decide whether to end this marriage or not.”
His quiet eyes gazed clearly at Julia.
“I’m sorry, but you don’t have a choice.”
“… … .”
At a reaction different from his expectations, Julia’s calm face gradually cracked.
She had no idea why he was suddenly like this. Her mind was filled with questions.
“… You plan to divorce me someday. “Then, doesn’t it matter at any time?”
Julia looked straight into Fernan’s eyes and tried to understand his intentions.
But nothing was revealed on his cool face.
Fernan, who was looking down at her in silence, soon took off his outer robe and slowly wrapped it around her shoulders.
As she shrank her body, her low voice fell into his ear.
“Why is this happening all of a sudden?”
“that… “That’s what I want to ask.”
Julia tried to sound as calm as possible as she unfamiliarly touched the large clothes draped over her shoulders.
“You always said I was annoying.”
No matter how much she tried to approach him and resolve the misunderstanding, he never gave Julia a single piece of his heart.
Julia no longer had the strength to bear his cold gaze. she had enough of being hurt so far.
Julia, with a deeply pensive gaze, continued her words.
“So, I will do whatever your highness wants. I will divorce you and leave this castle… .”
At that moment, Fernan reached out to her face.
As her hand lightly removed the gauze from around her cheek, Julia swallowed her words and hurriedly covered her face.
Fernan grabbed her hand as if taking it from her and pulled her towards him.
“… ah!”
The distance between the two of them narrowed in an instant, and a faint hint of murder appeared in Fernan’s eyes as he looked down at her.
The scar on her cheek, which was colorful, was most likely a trace of someone stabbing her with a knife.
He gently swept her face with his razor-sharp gaze and muttered lowly.
“say. “Who did this to you?”
Julia avoided his gaze with an embarrassed expression.
“… “That’s not what’s important right now.”
“If you don’t want to talk, I’ll find out myself.”
Fernan turned around, leaving Julia behind, she quickly walked after him.
Ceaser Fernan was going to interrogate everyone in the castle to find out what kind of bastard did it.
Julia looked at him blankly for a moment as he walked away, and then belatedly followed him.
It was only then that he stopped when her slender hand grabbed his arm.
“Don’t question people. “The servants are not like that.”
“Then who else did it?”
Fernan didn’t make any expression, but the veins on his chin showed signs of strength.
Julia didn’t notice the figure and just asked back with her complicated eyes.
“Speaking of… “What are you going to do?”
Biting her lower lip, Julia muttered softly.
“Why is my injury so important to you?”
She simply could not understand this situation. The reason he avoids talking about divorce and the reason he is so oversensitive.
It was strange that he only cared about these things.
On a topic I don’t like.
He said he would do whatever he wanted, but now she was ready to completely break up with him.
Even at moments like these, Julia was a little angry when things didn’t go as she wanted.
“you… .”
Fernan paused as if he was holding back something, then opened his mouth again.
“I’m angry that you got hurt.”
“why?”
Julia’s eyes were straight as always when she asked that question. The early morning sun gradually began to rise behind her.
The dim light filled Fernan’s eyes.
Even though He was mad at her at this moment, Fernan at the same time wanted to hold her in his arms.
Fernan narrowed his eyebrows and lowered his gaze, as if he couldn’t handle the rising emotions.
“… “Damn it.”
He muttered softly and walked away from her as if running away. Julia looked at his receding figure in confusion.
She stood still for a long time, caressing only the robe left on her shoulder.
* * *
“Fortunately, the wound is almost healed now.”
Melissa sighed her relief. The wound on Julia’s cheek was now only faintly visible.
She tried to tell Melissa that the wound was from hitting something, but Melissa didn’t seem to believe her.
“Your Highness, do you have anything else to take with you?”
“Yes, this is all I need.”
Julia slightly lifted the pendant around her neck.
She was planning to visit the Ilion Temple where Mateus was today.
She worried that she was causing him trouble, but Mateus was the only person she could turn to for help at the moment.
She believed that Mateus would definitely solve this confusing and complicated situation. It was an instinctive belief.
After that day, Julia visited Fernan several more times. But she only got a firm answer from him.
‘I have no intention of getting a divorce, so it would be better to give up.’
He was the one who wanted to divorce from the beginning, so why did He change his mind now?
Even though he already has another woman. On the topic of finding out about that woman and her new wife. How much of an intention is this to tease me? .
Julia, who came out of the room with a gloomy expression on her face, glanced at the knight who for some reason was standing guard in front of her door.
“What’s going on?”
The driver politely nodded and answered her question.
“Your Majesty has ordered you to stay by His Highness side.”
Julia, who was staring blankly at the knight, asked curiously.
“Why such an order all of a sudden… .”
“The order was to immediately kill anyone who tries to harm Her Highness.”
Julia stood with a suspicious look on her face and then passed the knight without saying a word.
She had spoken to the coachman in advance, and as soon as she left the doorway she saw the carriage standing there.
Julia, who was just about to get into her carriage, sighed and looked behind her.
It was because the driver standing behind her, as if it were natural, was annoying and uncomfortable.
“Do you want to keep following me?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Julia, whose expression hardened at the firm answer, got into the carriage without saying a word.
After some time had passed after the carriage departed, Julia slightly opened the window.
A knight riding on his horse, riding close to the carriage, immediately caught her eye.
She felt frustrated because she felt like she was being watched, but she couldn’t question the knight. That knight would just be following his orders.
She, Julia, gently lowered the curtain on one side of the window.
She had never had anything like an escort before. So She had no idea that having someone following behind her felt so tiring.
* * *
Inside the mansion’s office. Behind the desk littered with documents, Fernan stood still, lost in thought.
‘That day, the only guest who visited the Grand Duchy was His Excellency the Marquis of Elodie.’
Remembering Bennett’s words, Fernan clapped and broke the quill he was holding.
Given the circumstances, there was a high possibility that the wounds on Julia’s face were inflicted by the Marquis.
It would have been pointless to tear him to death right away, but the question of why the Marquis did such a thing to his daughter was not resolved.
The Marquis was clearly a father who cared for Julia very much. At least that’s how he always acted in front of Fernan.
As he was immersed in his thoughts with his forehead covered, Julia’s voice naturally came to his mind.
‘We’re getting divorced.’
At the same time, her red, swollen cheeks came to mind and his uncontrollable anger rose.
“… Damn it.”
Fernan, who was trying to suppress his boiling anger, raised his head at the sound of the door opening.
Lloyd entered the office, bowed abruptly, and then reported.
“Your Highness, as you ordered, we have found several employees who worked at the Marquis’ residence in the past… .”
Lloyd trailed off his words, looking somewhat hesitant.
He said, “I met the daughter of the chief physician who used to work for the lord of the manor a long time ago, and from what she said… It seems Her Highness is not the legitimate offspring of the lord.”
