SOWD Chpater 94

Chapter 94

As the large doors opened and the head family returned from their outing, the lined-up servants bowed deeply to greet them.

Count Canyon, his wife, and their two sons headed straight upstairs without sparing the servants a single glance.

“Shall I bring some tea?”

“No, later. No one is to come to my office until I call for them.”

Count Canyon coldly dismissed the butler’s polite suggestion and headed straight to his office. Right now, tea was the least of his concerns.

As soon as the office door closed, Count Canyon turned to his family and spoke.

“You all heard at the party today, didn’t you? That Idel has secured a position in the household of Count Chrysus.”

“People wouldn’t stop pestering me with questions about it—it was annoying to no end.”

The Countess clicked her tongue as she removed her gloves.

Tonight, for the first time in a long while, the entire family had attended a party together. After Lancaster Duke’s attempt at independence failed, they had kept a low profile for about a year. But they finally deemed it safe enough to accept the invitation from the old noble faction.

However, despite their careful attendance, they found themselves the subject of rather awkward attention.

“It’s been a while, Count Canyon. But if you’re thinking of siding with the Emperor’s faction, you needn’t have attended at all.”

At this sudden and hostile remark, Count Canyon had tensed up.

“W-What do you mean? I have always been, and still am, a member of the old noble faction!”

“Then why have you allowed Idel to assist that mercenary?”

“What are you talking about?”

Seeing the puzzled expressions on Count Canyon and his family’s faces, the host realized they were completely unaware of Idel’s recent activities.

And so, they proceeded to explain everything in detail—perhaps more than necessary.

Idel had successfully managed Laszlo’s first party as the butler of the Chrysus household. She had even danced the first dance with him.

“So the reports from the informant assigned to Idel were true. When I heard she had become a butler in the Chrysus household, I dismissed it as nonsense and scolded the informant for making absurd claims….”

William, the eldest son, shook his head.

Jeffrey, the second son, struck the armrest of his chair in frustration.

“Idel must have completely forgotten the honor of nobility. Even if her noble status was stripped away, how could she lower herself to serve some mercenary?”

The Countess, Ludmila, also looked displeased.

“Even if we cut ties with her, everyone still knows she was once our daughter. This will come up at every party from now on. How can we live with such disgrace?”

But Count Canyon saw things differently.

He glanced at his indignant family and smirked.

“Why are you all so angry? This is an opportunity from the heavens.”

“Huh? What do you mean, an opportunity?”

Truthfully, when he first heard that Idel was working as a butler for Count Chrysus, he had been furious. Just imagining her bowing before that arrogant Laszlo felt like a stain on their family’s honor.

But after listening to the various conversations at the party tonight, his perspective changed.

“We can use Idel to establish connections with Winblair.”

“What do you mean, Father?”

William looked confused, and Count Canyon’s smile turned sly.

“The Winblair faction is desperate to gather information on that mercenary. Apparently, he’s extremely cautious about leaking information. But if Idel is his household’s butler, she must know things no one else does.”

“That… that makes sense. But will Idel listen to us?”

“And if she doesn’t? She owes us for feeding and raising her! It’s time she repaid that debt!”

Count Canyon snapped, his temper flaring. Seeing William flinch, he realized he had gotten too worked up and let out a chuckle.

“She has nowhere else to turn in this world. As long as we handle this well, it’ll be easy to persuade her. She’s not stupid—she’ll soon realize where she needs to stand to survive.”

Although William and Jeffrey still looked uneasy, Count Canyon had no doubt that Idel was still within his grasp. After all, the Idel he knew had always been the obedient daughter who met his expectations.

---

“Butler, you have a letter.”

A maid approached Idel, handing over an envelope delivered by a messenger.

Lately, curiosity about Idel had grown, and a few people had reached out under the pretense of past acquaintance.

Assuming this was another such letter, Idel glanced over it casually.

“Who is it from this time?”

Idel casually flipped the envelope to check the sender, but the moment she saw the name, her face stiffened.

Holding her breath, she couldn’t take her eyes off the writing on the envelope.

“Butler… is something wrong? Was it delivered to the wrong person?”

“N-No, it’s fine.”

Snapping out of her daze, Idel quickly shook her head.

“Dustin Canyon.”

There was no way she could forget that name, written in an all-too-familiar handwriting.

“Dina! Before you gave me this letter, did anyone else see it?”

“No! I brought it straight to you as soon as I received it from the messenger.”

“Alright. Thank you.”

Forcing a smile, Idel tried to act natural as she turned toward her room.

Her demeanor remained, as always, impeccable—polite, graceful, and composed. But her mind was in turmoil.

“Why would my father send me a letter? Why now…?”

Ever since she was married off to the Lancaster family, no one from the Canyon household had ever inquired about her well-being—not even once. And after she became a prisoner of war? Even less so.

On her way to the capital, she had even heard that the Canyon family had formally renounced all ties to her.

Besides, the Dustin she knew was not the kind of man to send letters just to exchange pleasantries.

“Something feels off… But what else could they possibly want from me now? …No. Calm down. It might not be anything serious.”

Holding on to a fragile hope, Idel locked her door and tore open the envelope.

Inside was a single sheet of paper.

The letter began with, “Idel, my child,” and continued with an insincere greeting: “From what I hear, you seem to be doing well.”

From there, it launched into a long-winded explanation of how dire the Canyon family’s circumstances had become.

**”…Your brothers and I are struggling day and night to restore our family, but our position remains as fragile as a lone sailboat adrift in the vast sea.

As a daughter of the Canyon bloodline, I’m sure you, too, are concerned for our family’s fate. But since I assume you may hesitate to reach out due to your current circumstances, I am writing first.

In any case, I hope we can meet soon and talk.”**

The letter wasn’t particularly long, yet Idel found herself rereading it, unable to fully process what she had just seen.

Then, as if searching for something she had missed, she flipped the letter over and even checked inside the envelope.

But there was nothing else.

“So they expect me to help them now?”

What had started as disbelief was now hardening into certainty. Her hands trembled as she clutched the letter.

“I was sold off as an old duke’s second wife for the sake of their precious family! When that duke’s rebellion failed, I was left to rot as a prisoner of war, and they did nothing to help me! And now… they still think they can use me?”

Her trembling hands soon gave way to her whole body shaking.

A scorching heat surged from within her, rising to her eyes in the form of tears.

At first, she was confused about what this feeling was. But as she ruled out every other emotion, only one name remained.

Fury.

This was pure, unfiltered rage.

“How can a person be like this? How can someone who raised me be so…!”

Idel shut her eyes tightly.

She took a deep breath, trying to cool her head.

Crying and beating her chest wouldn’t make her father feel even a shred of her anger or resentment.

“No… now that I think about it, this isn’t even surprising. To him, Lin and I were nothing more than tools for securing political marriages.”

She remembered all too well the words her father would hurl at them when he was in a foul mood.

“Never forget the grace of being raised despite being useless girls. You must dedicate everything to marrying into the Four Great Houses. Do you understand?”

Otherwise, he saw them as nothing but parasites.

That was the kind of man he was. There was no way a little hardship would have changed him.

But the situation wasn’t the same as before.

“Because I have changed.”

 

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