Chapter 33
“I will make sure to warn all the employees.”
“What is that anyway?”
Cassis pointed at Logan’s hand with his chin.
“Ah, I have been investigating the relationship between Count Venion and the royal family of Cesia, as you mentioned before. We also investigated Prince Lionel Cesia.”
Logan set the thick report he was holding on the desk.
Cassis went through the report while he briefly explained.
“As you know, Count Venion has been in trade for generations. It is said that the current Count Venion especially had a lot of exchanges with the kingdom of Cesia.”
“It must be because of the magic item. Since they have been in high demand within the empire recently.”
“Yes, so it seems that there were exchanges with the Cesia royal family.”
Cassis flicked the front page of the report with his finger.
“Lionel Cesia?”
“Prince Lionel came to study at the Imperial Academy 14 years ago. Then he went back to the kingdom eight years ago ahead of graduation.”
“What is the reason?”
“No official reason is known, but…”
Logan flipped through the report Cassis was holding and pointed to the location that contained the information he was asking about.
“There are rumors that King Cesia has imprisoned Prince Lionel in the royal palace.”
Cassis, who was reading the report, looked up at Logan in surprise.
“Imprisoned?”
“Yes. In fact, Prince Lionel didn’t appear publicly for about a year after that. And around this time, there is a record of Count Venion visiting the Kingdom of Cesia.”
Prince Lionel who was imprisoned and Count Venion who visited Cesia Kingdom.
Perhaps Count Venion might have learned then that Lionel was Ruth’s real father.
Does that mean that Lionel Cesia is Ruth’s real father?
“This is a story that has nothing to do with it, but I heard something happened in the year after he disappeared, and when he came back, his hair was white.”
“Hair?”
“Yes. He had a good physique, but was said to have lost a lot of weight and was very emaciated. So there were rumors that he was tortured for attempting treason at one time, but seeing that he was not executed, it seems like a rumor.”
Upon hearing the story, Cassis’ face became serious.
He could guess what he was thinking, but Logan took a few steps back without further comment.
‘Imprisoned.’
Cassis took note of that; all this time he’d thought Lionel had run away to avoid responsibility.
But imprisoned? If that statement is true, it’s not that he doesn’t want to come back, but maybe he can’t come back.
However, Cassis soon crumpled the paper with Lionel’s name on it.
‘What does it matter?’
Whatever the reason, Julia died giving birth to Ruth alone. If he had been in Lionel’s situation, he would have escaped and returned to Julia’s side no matter what happened.
I didn’t like what happened after that. He said that he apparently reappeared in public after a year.
Then shouldn’t he have sent a letter to the Adelhard family asking about the child?
The only news was that Lionel had abandoned Ruth.
“Lionel Cesia…”
He was the worst man ever. Cassis’ anger toward him grew even more.
“What should I do?”
“Find out if there is a curse on the Sesia royal family. You must not let anyone know that you are investigating.”
“Understood.”
Logan bowed his head and went outside. Cassis looked at the crumpled report, then lit a match and set it on fire.
The paper with Lionel Cesia written on it burned in an instant.
Like his hair, which he said had been counted in one year.
* * *
“Evelia, she’s gone crazy.”
Countess Venion wept sadly in front of Count Venion.
After meeting Evelia at the Adelhard Mansion a while ago, the Countess was in great shock.
Evelia. The child who had been living like a mouse in the Venion mansion, and who had always crawled in front of them, stood up stiffly and glared at her.
She even threw Countess Venion out, saying that she was an uninvited guest.
Besides, she’s threatening her to send the maid, Annie!
No wonder the Countess’s pride was crushed, having had Evelia under her feet for over a decade.
‘How dare that thing become the fiancée of the Duke, and you don’t even know your status! Who prepared that place!’
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t relieve my anger.
Countess Venion pretended to cry even louder.
“Can’t you do something about it? Are you going to let her be arrogant?”
“Why don’t you stop crying and stay still? My head is ringing.”
Although he said it sternly, Count Venion’s thoughts were not very different from Countess.
He clenched his fists and recalled a letter from Cassis Adelhard not too long ago.
It had been him, Count Venion, who had taken the initiative when they had first discussed Ruth’s father.
Cassis seemed furious with him, but obediently obeyed him. Perhaps that’s why he was engaged to Evelia.
However, he suddenly sent a message saying that he would exclude Venion from the marriage. He wouldn’t even send dowry! It was nonsense.
It was clear that Evelia had said something in the middle.
‘I thought I raised her to be docile and obedient.’
I couldn’t believe I’d raised a tiger cub.
“There is still a way.”
Ever since she was young, Evelia had one weakness. Count Venion quickly gestures to his aide.
“Get her.”
If she sees her mother, Evelia will fall in front of him again.
* * *
After their first meeting, Aria begged Samuel to visit Adelhard’s house every day.
Samuel, who had no choice but to follow his sister, greeted Evelia with a shy face whenever he entered the mansion every day.
“Aria said she wanted to come again, so we came again. I apologize.”
Evelia doesn’t mind every time he greets her like that.
‘No matter how I think about it, it looks different.’
No matter how many times she’d seen Samuel as the head of Sierro and Samuel as Aria’s brother, it was a different person.
It felt more playful and soft when he was Aria’s older brother.
“No. Even the young master said he wanted to see Miss Aria. Come on in.”
Ruth, who found Aria, greeted her with a flushed face.
“Aria, welcome!”
“I didn’t come here to see you. I came to see Eve and while I met her, I came to meet you.”
Unlike Ruth, who was like a dog wagging its tail, Aria said something today.
‘She came because she wanted to see Ruth.’
Evelia, who at first suspected that Aria really wasn’t interested in Ruth, now knew the truth.
Even without Samuel’s explanation, Aria’s cheeks, which were so pale that the blue veins could be seen, became lively. Her eyes at Ruth also lit up.
‘It’s fortunate that Ruth wasn’t hurt by Aria’s attitude.’
Ruth continued to be kind to Aria, befitting his personality that constantly approached even the chilly Evelia. He must have known instinctively that Arya liked him.
“By the way, Aria, why do you call Lady Evelia Eve?”
“Because she’s Eve!”
“Hmm.”
Ruth, who sat Aria on the sofa, looked at Evelia with a longing look on his face.
“Why do you look at me like that?”
“Can I call you Eve too?”
Ruth’s eyes sparkled. He looks like he’ll cry if she refuses.
However, since there was no reason to refuse, Evelia agreed.
“Yes, you can call me that.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
The child was excited and started calling Evelia’s name.
“Eve!”
“Yes.”
“Eve!”
Eve, Eve, Eve. The child repeated the word like a parrot with only one word he knew.
It was only when Aria, who had heard it enough, said, “Stop it because it’s noisy,” Ruth kept his mouth shut.
This was the fourth such peaceful yet noisy encounter.
Watching Aria and Ruth greet each other, Samuel cautiously speaks to Evelia.
“Lady Venion, can we talk alone for a moment?”
Instead of the embarrassing face he used to make every time he came to the Adelhard Mansion, his face had a calm expression.
Evelia noticed at once.
‘You brought the information.’
It was clear that he had found out the whereabouts of her mother, who she had asked Samuel not long ago.
