You are at the End of the Downfall

No, in fact, the apology was just an excuse; he just wanted to see her. The feelings he had desperately tried to ignore in Lusenford and only now began to acknowledge overwhelmed him to the point of fear.

He forcibly suppressed the shameless urge to rush to Kaela. This is why he had avoided and avoided again. What a fool he was.

“Kaela said ‘Thanks to you sister, things will be much easier’…”

He was so dumbfounded he could barely speak.

“She said to take good care of me?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

She handled it well. Honestly, she did very well.

Beatrice was someone gentlemen looked up to and wanted to speak with, not someone to be treated as a mere mistress. Only someone like Princess Ostein could treat her as a mistress.

But Kaela, who had braved the cold to find the Grand Duke and articulated precisely “how Lady Ravalley was infringing on the rights of the Grand Duchess, and how this situation should be resolved,” said something like this?

‘That can’t be…’

Peon’s brow furrowed even more seriously. The Grand Duke, sitting on a soft, low sofa with his long legs crossed, rested his elbow on the armrest and his chin on his hand, deep in thought.

In fact, whenever Beatrice came to Lusenford, something always happened. The sequence Peon experienced was always the same. Beatrice would come running to him in tears, or he would hear reports from the butler or the head maid.

It was always about “Kaela did this” or “Her Highness the Grand Duchess did that.” The cause was always Kaela. Then he would console Beatrice half-heartedly.

It was enough to give a casual response to her whining complaints. Then, a few days later, he would inevitably encounter the Grand Duchess, whom he had left alone because he couldn’t do anything about her.

Damn it, Beatrice would come crying and complaining again.

“Wilberk.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Lady Ravalley will come crying today.”

Sir Wilberk tensely watched the Grand Duke, who was staring into space with a cold gaze as he gave instructions. The Grand Duke paused for a moment, seemingly irritated as he spoke.

“I’ll be out in five minutes, no, three minutes, so keep the carriage waiting.”

“Yes.”

His voice simmered with anger on the verge of explosion. How amused would the Emperor be to hear this? He would undoubtedly mock the marriage between illegitimate bloodlines and the affair on top of it.

Peon was used to it, having experienced it often, but for Kaela – Kaela who was forced into an unwanted marriage – what an ordeal this must be. It would be a tremendous humiliation for the future Grand Duchess Ostein.

Sir Wilberk, who withdrew from the clearly angry but restrained Grand Duke, marveled when Lady Ravalley arrived exactly 30 minutes later.

Honestly, Peon looked as if he didn’t even want to let her into his office. He stood in front of his desk, looking at documents, whether Beatrice came in crying or not.

“Peon, I…”

“I already know what you’ve been saying outside and who you’ve been talking to. The rumors have spread everywhere.”

Beatrice, who had come prepared with a perfect conclusion – ‘I’m so hurt that the person you’re marrying treated me badly, but congratulations on your marriage, don’t forget me’ – couldn’t even begin her planned introduction. She glared at Peon, who had his back completely turned to her.

“I heard Kaela asked you to take good care of me.”

“I heard you asked her to take good care of me too.”

“I meant as a friend…”

“Kaela meant it as my fiancée. If it’s as you say, there’s no difference, so why did you come?”

Beatrice was greatly shocked by his annoyed and insincere question.

“You, are you acting like this because you’re angry that I rejected your proposal? What power do I have, how can you treat me like this?”

There’s that damned taboo again. Peon looked up at the ceiling and sighed with a helpless expression. You can’t resolve things through conversation if there’s no mutual understanding.

“The very act of coming here to complain after hearing those words is you treating yourself as a mistress, Beatrice. If you’re upset, don’t come here. You should take your mother to Ostein Duchy and apologize first.”

Beatrice was left speechless, her mouth agape. With no response, Peon finally turned to look at her.

“Didn’t the Duchess of Monde tell you? She came here to vent her anger, so I sent her back.”

While he said ‘sent her back,’ his tone was closer to ‘drove her out.’ Just like Kaela did, Peon deliberately brought up the issue of her mother, which was Beatrice’s greatest weakness right now.

“It seems you’re the only one who knows about me proposing marriage to you. That’s why your mother came to me to vent her anger.”

“How could you say that! What if someone hears?”

“Then you shouldn’t have dared to speak to the Princess either. Your mother ignores greetings, and the daughter initiates conversation, volunteering to be a mistress.”

Who would have thought such words about a mistress would come from the mouth of that gentle princess? Beatrice, who had set out to put the well-bred Kaela in her place only to be struck down, found it truly strange.

Wasn’t Kaela not that kind of person? Wasn’t she similar to Peon?

The type who thinks they’ll die if they lose their dignity, supposedly noble. A foolish girl who didn’t have the courage to confess her unrequited love, but modestly devoted herself, thinking she’d be noticed someday.

Moreover, Peon was really strange too!

“Get out, Beatrice. I’ve never had a mistress like you.”

“What?”

“I said get out. It seems your mother didn’t tell you, but I clearly said that there’s nothing between us.”

Nothing between them? Feeling repeatedly struck, Beatrice stood as Peon personally opened the door.

If he wasn’t marrying Kaela and lived completely as a stranger, he would have used his relationship with Beatrice just as Beatrice and the Emperor did. He could have thrown away all beliefs and fallen together.

But if Kaela was involved with him, that couldn’t happen.

“Leave and don’t ever come back.”

Beatrice felt Peon’s leash, which she had always held tightly, slipping from her hand.

Beatrice, who had prided herself on casually keeping women in check and finding it much more fun to play with men in high society, was on the verge of staggering from the heat rising to her head due to recent events.

Peon had ‘always’ listened to her crying, but now he was cutting her off completely as if he had died and become a different person. Of course, she had placed such a taboo, but why?

The taboo was still valid. She habitually checked it every time they met, and layered spells on top of it again and again. However, Peon didn’t seem like someone under a spell right now. It was strange, and the strangeness was frightening.

But she couldn’t let her last bit of pride crumble. Beatrice stood up abruptly, held her head high as she walked, and at the doorway, she slapped Peon’s cheek hard.

“You’ve betrayed me and Her Majesty the Empress, who has suffered all this time, for a few pennies.”

“I’ve always been a bit of a disgusting bastard.”

Beatrice was shocked to hear the noble knight nod and say such things about himself. How did Peon, who never uttered a single curse word, end up like this? He seemed like a complete stranger.

“You… you… what’s wrong with you?”

Instead of answering, Peon irritably called for Sir Wilberk.

“Wilberk!”

“Yes, Your Highness. Lady Ravalley, this way please.”

Having driven Beatrice out, Peon could accurately summarize the gossip that would circulate tomorrow. The future Grand Duchess treated the queen of high society as a mistress, and the queen quickly went to meet someone and slapped the Grand Duke’s cheek.

No matter how you look at it, the Grand Duke is the bastard, but it’s obvious that people will say the Princess and the queen of high society fought over the Grand Duke, Peon thought as he reached for alcohol in broad daylight. He kept dragging the most noble woman he knew into the mud.

The sin keeps getting deeper.