Chapter 05
“Pardon?”
Lowell, who had been hastily apologizing under the assumption that the Duke was angry, froze.
“I know you still don’t accept the matter of the broken engagement.”
“…Your Highness.”
Kaillans quietly fixed his gaze on Lowell’s amber eyes.
Lowell was his most trusted subordinate—his right hand. Even if he knew everything, he would carry the secret to his grave.
But… Kaillans no longer wanted to think about it, nor even speak of it.
“Now that my revenge is complete, I don’t want to think about it anymore. So, Lowell, erase everything related to Lady Blant from your mind as well.”
Kaillans drew a clear line—do not think of it any further.
Though Lowell was curious what “revenge” meant, he only lowered his head in silence.
“…Yes, Your Highness.”
From now on, once the engagement was broken, whatever happened to Lady Blant was no longer his concern. He forced down the discomfort in his chest.
“Leave.”
Seeing Lowell’s heavy expression, Kaillans gave a short sigh and dismissed him.
“I will take my leave.”
As Lowell left the office, the butler spoke.
“Your Highness, Sir Rowus has arrived.”
“Let him in.”
Deryl entered the office and gave the proper knightly salute.
“Rise.”
“I have carried out Your Highness’s order. This is the broken engagement agreement signed by Lady Blant.”
Deryl placed the document on the desk immediately after standing.
Kaillans’s gaze landed on the pure white envelope.
The broken engagement agreement. He had prepared it himself and ordered Deryl to bring back her signature.
It could have ended face-to-face, as a final closure, but he did not want to see Ariel’s face—she would likely still be longing for the Blant Marquis.
He did not want to see her grief-stricken expression resembling his enemy’s face, even for a moment.
So he had wanted Deryl to handle it quickly and bring it back. He wanted a clean break as fast as possible.
And yet… why did he feel so disgusted?
He had thought he would feel relieved upon seeing the signed document, as if a long-standing weight had been lifted.
But contrary to expectations, his mood sank sharply.
“…She signed without protest?”
“Yes, she signed immediately without saying anything.”
“Immediately…?”
So she didn’t throw a fit refusing to sign.
His reason told him that should be a relief.
But his emotions were already at rock bottom.
He was the one who had let go of her hand, and yet it felt as if she had been the one to abandon him.
Did he want her to cling and refuse to sign?
Kaillans let out a bitter laugh at himself.
He was the one who had driven her into a corner where she couldn’t even cling.
And yet he didn’t even understand what he had wanted from her.
But it’s over now.
Kaillans reached for the agreement. He placed it deep inside the second drawer of his desk, as if burying it.
“Good work. Go rest.”
“…Your Highness.”
Deryl hesitated instead of leaving.
“Do you have something else to say?”
At Kaillans’s question, Deryl parted his lips slightly.
He was unsure whether it was right to speak.
If he thought only of his lord, he should stay silent. But the words Lady Blant had specifically asked to be delivered weighed on him.
Even now, though things had ended this way, Deryl held no ill will toward her. In fact, he had rather liked her—he believed her upright character suited the position of Grand Duchess.
He decided to close his eyes just this once.
“…Lady Blant asked me to deliver a message to Your Highness.”
“Ariel did?”
“Yes.”
“…Speak.”
“She said: ‘I believed your promise until the very end.’ She asked me to tell you that.”
Kaillans’s previously expressionless face wavered for a moment.
Without realizing it, he clenched his hand.
“…Leave.”
Deryl bowed and left, glancing once at Kaillans’s tightly clenched fist.
Once he was gone, the office was left in silence.
Kaillans exhaled deeply.
“Promise…”
He immediately understood what she meant.
The memory of the day he proposed surfaced vividly in his mind.
A vow made on one knee—that he would stay by her side until death.
“…You should have thrown a tantrum instead.”
If she had lashed out, he could have believed she had fallen into ruin alongside him, and he would have felt relief.
But her words—that she had believed him until the end—dragged him into a suffocating mire.
Even after he drove her into a corner, she never let go of his hand first. She honored the sacred engagement vow.
Unlike him.
“…You knew nothing.”
That’s why you could remain so noble.
If she ever learned what he had done under the guise of revenge, what expression would she make?
He had erased the evidence that could have proven the Marquis Blant’s innocence. If she knew that, could she still remain as composed as she was now?
If she learned I betrayed you… you would surely become like me too.
But Kaillans stopped himself with a faint scoff. No matter how much he tried to imagine Ariel collapsing into vengeance, he couldn’t picture it.
Even if she were in his place, she would likely choose a different path. She was not someone who would stake everything on foolish revenge.
“Those who resent and hate others end up destroying themselves as well, Kaill. So never fall into that abyss.”
Kaillans recalled the words Ariel had once told him long ago.
How could such a daughter come from the Blant Marquis?
He rose from his seat and walked to the window.
The vast garden of the estate came into view. It was late autumn. Fallen leaves blanketed the ground beneath the trees.
“…I will forget you.”
He would forget everything he had shared with her.
Her smile, her voice, the warmth in her gaze—he would erase it all. Time would make it so.
Then this unbearable emptiness would disappear as well.
But if… even time failed to erase it, if nothing changed even after time passed, then he…
A cold hollowness seized him.
He clenched his fist and looked up at the sky.
Dark clouds filled it, as if reflecting his own darkness. It looked like it would rain heavily at any moment.
After four days of relentless autumn rain, the skies finally cleared.
Sunlight returned after four days, strangely clashing with the still-damp earth.
Still, the sunlight felt good after so long.
But the feeling did not last.
Ariel smiled faintly at the sunlight, then lowered her lips as reality struck her.
This isn’t the time to be enjoying the sun.
She sighed deeply while looking at the scattered estate ledgers on the table.
For four days since breaking off her engagement with Kaillans, Ariel had stayed at the marquisate, assessing its condition—from finances to delayed territorial affairs and all business operations.
The result was devastating.
A severe drought had struck the territory, making tax collection impossible, and the marquisate’s largest source of income—the shipping company—had abruptly gone bankrupt overnight.
She could not understand how a shipping company that had run smoothly for over forty years had suddenly collapsed, but that was not the priority. The problem was the utterly ruined finances.
As if that weren’t enough, the accusation of treason had also been added. It would not be surprising if the Blant name disappeared from the empire entirely.
Others might have given up, thinking it was already over due to the treason charge.
But Ariel had not lost hope.
She could not give up. She had decided to trust her father.
She would uncover the truth—the injustice done to her father, and the one who framed him.
But first, she had to protect the house itself.
She was certain the Emperor would not destroy the marquisate.
Those ignorant of history might scoff, but the bond between House Blant and the imperial family was not trivial.
Pentius the Seventh—Emperor Arnold de Pentius.
Emperor Arnold had been very close to Akil Blant, then the Blant Marquis, because Akil had been the young emperor’s teacher.
Even after ascending the throne, Arnold often sought Akil’s counsel in difficult matters, and when Akil died, the Emperor attended his funeral and shed tears.
He even placed the imperial sword in the coffin, wishing the marquis eternal rest.
Declaring that as long as that sword lay in the Blant family tomb, no one would ever dare destroy the marquisate.
Of course, that was centuries ago—but the sword was still buried with the late marquis.
And if anyone knew, it would be the Emperor. It was a well-known historical episode taught to all members of the imperial family.
So the Emperor could not personally annihilate the Blant house—doing so would be an insult to the will of the Seventh Emperor.
And now that the main accused and head of the house had taken his own life…
Despite the grief, Ariel understood something—just as Kaillans had said, the marquisate had gained a chance.
A chance to survive.
