CHAPTER~07
Reading the sinking atmosphere, Mikhail lifted the corner of his lips in a sly smile.
The Frezen Decart he knew was a cold, terrifying man who never showed emotion even when a blade was at his neck.
So seeing the expressionless man’s brows visibly furrowed was more than enough to spark his curiosity.
Mikhail spoke excitedly.
“Why? Is your heart racing from the unexpected reunion? If you want, I can bring her to you. Ah, though I can’t guarantee her life.”
And at that very moment—
A sharp blade was at Mikhail’s throat in the blink of an eye.
The speed was so insane he couldn’t even tell when the sword had been drawn.
“Mind your words, Your Highness.”
“Haha! You’re probably the only man in the Empire who tells me to shut up.”
“An honor indeed.”
Mikhail raised both hands and stepped back as if used to this.
A few strands of his hair fell lightly to the floor.
“It’s a joke, a joke! Still, put the sword away. Even though I cherish you, you could be arrested for attempting to kill a royal.”
If he joked like this again, it might not be just hair—his whole head could go flying.
The thought suddenly gave Mikhail chills.
Because no matter how close they were, Frezen was more than capable of doing it.
Mikhail grumbled while staring at the pitiful strands of hair on the floor.
“Ah. What a waste, every strand is precious these days. My annoying brother’s stressing me out and making my hair fall more than usual.”
“If you wish, I can just shave you bald. I’ll gladly cut off each useless strand.”
“Doesn’t that wording sound wrong? Especially at night. And between two men.”
“……”
Frezen’s eyes flashed with murderous intent at the endless teasing.
“If you keep spouting nonsense, I will shove this sword into your mouth.”
Feeling the lethal intent, Mikhail forced a nervous laugh as cold sweat formed.
Truly, he was endlessly serious.
Only after Mikhail nodded and stepped back did Frezen finally lower his sword.
And surprisingly, the one who broke the silence that followed was Frezen.
“……And to be precise, I didn’t abandon her. I was dumped.”
“Haha. Sure, sure. But who would believe that? It’s practically turning one’s back on the Duke of Decart.”
“……”
“If what you said is true, then she’s no ordinary woman. I mean Countess Leella.”
Frezen didn’t bother to refute and remained silent.
He simply glared at the night sky, feeling suffocated by something he couldn’t explain.
‘No! It’s not like that! That child… she’s not what you think. She’s just my niece I temporarily took in!’
Frezen’s mind was still tangled in chaos.
Ever since reuniting with her, it felt as though his head was filled with fog.
“Did you check what I asked you to look into, Your Highness?”
“Wow. You really are the only one in the Empire who uses me as an errand boy.”
“You flatter me.”
Mikhail pulled something out of his inner pocket and handed it over.
Under the moonlight, the act of exchanging something secretly in the dead of night looked terribly significant.
“Really now, should you treat your only friend this harshly?”
“You found it rather quickly.”
It was information about Evlyen Leella.
He had requested it from Mikhail the moment he arrived at the Imperial Palace.
“Well, when something interests me, I spare no time.”
“……Are you implying my ex-wife interests you?”
Frezen’s eyes sharpened dangerously at those words.
He clearly thought Mikhail was interested in Evlyen.
Feeling the sudden murderous aura, Mikhail hurriedly corrected himself.
“For the record, I’m not interested in other men’s women, even if they’re divorced. And she’s not exactly my type.”
“Why not?”
Frezen asked back with the most incredulous expression he had ever shown.
“So that’s what bothered you?”
Instead of answering, Mikhail burst into laughter and shook his head.
He was always overly devoted in the strangest ways.
He still couldn’t understand how a man who adored his wife so much ended up divorced.
Well, they must have had their own reasons.
Shrugging it off, Mikhail continued casually.
“To add one thing, there really isn’t much information about the Leella family. They’ve always been extremely secretive.”
“……”
“And thanks to a certain family eliminating everyone related to the Leellas, the little information that existed has disappeared entirely.”
Frezen’s expression darkened even further at those words.
Mikhail twisted the knife.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t know? What your family did to the Leella family.”
“……I know. Roughly.”
“Roughly isn’t enough. They were vile. If I were her, I’d have been fed up too.”
With the scolding continuing, Frezen couldn’t even raise his head.
Guilt weighed heavily on his shoulders.
The truth was, he had no idea what his family had done to her all those years.
He had been away for years because of constant military deployments.
And after the divorce, the war had left him physically and mentally worn out for several more years.
Even so, he feared anything he said would sound like an excuse, so he chose silence.
“Anyway, just know I worked very hard to get this information.”
“Are you bragging?”
“Think of it as a complaint. But in exchange, you must do whatever favor I ask.”
“……Yes, I will.”
To lighten the mood, Mikhail playfully handed him the attached documents.
Frezen looked down quietly, then lifted his head at the next words.
“So you really think that child is yours?”
“I’m not sure.”
“They say a man’s instinct is as sharp as a woman’s intuition, but still—be cautious. Don’t act emotionally.”
With uncharacteristic seriousness, Mikhail finished speaking and went back inside.
Finally left alone, Frezen let out a heavy sigh as if he had been holding it in.
‘What a shame. I wasn’t your enemy. I was your wife.’
He shouldn’t have said things like “enemy” to his wife whom he reunited with after five years.
The expression she had given him lingered like a wound on his conscience.
And Mela’s voice calling him “Daddy?” still echoed endlessly in his ears.
Her pale skin and chubby cheeks—
She was adorable enough to bite.
The child looked no more than four or five years old.
Wait… if that’s her age…
As he pondered deeply, the memory of that unforgettable day suddenly resurfaced.
“It must have been that night.”
Frezen murmured into his hand, his cheeks faintly blushing.
Bathed in moonlight, he slowly recalled that night.
About five years ago—the intense first night that ended with the first broken bed in the history of the Decart family.
* * *
“Ugh!”
My sleep felt restless, and sure enough, I ended up having a nightmare.
I shot upright and gasped for breath.
It was a dream I never wanted to remember.
“Of all things, that day had to appear in my dream…”
To be precise, it was from when I married Frezen.
The exhausting struggle of appeasing the picky elder nobles and enduring their sharp gazes resurfaced vividly as a nightmare.
I shook my head desperately to escape the remnants of the dream.
For me to dream something like that, the unexpected reunion with Frezen must have hit harder than I thought.
As I stretched my stiff body, I soon heard a tapping sound.
Something was knocking on the window.
Turning my gaze, I saw a black messenger bird tapping with its beak.
Brightening, I rushed to the window.
“It finally arrived.”
The moment I took the letter from its beak, the bird vanished with a soft pop.
I unfolded the letter and checked its contents.
[Auction registration complete.
One request to purchase.]
“As expected, no one recognizes the value of that ore yet.”
I didn’t sell the Argenta ore to a merchant but registered it at the auction house.
The Marquis of Lopenter wouldn’t realize the ore’s value until much later in the future.
With Kanna’s help, he sold it to a merchant from the Western Continent for an outrageous price.
Thanks to that, the Marquis gained not only fame but immense wealth.
It was the definition of investment success.
But in my possession, I only had a single piece of Argenta ore.
Mela’s bag had multiple pieces, but only one was actually useful.
So the reason I registered it wasn’t to sell it immediately but to lure a merchant from the Western Continent.
My current goal was to purchase the mine where Argenta ore was produced.
But no matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t stop wondering who specifically handed that ore to Mela.
“……Who could it be, really?”
If they truly knew the future like I suspected, they might become an excellent ally.
Just as I was lost in thought—
Loud footsteps boomed from the hallway.
“C-countess!”
Then the door burst open without permission and a maid rushed in.
She was panting hard as if she had sprinted all the way here.
“What is it?”
I set the letter on the desk and approached her.
Barely catching her breath, the maid handed me a newspaper, her lips trembling urgently.
“Th-this… huff… I think you should see this article, Countess!”
An article? All of a sudden?
I took the newspaper with a puzzled expression, but only for a moment.
“What is this…?”
The moment I saw the article plastered across the front page, I couldn’t help but be horrified.
