Chapter 104
Just as if she had attended the ball only to meet Lyle, Elaina stayed in the ballroom for a very brief moment before heading straight home. On the way back, Lyle and Elaina didn’t even meet each other’s eyes, behaving as if they were strangers. The sight of the two of them sparked so much chatter that people lingered at the Harvest Festival banquet hall well into the late night.
“Sigh.”
Back home, Elaina collapsed onto her bed without even changing her clothes, her face grave. Staring blankly at the ceiling, she pieced together the information she had gathered today.
First of all, Lyle Grant.
“Idiot.”
Thinking of Lyle looking at her with that melancholy expression, the word slipped out of her mouth unconsciously.
“You fool, you idiot.”
If he was going to struggle so much, why didn’t he just honestly tell her everything? Seeing Lyle stubbornly refuse to explain anything, she felt an anger she hadn’t anticipated.
Why hadn’t she realized it back then? Looking back now, everything had been awkwardly staged. From the moment he started avoiding her, to suddenly presenting the divorce papers, everything seemed so contrived.
“I must have been blind.”
What was she even attracted to in a man like that…?
During that brief moment when they held hands and danced, all her resentment toward him melted away on its own. She had thought she could never forgive him so easily, but seeing him already paying for his mistakes, her irritation gave way to pity.
Although Lyle had stubbornly refused to explain anything, Elaina could roughly understand the situation just from hearing Nathan’s account.
The timing of when Lyle began manipulating the marquis’s business coincided almost perfectly with when he started distancing himself from her. The fact that he continued pressuring the Redwood Marquis even while handing her divorce papers suggested there was a reason he had no choice but to do so.
Lyle’s goal was easy to guess.
Deftia’s villa.
The place where the secret of the rebellion from ten years ago was hidden. Lyle planned to reclaim it from the Redwood Marquis.
What Elaina couldn’t understand, however, was his reaction.
What kind of threat from the Redwood Marquis had made Lyle so afraid that he would distance himself from her and even go as far as to request a divorce?
Elaina furrowed her brows slightly as she pondered.
But then something felt off.
If his aim was to block the Redwood Marquis’s financial resources, wouldn’t it make even less sense for him to give up the right to use the medicine? She herself needed to possess that authority in order to further isolate the Marquis.
“…Why?”
It had already been over two months since he started pressuring the Marquis on all fronts to secure the Deftia villa. Asking her to relinquish the medicine usage rights would mean abandoning all that effort.
The contradictory situation gave her a headache.
Elaina decided to set those thoughts aside for a moment and focus on the facts she had uncovered.
First, the matter of inheritance.
James—was that his name?—had warned her to be careful of Lyle as if he were a villain. Elaina clenched her teeth at the memory, remembering how stiff her facial muscles had become from forcing a smile in front of him.
“Don’t talk recklessly when you don’t even know the whole story. Once this is over, I won’t let it slide.”
Despite his annoying behavior, he had provided some valuable information.
As James had mentioned, the reason Lyle couldn’t submit the divorce papers was likely tied to inheritance. If someone like James could figure it out, Lyle would have been aware of it even earlier. As James said, Lyle had a “drain more terrifying than a monster” attached to him.
It was a vicious cycle repeating itself.
“The Redwood Marquis.”
The reason Lyle couldn’t submit the divorce papers was because the moment he was no longer a member of the Grant family, he would fall under the Marquis’s influence.
If anything happened to him, the medicine usage rights would pass to Nathan.
Elaina frowned.
There was a vague sense of unease, like she could almost grasp it but not fully. Then, like a lightning strike, a thought flashed through her mind.
Though it was fleeting, the horrifying thought sent chills down her entire body.
If the divorce were finalized and Elaina Winchester were killed, the medicine usage rights would transfer to Nathan Hennet.
Then…
If something happened to Nathan…?
“According to imperial law, the property of a married person passes entirely to the spouse upon death. Oh, Diane!”
Elaina jumped up, her face pale, and ran to her father’s study to grab the thick law books from the shelf.
She collapsed onto the floor without even reaching the desk, frantically flipping through the pages on inheritance law.
「If a person dies without a spouse or descendants, the inheritors of their property shall be their parents.」
Elaina’s vision went black.
Elaina hurriedly called Diane and Nathan, who were staying at the academy, to the duke’s mansion. She figured it would be much safer than staying in the dormitory.
Nathan and Diane were put into a carriage hastily, without even packing properly. Their anxiety was mirrored by the household staff; so worried were they that Elaina, waiting for the two to arrive outside, opened the carriage door to check inside before it had even come to a full stop.
“Diane!”
“Elaina. What’s wrong?”
“Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness.”
“Elaina? Your hands are so cold. How long have you been waiting outside?”
“There’s no time for that. Come inside quickly.”
Elaina led them to the parlor, opened the law books she had brought from her study, and began explaining the inheritance laws.
Diane’s face gradually turned pale as she listened.
“…No way.”
But she couldn’t bring herself to say it outright. The father she knew was capable of exactly such things.
Nathan calmly checked the text himself. After reading the same passages multiple times, he nodded slightly.
“I see. That makes sense. In that case, the medicine usage rights would indeed belong to the Redwood Marquis family.”
“The academy is too dangerous. Let’s stay here until the situation is resolved.”
“No.”
Nathan shook his head.
“According to this, your father won’t act against us right away. This plan didn’t start with us.”
Diane looked helplessly at Elaina. Nathan was right: if anything were to happen, it would begin with Elaina.
“I’m sorry, Elaina.”
Diane’s face twisted as if she were about to cry. She sincerely hated the blood of the Redwood family that flowed within her. Even if it were just a hypothetical, it was unbearable to not be able to confidently say her father wouldn’t do such a thing.
“Let’s follow the Duke’s advice. My father could really do it. It could really become dangerous.”
“No, Diane, that won’t help.”
“What? Nathan, what do you mean?”
Nathan looked at Elaina with a calm, serious expression.
“Elaina left the Duke’s mansion quite some time ago. That means your father has one more reason to target you.”
If that wasn’t fully addressed, the threat to Elaina would continue to exist.
Nathan’s composed gaze gradually eased Elaina’s anxiety.
“…That’s right. The inheritance issue is merely a secondary matter. Lyle had already been wary of the Redwood Marquis before this.”
“The problem is that we don’t know what the Duke is worried about. We’ll have to hear it directly from him.”
Nathan gave an unexpectedly precise assessment. Listening to his clear explanation, the tension in Elaina and Diane slowly eased.
“But how? The Duke won’t explain anything, will he?”
“Let’s go see him directly.”
Picking up his coat, Nathan stood up.
“Go where?”
“The Duke’s mansion.”
Elaina and Diane stared blankly at him, as if asking the obvious.
The Harvest Festival was one of the most important social events of the season. With many nobles lingering at the banquet hall until the early hours, it was fortunate for the three of them that no one would notice them heading to the Duke’s mansion.
When they heard that the Winchester carriage had arrived, the butler rushed out to the entrance without even adjusting his clothes.
“Milady…!”
Seeing Elaina, whom he thought he would never see again, the butler teared up. Her heart ached at the sight of his haggard appearance, but there were more pressing matters.
“Butler, has His Grace the Duke returned? I must meet him immediately.”
“Yes, Sir Hennet. He arrived a short while ago.”
“Where is he now?”
“He was confirmed to have gone up to his study, Milady.”
Without wasting another moment, Elaina dashed toward the study as soon as the butler finished speaking.
