~Chapter 70~
With those words, Dane stood up from his seat.
The woman’s father tried to stop him, but there was nothing more to say.
That day, Dane decided to return to Escalus.
Perhaps because it was his first return in four years, everything was very different from before.
His father was pleased with his achievements and shared power with him, including military command authority.
The senior figures of the family looked at Dane with approval, and there was a new family member.
His young sister was shy around him at first, but soon followed him well. Finding her adorable, Dane spent much time with her.
Even so, Dane did not forget what he had come to do.
“Hold a grand return banquet. Invite all the nobles.”
Since she rarely appeared in high society, stronger measures were needed.
And then he met Camilla.
The woman he met after four years was breathtakingly beautiful.
Just looking at her felt blinding. All the words he wanted to say disappeared.
Still, like a well-trained dog, he asked the question he had to ask.
“Why didn’t you use the brooch?”
No matter how many letters he sent, she never replied.
So he hoped Camilla herself would use the brooch and come find him.
He was no longer the immature boy from before. He believed he could do anything now.
But Camilla coldly turned her back on him.
Seeing her walking away made his heart drop heavily.
Only then did Dane remember that no matter how much he wanted someone, the other person might not want him.
When he shook off his father and went to find her again, a knight he had never seen before was standing beside Camilla.
The silver-haired knight looked at Camilla warmly and chatted with her happily.
In that moment, a blazing impulse rose up.
He wanted to cut that man down and grab Camilla’s wrist.
A dark desire he never knew he had grew and wrapped around him.
Nina Mowin did not miss that look.
Nina Mowin invited Dane to tea.
Though they were engaged, there was no feeling of romance between them.
Looking at the bored Dane, Nina—now much more mature after four years—asked him,
“Would you like to make a deal with me, Your Highness?”
And that deal was enough to blow away the boredom.
“I want to place my sister in my position. Yes— as your fiancée.”
He willingly took her hand.
Nina knew that Dane still held Camilla in his heart.
At the same time, she seemed to think Camilla also had feelings for Dane.
It was a complete misunderstanding, but Dane did not correct it.
‘Even if you don’t want me, that’s fine.’
To get what he wanted, Dane could become as ruthless as necessary.
He planned Nina’s escape and persuaded the senior nobles one by one.
He gathered people who would support any Grand Duchess he brought in.
At the same time, he began digging into the hidden side of Baron Mowin’s family.
He did it so there would be no noise after Nina escaped and only Camilla remained.
‘Something feels strange.’
The deeper he investigated, the cleaner everything looked—unnaturally so.
It felt like facing a huge organization with a separate hidden core.
“Dane, stop digging into them.”
His father, Grand Duke Raoul, came personally to say that.
‘Father and the baron are hiding something.’
Another doubt followed.
The Mowin family was among the lowest rank of nobles—a baronial house.
Even if it had been Nina instead of Camilla, why had his father approved an engagement with a family he himself called a “losing family”?
“What are you hiding, Father?”
Dane did not back down.
At last, his father whispered briefly,
“A ruler must know how to use both black and white.”
What did that even mean?
“When the wedding is over and the time comes for me to pass down my position, I’ll tell you.”
Though he was still strong, his father spoke of stepping down to rest with his unwell wife.
Dane felt uneasy, but nothing more came out.
In the end, Dane stopped gathering information.
Without knowing how deeply he would regret it later.
“The day before the wedding, I will run away!”
Following Nina Mowin’s words, Dane prepared her escape.
She said she would leave a letter explaining everything to her sister.
Two days before the wedding.
As the execution day approached, Dane was arranging people to move in his place.
The plan was going well.
So he thought.
“Grand Duke’s son, my name is Dylan. Lady Camilla is in danger. Please help her.”
Until the silver-haired knight who had stood beside her appeared through Nina Mowin.
Camilla suddenly disappeared.
It could have been a kidnapping.
Dane felt like he was going insane.
He thought he had built everything perfectly, but in truth, he had done nothing.
He led the knight order and searched the hideouts one by one, pushing forward relentlessly.
Meanwhile, scandals of the Mowin family running a dark organization spread throughout Escalus.
The murder of Marquis Churello and the secret arena.
Crimes so severe that no connection could allow escape.
Still, Dane’s only goal as he searched for the baron was one thing.
‘Camilla.’
He desperately prayed that she was safe.
But when he finally burst into the secret torture chamber and saw her near death—
His vision went white.
“You must be mistaken, Grand Duke’s son! The trial hasn’t even begun yet!”
Facing Camilla, broken and suffering because of such a man, felt unreal.
The confusion in Camilla’s eyes—like she did not even know why he was there—hurt Dane deeply.
‘She never expected me to come. Not even once.’
His heart felt torn apart.
To her, he was nothing.
And yet, he could not give up.
Even now, after tearing open her wounds, that was still true.
From inside the room where Camilla stayed, he heard thin sobbing.
“If you’re not okay, I’ll make you okay.”
Suppressing the urge to go back inside, Dane clenched his fist.
“But since it’s already so late, I’ll have to become even more ruthless.”
After stopping by his room to gather what he needed, Dane headed to the Grand Duke’s study, even though it was late at night.
As expected, the study lights were still on.
Without knocking, Dane flung the door open.
“…Dane. What brings you here at this late hour?”
“Father. I need to inherit the position of Grand Duke.”
“…What?”
For a moment, the air froze.
Under the lamplight, Dane’s uniform was perfectly neat, and any trace of drunkenness was gone.
“What nonsense are you speaking at this hour? You will inherit the position someday, but deciding the timing is my—”
“No.”
Dane’s voice was low and completely steady.
“The time is now, with Baron Mowin’s trial right in front of us.”
“What are you—!”
“You said it yourself. ‘A ruler must know how to use both black and white.’”
The Grand Duke fell silent.
He stared at Dane with wide eyes.
“You knew about the filthy organization led by Baron Mowin. You knew about Glamis all along.”
At Dane’s words, the Grand Duke’s hand trembled slightly.
“…That was not something you were meant to know.”
“No. It’s something you hid.”
“Be silent, Dane.”
“Why? Because it’s the truth?”
Dane’s blue eyes sank coldly.
“The formulas for the stimulants and anesthetics found in the arena all came from the Mowin family. And the approval documents bear the seal of the Grand Duke’s house.”
Dane scattered the documents he had brought onto the desk.
The Grand Duke’s face turned pale.
“…No. That was unavoidable, to secure ingredients for painkillers used by the city—”
“Oh? Painkillers that erase memory, numb reason, and turn people into slaves?”
Dane remembered the conversation Camilla once had with his mother.
“Medicine and swords are both used by people. That’s why a good city needs good regulation over swords.”
“Dane.”
Dane shot his father a cold look.
“Father, I believed Escalus was a good city.”
