Chapter 58
“Must be a collateral branch.”
“Exactly. If that’s the case, at least they wouldn’t do anything immoral.”
Even though he was from a collateral branch, the moment it was revealed he belonged to the Grevis family the beastkin’s reactions turned favorable.
Their faith in House Grevis was that solid.
It was widely known why the Grevis family could not lie.
The man in the black robe who introduced himself as a distant relative of the Grevises calmly testified to what he had witnessed.
Ten years ago, while patrolling the Grevis borderlands that adjoined the Leander territory, he claimed, he had seen Melissa Leander.
At first he didn’t believe it, he said, but when he saw the golden eyes and silver hair revealed beneath the robe he couldn’t doubt it any longer.
“I hereby testify, before this sacred court, that Lady Melissa Leander has been secretly intimate with a rabbit beastkin for many years.”
“Baseless slander without a shred of evidence!”
Arus’s side reacted strongly to the witness’s words, but the murmurs in the chamber had already built to a noisy crescendo.
“Even if he’s from a collateral branch, isn’t it the same with someone who cannot lie?”
“That’s right. It’s weak, but if he spoke falsely he’d surely be cursed.”
“Then it must be true — there’d be no reason to risk a curse by making such a claim.”
“Silence!”
Grevis quieted the hall with a single word, then inclined his head toward the collateral relative.
The man in the large robe climbed the dais and placed his hand on the artifact.
Staring at that pale hand, Chloe tried to find the source of the ominous feeling spinning in her head.
“…Therefore, as a witness standing before this holy court, I testify that I witnessed Lady Melissa Leander’s infidelity.”
When the robed man repeated what he had just said, the word hit Chloe like a bell.
Witness.
At the sound of that word again, the déjà vu that had been drifting through Chloe’s mind snapped into place.
Images from the original work passed through Chloe’s wide, startled eyes.
The original story, told only from Diana’s perspective, had not written even a word explaining how Chloe Arus had become the cause of the war.
Only near the end, in passing, Sanrider Grevis had once murmured a regret.
[“That witness. The man was a collateral of our house. Sometimes I think if we had not let him into the assembly… perhaps such a terrible war would never have happened.”]
Diana had comforted her father, telling him not to punish himself — that that matter would be revealed someday.
That line had been overshadowed by the shocking act committed by Sion and had almost been forgotten in the last pages.
‘Could the witness he mentioned possibly be—’
“Look!”
The uneasy premonition Chloe had hoped was wrong hit the mark.
The man’s words were true.
“Didn’t I tell you? The Duchess of Leander did commit adultery!” he shouted.
Dylan, who had been anxiously keeping his mouth shut, leapt up as if seizing an opportunity when the man showed his unharmed hand.
Then he looked around and called out loudly.
“Isn’t this testimony from a Grevis collateral? Between the Wolf house and the Eagle house, there’s no need to check which is more honest!”
“I agree. I also question how the recent finding that Melissa Leander’s testimony was true came to be.”
“I second that. And to protect the family’s honor, I suggest the head of the Leanders failed to properly inspect the artifact!”
Spurred on, the representatives of Demos territory spoke over each other as if someone might steal their chance to speak.
In the middle of that commotion, Chloe stared dazedly at Melissa.
Her mother bit her lip in distress and stared at something off to the side.
Following her mother’s gaze, Chloe saw someone.
Lucian Leander.
The man who would become her legal father by the outcome of this verdict.
Unlike her mother, who protested that it was a slander, Lucian wore a composed expression.
As she looked at his face, a thought that had flashed through her a moment earlier returned.
Wolves mate for life.
A wolf never betrays their partner.
But what if—
‘What if the person my mother thought was her spouse… wasn’t Lucian Leander?’
Chloe froze at the direction that thought had taken — a direction she had never explored before.
Everyone knew Melissa Arus had married Lucian Leander because of a prophecy.
But if she’d had a lover she’d chosen as her true partner before the marriage…
And if, after the wedding, she still could not bring herself to turn away from that person…
Chloe, numb and unable to pull herself together as events unfolded much as in her previous life, bit her lip.
Then Lucian Leander’s pupils slowly turned to look at her.
There it was — an eye contact like a stake. The same green eyes she had believed matched her own in the mirror, slowly narrowing.
A familiar dread clutched Chloe, and her breath caught.
“You’re my daughter? Huh? Answer me. How dare a fake shamelessly act like I’m their father…!”
At once the accusations from her past life came rushing back.
Shouts poured down indiscriminately, and relatives looked at her as if she were vermin.
Chloe noticed Ian Leander was looking at her too; she convulsively turned her head.
The child, forced to confront a trauma that had bound her in her previous life, was not in her right mind.
That was why, clenching her fists to stop herself from crying, she finally understood why the original story had progressed as it did.
Why Lucian Leander, enraged, had gone to the Wolf territory in the dead of night.
Why her mother, already weakened by injuries from an earlier raid and unable to defend herself properly, had died at the hand of her ex-husband.
Why Lucian killed her and then committed suicide in that room.
‘Because I wasn’t his daughter in that story, either.’
Lowering her head, Chloe recollected what came next.
Ian Leander would belatedly follow his brother to the Wolf territory to stop him.
And Blake, who came to check on his brother and nephew, would encounter Ian in that room.
After a long duel, Ian would tear Blake’s limbs apart and kill him.
The brief but grotesquely cruel passage that had been written swept back into Chloe’s mind, and her hands trembled as if with a fever.
She had been naïve to think she could change the original.
Everything would proceed as it had.
There would be no father who would tolerate a fake who had deceived and betrayed him.
“Hm. How pleasing.”
Amid the noisy courtroom no one noticed one thing.
Sanrider Grevis was looking at the trembling child with a peculiar satisfaction.
He gave a slight nod to the collateral who had performed his practiced part so well.
The man, aware of the head’s approval, cleared his throat and subtly hid his left hand behind his back.
Sanrider, pleased, turned his head back to the shivering Chloe.
‘So why so eager…’
He clicked his tongue and smirked inwardly.
‘If they hadn’t touched Demos’s sacrificial offering, they might’ve had two more years.’
As Sanrider looked down on the girl whose days were already numbered, he spotted an unexpected movement from the betrayed man.
Lucian, staring openly at the child with a scowl, seemed unable to contain his anger and was rising to approach the fake daughter.
‘Oh dear.’
Sanrider instinctively predicted his next move.
‘Thinking himself betrayed, he’ll lose control and strike the child. Maybe even kill her.’
He motioned to his knights to direct their attention in Chloe’s direction, to ensure Melissa Arus and Blake Arus wouldn’t notice the child was in danger.
Help her — and commit as barbaric a violence as possible, if you can.
If you do, the lord you serve will get what he wants faster: a war.
Smiling faintly, Sanrider watched Ian rise to follow his brother.
‘Yes, yes. As the siblings tear apart someone they think is not of their blood…’
He had been anticipating the coming bloodshed as he watched Chloe.
But then an unexpected scene met his red eyes.
Lucian Leander, instead of striking, was carefully placing his own hand atop the child’s — the very hand that seemed like irrefutable proof of impropriety.
