Chapter 100
The Marquis showed no sign of backing down even at the Grand Duke’s words.
“You truly seem not to know what is important. If you did, you would not be here—you would go to your daughter, and to that grandchild she bore with another man’s seed, and tell them this: stop acting up and stay quiet. If you wish to remain here, if you wish to survive, that is the only way. You should be persuading them. Why are you asking to speak with me?”
At that moment, the Marquis’s gaze turned toward me.
“There are others present. Mind your words, Grand Duke.”
“Mind my words? Why? Are you afraid your daughter’s disgrace will be revealed? Do not worry.”
“Very well. Then send that child out first—”
“I intend to officially reveal this matter and spread it throughout the Empire anyway. Soon, it will not only be Aisha who knows this truth, but all the citizens of the Empire.”
The Marquis’s face turned deathly pale.
“Why go so far? My daughter! What about my daughter’s future? And there is such a thing as the affection built from raising a child… Are you trying to block even Ron’s future like this? Why must you take things to such extremes?”
“When you all pushed me to the extreme, it was nothing, but when I act, it is considered extreme? How very laughable.”
I could see him suppressing his anger. In front of me or the twins, he at least let some of his emotions show, but now I could feel how much he was struggling. Yet the Marquis did not properly look at the Grand Duke.
“When did I ever push you? Back then… since she could not conceive no matter what… I merely wondered if perhaps the problem lay with you. In truth, even when other women were brought in, there were no children… Bearing and raising a child is a woman’s happiness. My daughter suffered because she could not conceive due to you, so I stepped in.”
“Yes, yes. Even though I said I did not want it, you brought other women in. And then you had my daughter conceive another man’s child?”
“As I said earlier, for a woman, giving birth and raising a child is the greatest happiness—”
“You speak madness with remarkable dedication. I wonder if you even know what you are saying. Are you calling it happiness to bring another man’s child to me and claim it as mine?”
The Marquis chuckled and shook his head.
“That is just how the saying goes. Still… still, did she not raise the child well? All those years.”
“What importance is there in raising another man’s child well? Just because you utter words carelessly does not make them words worth speaking. You say giving birth and raising a child is happiness—so is that why you tried to kill my child? Do not speak nonsense.”
“…Are you truly intending to end it like this?”
“Yes. I intend to end it all.”
“How have you become such a stubborn, narrow-minded man?”
I truly do not know who he thinks he is speaking to. That Marquis really seems like the type who only ever says what he wants to say.
‘Well, that must be why, in the past, when there were no children, he made such a scene toward the Grand Duke that the Grand Duke had no choice but to give up everything.’
If the Marquis and the Grand Duchess had gaslighted him like that, he would not have been able to endure it. Back then, he even believed that he was the one at fault… It feels unintentionally like watching a play unfold.
“Narrow-minded? Me? On the contrary, my heart has never been more open than it is now. That is why, in the end, you brought in another man’s child and said that since the Grand Duchess had suffered all this time, she should be allowed to manage most of the Grand Ducal household, and I allowed it, did I not?”
“You did…”
“Though I had known this truth long ago, I said nothing out of mercy. Even after my own children were confirmed, and it was proven that there was nothing wrong with me. How much more mercy do you expect from me?”
“Even so, she has lived her entire life as the Grand Duchess. To cast out my daughter over trying to kill a mere orphan girl is not right.”
This is truly impossible to reason with.
It feels as though someone has stuffed a sweet potato into my mouth.
“A mere orphan girl…? She tried to kill my real daughter, deceived me by passing off another man’s child as mine, and when that orphan girl pressured her, she tried to kill her as well. There is not a single one of those crimes that is insignificant.”
“Well… that is…”
“Furthermore, were you not the one who declared you would never interfere in the affairs of the Grand Ducal house? Then why do you keep interfering?”
“When did I interfere? I am simply offering advice as one who has lived longer than you, so that you do not make the wrong choice.”
At that moment, the Grand Duke suddenly began to laugh like a man who had lost his mind.
“Puhaha. How amusing.”
“Have you gone mad?”
“The one who is mad is you. Just because I treated you with respect as the father of the Grand Duchess, you must have thought I was laughable. Marquis.”
“What is the meaning of this? After all you have been through, have you truly lost your senses?”
“Hardly. I simply no longer feel the need to speak further. If I cast out the Grand Duchess, I will have no reason to treat you with respect, will I, Marquis Selsetrox.”
Only then did it seem the Marquis realized the situation was unfavorable. He must have thought that applying pressure as before would work again. Since he had done it once, he likely thought it would not be difficult. That he could simply gaslight and pressure him as before. But it would not work.
The Grand Duke of then and now are different.
‘Truly foolish.’
Even groveling in apology would not suffice, yet what confidence makes him act like this?
Then again, that is how nobles are. Even when they are at fault, their so-called noble pride prevents them from ever bowing their heads.
“I will give you one last chance. Will you be dragged out, or will you leave on your own? There are two choices.”
At that moment, the Marquis suddenly adjusted his posture and put on a rather pitiful expression.
“I know well that my daughter has done wrong, Grand Duke.”
“If you truly know, then leave now and take your daughter with you. Persuasion will not work.”
“I did not come to persuade. I came to threaten.”
“Threaten? Do you even have anything with which to threaten me?”
Fury rose in the Grand Duke’s voice. But the next words left confusion in his eyes.
“Is there not a woman you have longed for so desperately?”
“A woman I longed for…?”
“I speak of the twins’ mother. I hear you have been searching for her even recently. Ah, perhaps you would understand better if I say this—the woman, your first love.”
So that was why he had been so overbearing all this time. He had something to rely on, which is why he spoke as though we should overlook his daughter’s wrongdoing.
Truly, the Marquis and his daughter, the Grand Duchess, are the same kind of people. Cunning and wicked.
“What is it? Do you intend to threaten me with that woman as well?”
“Indeed. As it happens, I am currently keeping that woman with me.”
“….”
The Grand Duke, who had been rebutting every word until now, fell completely silent. Having realized that his weakness was that woman, the Marquis relaxed his previously rigid posture.
“I do not ask for much. Simply keep my daughter as Grand Duchess. Then, at an appropriate time, I shall return to you the woman who is the mother of your children. Of course, until then, she will be treated as an honored guest and cared for exceedingly well.”
She is the children’s mother.
“That is a lie.”
“Why would it be?”
“I cannot believe it. I do not know what you have heard or from whom…”
“To be honest, you would not believe why I am keeping her. More precisely, I was not the one keeping her. My daughter was.”
“That woman, to the very end….”
The Grand Duke was consumed by fury.
“Do you believe me now?”
The Marquis’s shoulders lifted in anticipation. But the Grand Duke was firmer than ever.
“Not particularly.”
“Very well. You may not believe me. But would it not be better to hear the whole story before deciding?”
“What nonsense are you about to spout? This could still be a mere threat. On what grounds should I trust you?”
“Whether you trust me or not is your choice. But you would do well to think carefully. It is something that can be confirmed through investigation.”
“….”
She is not just anyone—she is the twins’ mother. And she was the Grand Duke’s deeply beloved first love, the one he had no choice but to part with. That is why he searched for her so desperately. In the past and even now.
It is only natural that he would waver.
“One day, my daughter dragged in a woman… no, brought her. Along with a request that she be protected. She added that no one was to meet that woman except for a minimal number of people she trusted, and then left her in my care.”
“…And?”
“And today, I heard directly from my daughter who that woman is. She is the twins’ mother. She said she had been protecting her in case she might prove useful later.”
Not protecting—kidnapping. The Grand Duchess took the twins from her. The shock of losing her children left her mind unstable. The twins, heirs to the family, were of no benefit to her—but that woman was different.
Because she was the woman the Grand Duke loved so dearly. That is why the Grand Duchess kept her alive instead of killing her. Instead, she continuously subjected her to emotional abuse so that she would not speak nonsense. Perhaps the abuse has not progressed too far yet… but still.
‘That must be why the Marquis says he will protect her rather than immediately return her.’
The moment that woman speaks of the true culprit behind everything—his daughter—the moment it is revealed that the Grand Duchess tried to kill the twins and abducted them, even the Marquis would not be able to protect her.
“If you wish, I can show you her face at least.”
“….”
“Think carefully. My daughter can simply be cast out… but that woman… is that not different? The children should have their mother, should they not?”
“But tell me, Marquis.”
“What is it?”
“How did you come to know that woman is the mother of my children?”
“…What? Th-that is…”
“I heard that she was pregnant, yes. But how could you know that what she bore were twins?”
