Marcus continued walking while carrying me in his arms.
Perhaps because the tension had finally left me, my whole body went limp.
I wanted to stop thinking about everything and stay like this, but I couldn’t.
After confirming that we were far away from the audience chamber and that there was no one around except us, I whispered,
“Even so, I don’t think that was the right way to tell us.”
“If I were to make an excuse, I severed ties with my father and left the family nearly ten years ago. I abandoned the name Klaus Decarean back then.”
“……”
“I thought I would never return to the Decarean family for the rest of my life. Naturally, even when I decided to marry your mother, I had no intention whatsoever of using the name Decarean.”
As I listened to Klaus’s words, I recalled the contents of the original novel.
‘In the original story, Marcus said Erwin was the son of a deceased friend.’
The identity of that “deceased friend” was never clearly revealed in the novel.
Now that I thought about it, it never even specified whether the friend was a man or a woman.
However, Erwin was the illegitimate imperial prince born between a low-born mother and the Crown Prince.
Coincidentally, both of them had already died before Marcus found Erwin.
Since there was no way a commoner mercenary like Marcus could have been acquainted with the Crown Prince, readers naturally assumed that he had been a longtime friend of Erwin’s mother…
‘Was that deceased friend actually the Crown Prince?’
Come to think of it, I remembered that Klaus had also cut ties with Duke Decarean because of the deceased Crown Prince.
While I silently pieced together the puzzle in my mind, Klaus continued his explanation, which sounded almost like an excuse.
“If Pascal Chepelt hadn’t gone this far, or if we had simply had more time, I would have found another way.”
“But under the current circumstances, this was the best option.”
So, asking me to let it slide just this once, Klaus tried to placate me in a voice tinged with playful charm.
Leaning against his broad and sturdy shoulder, I frowned.
There was still a gap in the puzzle that I couldn’t fill no matter how much I thought about it.
‘Then why didn’t Klaus recognize Erwin and try to kill him?’
If Marcus and Klaus were the same person, I couldn’t understand how he had failed to recognize the Erwin he had cherished and raised, and had instead tried to kill him.
What had happened for a mentor and benefactor who cared for the protagonist to become the mastermind who fiercely opposed him?
‘I wish I had finished reading the novel…’
I had been convinced that a novel like that would never have anything to do with me.
I never imagined I would regret it this much.
In any case, what was done was done, and there was no turning back now.
‘I’ll review the settings again later.’
Even if nothing came to mind right now, perhaps something would click if I examined everything carefully.
“Vivi, are you alright?”
Mother looked at me with concern as I slumped against Klaus’s shoulder.
She must have been shocked herself, yet she was still worrying only about me.
I pouted and muttered,
“Mister, you should properly apologize to my mom too. Her husband suddenly turned into a complete stranger.”
At my words, Mother and Klaus’s gazes met.
Though they immediately looked away.
‘Huh?’
Now that the confusion had settled somewhat, I could sense a strange atmosphere between them.
My eyes widened.
In particular, Klaus seemed to be watching Mother’s reaction.
“Of course I’ll apologize properly. But Vivi, I’m not entirely a stranger to her.”
“You’ve met my mom before, Mister?”
“Yes. About eleven years ago, I think.”
Goodness.
I had no idea there had been any connection between Mother and Klaus.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you beforehand, my lady.”
“No, it’s alright. It seems you had your reasons, so I can understand. You weren’t obligated to tell me.”
“That’s…”
As I listened to their conversation, my eyes darted back and forth.
Mother’s attitude was cold, while Klaus seemed awkward and flustered.
And it didn’t seem to be because she felt uncomfortable about marrying Klaus Decarean.
There appeared to be another reason.
At that moment, I suddenly remembered something important and jerked my head up.
Klaus immediately steadied the back of my head.
“That’s dangerous, Vivi.”
“I’m sorry. But Mister, what are you going to do now?”
“Hm?”
“Like you said, you’ll be able to get rid of Uncle Pascal. But what about everything else?”
“Everything else?”
“The House of Decarean won’t acknowledge this marriage. They won’t accept Mom and me.”
If the son who disappeared ten years ago suddenly returned and announced that he was marrying a woman with a daughter, would Duke Decarean simply accept it?
Of course not!
At that moment, scenes from my previous life flashed through my mind—female leads in contract marriages who suffered mistreatment from their in-laws.
I had decided to involve myself with the original story and seek out Marcus Elden because I didn’t want Mother to suffer.
But it would be absurd if Mother ended up suffering because of it.
Inheriting property wasn’t everything.
Realizing what I was worried about, Klaus let out a thoughtful hum.
“That doesn’t matter. As I already told His Majesty, my father’s opinions and the family have absolutely nothing to do with me.”
“I know it isn’t that simple. Even if you ignore the House of Decarean, His Majesty won’t leave you alone.”
Klaus lightly flicked my nose without hurting me.
“I knew you were clever, but you’re quite impressive, little lady.”
“But that’s something for me to worry about, not you.”
“But still…”
“You only need to worry about what you’ll do for fun from now on.”
“You’ve been stuck in the mansion all this time, so you must have been bored.”
“Shall we go out?”
“You said this is your first time in the capital.”
“We can visit a famous restaurant and eat delicious food.”
“We can go shopping too.”
“How about buying some pretty clothes and toys?”
However, I couldn’t respond at all.
Before I could even open my mouth, a low and chilly voice rang out.
“Klaus Decarean.”
I lifted my head from Klaus’s shoulder and saw a middle-aged man staring at us.
He had black hair without a single strand of gray and blue eyes.
His appearance resembled Klaus’s.
I immediately recognized who he was.
‘The Duke of Decarean!’
Just as they say that speaking of a tiger brings the tiger, the Duke of Decarean had actually appeared.
As though he had already sensed his presence, Klaus answered calmly.
“So you’ve come.”
Since he continued standing with his back toward the Duke, I had no choice but to watch as the Duke slowly approached us.
Before I knew it, the Duke had come right up to me.
He looked at me with unreadable eyes.
Only then did Klaus gently press the back of my head and turn around.
“Did the rat planted by the House of Decarean run to report it to the family head that quickly?”
“If you intend to use the name Decarean within this Empire, you should be prepared for that much.”
“I was prepared.”
“I simply didn’t expect you to come to the palace this quickly.”
“Anyone seeing this would think you had been desperately waiting for your runaway son.”
“What about you is worth waiting for?”
“I came to see which bold fool was recklessly impersonating the name Decarean.”
“You could have sent a subordinate to verify it, so why come personally?”
“Have your beliefs changed over the past ten years?”
“Or have you simply become idle?”
At the sharp exchange of words, I held my breath.
Mother also kept her mouth shut and watched the situation unfold.
“Let’s return to the mansion first and talk.”
“I have nothing to discuss with you.”
“I do, so stop talking back and follow me.”
“If you didn’t want this, you should have lived quietly and never appeared before me again.”
“Let’s be accurate.”
“You were the one who appeared before me.”
“I didn’t come here to exchange words with you.”
“If you threw away the name Decarean once, you should have continued living without it.”
“What kind of face did you think you had the right to crawl back here with?”
“Do you think the House of Decarean exists solely for your convenience whenever you feel like using its name?”
“You haven’t changed.”
“That blasted Decarean name…”
“What is so great about it anyway?”
Klaus ground his teeth.
For the first time, I heard such a cold voice from him.
It sounded as though it was filled with anger.
“I hoped you might have changed at least a little during all this time.”
“But not a single thing about you is different.”
“And you’re still the same as ever.”
“Still causing trouble without thinking about the consequences.”
By the time the original novel truly began, Klaus had already become the Duke of Decarean.
Very little was mentioned about the previous Duke of Decarean, so I knew almost nothing about the relationship between the two.
Judging from his own words and his conversation with the Emperor, I had assumed they weren’t on good terms.
‘But to think it was this bad.’
The oppressive atmosphere made me involuntarily swallow.
*Gulp.*
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
