[Chapter 122] The Secret of the Former Duchess

"Bastard?"

Nerys's eyes narrowed slightly.

The Viscount did not realize that he had been locking eyes with her unnaturally for a while. However, he felt a sense of unease instinctively. A strange feeling that he might be devoured at any moment.

But who would devour him? And why?

A pair of violet eyes shone as they peered into him. The Viscount thought he shouldn't recoil at that short question. And to justify his thoughts, he created reasons.

A capable concubine of the Elendria family, yes, if he could get the cooperation of that family, his family could receive better treatment than now... Catherine was the target, so there was a need to establish a closer working relationship with the Counselor...

So it seemed okay to reveal the Duke's weakness. Yes. That was rational.

The Viscount opened his mouth hesitantly, like an old door creaking.

"Edith is my real daughter's name. The woman who married into this castle and died is a wretch who doesn't even deserve to have her name mentioned. She interfered with my daughter's marriage."

"Is it true that she is your child?"

"Strictly speaking, yes... But 'she' was born to a lowly maid. She was like a fox trying to fix her fate... She seemed to disappear after being humiliated by my wife, but then she appeared with a child. I couldn't kill the child she had already borne, so I gave her money and a house to raise him, but as he grew up, he became arrogant. I thought it was a headache, but just before the day I had to send a bride to the North, Edith died."

"That must have been unfortunate."

"Unfortunate? It certainly was. Edith... my beloved daughter... How angry she must have been that a dirty bastard had the honor she should have had. She couldn't even touch the hem of my daughter's garment."

The child was a creation of his own, so why was he born dirty? Nerys gently urged him to continue speaking.

"Please tell me more. Your deceased real daughter and the former Duchess are both your children. However, your wife's daughter is a real child, and the former Duchess is not a child born between you and your wife, so you couldn't feel affection for her."

"It wasn't very manly. But she was a meaningless existence to me anyway. If I hadn't had to send my daughter to the mad Duke for the sake of my land, how dare she..."

"I see."

The Viscount blinked a few times and brought back the anger he had felt until now. Somehow, the room was quiet, so he exaggerated his own senses to suppress it.

"After all, isn't she my daughter? She looks just like her mother, so I couldn't even recognize the bloodline!"

Looking just like her mother?"

When considering the characters involved, the instigator of the incident at the time was likely Abelus, and Hujak, having suitable conditions as an accomplice, was probably not simply a victim of betrayal. Killing a noble family meant that there was no choice but to either cooperate fully with the plan or incur the wrath of the royal family.

No matter how noble they were, they were still human. Neris naturally thought that Hujak would have conflicted feelings. If Kledwin successfully inherited the Grand Duchy and unified the North, there would be great benefits for Hujak as the only trusted person and family of the Grand Duke.

However, Hujak decided to betray his grandson. No matter how much he deliberated, his ultimate choice was that, so even if Kledwin sought revenge, Neris did not sympathize with Hujak. If you decide to gamble, you shouldn't feel unjust even if you lose, right?

But now, a different thought occurred to her.

Perhaps there was another reason why Tipyian Hujak had so easily given up on his grandson?

For example, he might have wanted to uproot any possibility of his daughter's child, whom he had killed, growing up and seeking revenge.

"Disgusting."

Yes, now she understood.

Nobles were also human, and their attitudes towards their children varied. Some loved their children too much, more than their own lives, while others did not show affection to their children. And some discriminated against their children.

People who favored their eldest son, those who favored their sons, those who remarried and favored the children of their second spouse... Discrimination took various forms, but an attitude like Hujak's was the most common.

Children born from a legitimate marital relationship were considered real children. Children born from a relationship with the government were a form of property.

"Ridiculous."

The child did not choose to be born from the government. Especially, Neris only half believed the story of the "maid who tried to fix her fortune" that Hujak mentioned.

Children born outside of a legal marital relationship were treated as if they did not exist at all according to imperial law. Even if they were the emperor's illegitimate child, they could not claim a single coin of inheritance. They could only hope for their parents to provide for them morally.

But what kind of woman in such a bad situation would believe and suddenly give birth to a child? Moreover, if she was a maid working in that Hujak Tipyian's house, she would have known to some extent what kind of person he was.

"Of course, there may be people in this world who act without thinking like that..."

The Edith Tipyian that Elen reminisced about, and that Catherine portrayed, seemed very strong and kind. She didn't seem to resemble Hujak, so perhaps her mother was that kind of person.

Someone who could raise a daughter who didn't want to be born and became her own stigma, strong and kind.

It was an imitation of the kind country girl who grew up with such a brave person. Catherine.

"How much does Kledwin know?"

What was the "thing they were going to do together" with Hujak six years ago?

The former Grand Duchess who died in the greenhouse. She thought there must have been an illness. But it wasn't.

"Poison?"

If the former Grand Duke, who was said to have loved her, had evidence of murder, he wouldn't have stayed still. Considering the aggressive nature of the people of this land, he would have prioritized revenge over helplessness.

Yet Tipyian Hujak had visited Maindland so brazenly, and young Kledwin had trusted him until six years ago. The fact that there was no physical evidence of Hujak's involvement in the death of the former Grand Duchess, nor any reasonable circumstances to infer that, meant that the culprit himself could be concerned.

"But the culprit himself could be a cause for concern."

And Kledwin might have thought that his mother's death was strange. Perhaps he did not think that the mastermind behind his mother's murder was from the royal family?

"Tipyian Hujak and Maindland Grand Duke getting along and their influence growing would be a nightmare for the royal family.

From here on, it was speculation. However, Neris thought it was worth enough to be suspicious.

There might have been a desire to find and eliminate traces of a terrible crime committed long ago.

There were several suspicions that needed to be resolved in this deduction. So, if there is evidence that Hujak really assassinated the former Grand Duchess.

First, if Hujak suspected the existence of evidence, he should have already eliminated it long before the former Grand Duchess died. So why would he intervene now after more than ten years have passed?

Second, if such evidence exists, shouldn't the people of this castle have found it by now?

Neris seemed to know the answer. It was just a hypothesis that required too many assumptions for now.

"Hujak couldn't leave for a long time, but instead, the people of this castle haven't gone to places where no one has been. If someone has approached there now, and if they heard about it recently, they might come around at least once."

She suddenly pulled the bell rope. Shortly after, Dora entered the room.

"Yes, miss. Madam is sleeping."

"I didn't call you to ask that. Bring Ellen and tell her to come to the former Grand Duchess's bedroom. And bring an axe."

Neris had tried to use Tipyian Hujak, pretending to be a concubine of the Elandria family, to handle various necessary tasks for a long time.

But now, she didn't want to do that anymore.

Creating, using, entrusting terrible tasks to one person, and finally killing them... Using her shadow to put even her child in her hands. She couldn't let such a person live comfortably for even a single moment in the future.

But to do that, everything had to be certain."