Chapter 1

Prologue

“Come in.”

Diego gave permission in a bored voice. At the same time, the door slowly creaked open. The person who entered was a woman with a pale face. She walked in carefully, her expression full of tension.

“I heard you called for me.”

Diego quietly observed the woman approaching him.

Her clothes were neat and clean, but they did not look expensive. Her blonde hair, tied up behind her head, was messy from poor care. Back when she attended tea parties and social gatherings, she had probably looked much more elegant.

Still, it would have been stranger for a governess who had fallen into the working class to dress like a noble lady. Even Diego knew how much effort and money were needed to maintain the polished appearance of aristocratic women.

He looked away from her and sat down on the sofa.

“Sit for now. I called you because I thought we had something to discuss.”

The woman’s hand twitched slightly as she sat across from him. Diego calmly folded his hands together.

“Miss Estella.”

“Yes, Young Duke.”

“Are you afraid of me?”

Estella Margaret Montiel did not answer.

Diego leaned back slowly against the chair.

“As I recall, you were the one who asked for this conversation in the first place.”

“……”

“Tell me, Miss Margaret. Why exactly did you try to catch my attention?”

Diego smiled slightly after speaking.

Surprisingly, Estella did not keep him waiting long. She took a short breath and spoke.

“I simply wanted to let you know that I could be useful to you, Young Duke.”

“Do you want something from me?”

Instead of wasting time, Diego immediately got to the point. He had no interest in joking around with someone who held his weakness in their hands.

“Incompetent father addicted to gambling. Younger siblings who can barely eat properly. And your mother has apparently been depressed for years.”

Since everything he investigated seemed true, Estella remained silent.

Her unreadable reaction irritated Diego slightly.

“So how exactly should I save your miserable life to satisfy you? Are you aiming for the position of Duchess?”

This time, her reaction was unusual.

Estella, who had been lowering her head the entire time, suddenly looked at him with wide eyes. She almost seemed ready to laugh in disbelief before hurriedly covering her mouth with her hand.

Seeing that only worsened Diego’s mood.

After barely calming her strange expression, Estella finally spoke.

“Young Duke, there is only one thing I want.”

“Speak.”

Diego urged her gently.

Looking directly into his eyes, Estella answered,

“Please do not kill Cecilia and Cedric.”

Diego’s expression froze for a moment.

Cecilia and Cedric were none other than his half-siblings. They were also the reason Estella had entered this mansion as their governess.

Diego narrowed his eyes.

The reason she asked him not to kill his family was obvious. He already had a history of murdering his own father.

It had never been his intention for that secret to leak to a fearless governess like her.

Diego remembered the words she had whispered to him in the hallway not long ago.

“Young Duke, you will need a black bow tie.”

At the time, she had worn the same nervous expression she had now.

Diego had frowned slightly, unable to understand what she meant.

He only understood after going downstairs and reaching the entrance.

That was the very day he planned to kill his father.

The former Duke of Berta, Diego’s father, had many enemies. But if someone in the capital hated him the most, it was probably his own son.

Like most nobles, the former duke married the woman his parents chose for him as soon as he became an adult.

That unfortunate woman was Dolores Botri, eldest daughter of the Botri Marquis family and Diego’s biological mother.

Sadly, Dolores was considered ugly.

Although she did not fit society’s standards of beauty, she possessed a mature and gentle personality that treated such matters as unimportant.

But life was unfair in a cruel way.

Her husband was not nearly as mature as she was.

Dolores suffered under her husband’s cold treatment and abuse until she eventually died from emotional suffering.

And Diego, the son she gave birth to, was also despised by the Duke of Berta.

“At least he doesn’t resemble that woman too much, but that cursed red hair of his still annoys me.”

The duke often said such things.

Before Diego grew older, his father even beat him simply because he disliked him.

Yet that monster of a man acted completely differently toward the woman he later married.

Anna, the duke’s second wife, had once been a commoner courtesan. She was talented at charming men.

Whenever she clung to him in a sweet voice, the duke’s face softened like that of a kind man.

Thanks to that, Anna became duchess and gave birth to a son and a daughter.

The duke loved Anna so much that even though Diego already existed as the legitimate heir, he wanted Cedric—the son born from his second wife—to inherit the family instead.

The age difference between them was eighteen years, yet he still wanted to cripple Diego and make him unfit to inherit.

Diego glanced down at his left hand.

A robber he met recently had been strangely determined to target that exact spot.

Compared to what they originally intended, the shallow scar left behind now was almost laughable.

Diego never even questioned who had arranged it.

That was how he grew into a monster who wanted to kill his own father.

And he felt no regret about it.

With cold eyes, Diego asked,

“Teacher, have I ever sent poisoned tea to my stepmother’s children like she did to me?”

“Not yet. Only because the time has not come.”

“‘The time has not come,’ huh? Then when exactly would be the proper time to kill my step-siblings?”

“When their father is no longer there to protect them, and when their mother begins to irritate you.”

“You’re insane, Miss Margaret.”

Diego spoke with disgust.

Estella quickly said,

“I will help you drive the former duchess out of this mansion.”

“Why should I continue listening to this nonsense?”

“I know a legal way to remove her from this house.”

Though Estella sounded desperate, she did not seem pathetic.

Even while making such an outrageous proposal, she looked completely sincere.

Her actions were always impossible to understand.

Where did that arrogant confidence come from?

Diego crossed his arms.

After a short sigh, he asked lazily,

“And what exactly do you gain from helping me?”

“I already told you. The safety of the children I teach.”

“You think I would leave behind the seeds of future trouble? It would be much simpler to kill everyone, including you.”

“Cedric is a good child. Cecilia is even younger and more innocent. The duchess was once a courtesan, so if she is thrown out of the mansion, nobody will support her. My only request is that you give them enough money to survive somehow after they are abandoned.”

“That is not something you should be asking for.”

“If you were the kind of person who truly believed children are innocent, perhaps my request would have been different.”

Estella’s attitude remained calm and steady.

When she first entered the room, fear had filled her eyes. But now they shone with determination.

That made Diego feel strangely speechless.

He had thought she might ask for money, and now he felt foolish for assuming something so simple.

Why had he tried so hard to suspect her?

No, it was not his fault.

She was simply choosing an option no normal person would ever choose.

Save the children.

Diego quietly repeated her request in his mind.

When she first asked him not to kill Cedric and Cecilia, he had been shaken, as though she had seen through him completely.

Of course his plan to assassinate his father also included killing his half-siblings.

Perhaps even he subconsciously knew how cowardly that was.

Otherwise her words would not have struck the tiny piece of conscience he did not even realize he still had.

“Very well, Miss Margaret. I accept your proposal.”

Diego answered in a surprisingly cheerful tone.

Resting his chin against his folded hands, he continued,

“However, unlike what you suggested, I have no intention of hiding those children somewhere far away. Cedric and Cecilia will remain in this mansion. And I want you to continue educating them.”

“…What?”

“I trust that you will not raise my siblings into ungrateful children who forget kindness.”

His final words sounded more like a warning.

The formal inheritance ceremony was already approaching. He could kill the governess to silence her, but he did not want to create such a large disturbance at an important time.

As she herself said, Estella would stay silent as long as the children remained unharmed.

Diego already knew she was soft-hearted when it came to them.

He tried to end the conversation and stand up.

No matter what plans that arrogant governess had, there was no reason for her to refuse his offer.

Even if she secretly dreamed of saving Cedric for some future ambition, it would not matter.

But then Estella blinked her large eyes and said,

“But I was planning to leave the mansion together with the children.”

Diego stared irritably at the thick glasses covering her eyes.

He could not read what she was thinking behind those cloudy lenses.

“You have two choices, teacher. Either stay here and protect those children properly… or leave after watching the children you taught drown in blood.”

His voice was ice cold.

He had many other matters to deal with besides deciding the fate of his half-siblings.

In the end, Estella’s shoulders drooped.

After a small sigh, she quietly agreed.

Then, without even waiting to be dismissed, she left the room on her own.

Diego stared blankly at the closed door.

She truly was a fearless woman.

If he had been the sort of noble who killed people over disrespect, her head would already be gone.

Though, to be fair, he was not exactly a decent person either.

“A madman who killed his own father… and yet I can’t bring myself to kill one annoying woman?”

Diego muttered bitterly.

Soon the faint smile disappeared from his lips.