Chapter 10
Duke Merhen, shocked and defeated, turned and left the underground chamber.
Left alone, Liette stared straight at Duke Croix.
“Liette, I’m sorry to you as well.”
“You don’t need to apologize to me.”
Liette shook her head.
“I know you wouldn’t do something like that.”
Her red eyes held a firmer resolve than usual.
Seeing her like that, Duke Croix was no longer as composed as he had been in front of Duke Merhen.
“…Liette. I’m grateful, but this time, I think I’ll have to disappoint you.”
“…”
“Go on and follow your father. This place is too harsh for someone like you.”
Fierce cries echoed from either side. The criminals shouted in frustration and anger.
But Liette, unfazed, sat down right in front of the iron bars.
“I’m not leaving until I hear the truth.”
Duke Croix knew Liette well.
Once she set her mind to something, she wouldn’t give up—even if storms raged around her.
But this time was different.
“Liette, please… don’t hurt this old man’s heart any more.”
“Then please, tell me the truth!”
“There is no other truth. What you’ve heard is the truth.”
“That you killed your wife and abandoned her body on a hillside? And that you lied to everyone, saying she died giving birth to Evan?”
Liette listed the accusations she’d heard so far.
Even as she spoke them aloud, they sounded absurd.
“It’d be more believable if you told me she died from being struck by lightning.”
“…”
“You once praised my insight, remember? I may be young, like you said, but I can still tell the difference between a ridiculous lie and the truth.”
Moved by her unwavering trust, Duke Croix sank onto the cold floor, powerless.
In front of Liette, he could no longer maintain his strong facade.
He kept glancing toward the door.
“…Are you waiting for Evan?”
His repeated glances revealed that he was expecting someone.
“…He must be disappointed in me.”
“He said he didn’t want to see you.”
Duke Croix’s eyes trembled violently.
No matter how composed he pretended to be, his son’s cold rejection had clearly shaken him.
“You really are too much.”
It was harsh, but Liette thought she had no choice but to shake him using Evan.
“I don’t know why you’re lying, but you’re not thinking about Evan at all.”
“…”
“He’ll have to live the rest of his life believing his father killed his mother.”
Though her words were meant to provoke him, they were sincere.
She’d called him pathetic and useless in anger the day before, but she was just as worried about Evan as she was about the duke.
If nothing changed, the charges would be finalized, and the duke could be sentenced to death.
That was something she couldn’t let happen.
“Evan will live with the label of ‘murderer’s son.’”
“…”
“You told me yourself—if Evan isn’t seen as fully capable, others will try to take his place.”
Liette’s red eyes bore into the duke.
“Do you really think Evan, as the son of a murderer, can inherit the ducal title?”
At last, Duke Croix broke down.
He didn’t need to speak—his expression revealed everything.
Liette worried she may have gone too far. But if nothing changed, the duke would be sentenced to death.
She had to stop it.
Sigh.
The duke let out a deep breath and rubbed his forehead.
His every movement reflected his inner torment.
“…Even if I tell the truth, who would believe me?”
It seemed he had finally decided to speak.
“I believe that the man I’ve seen and come to know is the real you.”
“…”
“So please, tell me the truth.”
Duke Croix looked at Liette.
The eyes asking for the truth were no longer those of a child.
He didn’t know why, but he suddenly wanted to share the truth he’d buried deep in his heart with her.
Maybe he wanted Liette, whom he cherished like a daughter, to know he wasn’t that kind of man. Maybe he hoped she would pass that truth on to Evan.
Finally, the duke began to recall the past.
“It happened more than fifteen years ago.”
Back then, Duke Croix was overwhelmed by a never-ending stream of marriage proposals.
He was the empire’s most eligible bachelor—handsome, young, and a duke.
He met noble ladies daily at his family’s urging, but none caught his attention.
He was tired of it all. And then—
“Hello.”
He met Madeleine Belcaris.
She was the eldest daughter of the Marquess of Belcaris. Just as her modest appearance suggested, she was quiet and composed.
Compared to the other ladies he’d met, she was very plain. She didn’t have captivating looks or charming words.
And yet, emotions are strange things.
That night, after their uneventful first meal, her soft voice lingered in his mind.
He found himself wanting to hear it again.
They met a few more times. And before he knew it, he was completely taken with her.
Once he confessed his feelings, everything moved quickly.
Her family, eager to finally marry off their shy eldest daughter, pushed for the marriage more aggressively than anyone else.
“Please marry me, Madeleine.”
When Duke Croix offered her the ring, she briefly looked sorrowful.
He should have stopped then.
But blinded by love, he ignored her sadness.
He believed it was only temporary.
He knew she didn’t love him, but he thought that with enough care, she’d come to love him back.
He was wrong. Her expression only grew gloomier with each passing day.
Sniff…
One night, he found her crying at dawn.
He approached and embraced her, but she neither pushed him away nor accepted his comfort.
He realized she was withering away, little by little.
Then one day—
“I have something to tell you.”
She spoke with an unfamiliar tone. Though anxious, he tried to remain calm.
“What is it?”
“I…”
She stroked her belly and said:
“I’m pregnant.”
It should’ve been a joyful moment. But Duke Croix’s expression hardened completely, as if he might crumble.
“You’ve probably guessed… the child isn’t yours.”
When she said she was pregnant, he had already known the child wasn’t his.
It was unbearably painful, like the world had collapsed, but he didn’t feel anger or betrayal.
Perhaps because he had already seen it coming.
“I’m going to leave.”
“…You mean to divorce me?”
“No. My family would never allow that.”
She was right.
The Belcaris family was proud and conservative.
Even though she had someone she truly loved, she had been forced to marry for the sake of her family’s honor.
They would never tolerate a divorce brought about by a scandal.
“I’ll run away.”
“…”
“With him.”
She poured out her emotions all at once, cruelly.
Duke Croix realized something.
It wasn’t that she didn’t love him—she hated him.
His mouth tasted bitter.
Still, he couldn’t let her go just like that.
“If you run, they’ll find you quickly.”
The man she loved was a powerless commoner. That’s why she never spoke of marrying him openly.
There was no way such a man could escape the Belcaris family’s reach.
“That’s not your concern.”
She spoke sharply, thinking he meant to stop her.
But Duke Croix had neither the will nor the right to keep her anymore.
However—
“I’ll help you.”
There was one thing he wanted.
“How could you…”
“I have the means to hide you.”
She couldn’t bring herself to refute his words.
“But there’s one condition.”
“…What is it?”
“Leave the child behind.”
It was the only way he could bear the emptiness she would leave behind.
More importantly, if she didn’t leave the child, she’d eventually be forced into another unwanted marriage—and live a life of misery once more.
He couldn’t let that happen.
“Alright.”
She didn’t hesitate much.
What mattered more to her was the man she loved—not the child.
Once their arrangement was made, everything followed Duke Croix’s plan.
“Everyone out. I’ll deliver the baby myself.”
No one doubted him.
He was a man devastated by his wife’s condition, and it seemed natural that he would want to be alone with her in her final moments.
With everyone gone, Madeleine gave birth safely and handed the child to the duke.
It was a baby boy with black hair—just like Madeleine.
“Can you really leave now…?”
He asked as he looked at her pale face.
She looked like she might collapse at any moment.
“I… I have to go. He’s waiting for me.”
Her desperate expression shattered his heart again—but she was right.
This was her only chance.
He opened the escape route he had prepared.
“As I said, take the ship with the blue flag. It’ll take you out of the Truto Empire without anyone knowing.”
She nodded silently and disappeared.
That was the last image he had of her.
Then he looked down at the newborn baby in his arms.
“Evan…”
He called the name he had prepared.
He worried whether this child, who resembled her, could fill the emptiness she left behind.
Would he end up resenting the child? Would it only bring him more sorrow?
Waaah.
The baby flailed its tiny hands.
When Duke Croix reached out and touched his soft cheek, the baby smiled.
Seeing that, Duke Croix smiled faintly back.
