Episode 42
Edwin’s face twisted in anger.
Just seeing the scene in front of him was enough to make his blood boil, but before losing his temper, he forced himself to stay calm.
“Can someone explain what’s going on here?”
He had to know why one of the duke’s retainers was lying in front of him covered in blood. Getting a grip on the situation came first—anger could come later.
The knights around him were just as furious, their presence buzzing with heated energy.
If Edwin lost control here too, they’d all charge in recklessly. That’s why he held onto his reason with everything he had.
“They say another letter came from the capital.”
“And?”
“On the way back… he must’ve been ambushed by bandits—”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
“Even bandits wouldn’t attack someone carrying the Casper family’s banner!”
The knights shouted down the man who suggested it. He wasn’t really to blame, but his explanation was nonsense.
No thief in their right mind would touch a noble house’s flag.
Something much stranger was happening.
“He couldn’t have been traveling alone.”
All eyes turned back to Edwin. He calmly pieced things together out loud.
“Chris would never send a retainer alone to Grand Forest.
If he sent someone, there’d be a knight escort at the very least. Especially when it comes to serious matters.”
The knights nodded, finally starting to calm down as Edwin laid it out.
“L-Lord Duke…”
Edwin turned to the weak voice. The retainer had woken up, trembling and biting his lip, tears welling up in his eyes.
That sight only stoked the knights’ fury again.
Edwin felt it too—but he reminded himself that he had to be careful with his words.
One careless phrase could cut deeper than a blade to a man already suffering.
“Rest easy. You risked everything for the sake of the family.”
Unlike Beati.
Edwin didn’t say the last part aloud. He didn’t have to. Everyone was thinking it anyway.
The retainer looked more pained over failing to deliver his message than over his wounds or even almost losing his life.
“I’m sorry… Lord Chris said this must be delivered…”
Chris never sent people unless it was important.
Normally he wouldn’t disturb Edwin, who was busy searching for Emilia, unless it was about major matters in the capital—or Emilia herself.
And since Emilia had already been found, this message must’ve been about something else.
Then Edwin suddenly realized—he hadn’t yet sent word to the capital that Emilia had been found.
The retainer’s next words confirmed one of Edwin’s fears.
“Someone said… they know where my lady is.”
The atmosphere instantly turned cold.
Normally, such news would’ve been cause for celebration. But not now. They had already found Emilia.
That meant… someone else out there also knew her whereabouts.
The realization made Edwin uneasy.
“It seems Lord Chris sent a letter about it, but… it was taken—”
“That’s enough.”
Edwin cut him off. No point in making a wounded man share more than he needed to.
“Rest now. We’ll take care of the rest.”
Relieved that he’d delivered his message, the retainer finally closed his eyes and drifted into exhausted sleep.
Edwin motioned for the men to carry him to a proper bed, then ordered the others:
“Find the other bodies.”
The retainer had also mentioned something chilling—that he felt he’d been deliberately left alive.
If that was true, then someone had staged all this just to provoke Edwin.
That thought made Edwin’s anger twist into something worse—unease.
Because this whole situation… didn’t feel like coincidence at all.
Meanwhile, Emilia’s day was calm and peaceful.
She was out in the fields helping the villagers, when some kids—who had avoided her the day before—shyly came up and started chatting with her.
“So… are you really a princess, Amy?”
“Dummy, she’s not a princess. She’s a duchess!”
“Princess, duchess, same thing!”
“It’s not the same!”
“Hey, hey, don’t fight,” Emilia said, smiling.
Their parents quickly apologized to her, still a little wary of her.
The rumors from the capital hadn’t completely disappeared, and with Edwin himself staying in the village, they were cautious not to get dragged into noble troubles.
But Emilia understood. In the capital, she had endured much worse without a single apology from anyone.
‘Well… except him now, I suppose.’
She thought back to Edwin—someone she never thought she’d see cry.
Yet when they reunited, she saw tears fall from his eyes.
She’d been terrified at first, sure he would drag her away and make her pay the “villainess’s” price.
But instead… Edwin Casper had knelt before her.
Not on one knee, but both knees, confessing his sins and asking for forgiveness.
“Then… are you really married to the duke, Amy?”
One of the kids tugged on her sleeve, interrupting her thoughts. The other kids quickly perked up too.
“Yeah! I was wondering that too.”
“My mom says he’s someone you only see once in your lifetime!”
For the kids, it was nothing more than innocent curiosity. But for Emilia, it was a heavy question.
Her mind drifted back to Edwin again.
Since returning to the village, he hadn’t outright asked her to come back to the capital with him… but it was clear that’s what he wanted.
‘He even said it the first day… that I should go with him.’
Back then, she’d hated him for it. It tore open her old wounds.
But after his apology, her heart had shifted just a little.
She caught herself imagining what life might be like if she went back with him. Building a real home together.
Living warmly, peacefully.
Something she once thought impossible—something she used to beg for in secret, just to have the strength to get through the nights.
“Amy?”
“…Yeah. That’s right,” she admitted softly.
“Really?”
“You’re so pretty, Amy! You two look perfect together!”
The kids beamed at her with bright, innocent smiles.
They looked like little angels, and Emilia couldn’t help but laugh along with them.
‘But… do I really still have a place to return to?’
It had been a year.
Legally, if someone disappeared for more than a year, they were declared dead.
That would make her marriage null, like she’d already been widowed.
The thought scared her.
Even if she did return, maybe there’d be no place left for her.
‘And the nobles would never welcome me back.’
The noble faction had crumbled, but the emperor’s faction would soon split again.
There would always be another power struggle.
If she went back, she’d have to be prepared. She couldn’t live passively, just enduring things anymore.
“There’s been a lot of noise in the village today, hasn’t there?”
“Yeah. I heard someone from the duke’s side came in really badly injured. Maybe it’s that.”
“…What?”
Emilia froze.
A seriously injured man from the duke’s household?
The children didn’t think much of it, but Emilia’s heart clenched in worry.
If it had been Edwin who was hurt, surely the whole village would already know.
Even so… she couldn’t stop the thought from creeping in.
What if it was Edwin?
What if something had happened to him?
