Chapter 19
“I heard she’s not actually a noble lady but just a maid of the Shainon family.”
“The Shainon family?”
“You know, Beryl’s only daughter.”
“Oh… her?”
The nobles covered their mouths and whispered.
‘They’re being loud enough on purpose so I can hear this, aren’t they?’
Their voices were quite loud, like they didn’t care if I heard or not.
“Of all times, she’s with that maid of Lilith’s. What could she be thinking?”
“Isn’t this also a way to rebel against Marquis Stair on purpose?”
At first, I thought they were just talking about me, but then their conversation slowly shifted to Johann.
‘Marquis Stair?’
I had no idea why another noble’s name was suddenly being mentioned.
“I thought he was just the illegitimate child the Duke of Harriet had before inheriting the family title. But now they’re saying he has royal blood?”
“Now that you mention it, he does have some royal features.”
“But it’s still not confirmed that Johann is really of royal blood, right?”
“Still, with the scandal between Duke Seraphina Harriet and Marquis Stair, isn’t it obvious who the real father is?”
“The Marquis hasn’t denied that Johann might be his son either…”
I looked around nervously.
An illegitimate child?
All this talk about royal blood and old scandals — it was nothing good for me to hear. I wished they would lower their voices since I didn’t care about their gossip at all. But they kept talking, as if they were enjoying it.
“Then does that mean he also has the right to inherit the throne?”
“If that’s true, then His Highness the Prince…”
Whispers, whispers. Their endless chatter suddenly stopped the moment Johann looked at them.
They quickly turned their heads and clamped their mouths shut, pretending they hadn’t said anything.
‘I don’t even need to read their expressions to know what they’re thinking.’
The people whispering about Johann only cared about their curiosity and finding something juicy to gossip about. They weren’t thinking at all about how Johann would feel hearing those things.
“Shall we step out for a moment?”
Johann asked with a bitter smile. I nodded as I carefully dusted off the dirt from my skirt.
Johann and I soon arrived at a quiet corner of the mansion, where hardly anyone came. There was a large tree that looked like it had been standing for hundreds of years, and a bench sat underneath it.
From the complicated path we took, it seemed like only the Duke’s family members knew this place.
“Come, sit here. Let’s rest for a bit before we go back.”
At Johann’s words, I nodded and quietly sat on one end of the bench. For a while, neither of us spoke. A silence settled between us.
‘I shouldn’t have listened to all that.’
Feeling awkward and unsettled, I bit my lip. It was Johann who broke the silence first.
“What you heard earlier… It’s all true.”
He suddenly said. I turned my head, surprised.
‘Can he really tell me something like that?’
My gaze wavered as I looked at him. Johann smiled softly, like he had read my thoughts.
“Everyone pretends not to know, but it’s something they all know anyway.”
“Then really…”
“Yes. My mother was already pregnant with me even before they ever talked about marriage. And no matter how many times she was asked who the father was, she never said a word.”
He added that until a few years ago, he had never even heard anything about his birth father.
“Marquis Daniel Stair — the older brother of His Majesty the Emperor and the man who was once granted the title of Marquis. He’s my father.”
“So… the part about your right to inherit the throne was true too.”
Johann nodded.
“But that only becomes possible if I become his official heir.”
He could only have a right to the throne if he became Marquis Stair’s heir.
“But isn’t there already a prince? The emperor’s son?”
Normally, the prince — the emperor’s son — would be the strongest candidate for the throne. Just because Johann had royal blood didn’t mean he could claim the throne. If it worked like that, then every person with royal blood would be fighting to become emperor.
“The truth is, the emperor was never supposed to be the one to take the throne. Marquis Stair — back when he was still Prince Daniel — was the most likely to become emperor.”
“Then why…”
Johann looked at me curiously.
“Haven’t you ever heard anything about Marquis Stair?”
“…No.”
I had only just learnt about the first Duke of Harriet a few days ago from Verdi.
So of course I knew nothing about the marquis.
“During the previous emperor’s reign, there was a war. Back then, Prince Daniel went missing in battle. Though the war ended in victory, the emperor got sick and died.”
Prince Daniel — now Marquis Stair — disappeared. So the current emperor took the throne instead. Years later, Daniel returned. But by then, they had given him the title of marquis. That was around the same time Seraphina Harriet found out she was pregnant. She knew it would cause a huge scandal if Johann’s father was revealed, so she never said anything about it.
As Johann kept speaking, his voice grew quieter.
“But later, the Marquis — everyone thought he was dead — returned. He said he had lost his memory during that time.”
“And by then…”
“Yes. The current emperor had already held his coronation and ruled for several years.”
However, according to imperial law, if someone didn’t inherit the throne for a “special” reason, their child could still inherit it later.
So right now, only the prince and Johann had a legitimate claim to the throne.
‘And the prince… was one of the main characters, too.’
I frowned.
“You don’t want the throne, do you?”
“That’s right. But Marquis Stair seems to want it badly.”
Johann didn’t even call him “Father”.
“That’s why he and my mother fought.”
“Duke Seraphina?”
“My mother wanted me to inherit the dukedom, but I didn’t want to.”
“Why not?”
Johann slowly turned his head to look at me. Our eyes met — his blue eyes stared straight into mine.
“I just want to avoid anything that would make me face Marquis Stair. I’d rather support my younger brother, who will become the next Duke.”
Johann’s younger brother, Noah, was the child of Duke Kaidel and Seraphina Harriet.
I opened my mouth slightly. Maybe Johann didn’t want to accept the fact that he was the son of Marquis Stair.
I wanted to say something, but no words came out.
“Lately, it’s been uncomfortable staying in the mansion. But now… things are a little better.”
Johann smiled at me.
It wasn’t a polite, fake smile — it looked like a genuine one. I remembered the time Noel suggested Johann become Lilith’s tutor.
By taking that job, it seemed like Johann had finally found a place where he could breathe a little easier.
“You must’ve felt awkward hearing all this out of nowhere, right? I just thought… maybe you were curious.”
Johann smiled awkwardly.
I shook my head.
“No. Actually…”
“…?”
“I thought it’d be unfair if I was the only one who knew about your birth secret, so I’ll tell you mine.”
As I continued talking, Johann’s eyes filled with surprise.
“I have a similar story. I found out I also have a secret about my birth.”
I held up my index finger and whispered like I was sharing a secret.
“A secret?”
“Yes. The people I thought were my real parents were actually my aunt and uncle. My real mother died a long time ago, and they said they don’t even know who my father is.”
Apparently, they told me that just a few days before I was sent to the Shainon family.
“Isn’t that awful? No wonder they didn’t even bother to give me a proper education!”
I grumbled to Johann.
Now that I thought about it, there were a lot of people who didn’t take responsibility for their actions.
Like Johann, like Lilith, and like me too.
‘What’s the point of creating a child if you don’t plan to take care of them? Some even try to use their child for their own ambitions.’
I clicked my tongue.
Thinking about it, maybe I should at least be thankful to my aunt and uncle for raising me, even if they weren’t great parents.
“Ha ha.”
Just then, I heard Johann chuckle beside me. It was the first time I’d ever heard him laugh out loud.
When I looked at him in surprise, he noticed my stare and opened his mouth.
