CH 118

It was the morning after the banquet. Rumors circulated that Kallaudin was drunk at the banquet and called the Emperor a ‘jerk.’

“After losing his wife, I heard that the lights in Duke Icard’s office hadn’t gone out for twenty years.”

Yet, the Emperor did not make much of an issue with it.

“How can I hold a person accountable after drinking so insanely that the lights went out?”

Of course, it wasn’t really a generous forgiveness.

Everyone in the Capital knew that Duke Icard’s office was always lit until midnight. So, the light in the office was also a symbol of the love Duke Icard still had for Matilda. However, the light went out… that in itself was incredibly surprising news.

Even he said to the Emperor who had asked him to dig up his wife’s grave a ‘jerk,’ if he held the Duke responsible for this, the Emperor himself would become a real ‘jerk’ who couldn’t get over the fact that Duke Icard had become so drunk to the point of forgetting the memorial for his wife for twenty years.

Everyone knew that Duke Icard did not enjoy drinking. Therefore, his drunkenness must have been purely to please the Emperor.

But in truth, Kallaudin did not drink to please the Emperor.

“Maybe around the day of the imperial banquet… She will pass away.”

The day Serena consistently mentioned was the day of the imperial banquet. Looking at Laria and Evan, he couldn’t help but say, ‘Actually, Laria has a fatal disease.’ So, out of a sense of frustration, he fell for the alcohol.

“Oh, my gosh.”

Morande and Lisa were speechless as they faced each other.

Despite Kallaudin’s drunken urge to turn on the light in the office yesterday, Morande did not turn it on until the end. Of course, if it hadn’t been for Laria’s appearance in the library the day before, he wouldn’t have followed her orders rather than Kallaudin.

However, he instinctively sensed that Laria’s order was a huge trick that was calculated ahead several steps. Even Livienne’s tiger fan came together as an expression of her strong will.

“She was like a different person.”

Lisa trembled as she went on.

“I don’t want to say this, but…”

Then, she sighed restlessly before ending her words.

“…She was so cool.”

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Even now, her eyes were wide open even after not sleeping all night.

“Thank you so much for all this time.”

“Yes? Suddenly?”

“Not all of a sudden. I was always thinking about it. Did you have a hard time taking care of a weak master? Then, go quickly.”

Somehow, her last words were really strange…

“She said I would find out the reason tomorrow morning… Oh, God.”

Word quickly spread that the Emperor had said that he would not take issue with the matter because the lights in the office had gone out.

If it had not been for the light in the office, Duke Icard would have been reprimanded because of the Emperor’s personality. Regardless, there was no reason for the Duke to be wary so much about the imperial family anyway…

“Father, it’s okay.”

In order to fulfill Kallaudin’s original plan to connect Elanie and Evan, he had to stay away from the Imperial Family. But at some point, it became very difficult to imagine the plan in detail because it was difficult to imagine his daughter-in-law other than Laria.

He could not do this or that, and it was not for nothing that he drank on the day of the banquet.

The Duke had been really at a loss for the last few days. It was his original plan to let Laria leave the world like this, but at some point, he became afraid of that day. That said, Kallaudin didn’t even have the confidence to say to Laria and Evan, ‘Actually, you, Laria, are time-limited.’

To him, who had been putting off the time while constantly suffering like that, Laria…

“Everything will be fine. Everything will be going according to father’s will.”

Kallaudin recalled that time with a dark face. He thought Laria’s words were somewhat strange though he felt as though it was her last greeting.

Then, Serena and Laria just left.

In the morning, the people at the Duke’s residence noticed everything. It meant that Laria used her wit to keep Duke Icard from getting into trouble.

“I have a feeling that something good is going on with Duchy Icard.”

“What do you mean?”

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“There have been times when crises that could have gotten bigger just passed smoothly, and there are times when things can get a little more difficult, gets easily resolved.”

Kallaudin and Evan also realized there was no way that Laria would suddenly change like this and came up with a clever trick all of a sudden. They vaguely felt that the origin of that luck might have been Laria.

That morning, as the gatekeeper trembled, he delivered a letter. Only Kallaudin’s name was written as the addressee. It is said that a beggar child gave it.

Although the letter was not written in Laria’s handwriting, it was clear that she had sent it.

[ Father, in fact, I knew all of your plans. I can’t die in time, but instead, I’ll leave far away. Please don’t find and kill me. I promise I’ll stay really quiet and live as if I’m dead. ]

Kallaudin read and reread the short letter.

[ Evan will probably follow father’s will. After all, he is such an affectionate child. Still, it was too much for him to leave things as it was because he didn’t ask for anything. No matter how much he says he doesn’t want anything, it really can’t be. ]

There was no resentment toward him for using her own illness, and it was strangely heartbreaking that she was only speaking about Evan.

[ I hope you succeed in what you want and start all over again. At that time, please be a good father to Evan. ]

In addition to that, a bill was enclosed in the letter. It was a bill of a considerable amount written by Lord Gerdy.

[ Please give this to Evan. Even if he was okay, I wasn’t okay with that bad guy. ]

Evan, whose blood vessels burst and his eyes turned bright red, spoke to Kallaudin, who was reading the letter.

“…Why did she leave a letter to father, not me or Lisa? I want to read it.”

His whole body was tense as if he was forcing himself to suppress the urge to snatch the letter right away.

“Laria…”

Kallaudin uttered.

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“Laria has left.”

He added, grabbing his head.

“In the end… to get us out of a difficult situation.”

The image of Laria screaming from the balcony was vivid.

How did she know the face of Duke Orlando’s people… When he thought of the look on her face, which expressed great concern about what would happen to him, Kallaudin had trouble breathing.

On the other hand, what did he do to her? He brought her in knowing that she was going to die, and even though the doctor kept talking about her death, he didn’t take any action. Why did she save such a poor father-in-law…

Kallaudin’s hands trembled.

“…All because of me.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t forgive…me, Evan.”

“Explain what you mean…”

The next moment, the door to the office was swung open widely. It was Olivia, who had come to her senses after collapsing on the carriage yesterday.

“I heard Laria is gone!”

She dragged on slippers instead of the high heels she always wore and screamed without even wearing her makeup properly.

“What happened? Explain it to me right away.”