Chapter 135
Temple Fire
“Duke! No, without any notice… what is this…!”
The Duke and Duchess of Antares, who had been torn from their land, hastily welcomed their son-in-law.
Though they had received word that he would visit at this early hour—a time when he rarely came—Izar had indeed arrived.
As he was led into the reception room, Izar glanced around the mansion with a bitter expression.
The memory of Freesia collapsing was still as vivid as if it had happened yesterday.
Though Atria wasn’t present, she was surely listening from somewhere. Even if she wasn’t eavesdropping, this would reach her ears as soon as Izar left.
Duke Antares wiped his sweat, trying to maintain his composure.
“Duke Arcturus. To what do we owe the honor of such an early visit today?”
“The agreement with your daughter… let’s pretend it never happened.”
“…!”
“Don’t you think it’s better to discuss this in person rather than in a letter?”
This was the first thing Izar had to settle to make a compromise with the new reality.
And it had to be Izar himself who handled it.
Duchess Antares, whose husband was clearly taken aback, sharpened her gaze with eyes like a bottomless abyss.
“We deeply regret giving you an illegitimate child, but what were we supposed to do when it was an imperial order?”
Would it have pleased her to give up the marriage her daughter had wanted, simply for the Emperor’s amusement? That’s why she had spent a fortune on the temple and even altered the sacred vows, only for this to happen now!
“We agreed that at an appropriate time, you would take Atria as your wife. But now you’re changing your words, and my daughter’s precious marriage prospects…”
“I will compensate for all the time and money you’ve wasted because of me.”
Izar forced his voice to remain cold, suppressing a bitter smile.
As for what they’d wasted on Atria’s side, it hadn’t even been four months. And as for the bribes to the priests, he could spend twice as much to have it all undone.
The previously composed face of Duchess Antares cracked at her son-in-law’s brazen reply.
‘It’s as obvious as it looks.’
This young Duke must have fallen head over heels for that filthy illegitimate wench. Even though she had warned Atria in advance, the Duchess herself could feel anger rising in her throat, overcome by the same fury.
“How disgraceful! How could you treat my daughter with such disrespect…!”
“I won’t deny that it’s disgraceful.”
Izar brushed off the remark, his tone as if saying, And what of it? His gaze had been completely focused during the entire conversation on the man who had been nervously watching.
“By the way, Duke Antares, let me ask you again…”
“…! W-What is it?”
“You didn’t deceive me, did you?”
Izar frowned, recalling the report Charles had brought him.
“Freesia’s mother… She did meet you when you were younger, didn’t she? But it seems she also mingled with other men.”
At the height of social season in the capital.
The woman, desperate to do something for her dying household, had come from the countryside, knowing nothing, trying anything she could.
But if a woman was just pretty and naïve, her fate was no different from that of a courtesan.
“…In the end, she was chased out of the capital, and she gave birth to Freesia as soon as she came to my land. That was twenty years ago, and yet it wasn’t a premature birth.”
Even considering how long she had been abandoned on that land by Antares, the timeline didn’t match. Not according to the old testimonies Charles had gathered through the dukedom.
At the beginning of Izar’s explanation, the Duchess had worn an expression as if wondering why he was dredging up such sordid past events, but now she was biting her lip hard. She couldn’t stop the color from draining from her face under Izar’s inquisition.
“And you cut out that woman’s tongue, didn’t you?”
“…”
“You maimed her for life because you misjudged the situation.”
The hand clutching the hem of the Duchess’s dress gradually turned white.
Hurting her husband’s mistress wasn’t something entirely inexcusable among noblewomen. Even Duke Antares had claimed at the time that he wasn’t the one who fathered that child. But only a fool would believe every word their husband said.
Yet, if she had indeed acted out of jealousy and made the wrong call in her youth…
“Therefore, our agreement is null.”
Izar declared, looking between the trembling Duchess and Duke Antares, drenched in cold sweat.
“Let’s leave things as they are and not trouble each other further.”
It was a thinly veiled threat to stay silent about their past dealings, no matter what he did in the future.
Once Izar left, the Duchess would surely lash out at the Duke, demanding why he hadn’t cleared up the situation properly from the start. But what went on between that couple was none of Izar’s concern.
‘And I need to take care of the temple documents next.’
And then…
‘That priest who dared to speak nonsense about Freesia being like his sister.’
The man with silver hair and upturned red eyes.
He needed to confirm that man’s true intentions with his own eyes.
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