Chapter 274
From that autumn until early the next spring, Izar accumulated countless military achievements.
However, far from acknowledging this, the Emperor insulted him at every opportunity, always invoking the name of his deceased grandson.
〈Surely you don’t think that all your past foolishness will be forgiven with this one thing, do you? Ha! My days are like hell itself because of the issue of succession.〉
〈……〉
〈If only I could know whether Saiph’s child even exists…!〉
This time, the Emperor even brought up the name of the long-dead Second Prince.
Preposterous. Was there supposedly a hidden child of the wayward second son?
‘The old man should stop with his insane talk already.’
Even after arriving at the ducal estate sooner than expected, Izar was grinding his teeth in anger.
He knew that the reason the Emperor continued like this was because he wanted Izar to kneel, bow his head, and humiliate himself with an apology.
But Izar also knew just how stubborn that old man was.
‘Let’s see who wins in the end.’
Would the Emperor’s wrath win out, or Izar’s patience?
While Izar was lost in these thoughts, Charles cautiously spoke up as he watched Izar’s expression.
“My lord, are you all right? Things will be quiet for a while, so you should be able to stay at the main estate.”
“Yes, I’ll finally get to see for myself all those things I’ve only read about in letters…”
“…My lord?”
“Who is that?”
“Pardon?”
Charles asked back, but Izar was staring intently at the well near the castle up ahead.
Even from a distance, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize her.
He had watched that honey-colored hair turn the color of twilight atop the hill countless times since his childhood.
Back then, the young girl would always bow her head under the weight of life. That hadn’t changed this time either.
The woman was staggering, carrying a heavy wooden bucket filled with water in both hands.
Izar leapt from his horse alone and strode rapidly toward her.
“You.”
“……!”
As the exhausted-looking woman finally raised her head, the color instantly drained from her face. She dropped the bucket, spilling water onto the ground.
“D-Duke.”
Then, awkwardly, she grabbed her skirt as a noble lady might.
“Thank Adamant for your safe return.”
Her skirt was soaked, her hands reddened from the early spring wind. She wore no jewelry, her appearance utterly shabby.
The so-called Duchess was personally doing work that should have been handled by a servant.
“What are you doing here?”
“T-That is…”
The woman’s face turned red with embarrassment and shame. Her face was gaunt, as if she hadn’t had a proper meal, her neck and collarbones so thin they looked ready to break.
“We… ran out of water for washing and drinking…”
A throbbing pain started up in his temples.
He thought he understood why she was doing this, and why she was here without even a single servant.
“…Where are you staying now?”
Not long after asking that, Izar arrived at the woman’s room, and chaos erupted throughout the ducal estate.
“Hah.”
Izar, stunned, looked around the room.
This was his own estate, yet he had never known such a room existed.
One wall was covered with mold. It looked like someone had tried to cover it with paper or cloth, then given up.
The window was broken in several places, stuffed with cloth to block the wind, but of course the cold air still seeped in through the cracks.
It was a room you wouldn’t assign even to a lowly servant.
“What is… this?”
The woman had been living like a maid in his own estate.
Even after almost a year of marriage.
Finally realizing the situation, Electra came rushing to the woman’s room, completely forgetting herself.
“Izar! Izar, why are you—”
“What is this room?”
“Izar, I can explain. She’s just ended up in the wrong room, that’s all. This isn’t the place she’s supposed to stay—”
“Enough!”
His temples throbbed painfully.
He could slay hundreds of monsters without issue, but the moment the number of people under his roof passed a hundred, the headaches only worsened.
“How is it that you can’t do a single thing right?!”
“Izar…!”
“If you’re just going to let my words go in one ear and out the other, then don’t even think about managing the household! Before I send you off to a separate residence!”
His anger bypassed the trembling Electra and landed on the woman crouched in the corner of the room.
Ever since she had been brought here, she had curled up as if she wished to melt away and disappear.
“And you!”
The woman trembled as Izar raised his voice. Her appearance was so pitiful that it pushed his nerves to the breaking point.
“You have a mouth, don’t you? Did you go fetch water yourself just so you could show me this sight?”
“D-Duke.”
“Instead of playing clever, just act properly!”
Beneath her green eyes, more and more red spread.
“S-Sorry…”
Her voice wavered with tears, her pale lips trembling.
“I— I’m sorry…”
“Ha!”
Seeing her so pathetic, Izar felt a surge of anger, as if he had witnessed something unbearable.
Why couldn’t he stand it? She was someone he’d planned to discard at an opportune time, her name erased even from the marriage contract.
After all the trouble to save her, she showed him such a pitiful state. It turned his stomach.
Ignoring Electra’s continued excuses, he stormed out of the room.
But that very day, he learned that the woman had survived all this time on scraps fit only for pigs.
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