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※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Side Story I. The Banquet Hall Without Edith (Knight Commander’s Perspective)

“I don’t give second chances. Are you refusing my order?”

He didn’t know what scheme his master was plotting, but he intuitively sensed it wouldn’t be anything good for Lady Moulton.

He had desperately hoped to avoid a situation where they were alone, but as if following a script, when he saw the lady walking down the corridor, it was already too late.

He had hoped that by staying close, he could monitor his master’s movements and block him if possible. But he had no choice but to abandon even that measure in the face of his master’s low, warning voice, tinged with displeasure.

“My apologies… Then.”

His position, where he could only pray for her safe return, felt deplorable. As he looked at her with concern, Lady Moulton seemed to send him a glance that said it was okay.

Returning to the banquet hall, Carlton saw the Young Duke of Blackford and the Saintess confronting Viscount Moulton in the distance.

“Is there a problem?”

“Ah, Sir Carlton. Where is His Highness? You’ve returned alone.”

“Just thinking about Edith having to endure such words all this time breaks my heart!”

The situation seemed to be escalating. As Carlton approached to mediate, the Young Duke inquired about the Crown Prince.

Amidst Serenity’s continued accusations against the Viscount, he faintly heard Edith’s name mentioned, which kept drawing his attention.

“His Highness had some business and went to his office.”

He deliberately avoided mentioning Edith’s name in front of the Young Duke.

He had known for a long time that the Young Duke and the Crown Prince were close. It was possible the Young Duke was involved in the Crown Prince’s schemes.

‘Just during the Hunt, he was with Lady Moulton right beside the Crown Prince…’

“Saintess, you may not know this, but that’s just how she is!”

“What exactly is the problem?”

The sound of their argument kept reaching his ears, where suspicion was beginning to bloom. He turned his head, trying to mediate the situation.

The Viscount, pleading his case to the Saintess as if wronged, was undoubtedly referring to Lady Moulton.

“Ah! Knight Commander! My daughter Edith ignored me, and I just got a little angry, but now the Saintess and everyone are acting possessed, taking her side! What is this?”

“How did she ignore you?”

“I just said I was proud of her, and out of nowhere she asked if I was there just to pick up fallen crumbs, openly ignoring me in front of everyone! So, as a father, I got angry and scolded her a little… That girl, she’s always been good at looking down on her own father and talking back.”

The Viscount’s words seemed laced with inappropriate terms, making Carlton’s eyebrow twitch irritably.

The image of Edith he had seen until now did not match the Viscount’s description at all.

The Edith he had seen… was a person starved for affection, pitiable.

Whether he knew what was in Carlton’s mind or not, the Viscount let out a heavy sigh and finally uttered the words he shouldn’t have.

“I didn’t want to say this, but… what kind of terrifying thoughts must be in that head for her to always glare at me so gloomily? And strangely, whenever she does, something bad happens to me the next day. I should have known from the moment she was born, having killed her mother…! That girl… she’s a monster. To discipline such a monster, a bit of harsh training is only natural.”

He didn’t know if this “harsh training” was psychological or involved physical punishment.

But the pieces of the puzzle seemed to click into place, overlapping with the way she had clung to him, craving affection on the day they first met, the way her expression grew severely dark each time before returning home, and the strangely dismissive attitude of the servants toward her when he visited the mansion with the Saintess.

And the root cause of it all was…

As his thoughts reached that point, a chilling sensation washed over him. Carlton drew his sword and pointed it at the Viscount’s throat.

“Kyyaak!”

“What’s happening?!”

Nobles screamed and backed away from the center of the banquet hall as they saw the Knight Commander suddenly pointing a sword at the Viscount.

The Viscount’s small eyes widened at the cold, coppery pain against his throat, and he began to tremble violently.

“W-Why all of a sudden, Sir Knight Commander…?”

“I think I understand now. The reason Lady Moulton was so gloomy. Viscount Moulton, are you aware that domestic violence within a noble house, especially parental abuse of a child, carries a rather heavy penalty?”

The Saintess watched with her hand over her mouth in shock. The Young Duke observed the situation with interest. The surrounding nobles held their breaths in silence.

In the heavy, quiet stillness that fell, only the sound of the Viscount’s trembling swallow was audible.

With a sigh, Carlton sheathed his sword and growled at the Viscount, low and threatening, like a beast suppressing a roar.

“As this is a banquet and I cannot ruin the atmosphere, I will not carry out judgment here. But you, Viscount… would do well to stay quietly at your mansion. The executioner’s office will be visiting you soon.”

As Carlton withdrew his sword with this warning, the Viscount’s large body slumped down weakly.

He was drenched in sweat, wearing a vacant expression as if unable to accept the situation.

Carlton’s attention had already left the Viscount. His mind was consumed with worry about her and what might be happening with the Crown Prince at that very moment.

But just like the Saintess, Carlton couldn’t shake his unease throughout the night, and he eventually learned that his fears had come true.