Chapter 30. Loose Lips

 “Father, the rumors were true.”

 “You must have seen wrong.”

 “No. I saw it clearly with my own two eyes! How could I mistake them kissing right in front of me!”

 “But it doesn’t make sense. How could His Highness kiss the daughter of the Odoi family in front of you?”

 “Mother!”

 Aria had been suffering all day after returning home.

 Worried about Aria’s condition, the Duke and Duchess inquired through the coachman about where she had been.

 When they heard she had been to the Crown Prince’s palace, they couldn’t understand.

 She had always brightened up at the mere mention of Edmund.

 They couldn’t understand why she would be bedridden after meeting him in person.

 According to those who had followed her, she hadn’t been turned away at the door either.

 So they had no choice but to wait for Aria to bring up the subject herself.

 When they heard Aria’s story with their own ears, the Duke and Duchess were taken aback.

 “You must have seen wrong.”

 “Father, are you saying you don’t believe me?”

 The Duke clicked his tongue.

 No matter how much he loved his daughter, there were limits to what he could believe.

 In the Duke’s eyes, Edmund was a person in whom it was difficult to find any emotion at all.

 What he felt when facing him was that he was a cold person like ice.

 A person who pursued practical benefits rather than personal emotions.

 Thinking that Edmund had no reason to keep Clea Odoi by his side, he shook his head.

 The Duchess also thought her husband’s judgment was correct.

 “Why won’t you believe me!”

 Aria got up from her seat, irritated that her family wouldn’t believe her.

 “Aria! Won’t you eat a bit more!”

 “No. I’m full.”

 “Aria, Aria!”

 Suddenly rising from her seat, Aria left the table, breathing heavily. The two called her name pleadingly.

 But Aria didn’t stop and walked to her room.

 The Duke and Duchess hurriedly followed her.

 They should have been firm in the face of their grown child’s tantrum.

 But in their eyes, they only saw Aria from her childhood, always sickly.

 “Aria, please open the door. Aria!”

 The Duke sighed as Aria went into her room and locked the door.

 “What should we do?”

 “Hah, it seems the Crown Prince must have said something.”

 “This is not the time to say that! She barely ate anything!”

 The Duke told the Duchess, who was worried sick about Aria, to calm down first.

 “I’ll go to the imperial palace myself and ask, so don’t worry too much.”

 “I’m upset with His Highness. How could he say something to make her like this when she was already depressed about not seeing him recently.”

 “We’ll find out everything when I inquire directly.”

 The Duke rose from his seat with a sigh.

 While it was true that he loved Aria dearly, everything had its proper procedure.

 Especially this time, he clearly thought they were in the wrong first.

 ‘Even between friends, there are appropriate boundaries to maintain.’

 Moreover, the Duke had something on his mind.

 What he should do if what Aria said was actually true.

 He had always thought the position of Crown Prince’s consort belonged to Aria.

 Aria was special.

 She was beautiful and beloved by everyone.

 He firmly believed that if such a person became the Crown Prince’s consort and later the empress, the Empire and the imperial family would become more stable.

 ‘But if the daughter of the Odoi family surpasses Aria here….’

 The Duke found the thought horrifying.

 It was a moment when things were going terribly wrong.

 Imagining how the Hersher family, who had sworn loyalty to the imperial family, would be ridiculed, the Duke felt like vomiting.

 He reassured himself that it couldn’t be possible and looked ahead.

 ‘I need to meet the Crown Prince.’

 He sent a letter to Edmund with meticulous handwriting but contradictory content.

 * * *

 “You are forbidden from going out from now on!”

 “Father, you can’t do this!”

 “Haven’t you come to your senses yet!”

 Meanwhile, the Grand Duke’s household was in complete chaos.

 The servants of the grand ducal family were doing their best to stop the Grand Duke and Duchess.

Lloyd was the sole heir to succeed the grand ducal family.

 They thought that such a precious heir should not suffer any injuries.

 But despite this, the Grand Duke and Duchess had completely lost their rationality.

 They were furious that the child they had trusted all this time had been deceiving them.

 “Didn’t I clearly tell you? That even if you neglect others, you should treat Clea kindly!”

 “Father! This is a misunderstanding!”

 “Misunderstanding? Misunderstanding? This boy still hasn’t come to his senses! Hey, someone bring me my sword!”

 “M-Master! Please calm down! You’ll collapse at this rate!”

 “Butler! You’ve been secretly aiding Lloyd’s misconduct all this time, haven’t you?”

 The Grand Duke’s anger, triggered by Lloyd, was directed elsewhere too.

 The Grand Duke felt an even greater sense of betrayal that the people he had trusted had all been deceiving him.

 No matter how precious a child might be as the only offspring of a family that values children, it was wrong to overlook their mistakes.

 The Grand Duke had never heard from anyone about his child’s wrongdoings.

 Despite countless eyes and ears surely being directed at Lloyd.

 The butler completely cowered before the Grand Duke’s anger.

 “Have everyone who knows of Lloyd’s misdeeds write them all down.”

 “Your Grace, this is too harsh a measure.”

 “What?”

 One of the retainers standing beside the butler spoke to the Grand Duke.

 The Grand Duke recognized who he was and frowned.

 Others saw the Grand Duke’s expression and signaled to him to keep quiet, but,

 “There’s no reason to do this over a mere lady from the Odoi family. Even if we were humiliated, the marriage between the two families would have been utterly useless. Rather, it’s a good thing, and we should look for another family……”

 “It seems I’ve been too incompetent all this time.”

 “Darling, I should have been managing the household.”

 “How could I leave it all to you alone, my dear. I merely stood by while such a man was one of the retainers by Lloyd’s side.”

 The man trembled upon hearing the response from the Grand Duke and Duchess.

 But the water had already been spilled.

 “Expel everyone related to that man and don’t let them near the grand ducal residence.”

 “Y-Your Grace!”

 “And butler, this is your last chance too. Act according to my orders.”

 The atmosphere completely sank.

 Those who thought they should somehow stop the Grand Duke and Duchess for Lloyd’s sake were now gone.

 The Grand Duke narrowed his brows at them and gave a final warning.

 “You’re not mistaking Lloyd for the master of the Persi family, are you?”

 “How could that be? I am a loyal servant who is completely devoted to you, Master.”

 Lloyd, who had been silently watching this from behind, frowned.

 He was displeased that those he trusted had felt fear and ultimately chosen his father over him.

 He thought he would never forget this and looked back at the Grand Duke.

 Meanwhile, the Grand Duke noticed his son’s unkind gaze and realized there was no sign of remorse.

 “If you were human, how could you hurt that child? That child has suffered so much because of you.”

 “I hated the idea of that woman becoming my wife. Yet it was none other than you, Father, who forcibly kept her by my side.”

 “You hated it? Haha, you hated it. Are you confident you won’t regret those words later?”

 Lloyd didn’t understand what the Grand Duke was saying.

 Regret? What could he possibly have to regret?

 He nodded and said.

 “I won’t regret it.”

 Hearing this, the Grand Duchess felt her insides burning. She felt like beating him.

 Though even if she hit him with her own hands, how much pain would her grown child feel?

 She was furious thinking about the large and small wounds her son must have inflicted on that child.

 She wondered how badly the Odoi family must have treated her for such a patient child to leave home.

 Everyone in the capital knew that the people of that family didn’t treat Clea well.

 However, they simply didn’t know exactly how they mistreated her.

 The Grand Duchess wanted to see her.

 Knowing it was wrong because her own child had hurt her, she still wanted to know how she was doing now.

 “Besides, what my retainer said isn’t wrong!”

 “What?”

 The Grand Duke thought Lloyd still hadn’t come to his senses and was about to slap his cheek to make him snap out of it.

 But before his hand could reach him, Lloyd’s words rang out first.

 “She was someone who wouldn’t live long from the beginning! She had a chronic illness but hid it and tried to marry into the grand ducal family, so isn’t it actually a good thing!”

 “Chronic illness? What nonsense!”

 The two showed bewilderment on their faces, having never heard this from the Odoi ducal family.

 Meanwhile, Lloyd, thinking they were finally listening to him properly, began to speak more excitedly.

 “She coughed up blood right in front of me! We can’t give the position of lady of the grand ducal family to someone like that!”

 “Say that again. Clea coughed up blood?”

 Hearing Lloyd’s words, the Grand Duke and Duchess thought,

 That clearly something had happened not just with Lloyd but also with the ducal family.

 ‘I need to find out exactly what happened.’

 They deeply regretted.

 That their decision to entrust everything to their child because of what they felt toward the parent generation might have been too irresponsible.

 What made them feel most guilty was learning that there was a victim in all of this.