Chapter 25 (1/2)

“Dylan.”

The crying Elisabeth’s voice was then heard.

“I think I’m very lucky.”

The following words were unthinkable.

“I have a good father and two older brothers in such a nice house. I don’t know how lucky I am.”

The voice that was trying hard to hold back the sadness was painful.

“That’s right. Where’s the lucky kid like you? You got lots of love from Victoire, Damon cherishes you and I…”

“…..”

“I like you.”

The cries which had been flowing from Elisabeth ceased. Elisabeth looked up at Dylan with a wet face.

“Really?”

As if it was something incredible, the small, round face dyed in pink asked.

Dylan was suddenly stifled by an unknown hot, ticklish feeling.

‘How can that person hate you? When you’re this lovely.’

Dylan wanted to ask. He wanted to scream and ask anyone.

But instead of asking, he hugged Elisabeth again. This time, like holding petals, very cozy. Preciously.

“Then I will contact you again.”

The Duke of Cabezo reached out his hand. Victoire shook hands with him. Old and thin, but never troubled, the soft hand hit Victoire’s rough hands.

‘Disgusting.’

Victoire managed to resist wanting to spit at Cabezo’s veins at any moment.

“But where’s Sir Dylan? Why doesn’t he come to see us off?”

Polia asked while looking around.

“Maybe he’s with the youngest by now.”

“You mean the newly adopted youngest kid?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Polia’s expression was bluntly distorted by Damon’s words. It was very rude, but Duke Cabezo didn’t blame his daughter.

“It makes no sense not to come out to see us off just to be with his youngest sister, especially when the Duke and Princess Cabezo are going.”

“Their relationship is special.”

Damon said, smiling to the end. But the tone was sharp.

“That’s enough, Polia. Let’s go.”

“But…”

Duke Cabezo pulled Polia’s hand.

“I understand, Father.”

Polia climbed into the carriage with her mouth pouting.

Looking away at the carriage, Victoire clenched his fist.

“Good patience, Father.”

“Dirty Cabezos. Someday, I’ll skin them and put them in the river.”

A deep cry of anger flowed out of Victoire’s mouth. Damon stared at his father’s bloodshot eyes with a darkened face.

Victoire’s dead father, the Duke of Leschine, used to write letters to his eldest sister who was married to the Kingdom of Titan. She was a great aunt to Victoire.

Victoire still clearly remembers the day when his father wrote her his last regards. Even the ink smudged the letter paper because he was playing around.

‘The Duke of Cabezo’s evidence was the letter sent out that contained the proof was different, and there was no ink smudge.’

It was a letter fabricated by the Duke of Cabezo by mimicking the handwriting of the Duke of Leschine.

‘My aunt didn’t even have the power to send a soldier to plot a rebellion.’

But luckily at the time, the Titan Kingdom was really preparing for war with the Empire. Fortunately, it did not go to war thanks to the foreknowledge. But the Duke of Leschine helplessly became the sacrificial lamb between them.

The furious emperor believed in the slander, and the Duke of Leschine never had a chance to explain.

Only Victoire and his sister, Baroness Terran, managed to save their lives thanks to Marquis Dalton’s father. Even Victoire’s aunt, who had been married to Titan Kingdom, was heartbroken to hear this news and killed herself, and so the Duke of Leschine was literally shattered.

Marquis Dalton, Victoire, and Baroness Terran and his wife lost their footing while running away. Thanks to him, Victoire lived his life as a dead man. He couldn’t settle down because he was afraid that his identity would be revealed even after he got married.

The young Dylan also had to stay away for a while, left in the care of others. Meanwhile, he managed to buy the name of Count Daughtry, a family that collapsed in the countryside.

All the time until he came to this occasion, and again to face the Duke of Cabezo, was painful for him.

‘I’ll make everyone pay back a few times.’

Blood formed in the hands of Victoire, who clenched his fist.

***

“This is… What is it?”

The Duke of Cabezo asked after looking for a long time at a piece of paper with a childish sentence written in clumsy handwriting.

“Polia wrote a poem for father!”

In front of the Duke of Cabezo, a girl dressed in fancy and luxurious clothes said with a big smile.

Her name is Polia Cabezo. The only ‘present’ child of the Duke of Cabezo.

Polia’s face with paper was full of expectations.

“Oh, poetry? It was poetry. It’s a poem.”

The Duke of Cabezo said, embarrassed.

I never imagined that this strange writing would be poetry.

The sentences were like children’s pranks, and the handwriting was developed like that of a five-year-old child.

He was eleven years old and a child, but when he studied literature, he could write a poem or two. Furthermore, the tutors assigned to Polia were all expensive teachers from the Advanced Academy.

‘That’s odd. Diana wasn’t brilliant, but she wrote poetry.’

The Duke of Cabezo had no way of knowing that Polia’s mother, Diana, had always been paying for a man’s poetry, or had stolen the poems of an unnamed wandering poet on the street.

‘Emilie’s been writing poetry since she was nine.’

Emilie’s poetry was so complete that it was unbelievable it was written by a child. It was just like her mother, Filena, who excelled at anything and choked the Duke of Cabezo. So it was by ill luck.

The woman who always showed herself a cold face. A duchess would spend money and obey, the duchess was a woman who was just saying what was right to him as a duchess.

“Hahaha. It’s been a long time since I’ve received a poem from a woman.”

On the other hand, Polia made him feel at home. The humor of Diana, who always made him laugh, was similar.

Watching Polia didn’t give him a headache, and he didn’t have to think much. Because she always took care of him and entertained him.

‘The poem is childish, but childlike and cute. The handwriting is a bit serious, but she can learn it.’

The Duke of Cabezo was satisfied. She didn’t seem to have any writing skills, but it didn’t matter.

‘You’re the only princess in the Empire, but you don’t have any writing skills.’

She’s the daughter of Duke Cabezo!