Chapter 29
Rivenya was more mature than her peers, perhaps because she entered the academy early and experienced social life sooner, or perhaps because she never had the chance to lean on her parents.
That was why it felt so strange that the person calling her a “child” was none other than her much younger little groom.
But Rivenya had never lost an argument, and this time was no different.
“……Even so, I’m closer to being an adult than an eight-year-old. Next year, I’ll be old enough to make my debutante appearance.”
After a debutante ball, one was treated as an adult in society even if not yet twenty years old.
It was, in a way, becoming half an adult.
Heinrich subtracted his own age from seventeen.
Nine years. He still had nine long years to go before he could debut in society…
“See? That’s why it makes sense for me to be the one protecting you.”
Rivenya said this with a proud smile.
To Heinrich, Rivenya’s insistence on being an adult seemed endlessly childish.
And strangely enough, he liked that very much.
A girl with too much pride to be treated as a child, who hated being protected by others.
A girl who wouldn’t back down, even in a quarrel with her eight-year-old groom.
He felt as if, for the first time, he had discovered a side of Rivenya that neither he nor anyone else had ever known.
And only then could Heinrich, before Rivenya, finally be nothing more than a pure eight-year-old boy.
The two precociously grown children were able to be children—only in front of each other.
* * *
The Baldwin townhouse was far quieter than other noble residences.
The garden was paved tightly with stones so that not a blade of grass could grow, and instead of flowers, artworks were placed here and there.
It had its own sort of elegance, but in May—the most beautiful month—it was a pity that there wasn’t a single rose bush.
Of course, only the servants, including secretary Aslan, ever thought such things.
The master of the house, Heinrich, had no interest in beauty.
And today, Nadia, visiting the Baldwin townhouse, was of the same mind.
Despite Heinrich’s earlier words—“let’s not meet again”—Nadia once again stepped into a residence owned by Baldwin.
Guided not by a mere maid but by his close secretary Alison, Nadia headed to the reception room.
It was a treatment far too respectful.
Alison gave her a friendly smile and struck up conversation.
“How is that maid doing now?”
Perhaps he wanted to break the silence, but it seemed his concern was also genuine.
“If you were going to worry about her, you should’ve gone easier on her.”
“She wasn’t the kind of opponent I could hold back against…… I was honestly terrified. I thought I might die right there, so I had no luxury to go easy on her. But really, why are you working as a maid?”
Such exaggeration.
Nadia gave a faint smile and explained what Alison wanted to know.
“She’s already back on her feet. But just in case, I told her to rest today. As for working as a maid…… she says maids are cute. It suits her, doesn’t it?”
“Excuse me?”
Alison’s face showed complete lack of comprehension.
Unfortunately, they had already arrived at the reception room, so there would be no chance to enlighten him.
Alison opened the door, and Nadia entered with graceful composure.
Heinrich was already seated on the black sofa, waiting for her.
“Sit. Formal greetings are unnecessary.”
For the daughter of a baron to sit before a duke without so much as a bow was an outrageous suggestion.
But she knew it wasn’t special treatment.
Heinrich simply wanted to get to the point quickly.
Nadia sat opposite him and took a magical device from her small bag.
“As Vivian said, this artifact is a recorder. And it contained suspicious words.”
Heinrich, who had been leaning back, straightened to take it.
But Nadia placed her hand lightly on top of the device, stopping him.
The Heinrich she knew was a gentleman, and as expected, he did not force it from her hand.
“I want to ask you something.”
“……Don’t expect me to answer everything.”
Nadia’s face clouded with hurt for a moment before she quickly hid it.
She had planned to cut ties with Heinrich and Baldwin altogether, yet his coldness toward her still pained her.
The human heart is fickle and selfish indeed.
“That day… did it really not matter to you if my maid died?”
Their gazes locked in the air.
It was an overly personal, unnecessary question.
Yet Heinrich found himself answering before he could stop.
“I didn’t regard her life as insignificant. But in that moment, the most important thing to me was that artifact.”
“You mean you acted while thinking only of the single most important thing?”
“Yes.”
To Heinrich, that was an absolute principle.
The day he was doused in poison, Rivenya had placed a hand on his shoulder and said:
‘Remember. No matter how urgent the moment, think first of the most important thing. Sometimes you must abandon what’s less important. Only then can you seize what you desire.’
He had etched those words into his bones.
But it seemed he had not engraved them into his heart.
Because in every moment, he should have thought of Rivenya first—yet he had not, and in the end, he lost her.
The brightest light of his life.
The warmest shade.
The person he loved most…
Heinrich never wanted to experience such a loss again.
He no longer wished to prolong the conversation.
“State your business. What do you want in return for handing me the artifact?”
He interpreted Nadia’s lengthy preamble as the start of negotiations.
But all she had truly wanted was to know why he had acted so coldly.
Nadia shook her head. She still did not fully understand, but Heinrich had no obligation to explain himself to her.
If it were Rivenya, perhaps. But Nadia was nothing to him.
“I’ve heard all I wanted to hear.”
She operated the device. It was simple—just a single button.
No doubt designed to be destroyed quickly if needed.
After a moment of silence, a distorted voice came from it:
[Do not block the path. Place the fox’s corpse in the grave of the dead. Remember the broken woman.]
“I checked for more recordings, but those three sentences were all there was.”
The words sounded like riddles.
But one phrase—“Place the fox’s corpse in the grave of the dead”—carried a possible meaning.
“How long has it been since Your Grace rejected the Crimson Count’s marriage proposal?”
“A long time.”
“Yet at the recent Duke of Flang’s party, you appeared with the Crimson young lady.”
“That was to ascertain the Count’s intentions.”
“I thought so. May I tell you what I suspect?”
Heinrich touched his chin with thumb and forefinger, watching her.
An arrogant gesture, as if to say: Let’s hear what you think.
“The Crimson Count likely wishes to revive the marriage proposal. To do that, winning over society’s opinion is important. But would a single escort at a party accomplish that?”
As Duke Baldwin, he could appear with any woman he wished.
A single escort meant nothing.
“But what if ominous rumors accompanied it? If a fox’s corpse were discovered in the late Duchess’s grave, people would think a dark omen had fallen over House Baldwin—and at the same time, be reminded that the Duchess’s place is empty.”
“You’re saying this ‘grave of the dead’ refers to my wife’s tomb?”
“Yes. Once that rumor spreads, people will wonder whom you’ll take as your new wife—and naturally, attention will fall on the one woman you escorted.”
Heinrich listened in silence, then twisted his lips in a cold sneer.
The silent contempt filled the room like ice.
“How dare they.”
He looked ready to storm back to Baldwin immediately.
“Your Grace, since the Count surely knows the artifact is lost, the plan will have been abandoned. You can’t accuse him with this alone.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
His tone meant only one thing: he was prepared to kill the Crimson Count on the spot.
But Nadia thought differently.
“Executing the Crimson Count would be easy enough. But I don’t believe killing him would end it.”
Still standing, Heinrich looked down at her.
His crimson eyes were just as beautiful as she remembered, yet they held no warmth.
“Why are you pursuing the Crimson Count, my lady?”
As if she’d expected the question, Nadia answered calmly.
“I won’t say. It would only anger you.”
“You mean that talk of wanting to repay my wife’s kindness, and to become like her?”
Nadia responded with silence.
“……Continue.”
“The artifact was in the Crimson Count’s possession. If he had recorded it himself, it should already have been passed along—since with you here in the capital, now is the perfect time to act. The fact that it wasn’t means he may have only just obtained it.”
“You suggest there is someone behind him.”
“I’m only saying it’s possible. If you kill him now, the connection will be severed, and we’ll never uncover the one pulling the strings. And then, the truth of what happened to the Duchess will remain unknown.”