* * *
“Um, Lord Sylvian?”
“Yes?”
Henders, a mage under the Duke’s household, carefully addressed Sylvian, who was curiously exploring his laboratory.
He’d worked all night and had just woken up, yawning on the sofa, when the Duchess barged in with her guard.
“Sorry to drop by unannounced.”
“Not at all! It’s an honor. Please speak freely. I’m not someone who deserves such formality from you, my lord.”
Why is he really here?
Henders wore an apologetic expression but couldn’t stop his eyes from darting around as the Duchess inspected the lab.
“I was just… curious. I’ve never actually met a mage before.”
“Haha, is that so?”
At his comment, Henders smiled and led Sylvian to the sofa.
“Please, have a seat—ah, let me clean that.”
With a simple wave of his hand, the pile of papers on the table vanished in an instant.
“Wow!”
“Is there a spell you’d like to see?”
Since it was his first time seeing a mage, he felt it was his duty to entertain.
“Well, actually, I came because I had something to ask.”
The Duchess glanced outside, toward his guard, and spoke in a whisper.
Henders’ eyes widened in surprise.
“You have a question?”
There were many, but one was more urgent.
Sylvian took out the ring he’d acquired from an informant a few days ago.
He’d tested it by asking about Viscount Nertian and Marquis Rooster.
Whether true or not, the ring had responded with detail.
“I bought this artifact ring as a gift for the Duke, and I want to know what kind of magic it has.”
As Sylvian pulled the ring from his pocket, Henders picked it up with a thoughtful expression.
“Hmm. It might take a little time to analyze. Is that all right?”
“Then, can I take a look around the lab?”
“It’s going to take a while, so it would be better if you came back before evening.”
“Got it. Ah!”
The duchess’s cheeks flushed, as if he was about to say something important.
“I… um… I want to secretly give it to the Duke as a present…”
“Ah, should I keep it a secret from him?”
“Yes.”
Seeing the duchess blush, Henders readily agreed.
He let a bit of mana flow into the ring to check—fortunately, it didn’t seem like a dangerous artifact.
He told him he’d check it quickly and then disappeared into another room of the lab.
“Did you finish talking?”
“Yeah. I had something to ask, but he said to come back before dinner.”
At Sonya’s question, Sylvian answered obediently and walked away with a smile.
“It’s cold outside—how about taking a stroll in the greenhouse?”
“Where’s Martius?”
“He’s gone to work.”
Sonya looked fondly at the duchess, who looked dejected at hearing his younger brother had gone to the imperial palace for work.
Despite his timid and easily frightened nature, the duchess had a surprisingly strong bond with his alpha younger brother—contrary to what most people would assume.
“Then… I’ll just go back to my room.”
“Already?”
“I’ll have to come out again anyway. I’ll rest in my room for now.”
It was better to stay in one place than to wander around after leaving the ring behind.
He couldn’t fully trust the ring just because an information broker gave it to him.
You can’t just accept something from a complete stranger.
Back in his room, Sylvian lay down on the bed and lifted his arm to look at the bracelet Zeroth had put on him.
There were probably more features in it than the ones Zeroth had mentioned.
Still, the reason he didn’t say anything was… because he still needed it.
“Who told me the location of the broker?”
He thought about the missing letter.
This place really is exhausting.
Just thinking about how many people like this must exist in the family gave Sylvian a headache.
Ah—what if Henders asks about the document transfer function?
‘Well, I’ll just pretend I don’t know. I could say I lost it and buy another one.’
Since nobles wouldn’t blindly accept things given to them, the sender probably did something to avoid being caught.
“If I get caught, it’s not worth dealing with them anyway.”
Sylvian didn’t know who had sent the letter, but if their goal was to lure him in, they would have made sure this much could be overlooked.
They had to sneak the letter past the Duke’s watchful eyes and even managed to use transmission magic within the heavily warded estate—it wouldn’t make sense to leave behind something easily traceable.
‘They didn’t approach me just for money, did they?’
It was more likely to be a scheme to seriously harm the ducal family or even him, the duchess herself.
Even knowing that, he needed to make use of the situation—so he had no choice but to cooperate.
If Zeroth wouldn’t express his feelings sincerely, then Sylvian would force it out of him.
‘Has he still not realized it? That he loves me?’
Sylvian recalled how Zeroth embraced him every night as they fell asleep.
At first—excluding the day he collapsed—it had been a nightly physical thing.
But now, there were many nights where they simply fell asleep together.
He held Sylvian in his arms and closed his eyes as if at peace.
Sometimes, his eyes burned with an almost feverish heat—filled with intense affection.
So why didn’t he say anything?
He always demanded that Sylvian prove his love—demanded that he act if he truly loved his husband.
‘I love him…’
“Shit.”
‘If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t be going through all this. It’s pathetic, but Zeroth is exactly my type.’
Aside from his sadistic tendencies, everything—from his looks to his behavior—was irresistible.
If Zeroth fell in love with Yuri, Sylvian had prepared himself to step aside, however painful that would be.
And yet—he had imagined the scenario where the original story deviated a thousand times.
He had even changed his own personality to fool himself, and it worked.
Thanks to that, Yuri got better too.
It was good for everyone.
In fact, he even felt guilty—as if he had stolen someone Yuri loved.
Zeroth, who was supposed to use him and discard him after their first night, hadn’t done so—that’s when the original story had already veered off track.
And now, even Yuri seemed to be showing interest in him.
So… things weren’t going badly.
Still, Sylvian wanted to confirm whether Zeroth truly loved him.
Was he someone Sylvian could bet everything on?
Was it really just Zeroth’s status that couldn’t accept him?
Some people would give up everything for love.
Others, even while loving deeply, could still walk away from it.
Sylvian had been unlucky to be born as this Sylvian—but he couldn’t bear to be abandoned again.
‘If someone’s going to leave… then it’s better that I’m the one doing the leaving.’
His eyes darkened.
The original story was already ruined—there was no reason for him to keep playing nice anymore.
If Zeroth, Yuri, or anyone else hurt him again, he wouldn’t endure it.
He already had enough memories of being abandoned and in pain to last a lifetime.
* * *
