* * *

Because all three of us were busy asserting our own innocence, it took several more hours to uncover the truth.

“Miss Berta has disappeared! And she took the entire dowry with her!”

It was a chilling moment, realizing just how much damage a single statement could cause.

The claim had come from Elise, who, upon sensing Berta’s disappearance, had immediately searched her room and drawn conclusions.

But Berta had never kept her dowry in her room in the first place.

“Even if you didn’t know, I certainly wouldn’t trust her! Didn’t you see how she treated me like a freeloader and mistreated me? She didn’t even scold her youngest daughter like she did to me!”

I already knew that Elise didn’t treat Berta the same way she treated other young ladies she served.

But I never imagined Berta would hide her possessions, including the gold coins, in a place Elise couldn’t find.

I didn’t know where Berta had kept the dowry either.

So where had it been?

Finally, the critical piece of information came to light, and I truly wanted to pass out right then and there.

“I tied it up securely in a sack and hid it inside a tree trunk. I even left a letter on top of it. You didn’t find it?”

In a rush, I contacted the area and found that the dowry was still in the same place, waiting quietly for its owner.

“You couldn’t have missed the letter I tucked between the branches. You would’ve had to look inside to see it.”

That’s when I realized the problem: the person who found the letter wasn’t me but Hernan.

The letter didn’t mention the dowry at all, so Hernan had no reason to suspect it was hidden inside the tree trunk.

The structure of the trunk was such that someone unaware wouldn’t even notice there was a hollow space inside. There was no way to accuse him of intentionally ignoring it.

The sheer absurdity of the situation made me feel like my vision was darkening.

“What are you even saying? You misunderstood everything. How was I supposed to carry something that even multiple grown men would struggle to lift?”

It felt like learning the necklace I’d worked so hard to pay off was a fake.

My entire body went slack, and I was utterly drained of energy.

At that moment, Berta suddenly asked, as if something had just occurred to her:

“By the way, what’s this about giving Velon as the dowry?”

“Oh, that….”

This was the solution I had come up with after days of agonizing over how to protect both Velon and Nirvan.

For noble families, marriage was essentially a union between two houses.

Although the details varied, it was common for the couple to choose one house to continue.

That meant if I married Hernan, I would inevitably lose my status as Nirvan’s heir and become the Duchess of Yudenet.

‘But I don’t want that….’

The only way to avoid either house’s lineage being extinguished was if both families were of equal status and the couple maintained separate affiliations.

But as long as the Everdeen family remained a mere countship, that wasn’t an option.

So, what if one of the families, despite being of lower rank, owned an autonomous territory?

Autonomous domains couldn’t be dissolved, so the family owning the land would maintain its status.

‘In other words, if I owned Velon, that would solve the issue.’

After combing through countless inheritance and succession precedents with Duchess Velesa, we finally found a plausible solution.

With the council’s support, we pushed the logic forward. Duchess Velesa, whom I’d once dismissed as merely a wealthy old woman with too much time on her hands, turned out to be an incredible help.

Ultimately, we decided on this plan: transfer ownership of Velon to me as the dowry and delegate its governance to Hernan—a kind of trustee management system.

In a typical marriage, this arrangement would be utterly ridiculous, but Hernan didn’t hesitate for a second to hand over Velon.

The Everdeen family thus became a peculiar house owning both a vast northern territory and a tiny southern estate.

The news almost made the Count of Everdeen, who was already bedridden, rise from his sickbed—only to collapse again.

Upon hearing that his eldest son, who wasn’t even an Omega, had suddenly become pregnant, the poor man gave up on everything and voluntarily relinquished his title.

Looking at the frail, limp old man, I felt a twinge of pity. But in the end, I had succeeded in protecting Nirvan.

I decided I would no longer live according to others’ expectations.

“I discussed it with Duchess Velesa and decided this was the most effective approach.”

After explaining everything to Berta, she stared at me with a look that screamed, ‘Unbelievable.’

“Unreal… You’re something else….”

Her words, though ambiguous, felt like a compliment, so I chose to take them as one.

“Thanks for the praise.”

“It wasn’t a compliment.”

“…”

Now that my part of the story was over, it was time to ask her:

“By the way, what were you doing in Morgana?”

When I tried to change the subject with an incredulous expression, Berta hesitated for a moment before explaining, “Hmm… It’s a bit of a long story.”

Berta had originally intended to head to the Petra Islands, not Morgana.

While the Petra Islands were similar to Morgana, they were geographically closer and had a history of interactions with the Empire.

After arriving at a port on the opposite side of Nirvan, Berta safely boarded a ship bound for the Petra Islands.

The problem arose afterward.

On the way, the ship was caught in a violent storm, veered off course, and ended up adrift, heading aimlessly toward the Morgana Strait.

Faced with the certainty of being sucked into the deadly whirlpools of the Morgana Strait, the crew prayed desperately, while Berta seized the helm at the moment everyone else gave up.

Of course, having never piloted a ship, all Berta could do was struggle to keep the vessel balanced. Then, something miraculous happened—the sea calmed down dramatically.

Encouraged, Berta steered straight ahead and eventually reached Morgana, becoming the first visitor in centuries to arrive there unaided.

Most of the crew, choosing to jump overboard rather than face the whirlpools, didn’t survive the journey.

Only about six people made it to Morgana.

To survive on the unfamiliar land, they had to desperately prove their harmlessness and competence.

Berta was no exception.

Thankfully, utilizing their expertise, they managed to settle in Morgana.

However, one question lingered in Berta’s mind:

“If the sea suddenly calmed down like that, there must have been a reason…”

Determined to find out, Berta combed through records of past storms, gathering data until they discovered the cycle of extreme whirlpool activity.

To prove that safe external interactions were now possible, Berta launched ships periodically, showing this to the king.

Convinced by Berta’s findings, the king personally accompanied them to the Felton Empire.

“I’d been meaning to go eventually,” Berta said, “and then the duke contacted me at just the right time.”

Apparently, Hernan, upon receiving his marching orders, had reached out to Berta, asking if they could assist me as the situation could affect me as well.

“Doing something I didn’t even ask for…”

Still, I couldn’t deny that it had made things easier.

“Well, in any case, everything worked out, so you might think it’s all fine,” I growled, “but I still can’t forgive either of you. The fact that you deceived me remains unchanged.”

At my words, Berta avoided my gaze, feigning disinterest, while Hernan lowered his head.

What’s the point of sulking now?

Sighing deeply, I continued.

“But what can I do? When I’m in danger, you’re the only one willing to throw yourself away to save me. You’ve already saved me three times.”

I glanced at the ring Hernan was wearing and chuckled self-deprecatingly.

“I’m so focused on work that I might push myself to the point of exhaustion or worse. When that happens, it’s your job to stop me. Make up any excuse you want, yell at me if you have to, but no matter what, you must protect me.”

Hernan nodded firmly, his expression serious.

Though a little foolish, his earnestness wasn’t unwelcome.

Plus, looking at him—so breathtakingly beautiful—was oddly uplifting.

That thought made me smile involuntarily.

After all the chaos, the only thing left was…

“By the way, is Velon doing okay?”

With the sudden change in ownership, there’s bound to be a lot to sort out.

The thought of the dragon left alone in Velon sent a chill down my spine.

Instead of lying here, I needed to check on that immediately.

* * *