38.
“Ah!”
The fake mole on the young man’s eyelid smeared away, leaving a clean, pale streak of skin.
As the room descended into a startled hush, Judith caught her breath and spoke, her voice clear and cutting through the tension. “I’ve lived a life far removed from the social season, but even I know that a man doesn’t prioritize the schedule of an Imperial Banquet—an event entirely irrelevant to him—unless he has an ulterior motive.”
She pressed on, her tone steady. “Hyude Lamis received mail and left, and it is more than a coincidence that the man responsible for that very mail stepped forward at that exact moment. I suspect that while delivering the letter, he overheard something in the parlor and took the opportunity to forge a connection—or rather, a mole.”
It was a bold claim, one centered on the identity of the eldest son of House Shoden.
Without the rare abilities of the Mayous bloodline, verifying paternity was notoriously difficult. An opportunist had clearly seen an opening to exploit the grief of a family desperate for their lost heir.
“I imagine the Marquis of Shoden offered him a handsome sum to fetch that boy.” Judith gestured toward the discarded tissue. “Whether he intended to vanish with the coin or fully commit to masquerading as the eldest son, I cannot say.”
Through her knowledge of the original work, she already knew Hyude was the true heir. She had realized the servant’s scheme the moment the pieces clicked into place, stalling for time until she could act.
Judith turned her gaze to the impostor. “I don’t know if Hyude Lamis is truly the eldest son of House Shoden, but one thing is certain.”
She leveled a firm look at the servant. “This man is a fraud.”
The reaction was instantaneous.
“You… you ruined everything!”
The servant lunged, his hands clawing toward Judith’s throat. His deception was exposed, and he knew the Ducal Mansion would show no mercy. Driven by a final, desperate spite, he meant to take her down with him.
“Kyaaaa!”
Isabella jumped to her feet, and the Marchioness Shoden let out a sharp, jagged scream.
“…Ah?”
Judith squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the impact of the man’s rage.
But it never came.
“Th-this?”
In a heartbeat, the servant was pinned to the floor.
Judith opened her eyes, struggling to process the scene. “…Master?”
The man who had been sitting beside her the entire time—the one who hadn’t moved an inch while she examined the servant’s eyelid—was now standing over the trembling intruder. His speed was beyond human comprehension.
With a cold, precise movement, the Master struck the servant into unconsciousness. “This man was lying,” he stated, his voice devoid of warmth.
The room stared at him in stunned silence.
“It is true his parents are dead, but he is not an adopted son.”
Isabella blinked, her voice trembling. “H-how do you know that?”
“I am the former head of the Information Guild. I know at least that much.”
“Information… Guild head?”
Isabella’s gaze remained locked on the masked man, unable to look away, as guards dragged the limp body from the parlor.
“Then, I shall take my leave.” The Master offered a shallow, formal bow to Isabella. “There is no need for me to stay any longer.”
***
That night, Ekian sat in silence, staring at the report on his desk.
The contents were simple: Hyude Lamis, having been contacted and brought to the estate, had been verified as the true biological son of the Marquis and Marchioness Shoden. Every detail aligned.
“Somehow…” Ekian muttered, dropping the paper with a dull thud. “I had a feeling it would be.”
That sense of dread had followed him since the moment Judith mentioned Hyude.
*Hyude Lamis isn’t here. From what I know, he has brown hair and green eyes…*
After the incident with Bart, Ekian had run background checks on every servant in the Mayous Ducal Mansion. He had to know who might pose a threat. He knew from the start the servant was a liar, but he had kept silent, paralyzed by a sickening thought:
*What if Hyude Lamis really is the eldest son of the House Shoden?*
If that were true, the barrier Ekian had built around his own heart—*I am not a noble, I am not enough*—would become a hollow, meaningless wall.
The Marquis and Marchioness had taken an immediate liking to Judith; she was their benefactor. If Hyude were to ask for her hand, even the most powerful parents would find it impossible to refuse. And Judith, who was neither averse to marriage nor unsuited to him, might well accept.
He had stayed silent out of his own ugly, festering jealousy. And because of that cowardice, Judith had nearly been killed.
Ekian let out a hollow, jagged laugh. Bart’s confession echoed in his mind: *I loved her so much that I eventually ruined even myself.*
So, this was it. He, too, was a man capable of becoming monstrous in the face of love.
“And…” Ekian rose, pacing the room. His mind snagged on a new, unsettling detail.
Isabella.
From the start, she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off him. Despite the mask, the height difference, the years of estrangement, and the cloak that hid his frame, she had watched him with a strange intensity.
*Could she have seen something?*
When the servant lunged, Ekian hadn’t thought; he had simply moved.
*Ekian’s fourth fingernail is just a little bit flat. Only I, who trimmed them when he was a baby, would know.*
Ekian looked down at his hand, inspecting his nail. It was, indeed, slightly flatter than the others—a detail he had never noticed himself. If Isabella had recognized that, what else had she seen in the way he moved?
*She couldn’t take her eyes off me until the very end.*
The sorrow in her eyes haunted him. It was a warmth that felt like a trap, both welcoming and heartbreaking.
*I can’t let this be.*
He pulled his mask back on. Judith had told him not to come unless necessary, but he felt an aching need to be near her—or perhaps, it was the need to be near the mother who had raised him with love.
He stepped into the secret passage.
*Good grief.*
A dry laugh escaped him. He hadn’t used this passage in five years, yet now he traversed it almost daily. He passed the hallway leading to Judith’s room, forcing himself to keep moving toward the private quarters of the Duke and Duchess.
“The Imperial Banquet is right around the corner,” he heard Ben’s voice through the door. “I plan to formally introduce Judith to high society then. It makes no sense for the daughter-in-law of Mayous to remain in the shadows.”
Ekian paused, his breath hitching.
“And about her remarriage,” Isabella replied, her voice dropping. “You remember we agreed to help her in earnest, right?”
Ekian’s brow furrowed, his heart tightening. *Remarriage? Who is going to help her with that?*
“Yes,” Ben agreed. “Look into it carefully. We need a young man who has truly fallen for her. We can’t just hand her over to some thug.”
“I think a suitable man has already appeared,” Isabella said, her voice bright with excitement. “You know, Hyude asked Judith for an escort, didn’t he?”