He looked straight at Estio and said again.
"Answer, Estio. Who told you that? The Senate?"
"Ah..."
At that moment, Estio realized.
That which he had dismissed as nonsense and tried so hard to ignore.
'Because you didn't abandon your brother even though he wasn't your own child.'
That those words were ultimately the truth.
That day, Estio heard the truth from the Duke's mouth.
So he could be sure.
"Father probably thinks I'm dirty. Because I'm..."
Estio's face, looking up at the Duke, was terribly distorted.
Like crying, like laughing, like venting resentment...
He was a far cry from the perfect young nobleman Estio Rodbel, who usually maintained his poise as if he were a miniature Ego Rodbel.
"Because my biological mother had an affair with Father's cousin and gave birth to me. And then abandoned me to Father."
The truth was too terrible and cruel.
The Duke stared coldly at the devastated Estio.
Estio's biological mother and Duke Ego Rodbel had entered into a marital relationship through a political marriage.
A contractual relationship bound by a thorough understanding of interests between families.
It was a cold relationship like iron chains, but there were no problems.
It was rather neat and he liked it.
The crack in that neatness came after Estio was declared the heir.
He had known for a long time that the Duchess had a lover.
But he didn't care.
As long as she didn't tarnish the family's reputation, he didn't care who she met or how many she met.
But if that lover was the Duke's cousin - a member of the Rodbel's collateral line, that was a different story.
Estio was the child born between them.
Just in case, he had undergone a bloodline verification procedure immediately after birth, but that had also passed without any problems because he was also a Rodbel.
The Duchess, who had been exposed, cried and revealed the truth.
They had been lovers for a long time, but had been forced to marry the Duke by the family.
But they had continued to meet and had finally crossed the line they should not have crossed.
The Duchess demanded a divorce.
The Duke did not accept the request.
At the time, Rodbel was pushing forward with a new trade business, and her maternal family was needed for smooth progress.
Also, Estio had already been declared the heir, and more than anything, the Duke didn't mind if Estio wasn't his biological son.
What he needed was not a biological child, but an heir who could keep the overly powerful Senate in check.
The Duchess's family was a perfect card.
Her family was one that the Senate's hands did not reach, and the Senate had always been dissatisfied with that fact.
If he divorced, they would use the failure as an excuse to bring in a woman who suited the Senate's taste.
And they would support the child born from that woman as the heir.
He couldn't give the Senate any more power than that.
Even if he was a collateral line, Estio had Rodbel blood flowing through him.
However, if the fact that the Duchess and the Duke's cousin were having an affair became known, Estio's bloodline could be questioned, so the Duke forced her to end the relationship.
And that night, the Duchess and her lover eloped.
It was a truly absurd thing to happen.
The Duke didn't bother to send out a chase team, but a few days later, the Duchess returned as a corpse.
Her family, unable to bear the shame, sent out a chase team and killed her.
Unable to kill his cousin, who was of Rodbel blood, they captured him alive and brought him before the Duke.
He wept and cursed the Duke for losing his lover before his eyes.
The Duke imprisoned him for tarnishing the name of Rodbel.
He died in prison.
Afterwards, in order to pay for the sins committed by their daughter, the Duchess's family helped with the trade business with all their might, and the business was a great success.
However, as the Duke had expected, the Senate put forward a woman who was favorable to them as the next Duchess, and the Duke, who had failed in his first marriage, had no choice but to take that woman as his second Duchess.
Unfortunately or fortunately, the second Duchess died suddenly after giving birth to Miracle.
And then Lucia was born.
All of that was just an obligation for the Duke. There was no emotion mixed in it.
But Estio didn't accept it that way.
Estio burst into resentment.
"Isn't that why you hate me? Because I'm not Father's biological child like Bansis or Miracle!"
His face was red with shame and humiliation.
Six years had passed since he learned the truth, but Estio still couldn't accept it.
That he was a dirty result born from an illicit relationship!
The fact that he was a bastard like Lucia had been strangling him all along.
No, he couldn't even be a bastard.
Because he was not the Duke's child.
He had tried to ignore the truth.
He had worked hard to become the perfect Rodbel.
"Aren't you curious why I planted subordinates in the mansion and monitored Lucia?"
So when Lucia appeared, Estio felt like he had encountered his own essence.
That black-haired, red-eyed bastard who couldn't be believed to be a Rodbel was your true self.
That being that everyone hates and despises is your essence!
That's why he despised Lucia more than anyone else.
One bastard of Rodbel was enough, and that was Lucia.
Lucia had to take the hatred and contempt in his place from her position as a bastard.
That way, his essence wouldn't be exposed.
But...
[The Lord has moved 'it's' bedroom. He has also issued an order to punish anyone who makes disparaging remarks about 'it' in the name of Rodbel.]
'It' was Lucia's nickname used when Marin and Estio were in communication.
Lucia in Marin's report was no longer the small, wretched bastard who had been taking the hatred and contempt in his place.
[It has become a disciple of Aen Rixus, the Magic Knight Commander.]
[It has won the duel with the Second Prince.]
[...It has become a disciple of Butler Ligrin Pedlen.]
[The Young Lady is... participating in the qualification exam.]
At some point, Lucia had changed.
She had moved forward, become stronger, and grown larger.
The dirty bastard Lucia, who had been taking the hatred and contempt in his place, was no longer there.
What remained was Lucia, who was being recognized as a direct line and a child.
Lucia was doing what he couldn't do.
He was afraid that one day their positions would be reversed.
He was afraid that he would fall to the bottom of 'dirty bastard' where Lucia had stayed.
He was scared and scared.
So he had made up his mind.
To prevent Lucia from rising any higher, to make her disappear as a bastard.
He knew that it was a wretched emotional residue that had fallen out of his inferiority complex that she was not a direct line of Rodbel, but he couldn't help it.
Otherwise, he felt like he would go crazy.
Estio rather wanted the Duke to know that dirty side of himself that he had been hiding.
But as in 6 years ago.
"I'm not curious."
"..."
"Move."
"..."
Nothing had changed.
No matter how much he struggled, no matter how much he fell, the Duke didn't look at him.
Estio slowly moved aside.
The Duke left the room without regret.
"..."
A silence like death fell.
Would he look at him then if he just died like this?
'He wouldn't.'
He finally realized.
In the end, Estio collapsed.
Something was welling up, but he didn't know what it was.
It was like he had seen the end of something, but he didn't know what it was.
It was just empty.
He had expressed himself to the fullest, but nothing had returned, so that place was empty.
"Ha, hahaha..."
A silly laugh escaped.
"Hahaha... Hahahaha...!"
The laughter gradually grew louder.
"Puhahahahaha!!"
Estio grabbed his stomach and laughed wildly.
Yes, Estio found this situation so funny that he couldn't stand it.
What on earth was he hoping for when he expressed those things that he had been suppressing all along?
Like an idiot.
"Haha, ha..."
The laughter that had filled the room gradually subsided, and silence fell instead.
It was then that Estio was staring at the empty air with empty eyes.
Saa...
The closed door slowly opened.
"Poor our brother."
Through it came Miracle, dressed in a beautiful dress.
She approached Estio with a canary-like, light gait.
"You've been abandoned again."
"...Miracle."
"Your biological parents abandoned you, and now you've been abandoned by Daddy."
"..."
"Daddy is too much. He ignores your true feelings. He's a really cold person, my dad, right?"
"..."
"Poor Estio Rodbel, abandoned so terribly and crying here all alone. Like a baby beast."
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