A Beautiful Grave

The banquet was satisfying. The food suited her palate, and the conversation with the viscount couple was enjoyable.

The castle was smaller than the Seir family's mansion in the capital, but compared to the carriages or small inns they had stayed in for days, it was a luxury.

After the meal, Clayton and Damon left, saying they had matters to discuss.

Dalia, too, put aside her plan to rest in her room and instead enjoyed a quiet tea time with Gretel in the parlor.

Setting down her teacup, Gretel asked a casual question.

"I noticed earlier that you seem very interested in children… Do you want to have a child, Duchess?"

Gretel's gaze was pure as she innocently posed the question.

Having lived in such a remote area, it seemed she hadn't heard the rumors about Dalia being barren.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. I don't feel confident about becoming a mother… and it scares me a little. I worry if I can raise a child well. I haven't really had anyone to seek advice from about these things."

"Duchess…"

Gretel briefly looked sympathetic at Dalia's candid words before gently taking her hand.

"Don't worry, Duchess. If you're okay with it, I'll be here to support you."

"Thank you, even just for saying that."

As the atmosphere between them relaxed, Dalia began asking the questions she had been eager to ask.

From how painful childbirth was to how long it took before one could move after giving birth.

She poured out all the questions she had held inside, from precautions in early pregnancy to foods that were good to eat.

At first, Gretel answered sincerely, but soon she began to sweat under the weight of Dalia's relentless questions.

After chatting for a while, as Dalia's flood of questions began to wind down, Gretel tilted her head as if something seemed off.

"More than that, your questions seem a bit unusual, Duchess."

"What? Unusual, how?"

"They seemed more like questions a mother would ask rather than someone preparing for pregnancy."

She flinched.

At Gretel's sharp observation, Dalia stiffened.

She had tried to be subtle by mixing in general questions about when one might conceive after marriage.

But she must have asked too many questions specific to pregnant women.

'How do I cover this up?'

While Dalia, inwardly flustered, was racking her brain for a suitable excuse.

Fortunately, whether it was an offhand comment or not, Gretel was the first to bring up another topic.

"By the way, I heard you're leaving tomorrow morning…"

"Yes, we plan to leave at sunrise. Thanks to you both providing a room, we've been able to rest comfortably."

"Oh, don't mention it. If the Duke and Duchess Seir are visiting, we'd gladly offer ten rooms if needed."

The exchange of pleasantries further softened the atmosphere.

After talking for a while, Gretel, perhaps thirsty, took a sip of white tea and raised her head as if curious about something.

"Oh, by the way, where did you say you were staying? My husband didn't tell me that part. If you're passing through here… are you by any chance going to Mandellier, the port city in the east?"

"No, we're headed to Hudson. I've heard there's a lovely villa by the sea there. We've been feeling a bit tired of life in the capital and thought we'd take a break in a quiet place."

"Hudson?"

At the mention of Hudson, Gretel tilted her head in puzzlement.

"Yes. I heard it's about half a day's carriage ride from here. Are you unfamiliar with it?"

Gretel seemed to think hard about Hudson's location before clapping her hands as if she remembered.

"Oh! I remember now. They say the sea there is truly beautiful. But…"

Gretel murmured in a slightly doubtful tone.

"There shouldn't be anyone living there…"

"What? What do you mean no one lives there?"

"I mean it literally. There isn't even a single village there. But now that I think about it, it's probably because it's owned by the Seir family."

Even if it was private land, such a degree of isolation made her uneasy.

Gretel smiled brightly as if trying to reassure her and added.

"Well, if you're looking for a quiet place to rest, there's no better spot than Hudson."

"Yes, I'm really looking forward to it."

Seeing Gretel's smile, Dalia felt reassured and returned a bright smile of her own.

* * *

At the tail end of a warm spring, on a day filled with harsher sunlight than before.

Since the departure of the Duke and Duchess Seir from the capital, peace had returned to the Hertz estate.

"My lady, even though the weather has warmed up, you should still put on a shawl to avoid catching a cold."

Rejecting the butler's persistent tendency to treat her like fragile porcelain, Roze waved her hand dismissively.

"I'm fine. Just look at the blazing sun. If I wear a shawl now, I'll end up with heatstroke."

Today, Roze's voice sounded unusually cheerful.

It was because she had plans to have tea with Lloyd for the first time in a long while.

Ever since Lloyd had been summoned to the Seir estate, Roze had been in low spirits.

With few residents in the estate and its mistress often secluding herself in her room, the Hertz household had been filled with a heavy atmosphere even before Lloyd's departure.

And when Lloyd was summoned like a hostage to the Seir family, the household's atmosphere had become indescribably oppressive.

Thus, for Roze and the other residents, this moment of the Duke's absence from the capital was incredibly precious.

Peace had only returned after the departure of their nemesis.

Taking a bite of the sandwich the maid had prepared, Roze looked across at Lloyd.

"Lloyd, what's wrong? Is something the matter?"

Had something unpleasant happened at the Duke's mansion? Even after returning home for the first time in a while, Lloyd didn't look happy.

"…No, it's nothing."

Lloyd forced his lips into a faint smile as he replied.

It was a habit he had developed since childhood, to keep his frail sister from worrying.

"The next time we meet, I hope you're Lloyd, not Roze."

The last words Dalia had said to him lingered in his mind.

What did those words mean? Was she telling him not to come to her while pretending to be Roze? Or was it advice to immediately live as his true self?

If it were the latter, that would be fine. But the thought that her words might imply a hidden farewell left a bitter taste in his mouth.

'For me to live as Lloyd…'

Originally, Roze and Lloyd had a different plan.

The plan was for Roze to fake her death and live under a new identity, while Lloyd would return to the empire as the heir to the Hertz family after his sister's "death."

And for that plan to be realized, they needed at least another year.

'A year, huh.'

The thought of possibly being unable to see Dalia during that time made Lloyd's expression grow even darker.

He felt both disappointed and a little bitter about the words Dalia had left him with.

Meanwhile, Roze watched Lloyd, who was deep in thought.

There was no way she didn't know that his claim of "nothing's wrong" was a lie.

Even so, she didn't press him for the reason, knowing that once he decided not to talk, stubbornly prying would do no good.

She had long since given up trying to figure out why Lloyd was upset.

Instead, she continued the conversation, stroking the cat that lay on her lap, in hopes of lightening his mood.

"By the way, where did they go for their trip? It must be far from the capital if they'll be gone for so long."

Roze tore a piece of ham from her sandwich and placed it in the cat's mouth.

Lloyd responded to her offhand comment about the duke and duchess.

"Hudson, I think. All I know is that it's a villa by the sea in the east…"

But then.

Thud.

The moment Lloyd mentioned the villa, Roze flinched, and her sandwich fell to the ground.

"…What? Where are they going?"

As the oblivious cat lunged for the fallen sandwich, Roze's face turned pale, almost blue.

Sensing something was seriously wrong, Lloyd asked with a fearful expression.

"What's wrong, Roze? Do you know that place?"

Looking at Lloyd's confused face, Roze tilted her head.

It was as if she were scolding him for not remembering.

"Lloyd. Do you… not know where that is?"

"Where exactly is it?"

Lloyd's voice grew louder in frustration as Roze kept questioning him without giving the important answer.

In response, Roze hesitated to say it outright and instead offered him a crucial hint.

"Don't you remember? It's the place of exile…"

"Exile…?"

The word "exile" hit him like a hammer to the head. At the same time, long-forgotten memories resurfaced.

The Hertz family's place of exile, known as the beautiful tomb.

The final resting place for the women sacrificed by the Seir family.

As far as he remembered, that place was…

"No one who set foot in that place has ever come out alive, Lloyd."

Roze's voice echoed in his ears like a ringing sound.