And even if that were not the truth, the fact that he had run away alone and left me behind had already made him someone I never wanted to see again.
The carriage door opened, and Paris, who had been standing in front of the entrance, smiled and held out one hand.
“I heard from Father that you were coming, Young Lady. I’m glad we didn’t miss each other this time.”
“…….”
Perhaps because I had met the Duchess yesterday.
Rachel closed and opened her eyes, managing to place her hand on top of his, albeit slowly. Paris firmly supported her hand.
“Yes. I heard you came to see Father today, Young Lady.”
“I have something to tell him.”
Rachel stepped down from the carriage and withdrew her hand. As she naturally hugged the bundle containing the evidence to her chest with both hands, Paris’s gaze shifted toward it.
“Is that what brought you here? I’m curious. How about giving me a little hint?”
“I’m sorry, but it’s something that requires confidentiality.”
“We’re getting married soon, and you already have secrets from me. That’s a little harsh.”
If he knew what this was, he wouldn’t be able to say something like that.
Rachel looked up at Paris for a moment before shifting her gaze. Behind him, as before, the Valencia family butler had come out to greet her.
“Welcome, Young Lady Ingrave. His Grace is waiting for you.”
“Show me the way.”
Rachel entered the mansion under the butler’s guidance. Paris naturally followed alongside her.
As she passed through the entrance and saw the familiar interior of the mansion, Rachel briefly held her breath.
The familiar hall. The familiar decorations. The familiar staircase.
All of it combined to form the Valencia estate.
“Young Lady?”
When Rachel stopped walking, Paris’s gaze followed her. Rachel felt the bundle of evidence in her arms and let out a long breath.
When she began walking again, Paris, who had been watching her, smiled.
“What is it? Are you nervous now that you’re about to meet your future father-in-law? You seem different today, Young Lady. I suppose you’ve developed a cute side.”
“…….”
Rachel ignored the remark and continued up the stairs. The butler led them to the Duke’s office.
Knock knock-
The butler neatly knocked on the closed door.
“My lord. Young Lady Ingrave has arrived.”
A deep, weighty voice came from inside.
“Let her in.”
“Please enter.”
Rachel stepped through the door the butler opened and instructed Becky and the escort knights.
“Wait here.”
“Yes, My lady.”
The Duke’s office was no different from how it had been five years later.
Antique furniture made of ebony. Documents piled up like a mountain on the desk. Blinding sunlight pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Sitting with his back to the light was the Duke of Valencia.
His reddish eyes turned toward her. The Duke’s pure black hair and crimson eyes reminded her of someone from the past.
Black hair exactly like the Duke’s.
Red eyes that seemed even darker and more blood-colored than those.
……Now that she thought about it, it was almost strange that she had never noticed. The two really looked like father and son.
While Rachel was lost in thought, the crimson eyes that had been staring at her for a while turned back toward the stack of documents. Ahem. At the butler’s subtle cough, Rachel belatedly adopted the formal posture ingrained in her body.
“I greet His Grace, the Duke of Valencia.”
“Welcome, Young Lady. I’ll be with you after I finish looking over this. Would you sit over there for a moment?”
“Yes.”
Rachel sat on the sofa the Duke indicated. She placed the bundle on one side of the table and waited for a moment before the butler brought tea. Across from her, Paris naturally took a seat as well.
A little while later, the Duke put down his pen and moved to the head of the sofa before turning his gaze toward Paris.
“What are you doing here?”
“My fiancée wouldn’t even tell me why she came today. I was curious, so I thought I’d sit in.”
“You’re being childish.”
At that moment, Rachel spoke.
“Your Grace. Could you have everyone leave?”
A heavy silence descended upon the office. Paris, who had widened his eyes in surprise, turned toward Rachel.
“Are you telling me to leave, Young Lady?”
“As I said, it’s something that requires confidentiality.”
Paris’s presence had been unexpected, but sending him out was all she had to do. Rachel looked at the Duke instead of Paris and spoke.
“As I mentioned in my previous letter, I have something important to tell you privately. Could you have everyone leave?”
“…….”
After the request was repeated twice, the Duke looked at her strangely before nodding.
“Everyone, leave.”
“Father.”
“Leave. Your fiancée says she has something important to discuss.”
“…….”
After glancing between the Duke and Rachel in dissatisfaction for a moment, Paris walked through the door the butler opened for him. Once even the butler closed the door and left, silence descended upon the office.
Crossing his legs, the Duke lazily opened his crimson eyes.
“Now then, Young Lady. What is it you have to tell me after sending even my son and butler away?”
Rachel silently pulled the bundle she had placed to one side toward him.
Truthfully, she did not particularly like the idea of receiving the Duke of Valencia’s help.
But for Rachel, this was the surest method. Moreover, if she told him the truth before the wedding, unlike before her regression, the Duke would regard her as his benefactor.
Compensation for her suffering.
The broken engagement.
He would become a temporary ally who would grant her anything she asked for.
That changed possibility suppressed the memories that occasionally resurfaced. Above all, the Duke would never forgive that woman or Paris.
“First, would you take a look at this?”
“What is this?”
The Duke opened the bundle. As he read the physician’s confession written on the first page, his face hardened terrifyingly.
Rachel continued in an even tone.
“These are records left behind by the physician who handled the Duchess of Valencia’s pregnancy and childbirth twenty years ago.”
“…….”
“Before he died, the physician buried them beneath the southern wall of the physicians’ quarters. I found them and brought them here. They are evidence that Paris Valencia is not Your Grace’s biological son, and that Lady Caé Savanio married Your Grace under false pretenses.”
“Nonsense.”
The Duke’s expression went blank as he gripped the old papers. His eyes rapidly scanned their contents.
They stated that Paris’s biological father was Wayne, the Duchess’s personal escort knight, and that the physician had falsified his reports during the pregnancy because of the Duchess’s threats and coercion.
And attached to the very last page was the result of a bloodline test the physician had secretly conducted by drawing blood from the newborn Paris.
「Match」
The other party was the knight, Wayne. After remaining silent for some time, the Duke’s sharp gaze turned toward her.
“How am I supposed to believe this?”
“If you conduct a bloodline test immediately, the truth will come out. And whether the evidence was fabricated can easily be determined by comparing it with the physician’s handwriting from the past.”
The Duke tightly closed his eyes, covered his forehead, and let out a rough breath.
“……Yes. No wonder they kept postponing the wedding date.”
Normally, the Valencia heir would marry quickly upon reaching adulthood at sixteen and secure an heir. Because of the ritual.
But Paris was already nineteen and had neither married nor, naturally, undergone the ritual.
It was highly unusual for the Valencias. Rachel added,
“If you find it difficult to believe, you can look for other evidence as well. There are people who were given hints about where the physician had hidden these records before his death, as well as evidence left behind during the process of the Duchess attacking and killing the physician.”
Rachel took out a sheet of paper listing the locations of the evidence she had organized and handed it to him. After examining its contents, the Duke rang a small bell he had taken from his robes.
No sound came from it.
“Did you call?”
“……!”
At the sudden voice, Rachel turned her head.
A black mask. A black ring engraved at its edge.
The shadow of the Valencia family, the Black Shadow.
They were one of the hidden powers of the Duke of Valencia’s household, people Rachel had only seen a few times even before her regression.
The Duke held out the paper containing the locations.
“Find them. And have the aide come in quietly. Also have a handwriting examiner stand by discreetly.”
“Yes.”
The person dressed entirely in black accepted the paper from the Duke and disappeared. They probably possessed an ability related to .
In any case, she had cleared about ninety percent of the hurdle.
The Duke would now find and gather the evidence himself.
And because she had noticed everything early this time, there was no need to worry about the people involved fleeing.
Just as Rachel unconsciously clasped her cold fingertips together, she felt a persistent gaze from the head of the sofa.
“Now, there is something I’d like to ask. Young Lady, how did you find out about all this?”
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