"······ Yeah."
"Hm?"
Duren is on his second life?
Did he really think I'd believe that?
Glessia glared at Lennox with a reproachful look.
Her lips and the length of her eyes were already twice as long, making her scary face look even scarier.
"There's such a thing."
"Such a thing? There's nothing you can't say to noona."
Wham!
Glessia smacked Lennox.
Lennox, who had gotten hit for saying something that was technically true, thought to himself—
Someday, I'll definitely pay her back for this.
"D-Duke."
Swallowing his headache in silence, a servant hurriedly approached.
"What is it?"
"A letter from the Imperial Palace, sir."
News that was bound to worsen his headache.
Lennox frowned as he received the letter, but then his expression shifted.
"Princess, are you busy\~?"
"Yes."
To the middle-aged man's playful, childlike question, a curt reply came back.
"Our princess, even if you're busy, you should sometimes have lunch with your dad\~."
"Next time."
Surprisingly, the speakers were none other than the Emperor and Princess Alice.
At Alice's response, the Emperor drooped his eyebrows, looking disheartened.
His words and demeanor gave off none of the dignity he usually projected in public.
"Your birthday is coming up soon, Princess. Is there anything you'd like?"
"I'd like Duke Wonterren to get divorced."
Swallowing his headache in silence, a servant hurriedly approached.
"What is it?"
"A letter from the Imperial Palace, sir."
News that seemed certain to make his headache worse.
Lennox frowned as he accepted the letter, but then his expression changed.
"Princess, are you busy~?"
"Yes."
To the middle-aged man's playful, childlike question, a blunt reply returned.
"Our princess, even if you're busy, you should sometimes have lunch with your dad~."
"Next time."
Surprisingly, the ones having this conversation were the Emperor and Princess Alice.
At Alice's response, the Emperor drooped his eyebrows, looking downcast.
His tone and behavior gave off none of the dignity associated with his public image.
"Your birthday is coming up soon, Princess. Is there anything you'd like?"
"I'd like Duke Wonterren to get divorced."
"Princess, that's…"
"You always just say no, Dad!"
When she heard the news of Lennox's marriage, Alice had been bedridden for days.
Why Estelle, of all people?
The woman who had publicly humiliated her was now marrying the man she loved.
There was no greater insult.
"Dad. You said the Duke married her because he loves her, right?"
"That's what I said."
In that moment, Alice's eyes gleamed.
She had recently heard something from her friends.
"But the truth is, there's a rumor it's only a fake marriage to adopt a child."
"What?"
The Emperor had entertained such doubts himself.
After all, for a famous misanthrope like Lennox to suddenly marry—it was suspicious.
"They put in a one-year marriage period precisely to prevent adoptions with impure motives! This isn't right!"
"W-Well, that's true. But there's no proof."
In a world where marriages of convenience for family gain ran rampant, one couldn't condemn a contract marriage based only on suspicions.
"Dad. Invite the Duke and his wife to my birthday party. If they really married out of love, I'll be able to tell at a glance."
"Duke Wonterren doesn't exactly have an ordinary personality, so…"
"I don't want any other gift! This is my birthday present! Okay?"
Compared to demanding that he be forced into a divorce, this was a far simpler request to grant.
In the end, the Emperor sent a letter to Lennox, appealing to his sense of duty and honor.
He could only hope Lennox would reply positively.
Upon receiving the princess's birthday banquet invitation, Lennox made his decision.
"Prepare to head for the Capital."
"The Capital?"
So suddenly?
Estelle tilted her head at the abrupt notice.
"It's an imperial command. The princess's birthday party requires our attendance."
Everyone knew Alice was showered with the Emperor's affection.
Without a doubt, it would be a grand banquet.
But even with an imperial order, Lennox could have easily brushed it off at his own level of influence.
"They want to confirm whether we're truly husband and wife. Considering how strongly I insisted on the adoption issue just before the wedding, it's only natural they're suspicious."
It was exactly the same as in his previous life.
Back then, Lennox had only made a token appearance with his contract wife.
If he gave the Emperor any excuse to pick at, the man would use it as grounds to deny Duren's adoption.
"So we'll have to attend and put on an act as a normal married couple."
"Yes. Leave it to me."
Lennox stared intently at Estelle, who readily nodded.
She says she's healthy… but every time she coughs, blood comes up. Sometimes she suddenly staggers while walking, and even in her sleep, she'll stop breathing for moments. Healthy?
He had pretended not to notice, but ever since the day she claimed she'd only had a nosebleed, he'd been watching her closely.
And he had reached a conclusion.
The mandrake medicine hadn't worked on Estelle.
Convinced of this, Lennox decided that while traveling to the capital to dispel suspicions about their "contract marriage," he would also meet with the Master of the Magic Tower.
"Duke? Did I say something wrong?"
"No, no. That's fine. There's still time until the banquet, but I intend to head for the Capital a few days earlier. Make sure you have your things packed."
"In the Capital, Duren will find plenty of children his age. He'll be able to make lots of friends."
In his previous life, he hadn't taken Duren along.
Back then, the boy hadn't even been in a state to go outside.
Hmph!
But there was no way he could leave behind a child who would be hurt in his heart even from just a few days of separation.
"I suppose that would be for the best."
Thus, the Wonterren family's journey to the Capital was decided.
And Estelle thought to herself:
I must meet him.
The one who could become a stepping stone in her revenge against Bellonsa.
Someone who, for some reason, could both correctly diagnose her condition—untreatable even with mandrake—and cure it completely.
There was only one such person.
The—
Tower Master.
A few days later, in the Capital.
The Magic Tower was in an uproar.
"Duke, you cannot just visit like this without an appointment."
"Out of the way."
Ignoring the aide's flustered attempt to block his path, Lennox strode forward.
Bang—!
"What the—?"
On the desk, gold coins were stacked high like a gleaming tower.
And behind them sat a man with a foolish grin, meticulously polishing each coin.
He looked to be in his late thirties. At the sudden arrival of an uninvited guest, he quickly schooled his expression.
With half-lidded golden eyes, he glanced at Lennox and curled his lips into a slight smile.
A business smile.
"Ah, a client, isn't it?"
Even though Lennox was exuding a killing intent sharp enough to make it seem he might slaughter someone on the spot, the man showed no sign of being shaken.
"If you're a client, you're always welcome. Now then, what sort of request brings you here this time?"
"Hand over the money."
"…What?"
The Tower Master who had manufactured the mandrake medicine—Claude Vanz.
His face instantly twisted with irritation.
"Duke Wonterren, have you lost your mind?"
"It was a fraudulent deal, so of course you'll return the money. You were the one who boasted your medicine could cure any illness, weren't you?"
"So you're claiming that the medicine I made had no effect?"
"That's right."
"..."
"I gave you plenty of time and money, yet you botched the job completely. That won't do."
Shhh—
Lennox drew his sword from his hip and leveled the blade at the Tower Master's throat.
"Duke Wonterren, surely you don't mean…"
The edge grazed his neck, yet Claude didn't even blink as he spoke.
"You're not doing this just because you regret the payment, are you? That medicine couldn't possibly be ineffective. Theoretically, it's flawless."
"..."
"There's no other medicine in this world that can draw out the mandrake's efficacy better than mine."
The Tower Master was utterly confident.
That was how much he believed in his own work.
"It did help—briefly. But not long after, her condition worsened again."
"Huh. That's impossible. Wait—did you say you used it on your wife?"
"Yes."
Claude scratched his cheek.
For someone with a reputation as a genius, his expression was almost laughably foolish.
"It's only considered strong by Wonterren standards. For an ordinary person, by now they'd have so much strength they could lift a wild bear."
"She can't even manage to carry a baby under twenty kilos."
"Hmm."
Claude thought to himself.
A genius like me couldn't possibly have botched the formula.
Then there was only one conclusion.
"You're lying because you don't want to pay, right?"
At that absurd answer, Lennox sheathed the sword he had been threatening Claude with.
Physical attacks posed no real threat to Claude.
So he would have to strike where it actually hurt.
Lennox calmly extended his palm.
"Refund."
"No way!"
"The product was defective. Refund me twice the price."
"No, no, absolutely not!"
Claude screamed in protest, hastily pulling the tower of gold coins on his desk closer toward himself.
Lennox, for his part, wasn't particularly interested in the money at all.
How appalling.
Claude's obsession with money—valuing it above his very life—was enough to make even Lennox recoil.
He hadn't always been blinded by greed from birth.
In the past, while conducting research near the Gehenna River, he had suffered an accident that left him in a vegetative state.
They say he lay like that for nearly twenty years.
And after miraculously waking, he had become a man utterly consumed by money.
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