The One Who Holds the Key

Even though I’ve decided to completely crush Creed Eleanor, my current strength has its limits.

I’m not just talking about my personal martial prowess.

Frankly, if I really wanted to, sneaking in and slitting his throat wouldn’t be that difficult.

I’m not about to start spewing some bullshit about how I can’t bring myself to kill my beloved’s father.

It’s just that it wouldn’t be enough.

That way, Creed Eleanor’s true face wouldn’t be revealed to the world, and he’d just be remembered as a tragic figure who died a meaningless death at the hands of an assassin.

That can’t happen.

Of course, it might be sad for Sylvia, but ultimately, revealing his true nature to the world is the only way to truly liberate her.

To give that kind woman, who still believes deep down that her father hasn’t abandoned her, complete freedom, there’s no other way.

However, in that process, someone is needed to fill the void left in the Eleanor family and to embrace her afterward.

While pondering if there was anyone suitable, one person came to mind.

– Primo.

– Yes, Master! Why did you call?

I immediately called Primo to confirm this.

Fortunately, he seemed to have some free time, as I received a reply from him right away.

– Have you seen any woman around 40, who looks like a noble, inside the castle?

– I don’t think I’ve seen anyone like that. I’ve seen plenty of little girls and women carrying piles of laundry, though.

If it’s a little girl, it’s probably Line, the child Sylvia said was her younger sister.

Everyone else must be a servant.

I guess it’s hard to run into her. Well, she’s said to be bedridden due to her weak health.

Even if Primo had found her in the first place, it wouldn’t have meant much.

In the end, talking to the person in question is the best course of action.

Of course, I need to make thorough preparations beforehand.

Ttokttok.

While I was deep in thought, I suddenly heard a knock on the door.

Only then, when I checked the time, did I belatedly realize that lunchtime was approaching.

It seems Alf has come to let me know.

“Alf, if it’s about the meal, I’ll eat later, so go back….”

– Layard-gongja, it’s me.

“…Gongnyeo?”

I casually replied, assuming it was him, but my eyes widened at Sylvia’s voice, which I suddenly heard.

I quickly got up from my seat and approached the door, grabbing the doorknob. Sylvia, who appeared beyond it, smiled at me with her hands neatly clasped together.

“I heard that lunch is ready, so I came to let you know.”

“You could have had a servant do it.”

“Hehe, I thought it would be nice to go together since it’s a rare occasion.”

Anyway, she’s a young lady who has a surprisingly quirky side to her.

Actually, I wanted to skip lunch if possible, but I can’t say that when Sylvia has personally come to pick me up.

Even putting aside my apologies to Sylvia, if I did, she would definitely give me a long lecture about how I must eat.

There’s no need to needlessly suffer.

“By the way, you’ve been in your room a lot since yesterday. You should get some sunlight sometimes….”

“It’s just that going outside doesn’t really suit my temperament.”

“Still. I’ll be your companion, so how about going out for a walk little by little each day?”

“I’ll consider it.”

“Chii.”

She clicked her tongue as if she was upset by my indifferent answer, but even that looked cute to me.

Anyway, seeing Sylvia’s face while planning to completely destroy Creed Eleanor makes me feel a bit strange.

It feels like I’m committing a sin in a place she doesn’t know about.

“Gongnyeo.”

“Yes, Layard-gongja.”

As if trying to erase that feeling, I cautiously spoke to Sylvia.

She tilted her head and replied, always with a straight posture and only slightly turning her head.

“It’s sudden, but what kind of person is your mother? I know her name vaguely from hearing it.”

“It really is sudden.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not like I wanted an apology, so don’t worry about it. More than that, what kind of person my mother is….”

It seems difficult to express a person’s character with just a specific word, so Sylvia seemed quite troubled when talking about her mother.

“She’s gentle yet strong. As I said yesterday, she was the one who kept protesting to my father and trying to get me out until her health deteriorated.”

“When did her health deteriorate specifically?”

“I heard it was a little before Line was born. So, in fact, she was almost on the verge of death when she gave birth to Line.”

“She must have suffered a lot.”

I heard that Sylvia is 8 years older than her younger sister, so that means her younger sister is about 7 years old now.

So, it means that Marian Eleanor, her mother, has been virtually confined to her room due to health issues for about 8-9 years, and during that time, her father, Creed, came into contact with the Eyes of Dawn.

The reason the Eyes of Dawn contacted him was obviously for the magic eye embedded in his daughter Sylvia’s right eye.

Okay, I understand that much.

However, no matter how much I rack my brain, one thing I can’t understand is Creed Eleanor’s purpose.

‘Why?’

Why did he bother to join hands with the Eyes of Dawn?

He’s a bit different from the Drake family.

According to Vermillion, the Drake family has been involved with the Eyes of Dawn since the grandfather, Alberton Drake, so the family itself can be seen as a hideout for the Eyes of Dawn.

On the other hand, if my guess is correct, Creed Eleanor would have joined hands with the Eyes of Dawn for some reason in his generation.

But I don’t know why he would bother to take on that much burden and join hands with them.

Is the Eleanor family so insignificant that they can’t maintain their status without the power of others? No.

Then, did he simply choose to do so in order to grow the family by leveraging the power of the Eyes of Dawn? That’s also strange.

If it’s revealed that he joined hands with the Eyes of Dawn, everything he’s built up so far will be ruined. Why bother taking that much risk?

“Come to think of it, it was around that time that my mother and father’s relationship soured.”

As doubts piled up, I felt a strange sense of incongruity at Sylvia’s quiet mutter.

That’s strange. Didn’t the two of them already have a bad relationship due to the dispute over Sylvia’s treatment?

“This might be rude to say, but weren’t your parents originally not on good terms….”

“That’s not true. Rather, my father was very devoted to my mother. That’s why she gave birth to Line.”

“I guess so.”

Well, if they had a late child, it means they had a good relationship to some extent.

Besides, as Sylvia has mentioned all along, she was able to leave her room to some extent thanks to Marian’s resolute opposition to Sylvia’s treatment until she started her secluded life.

Even considering that fact alone, it’s clear that Creed Eleanor was quite weak to his wife.

Even just looking at the attitude he showed me, it seemed like he didn’t consider his daughter as a daughter anymore.

Perhaps he thought that way from the moment Sylvia was born with the magic eye.

Nevertheless, if he was willing to accept his wife’s opinion to some extent, he must have been a person who loved his wife surprisingly dearly.

“……!”

The moment my thoughts reached that point, I felt a tingling sensation in my head and something quickly flashed through my mind.

Wait, if all of this is true, doesn’t the story strangely fit together?

Hiding my surprised feelings, I forced a nonchalant expression and immediately spoke to Sylvia.

“Gongnyeo, this is sudden, but could I ask you for a favor?”

“Of course. What kind of favor?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her, who readily nodded without even hearing the details of the request, but on the other hand, I was grateful and immediately opened my mouth.

“I would like to meet Eleanor-buin once.”

It’s because the assumption suddenly arose that she might have the clue to this whole story.

＊＊＊

Ttokttok.

At the sudden sound of knocking on the door, the eyes of the woman lying soundly on the bed opened.

At first glance, her hair seems to resemble that of her daughter, but it’s a little lighter and weaker, so the expression white hair is more fitting than silver hair.

“Who is it.”

Her voice, which quietly echoed in the room, was quite weak, but nevertheless, the person on the other side of the door heard the voice and replied quietly.

– Mistress, it’s Rell.

“Yes, Rell. What’s going on.”

It was none other than Rell, her personal maid.

However, what Marian felt was a bit unusual was Rell’s attitude.

Because she’s not feeling well, meals are usually brought into the room without a word, and when she needs to wash her body, her maid would knock and bring in warm water to wash her body silently.

But today, she was talking to her with the door in between, so she wondered if she had something else to do.

– The young lady will be returning soon. But….

“But, what is it?”

Even though she couldn’t see her face properly, she was happy as a mother to hear that her daughter was returning, so a faint smile formed on her lips.

However, she frowned slightly and replied to Rell’s tone, which seemed to have something more to say.

– Kyle Layard-gongja of the Layard family, who is accompanying the young lady, has requested a meeting.

“Are you saying he wants to meet me?”

– That seems to be the case.

“That’s unusual. How long has it been since I’ve had a guest.”

She was a little surprised by the unexpected request, but she was also happy to have an outside guest visit her for the first time in almost several years.

Besides, if it’s Kyle Layard, isn’t that a man whose name she’s heard a few times recently?

Mostly in a bad way.

‘He was said to be the man who negotiated with my husband to take my daughter away.’

Just hearing the content makes him seem like a total son of a bitch, but Marian tried not to have any preconceived notions.

Anyway, thanks to him, her daughter was able to escape from the cage, and thanks to him, she’s been enjoying various experiences and doing well recently.

“Okay. Tell him I’ll meet him.”

So, Marian nodded, feeling a strange anticipation filling her heart.

She had to meet him in person to find out whether the man who approached her daughter was just a beast or a fairytale prince who appeared to save her daughter.