Chapter 2: Vol. 1 - Chapter 1

Duke Edmund went to the capital and held a separate grand banquet a few months ago, so there were no guests in the coming-of-age ceremony except for the family heads of his close associates.

The Duke stared intently at the room visible through the window of his office.

The Duchess, the mistress of the mansion. Something felt strange.

The Duke couldn’t shake off the thoughts from yesterday. It kept repeating in his head, swirling around to find an answer.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

“Come in.”

He thought that it was the Chamberlain or one of his close associates, but it turned out to be one of the mansion’s maids. She didn’t look familiar, so he assumed that she was not working in the main building.

The maid with freckles bowed her head in surprise when the Duke narrowed his eyes.

“I-I greet Your Excellency!”

“What is your business here?”

“Uh, that…”

At that moment when the nervous maid opened her mouth, someone knocked on the door.

“Your Excellency, everything is ready.”

“Understood.”

By now, it was time for the coming-of-age ceremony.

The Duke took out a pocket watch, checked the time, and passed by the maid. The maid, who still hadn’t completed her task, quickly turned around in panic.

“Y-Your Excellency, I have something I must tell you…”

“More important than Damian’s coming-of-age ceremony?”

The maid’s mouth snapped shut. Without even looking at the maid, the Duke left the room and went to where the coming-of-age ceremony was being held.

The ceremony began as soon as the Duke entered. The family heads, gathered at a distance from the Duke, looked around.

“By the way, I don’t see the Madam.”

“She should show up at the coming-of-age ceremony no matter how bad their relationship is. Tsk, tsk.”

“Moreover, there hasn’t been any news of a child since they got married. Could the Duchess have some problem? How about we go to the Godmother and tell her about it?”

On such important days like this, they would usually reserve a seat for her even if she couldn’t attend. However, there was no space for the Madam here, and no one thought it was strange.

Contrary to what was widely known, the vassals were aware of the strained relationship between the Winter family and the Duchess. So they would gather in small groups, quietly criticizing the Duchess and complaining about her shortcomings where the Duke couldn't hear.

And so, the coming-of-age ceremony ended as the sun began to set. Damian caught up to the Duke heading back to his office after having a light meal with the family heads.

“Father, I have something to tell you.”

“Come up to the office in a little while.”

“Understood.”

The Duke also had something to say. He was thinking of expanding the authority of his heir now that he had his coming-of-age ceremony and officially became an adult.

When he arrived in front of his office with the Chambermaid and Chamberlain, he noticed an uninvited guest loitering around. The Chambermaid was flustered when she recognized the guest’s identity.

“Anna? Why are you… .”

The Duke let out a light sigh when he realized that it was the maid he met before the coming-of-age ceremony. Sensing the meaning behind his sigh, the Chambermaid dragged the maid out with a stern face.

“What are you doing? Come here.”

“Wait a minute, Chambermaid! I have something to tell to His Excellency!”

“You're not not going away! ? How dare you, in front of His Excellency…”

“Your Excellency! Madam has disappeared!”

The maid being dragged by the Chambermaid tightly shut her eyes and shouted.

“You…”

As the Chambermaid’s grip loosened, the maid immediately ran in front of the Duke and knelt down.

“S-something serious happened to Madam!”

“I don’t think this is the first time this has happened.”

Hesitating for a moment, the Duke replied in a dry tone. The maid was surprised by his response, but quickly continued.

“But, this is the first time the Madam hasn't returned for a long time.”

“How many days has it been?”

Holding back her tears, the maid answered, “It’s already been ten days…”

The Duke glanced at the Chambermaid and Chamberlain. Even with his expressionless face no different than usual, with their long experience of serving him, the two servants could sense that he was in a bad mood.

“What’s going on?”

It had been so long since they had seen the Duke show other emotions that they could only stand there, trembling and unable to respond.

The maid continued to talk.

“This isn’t like Madam at all… She didn’t even use a carriage nor left a word with the maids.”

Ignoring the maid’s tearful voice, the Duke left and headed somewhere else.

“Father?”

The Duke didn’t slow down even when he passed by Damian. His steps only quickened until he abruptly stopped in front of his destination. Standing before the room he had never visited in years, the Duke opened the door without hesitation.

What greeted him was a neatly organized room covered in a thin layer of dust, as if waiting for its owner to return. The pile of papers on the desk stood out especially because of the few pieces of furniture.

Ignoring the thin layer of dust, the Duke opened the letter. It contained a brief message in neat handwriting.

“… Ha.” The Duke let out a wry laugh.

“Father, why is Mother’s room like this? What exactly is going on?”

Damian, who had followed the Duke, entered the room through the thick dust.

“… Damian, bring Alec.”

Damian was still figuring out the situation when he was suddenly told to call the Black Knights’ Commander.

He couldn’t make sense as to why his father suddenly walked to his mother’s room, why the room was covered in dust, and why he suddenly asked him to call Alec.

Damian noticed the letter in the Duke’s hand at that moment. With his keen intuition, Damian confirmed that his hunch was correct.

The Duke, looking at the letter and the signed divorce papers left behind, finally spoke, “Daphne has disappeared.”

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

“It’s impossible,” Alec firmly said.

The reason why they couldn’t release a search party to find the missing Madam was simple; the blizzard intensified overnight, making travel completely impossible. They could use teleportation, but it could only be used in the presence of high-level magical beasts or on the battlefield. They had no choice but to wait until the blizzard subsided.

Edmund lowered his gaze to the letter, which he had been staring at since Alec entered. Been through all sorts of hardships with him, Alec noticed that Edmund was subtly different than usual. The aura that Edmund normally controlled so well now felt shaken and unstable.

“If it were a normal knight, he would disappear in the blizzard before he could even find the Madam.”

“Alec, I’m talking about the Black Knights.”

“... Yes?” Alec asked with a dumbfounded face.

He expected him to give the search order to regular knights, but the Black Knights?

The Black Knights, forged through countless life-and-death situations with Edmund, were a legendary undefeated order. And now Edmund wanted to use such an elite force to search for one person, and only the Madam at that. Though the loyal members of the order would search for the Madam without complaint, Alec couldn’t just stand by and let it happen.

“Your Excellency,” Alec called Edmund with urgency. He hurriedly continued as he feared the Duke would issue an order to the Black Knights right away, “This is going too far.”

“Going too far?” One of Edmund’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

Not noticing Edmund’s reaction, Alec felt compelled to say something now that the matter has been brought up.

“The blizzard would die down in a day or two, so I meant let’s wait a little longer.”

Given that the blizzard had started so abruptly, there was a high chance it would stop soon.

“Even you wouldn’t be able to survive ten days in there.”

Edmund gestured to the window. The snow was swirling so fiercely that there was almost zero visibility. Alec was speechless at the sight. Not only could he not refute Edmund’s words, but the situation presented itself was embarrassing.

“Form a search party with the Black Knights.”

“This situation might actually be a good thing,” Alec didn’t even know what was coming out of his mouth, “You must be angry because Madam broke the contract. But this is an opportunity. It has been five years since you suffered.”

Even thinking about that time still makes Alec shudder.

Once, Marquis Bled was at the pinnacle of power, almost surpassing the Emperor, but now he was just a scheming old snake, full of greed and no longer wielding any real influence. Alec could still vividly remember how Marquis Bled grinned while pushing his daughter onto the Duke.

The whole mess started with the woman who always acted demure and kept her head down. She fell in love with his master, and her father used his weakness to arrange their marriage.

“Do you know how much it pained me to see that old fool’s daughter become the Duchess? Yes, Your Excellency, you’re right. I wouldn’t last a week in that blizzard, let alone ten days. If Madam was out there in that storm, she would have met with disaster long ago…"

“Alec.”

Alec, who started saying all the things he had been holding back, instantly came to his senses. His entire body stiffened when suddenly exposed in an unimaginable amount of murderous intent. It spread quickly, as if it was about to engulf him completely. Cold sweat ran down Alec’s back, his spine tingling with fear, facing Edmund’s bloodlust.

“Start the search, now.”

After being frozen in place for what felt like an eternity, Alec finally collapsed to the floor as Edmund reined in his killing intent.

Panting heavily, Alec heard a dry voice from above.

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

Move.

“… I’m sorry. I was presumptuous.”

Under Edmund’s command, Alec staggered out of the room, his strength completely drained.

Once the door closed behind him, Edmund tried to focus on the paperwork, but he soon shut his eyes tightly, pinching the bridge of his nose and let out a slow, weary sigh.

The timing couldn’t have been worse, and dealing with his aura had become even more challenging. Edmund sank deeply into his chair, rubbing his tired face with exhaustion.

“You must be angry because Madam broke the contract.”

Edmund was a little dazed when he recalled Alec’s words, as if he didn’t realise that he was angry. He awkwardly touched the stiff corners of his mouth. Edmund lowered his gloved hand and picked up the letter he had been rereading all day.