Duchess Mecklen’s Elegant Revolt - Chapter 18 Part 6

Eleanor couldn’t respond immEdeately. Though she had indeed read the diary, seeing Lennoch’s hardened face made her worry that perhaps she had been meddling too much.

‘Am I overstepping again, like I was with Hail?’ she thought, recalling a passage in Edea’s diary that mentioned Lennoch had feelings for someone else.

“Yes. I’m sorry,” she apologized softly.

“No, it’s not something you need to apologize for,” Lennoch quickly shook his head, his voice sounding slightly deflated. He hadn’t meant to scold her.

“I asked because I thought you might have guessed it already.”

“……?”

“From the beginning, Edea and I never had a good relationship.”

After filtering through various candidates for Empress, Edea had seemed the most suitable. Even though she had entered the palace while hiding her relationship with Jerata, it hadn’t taken long for the truth to come out after their marriage. Lennoch had known but remained silent. Edea, too, had realized that Lennoch already had someone else in his heart, but neither of them had mentioned it directly.

“Our relationship was more like an alliance. We left each other’s private lives untouched… Not that I ever engaged in anything improper, I swear,” Lennoch added hastily, worried that Eleanor might misunderstand.

“I know,” Eleanor nodded, reassuring him.

“This is something I’m only telling you,” Lennoch hesitated for a moment.

It was a deeply personal matter, but since Eleanor had read Edea’s diary and might have assumed he was responsible for Jerata’s death, he felt the need to clarify. He also couldn’t ignore how much Eleanor genuinely cared for Hail.

Lennoch took a deep breath before speaking, “Hail… is not my child.”

“What?” Eleanor’s lips parted in shock.

It was the last thing she had expected to hear. If Hail wasn’t Lennoch’s son, then whose child was he?

Then Jerata came to mind—the man Edea had loved.

“It’s a complicated story,” Lennoch continued. “To ensure an heir, Edea and I were required to spend time together once a month. But each time, I would deliberately drink and fall asleep on the sofa instead of the bed.”

In other words, he had never shared a bed with her.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed by his own confession, Lennoch cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I never wanted to share her bed, and I assumed she felt the same. After all, she had Jerata. In a way, that mutual understanding allowed us to maintain an amicable relationship.”

“Then…”

“But there were two odd incidents,” Lennoch said, furrowing his brow slightly.

“When I woke up, I found myself in bed, though I had no memory of getting there. Each time, I had a splitting headache. Edea claimed it was because I drank too much, but I never fully believed her.”

Was it possible that he had lost control of himself?

Lennoch knew himself too well for that. From a young age, he had only ever acted on his desires. He was the type who wouldn’t do anything unless he genuinely wanted to. In his reckless youth, he had even attempted to flee from his responsibilities as Emperor.

It was only later, because of his position, that he had learned to make compromises. So even if he had been drunk, it wasn’t in his nature to behave so unconsciously.

Over time, his doubts grew stronger.

After Jerata’s death, Edea had noticeably changed, and Lennoch found the decisive clue in the scent that filled Edea’s bedchamber on the nights he had those headaches.

“On the nights when my head ached terribly, the scent in her chamber was different. After investigating, I found that it was a scent used mainly by gypsies.”

“Gypsies?”

“Yes. They use a mild hypnotic fragrance when performing fortune-telling, to make it easier to deceive their clients into paying for false readings. It’s a dirty trick, but that’s what Edea had secretly brought into the palace.”

In the end, Edea had tricked him into believing they had shared a bed. For most people, it would have been enough to convince them. Lennoch realized that Edea had used this deception to pass off a child conceived with Jerata as an imperial heir. He had agonized over how to punish her.

“Then, Edea died.”

“……”

“Hail wasn’t even two months old when it happened.”

Edea had suddenly fallen ill and died, and Lennoch had briefly panicked. Who was to be blamed for this? The infant Hail was innocent. Should he hold the Delph family accountable? But they had no idea about Edea’s bold deception against the Emperor.

On top of that, the Marchioness of Delph, stricken with grief over her brilliant daughter’s sudden death, had fallen ill herself and soon passed away. The Marquis of Delph, devastated by the loss of both his daughter and wife, had requested to retire from politics.

“The ones who should have been punished had already received their due.”

“……”

“So I decided to quietly bury the matter.”

After all, he had been the only one who knew the full truth. He didn’t want to stir up a scandal that would benefit no one.

“But then a new problem arose. Evidence surfaced that Edea’s death wasn’t due to illness. Someone had intentionally killed her.”

“……!”

Eleanor gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. Lennoch’s expression darkened further.

“When I learned that, I felt disgusted by everything around me.”

He recalled Edea’s bitter curse against her political marriage to the imperial family. She had deceived him by using the hypnotic scent, making her guilty without question. Yet knowing that her death hadn’t been the result of just punishment but part of another scheme left Lennoch with a deep sense of unease.

“If I had personally punished the Delph family, it would have been easier to accept.”

“Lennoch…”

“I felt as if I had been stripped of all my weapons before even facing the enemy.”

“……”

“And the fact that the imperial family, supposedly the safest place, had become nothing more than a stage for one-sided murders filled me with powerlessness.”

Seeing the infant Hail, unaware that both his parents were dead, only added to Lennoch’s guilt.

“When I saw the child crying, I couldn’t help but agree with her—this place truly felt cursed.”

“……”

“When my father died, it was the same. My mother tried to uncover the truth behind the late Emperor’s carriage accident but failed. With my father gone and then Edea dying in such a helpless manner… the power the imperial family wields feels utterly meaningless.”

Being tossed around by someone else’s schemes made him question whether this position was worth anything. The events from his childhood had left lasting scars, and the trauma of Edea’s death, even more than her betrayal, continued to haunt him.

“This is all because I’m weak,” Lennoch said, lowering his head, unable to meet Eleanor’s eyes. His confidence had completely crumbled, and he no longer had the air of calm authority he usually carried.

“……”

Eleanor struggled to find the right words. Confronted with Lennoch’s pain, she couldn’t help but feel a deep sadness.

After a moment of silence, she spoke, her voice soft, “Someone told me…”

“…?”

“That Edea was a cruel and selfish woman.”

***

“That sounds good to me.”

The Marquis of Delph nodded in agreement after hearing the plan for future financial management. His tone was noticeably satisfied. Evan, seeing how easily the Marquis was persuaded, felt confident that things would proceed smoothly.

“I’ll have the administrator contact you soon.”

“Good.”

“It’s gotten quite late. I’ll be heading back now,” Evan added, signaling that their conversation had reached its conclusion. “You should head inside as well. The night air is chilly.”

“I will.”

After bidding the Marquis farewell, Evan glanced around before making his way through the darkness. The Marquis of Delph stood silently for a moment before reaching into his pocket. He had been searching for one of his favorite cigars, but to his disappointment, his pockets were empty.

“…Well, isn’t this just typical,” he muttered, his pale cheeks twitching in frustration. He sighed heavily.

Deciding to head home, the Marquis turned, but not in the same direction Evan had gone.

‘What was the Duke of Nestor thinking, sending someone like him?’

The young man might have tried to appear cunning, but to a seasoned veteran like the Marquis, his true intentions were clear. Reflecting on their conversation, the Marquis couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Caroline, not spending money? What a lie.”

He had to admit, the young fox had a certain boldness to him. But deception had to be done carefully, and the Marquis had already known about Caroline’s secret embezzlement scheme with Count Verdik.

‘I had entrusted her with financial management on a whim… as expected, the Duke of Nestor has his own agenda.’

His suspicions about Evan had begun the moment the young man had joined their group. No matter how clever Evan might be, it would have been impossible for him to secure the necessary funds for the Balkan Trading Company without his family’s backing.

Though the Marquis had accepted Evan into the group, impressed by his knowledge of the East Harlem area and his ambition to surpass his older brother Pedro, today’s events had made it clear that Evan’s true purpose wasn’t just gaining his family’s recognition. The Duke of Nestor was plotting something, using Evan as his pawn.

One of the members is a spy…

“The company’s fate is like a candle in the wind.”

Yet, despite the company’s precarious position, the Marquis of Delph’s face remained calm and amused.

‘None of them are any match for me,’ he thought confidently, a self-assured smile spreading across his face.

“Ugh, mmph—!”

“What kind of old woman has this much strength?”

Hearing voices in the distance, the Marquis instinctively crouched down. Fortunately, the knights were too focused on the prisoner they had bound with ropes to notice him. The Marquis of Delph’s eyes locked onto the woman being escorted by the knights.

‘…The nanny?’

It was the nanny of Prince Hail.

Gagged and dragged away by the knights, she was someone the Marquis knew well. It was obvious why they were taking her away at this hour—she had been charged with a serious crime.

Realizing this, the Marquis’s face fell in dismay.

***