His words didn’t flatter her. However, she smiled slightly and nodded.

“Let’s go.”

She let out a silent sigh, but she was forced to take one step at a time, being led by his hand.

The maid, Katie, from the Outer West Palace came out and bowed politely to them. As if Leon had just remembered her when Dana saw her, he looked at Dana and said,

“Now you can pick a maid, too. You can make a new announcement or use anyone you want.”

“Oh, I see.”

Dana seemed to agree, and she looked at Leon with an ambiguous expression on her face.

“… I’ll think about it.”

“As you wish.”

Leon thought Dana would use Lily and Wendy as maids as they were. It would be comfortable to have people who have been around.

“How’s your mother?”

“Morning and night are different, and yesterday and today are different.”

Katie, who smiled lightly and spoke, looked a little tired. More than half of the maids of the Outer West Palace were expelled from the palace due to the last incident.

Of course, even so, the servants of the Palace did not run. There just used to be so many before that. However, a large number of maids who were supporting Sophia from a close distance had escaped, and many things were flocking to Katie.

This was because Sophia’s condition often deteriorated when a new maid came in who was not a familiar face.

“Don’t get too close.”

Katie said that and opened the door. When she opened the door, a cool wind passed by her hair.

“Ah…”

The whole window was wide open, and curtains fluttered in the wind. Sophia lay on the bed in that state with a blanket rolling around.

“Cold, cold…”

“Mother.”

Leon closed the open window first. Sophia jumped up at the sound of the screech closing.

“Who?”

“Mother, it’s me. It’s Leon.”

Leon spoke, but Sophia’s gaze was directed at Dana next to him. A spark flashed from Sophia’s dim eyes at the moment, and she tried to throw a metal cup on the table.

“Mother!”

Fortunately, Leon blocked it first and took it away.

“… Again, you’re here again. You’re trying to take over my room now…!”

“Mother, wake up.”

Dana faltered as if she was a little surprised and stepped back a little further from Sophia. However, Sophia’s voice became higher.

“I killed her! I’ve confirmed several times that she’s dead! As expected, we should have found the body. I should have ripped the body into pieces and fed it to the beast!”

As scary remarks continued, Leon’s face, which was holding Sofia’s shoulder, hardened. At Sophia’s first appearance, he seemed to have no idea what to say.

Dana, who had been terrified until just now, walked slowly to see what she was thinking.

“Oh… Don’t come! Don’t come!”

Sophia’s face, which had been angry until then, gradually turned frightened. Rather, she struggled to get out of bed, but Leon held her body tight.

As Dana approached the bed, she made eye contact with Sophia. Sophia stared at her with her white swollen eyes trembling.

Dana remained expressionless for a while, slowly raising her skirt and bending her back.

“…I am Dana Deniz, Duchess. You get surprised every time you see me.”

“You, you, how did you get to my room? Owen… Owen found you…! Elisa! Elisa Romoc! You’re so persistent!”

When a familiar name came out, Dana’s face quickly hardened. Leon was surprised and looked at Dana and Sophia’s faces alternately.

“Mother, how do you know that name?”

“Me, I will not hand over this room to you. I’m the hostess of Tertius Castle!”

In the meantime, Leon missed Sophia. Sophia stretched her arms violently and tried to pull Dana’s hem.

However, Dana grabbed Sophia’s wrist and blocked her. Sophia’s arm was quite strong, but no matter how strong, her sick body did not match a young woman.

“Elisa Romoc.”

Dana pronounced clearly and looked down at Sophia. And Sophia flinched at the name. Her eyes, trying to confirm something, showed cold anger.

“That’s my mother’s name. Did you mistake me for your mother?

“Let go of me! They said Elisa she’s dead! I told them to kill her! But why are you still alive in my room?!”

It wasn’t a conversation, but she could understand it in context. Dana let go of Sophia’s arm as if she were shaking it off.

“Dana.”

And she turned around and went out of the door. Leon, who was shaking to follow, calmly looked into Sophia’s face. Sophia, who had been terrified until just now, was smiling as if she had forgotten everything.

“…Mother.”

With a desperate face, he held his fist and sat on the bed, and bowed his head.

There were so many things he didn’t know.

* * *

They said Elisa she’s dead! I told them to kill her!

A sharp voice that seemed to tear her ears continued to linger in her head. Dana, who was walking fast, stopped for a while, feeling a headache, and touched the wall.

Elisa Romoc.

Dana’s mother, but because she died when Dana was young, Dana couldn’t even remember her.

Very occasionally, her father, Russell Deniz, would only look at her and say that she looked exactly like her mother. She wanted to ask about her mother, but whenever she brought it up, Russell looked so distressed that she stopped.

Russell had always been motivated, but when talking about Elisa, he was depressed and without confidence. Guilt and emptiness came out at the same time.

Dana didn’t seem to have liked seeing her father like that, and at some point, she stopped asking about Elisa.

Does Owen know something?

Dana’s mother, Elisa, was called an “old friend”. Why is Sophia Owen’s wife, and Leon’s mother, angry and scared of her? Why did she say she killed Elisa? Dana had to know.

“Dana.”

She held her head and breathed in, then she turned her head when she heard a call from behind.

If this was true, Leon becomes the son of the woman who killed her mother. Did Owen know about this?

Dana’s expression looking at Leon was strange. Leon felt anxious looking at her but tried to approach calmly.

“Let’s go together.”

As if he knew where Dana was going, Leon held her hand without asking. She tried to shake it off in a complicated mind, but she couldn’t.

Dana was dragged helplessly as he led. Even if she heard something and was shaken, he hoped she wouldn’t let go of his hand.

He tried hard to hide the contradictory feeling in his heart.

* * *