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Tien looked sincerely disappointed. It was a natural reaction, since the maids didn’t like Claire either.

The only ones who benefited were the second Prince who kept quiet.

“Who cares?”

“Is the Lady not worried? If the Crown Prince loses his throne because of this…”

I couldn’t listen anymore, so I put down the newspaper I was holding in my hand and warned Tien.

“Tien, stop right there. All anger comes out of your mouth. If anyone hears you just now, nothing good will happen, so you’d better be careful from now on.”

“Yes. I’ll be careful in the future…….”

Tien replied with a dejected look on her face.

However, Tien’s concern was natural from her point of view.

Her future as the Empress’s maid was right under her nose, but if things get complicated and the second Prince takes over the throne, many problems will arise.

The maids were on the same boat as me.

If my status increase, they would rise with me, and vice versa.

I covered the newspaper with a nonchalant face and took a bite of the peach tart.

A pleasant sweet taste filled my mouth. At that moment, the quiet first floor suddenly became noisy.

Before I could order Annie to go and find out what it was about, the excited-looking Joan opened the door and jumped in.

“Miss, His Excellency has returned.”

I jumped up in surprise. As a result, the table shook and the teacup on it fell over.The tea spilled onto my lap. The maids came running in surprise at the sight of my messed up dress.

“Miss, are you alright? Did you burn yourself?”

Annie asked with a worried look on her face as she used a dry towel to wipe the tea stains on my skirt.

I asked with a puzzled look on my face.

“…my father is back?”

Joan nodded without taking her eyes off my skirt.

“Yes, but are you okay?”

“There’s still some time left before he come back, right? But, why already?

I asked in a panic.

“What?”

A puzzled look came over Joan’s face at my question.

I walked to the window and looked down. There was a group of knights there.

The person at the front of the group was riding a white horse with shiny hair. The horse was walking slowly with its head arrogantly raised, and the person on the horse wore a stiff uniform.

I could tell at a glance that he was a soldier, as a rough and intimidating atmosphere emitted from his body.

Under the intense sunlight, his light golden hair was pale. It was Duke Lillian, Roxana’s biological father.

“He must have come home early after hearing the news that the Lady was ill. Or he came home for your birthday.”

Joan looked at me and asked with a strange look on her face.

“Lady, aren’t you going to go down?”

Seeing the suspicious look on Joan’s face, I finally kept my mouth shut.

As a young girl, Roxana waited anxiously for the return of her one and only family, excited every day when the Duke’s return date approached.

But the Duke returned just for a short while, and soon went off to the frontier again. In this way, as time passed, disappointments began to pile up, and the father and daughter became more and more estranged from each other.

Roxana, too, when she had grown a little older, gradually stopped waiting for the Duke.

When she became more accustomed to her father not being in the mansion than being in it, she would react indifferently to the fact that he had returned.

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, so of course I have to go downstairs.”

I replied to Joan’s words and looked out the window again.

The sky was beautiful without a cloud, but it didn’t do my heart any good to watch it.

The return of the Duke had already been foreseen, but it was earlier than expected. My heart pulsed wildly with anxiety and fear as I was going to meet him, still unprepared.

If the Crown Prince and Claire were disgusting, then the Duke was the person I least wanted to face. No matter how estranged Roxana and the Duke were, he was still Roxana’s biological father.

Perhaps that was why she felt completely different from when she faced her nanny or Stephen. The parent-child relationship between Roxana and the Duke was very estranged and they were indifferent to each other.

I don’t think if that’s true, but I felt suffocated with anxiety when I thought he might notice something strange about his daughter.

***

“Your Excellency, you’re here.”

Stephan greeted him cautiously, and unlike usual, the Duke seemed to be in a bad mood.

He was giving off a menacing energy with his body, as if he couldn’t control his anger. The knights who followed him from behind also quietly scanned the Duke’s face.

Looking at the atmosphere alone, they did not seem to be those who returned with cheers after a series of victories.

“Where is Roxana?”

The Duke asked coldly.

“I think she’s in her room.”

As soon as Stephen finished his reply, the Duke passed by him. His steps seemed unusually impatient today.

After the loss of his wife, there was only one person left in the Duke’s life. For him, enduring the loss of his wife was too much of a struggle.

He couldn’t bear to be in a place where traces of his wife remained, so he volunteered to go to war. By the time he realized how foolish it was and how much it would hurt his daughter, she had already grown up.

The years that had already passed had created a thick wall between the father and daughter. Everything was his choice and he knew himself that this situation would happen someday.

He knew it and pretended not to know it. He just ran away in cowardice. Leaving his young daughter alone. He was not the only one who suffered from the loss of his family.

He never considered the feelings of his daughter, who had to feel like losing all her parents in a moment due to his foolish behavior. Everything was his own selfish choice. So he couldn’t even blame anyone.

The Duke could have done anything for Roxana. He agreed to the marriage with the Crown Prince for one reason only: Roxana’s wish. However, he had almost lost his precious daughter because of his decision.

When he heard that Roxana fell in the Imperial Palace and didn’t wake up for several days, his heart sank. To top it all off, when he heard the news that Roxana’s fall might not have been an accident but her voluntary choice, it was as if the world was about to collapse.

He wanted to lead an army to the imperial palace immediately and putting the sword on the Crown Prince’s neck. He was still disgusted with himself. Fortunately, Roxana woke up safely.

Of course, that didn’t make the wounds she had suffered go away. It didn’t feel good enough to kill either the ungrateful Crown Prince or his concubine. But instead of revenge, which he could have done at any time, he wanted to make sure Roxana was okay first.

He didn’t feel relaxed until he saw with his own eyes that his daughter was safe and sound. How painful it was to get from the frontier to the mansion. In fact, the Duke hurried along the road so fast that several horses died of exhaustion during the march.

He walked into the house with a frustrated look on his face. Just then, someone came down the stairs.

“Are you here?”

I greeted the Duke with an awkward look. Duke Lillian looked at me and was momentarily stunned.

The young lady he hadn’t seen in a long time had changed a lot from before. The atmosphere that had been melancholy and nervous was gone. However, a cold and cynical atmosphere emitted from her.

It was as if he was looking at someone else. It felt unfamiliar. But the most important thing was that his daughter was safe.

“Roxana, let’s talk for a moment.”

The Duke looked at me with a complicated face. I thought for a moment then nodded. The Duke walked into the parlor with a mixture of relief and sadness on his face. I followed him nervously.

***

The door to the parlor closed.

The two of us were alone in the room.

I walked up to the sofa and sat down, and the Duke silently took the seat across from me. The Duke was middle-aged, but still looked magnificent, as if years didn’t matter.

As expected, blood was thicker than water.

The daughter resembled her father. They both had blond hair and golden eyes.

However, the atmosphere they had was completely different. Roxana was emotional and clumsy. Unlike her haughty appearance, she had a strong impulsive tendency and was very emotional.

Because of this, those who knew Roxana ignored her behind her back, while those who didn’t knew her feared her infamy.

However, the Duke in front of me was just cold. There wasn’t the slightest hint of Roxana’s mood. The Duke bowed his head and said nothing for a while.

Silence reigned in the room. In the suffocating atmosphere, I tried to observe the Duke’s expression. After a while, the Duke finally opened his mouth.

“Roxana, I have called you here to apologize.”

“…?”

I felt puzzled at the unexpected words.

But the Duke’s face remained serious.

“…I know it’s probably too late, but I’m sorry. I’m sure none of that would have happened if I hadn’t left you alone.”

Roxana thought of the Duke as an indifferent father.

The Duke’s attitude towards his daughter was obviously too heartless, as he would not give her the slightest attention or affection, so it was as if he had abandoned her, firmly.

I got the feeling.

But on the other hand, his behavior was a little strange today.

If it was true that he really didn’t have the slightest affection for his daughter, he could have done whatever he wanted and just let it go.

However, he was willing to stand by the Crown Prince for Roxana’s sake. Thanks to that, the Crown Prince’s forces, which had been at an inferior position, were able to gain a dangerous advantage in the battle for the throne.

Joining the struggle for the throne was a very dangerous move that could involve the entire family.

If they succeeded, they could gain a lot of profit, but if they failed, the entire family could be shaken. The Duke must have felt the same way, so he must have stayed quiet.

Not only that, but he has consistently helped the Crown Prince at the expense of great damage for him. To be honest, I couldn’t understand all of the Duke’s actions. He left his daughter alone for far too long to say that he loved her.

Because of this, Roxana had to spend her childhood alone and in dire need of her parents’ care. However, now that I saw him, I was convinced.

The Duke was showing his emotions for the first time in front of Roxana. As if he had taken off his mask, the first emotions that appeared on his face were regret and guilt.

“I’m sorry.”

At the Duke’s words, I carefully search his expression. Despite the calmness of his voice, his face was contorted in pain.

As if to prove the daughter’s resemblance to her father, the Duke’s face was very similar to Roxana’s.

Perhaps that was why?

The Duke’s current appearance brought to mind the image of Roxana, who had suffered alone before.

Eventually, the images of both of them overlapped, and I felt a surge of unknown emotions.

The Duke’s appearance as he was struggling to suppress his emotions was very pitiful to see.