Lily spoke in haste.
“We don’t know anything for certain yet, do we? Even if the Duke of Orléans has allied with Prince Robert, it’s too soon to speak of treason. The authenticity of the evidence must be verified first. If you give the order, I’ll depart at once and bring back Emelline Wedgwood. We need to secure those scrolls immediately—”
She looked ready to leap straight out the window. But Eric shook his head.
“…Is this about that
photo
, by any chance…?”
Lily coughed awkwardly as she mentioned the photograph. Eric’s expression twisted in disgust.
He recalled the wicked smile Emelline had worn while straddling him.
“Mad woman…”
She had escaped with the spiritual film containing images of them—two people destined to become sworn siblings in just a few days—entwined on a bed.
As much as he wanted to retrieve that film immediately, Eric held himself back.
To him, personal honor was irrelevant.
Instead, he recalled Emelline—her rustic red hair, her plain brown eyes—
“Why did she take it?”
That unnerving look in her eyes…
Eric couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps Emelline’s true face was even more terrifying than she let on.
“Don’t capture her—just follow. She’ll return to the estate first. You should head there as well.”
“She’s going back? After blackmailing you like that?”
Lily’s face showed her disbelief, but Eric nodded as if it were obvious.
He already knew how deeply Emelline cared for her family.
Which was odd, considering what he’d uncovered—
Emelline Wedgwood wasn’t even Helena’s blood daughter.
“Track her movements. I want a report on every step she takes over the next twenty-four hours. And… yes, you’re right. It’s best we delay reporting to Her Highness until we have irrefutable proof.”
A look of relief crossed Lily’s face. But Eric’s expression remained grim as he turned to the window.
“When the time comes, I’ll be the one to tell her. Even if it’s a stain on my clan’s name… even if it’s the fire that burns my house to ash.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Lily dropped to one knee in front of him, then rose and slipped out the window, descending the hotel’s exterior wall with light, practiced steps.
Left alone, Eric felt the weight of confusion settle upon him.
Because—
“What if those documents aren’t complete? What if there’s a hidden page? And what if that page proves your father is truly mad? If those scrolls fall into the hands of the Princess or the royal court, the House of Orléans will be finished…”
Eric knew exactly where that missing page was.
He flung open the hotel room door and stepped into the hallway, his mind racing.
As he descended the stairs, an unsettling feeling crept over him.
What if he let Lily go, snuck out alone, and returned to the estate to find those scrolls himself?
What if he uncovered the truth? What if Emelline was right, and the documents revealed some dreadful secret about his father?
Then what?
Why was he moving without informing Lily? Why was he taking this risk alone?
Eric stopped midway down the stairs, his face drawn tight with anxiety.
“Don’t try to learn too much. If the righteous ones fall into darkness, who will protect love and justice?”
It felt like the world he had vowed to protect—one where good would be rewarded and evil punished—was finally revealing its true face.
And it terrified him.
Feeling as though he were walking on thin ice, Eric took another step forward.
The moment he stepped beyond the hotel doors, he would become a man who could trust no one.
When I climbed back into my room through the window, Philip was sitting on my bed with sunken eyes and a dark aura around him.
Startled, I nearly lost my grip and tumbled right back out.
“Ugh! You scared me! What are you doing here? I thought you were a corpse cultivator come back to life!”
Philip replied flatly, clearly offended.
“And whose fault do you think it is that I’ve
become
one, huh?”
I leapt lightly down from the window frame, mumbling to myself.
“I thought you'd be asleep by now…”
I
had
seen him pass out last night after downing that whole gourd of spirit wine. I was sure he'd be out till morning.
Philip, looking completely worn out, asked with a heavy tone, “Why are you acting like this lately?”
“Like what?”
“So unruly! Reckless! I mean, the matron’s wedding is in
two days
! And you’re staying out all night?! Disappearing?!”
“How did you even know I didn’t come back?”
“Because I was guarding this room, of course!”
“And
why
, exactly, were you guarding it?!”
Philip clapped a hand over his mouth like he was about to retch from frustration. After a few breaths to steady himself, he exhaled heavily.
“Hahh… Where were you last night…? Don’t tell me you went to
Blooming Rose at Night
, did you?”
So he remembered me asking about that forbidden pleasure pavilion while I was getting him drunk.
I smiled innocently and walked toward the wardrobe as if about to change. True to form, Philip turned his head away, not wanting to see anything indecent.
Exactly as expected. No brother and sister in the mortal or immortal realms would want to witness
that
.
Using the moment, I swiftly pulled the film and documents from inside my robe and tucked them deep into the drawer where I kept my undergarments.
“You know,” I said breezily, “I’m going to be a titled Lady in just two days. I figured before living a life of noble restraint, I should at least understand the capital’s nightlife.”
“Bullshit,” he snapped. “You expect me to believe that?”
His voice was sharp, cold.
I turned around after changing, only to find him staring at me with an unusually grim expression.
“Wh-what…?”
What’s with him? Did he
figure something out
?
Feeling as if my heart had shriveled into a dried peach pit, I leaned against the wardrobe.
Philip stepped closer with a suspicious look and asked slowly, “You… haven’t had any weird dreams lately, have you?”
Dreams?
Wait, what did he just say?
Shocked, I rushed over to him and asked urgently, “Y-you had one too?!”
Instead of answering directly, he licked his lips and said, “You know… those kinds of dreams. Where family members die… or get hurt… or something terrible happens…”
“What… what are you talking about…”
Was he serious?
A chill crept over me as I rubbed my arms.
Philip stared blankly into the air as he continued.
“And then… suddenly your cultivation essence stirs, your qi feels unsettled, you can’t sleep… and you get this
urge
to wander outside…”
But his next sentence made my blood freeze like someone had poured icy spiritual water into my skull.
I exploded. “You read the
horoscope column
in the paper again, didn’t you?!”
“Yeah, so what!”
This cursed fool! He nearly gave me a heart attack!
“You’ve been acting weird lately, okay?! I was so worried, I read the paper that came this morning and it said, ‘This week, those born under the Goat Star face great calamity. To avoid it, be wary of men, wealth, and metal.’ And then YOU decide to spend the night OUT! With WHO?! HUH?!”
My fists clenched tight.
Men. Wealth. And metal.
Quite the ominous omen, don’t you think?
I quietly shifted over to the bed, avoiding Phillip, who looked ready to open my wardrobe without hesitation. He glanced at it out of the corner of his eye, then walked over to me.
“Did you hit your head or something? Want to try soul-soothing therapy? There’s a prestigious royal infirmary out west—”
“I’m fine.”
I waved him off.
My entire body ached. It seemed I’d been tense the whole time while binding and moving Eric of House Orléans.
Absentmindedly, I reached down to take off my shoes—then froze.
My bare feet were caked in dirt.
“So why are you like this? We’re about to become part of the Duke’s clan. Shouldn’t you be excited?”
I looked at Phillip.
Part of the Duke’s clan,
he said.
It sounded noble, but the truth was, the Duke didn’t see us as kin. To him, we were just tools—pawns to use and discard.
“Part of the family? Please. Have any of Mom’s husbands ever really seen us as family?”
Phillip’s expression twisted bitterly.
“Why bring up the ones who’ve already crossed the River Styx?”
Yeah… they were gone now.
“You’d think after all that failure, we’d learn something, Phillip. Orléans might be no different from the others.”
“Then let’s use him, too. What’s so hard about that?”
Phillip muttered like someone quietly nursing a wound.
Ever since that walk with the Duke in the manor gardens, something about him had changed—like his guard had dropped.
I looked at him, uneasy, and then turned away. The weight in my chest only grew heavier.
My gaze landed on the wardrobe.
Inside it—tucked away—was the spiritual film of me and Eric Orléans entangled on that bed, and the House Orléans account scrolls.
Eric never properly responded to my threat.
But with evidence like that, he couldn’t afford to ignore me.
If I want to finish this, I need to find the rest—the hidden pages…
I pictured Eric crouched behind that bookshelf.
That’s where the rest would be—the second half of the scrolls containing the real secrets of the Duke of Orléans.
I had given Eric twenty-four hours.
When that time was up, I would break into the study again and retrieve the remaining documents.
I
had
to—for the sake of my family.
And—
“Aren’t you tired of being used… and using others? Maybe it’s time we… I don’t know… tried living decently for once?”
Phillip gave a faint chuckle.
But I meant it.
As soon as we returned to the Southern Territories, I’d try living by that old righteous doctrine the clueless young lord kept babbling about:
Good is rewarded. Evil is punished.
I’d make it our clan motto.
So that we could finally find happiness—together.
Chapter 18