Were there any humane ways to handle a beast?

Ravia decided to keep the truth from Tidwell. When his misunderstanding had ruined everything, what good could the truth bring?

The truth that Ravia was destined to die for Tidwell’s sake, and that she still had a tenuous love for him.

And that she wanted to build a future where no one died, and they could live together….

Would he believe it if she told him?

Now that Tidwell had ruined everything, what good could those confessions bring?

When he’d rather suspect her for plotting against him, and try to tie her up.

Just as he did to Leticia in her previous life.

His selfishness and the sins he committed made him untrustworthy.

It was only natural that Ravia distrust him.

He had deceived her all along, sabotaged her life, and ultimately crushed her final plan– the one she had staked everything on.

It was only natural that Ravia would have a really hard time believing him when he said that he loved her.

Meanwhile, Tidwell had this thought.

Ravia doesn’t love him, she hates him instead. So adding a little bit of hatred on top of it didn’t make much difference.

Ravia had no intention of revealing anything to the man who refused to listen to her and instead chose to follow the path of sin.

No, he didn’t deserve to hear the truth in the first place.

The only thing he deserved was a payback.

Only revenge.

There was something Tidwell overlooked about this situation.

About the woman he dearly wanted.

As Tidwell himself said, the most frightening thing for him to imagine was a life without Ravia.

So, did he notice others’ revenge? Did he know that Ravia wasn’t the only one who hated him?

Ironically, he had always lived under constant threats and assassination attempts, yet he had not the slightest idea that someone wanted him dead.

And what if that person was someone he didn’t care about at all?

Ravia opened the carriage door. A man in a hunting cap hurriedly bowed down.

But he couldn’t hide his face. Ravia was able to find traces of tears on his face without difficulty.

So she called him in a slightly sad tone.

“Vincent.”

A loyal servant of Duke Leontine. One of the few people who shed real tears in this fraudulent mourning period.

He probably wouldn’t have been here if Duke Leontine hadn’t ordered him to bring Ravia to the villa.

He would have been the victim along with Duke Leontine.

It was rather unfortunate that he survived due to Duke Leontine’s fatherly love.

Although it was funny to apply the word ‘unfortunate’ to somebody who managed to survive.

But it was normal that the word ‘unfortunate’ fell on those who survived rather than the dead.

So Ravia was trying to take advantage of Duke Leontine’s funeral today.

Today was the day Tidwell’s surveillance would get a little loose.

Tidwell wasn’t here for a simple reason. Ravia told Tidwell that she didn’t want to see him until her father’s funeral.

-Tidwell, I…Do I really have to be with you there? Let me be alone even if you see me…only for a moment…

Maybe because her voice was shaking, but Tidwell granted her request.

Why couldn’t he listen this well before?

As soon as the funeral ended, he left Ravia and returned first.

So it was worth it to act dejected all the time.

Though she was thankful for it, Ravia couldn’t help but laugh when she thought about his complacency.

Tidwell must have thought that all he had to do was muzzle Duke Leontine and Ravia.

He would never have thought that Duke Leontine would share all his secrets with his aide.

He wouldn’t have imagined it.

Ravia climbed into the carriage with a bitter smile.

When the carriage stopped wobbling, Ravia sat next to the sobbing man.

“The funeral is over. Haven’t you calmed down?”

At her question, Vincent apologized in a choked voice.

“…I..I’m s-sorry…lady….I should have stayed with you..huu..”

“Unfortunately, I have no handkerchief left for a crying servant. So don’t worry about it.”

Vincent cried even harder when he heard her reply.

“I, I should’ve…served…h-his grace…!”

“If you had, I would’ve been sitting here alone. No one would have believed that I was innocent.”

And she would be all alone again.

As Ravia recited bitterly, Vincent held onto his thighs and clenched his pants as if he couldn’t bear it.

Even then, his trembling hands seemed to show uncontrollable anger and sadness.

“I..I’m cer-certain…t-this is the work…of that c-conman. T-That bastard did this to his grace…! H-His grace has been so kind to me, b-but I couldn’t repay his kindness…!”

In the end, Vincent broke into tears again as his grief consumed him.

It wasn’t surprising knowing how loyal he was.

‘Vincent didn’t come to the capital of his own will, he was kicked out.’

Ravia naturally knew Vincent’s stories as she had helped Clovia write letters.

His story was quite frivolous, as if he was confiding everything to his crush.

The most surprising of it all was that Vincent didn’t come to the capital by the recommendation of the rural lord.

-Vincent really can’t do farming work. He has sensitive skin, so he can’t stand the scorching sun at all, and he’s not quick-footed enough to keep up with the work, so he ended up getting scolded every day.

Clovia didn’t go into detail, but the next story could be inferred enough without having to listen more.

A letter of recommendation from an acquaintance was required if you were moving to the capital, but the result was obvious if you didn’t have one.

You would get kicked out.

A worker who didn’t help with farming was equal to wasting rice.

So his father gave him, who didn’t know much about the capital, a little pocket money and clothing so that he wouldn’t starve to death right away, and sent him off several times.

He told his son that he’d be happier if he went and found a job.

But the capital was a really foreign place for someone newly from the countryside.

When he tried to look for a job there, things kept going downhill because there was no place that would accept him without a reference.

To that point, the story was as clear as a day.

However, the next part was hard to figure out.

-How did he get into Leontine without a letter of recommendation?

-Ah, that. It’s really interesting, you see. His grace personally brought him in.

-…You mean, my father?”

-On a rainy day, after starving for a few days because he ran out of money, he happened to be in front of Leontine’s residence.

And Duke Leontine showed him kindness.

He brought the poor man into the house and gave him a job.

It was indeed strange behavior, but it wasn’t something that would be done if you were inherently mean.

Especially when Duke Leontine’s close friend was Marquis Callister, one who was famous for his noblesse oblige.

So to Vincent, Duke Leontine was like the god who saved him.

When Ravia heard that, she took a look at Clovia.

A girl in her early to mid-twenties with a freckled nose and rosy cheeks, she was not considered strikingly beautiful but still lovely.

A maid who worked in an annex and was quick to run and never lost in playing tag, but was poor at working in a mansion that required a lot of caution unlike farming.

Reaching a very useless realization, Ravia laughed.

-Clovia, did you say you have a lot of brothers?

-Yes! I have six younger brothers. Can you even imagine how adorable they are? Everyone is not familiar with writing, so they only send pictures, but my third little brother is especially good at drawing.

When asked about her family, Ravia chuckled lightly as Clovia began rambling about it.

She could see why Vincent liked her.

Clovia had everything he didn’t have, after all.

A bright personality, a warm family, quick feet, and even the clumsiness that farmers typically love.

She laughed because it wasn’t different from her situation.

As she reminisced, the same smile emerged.

Suddenly, she thought of a man who longed for a position he didn’t have and a woman born into that position as a matter of course.

The beginning was familiar, but the outcome was so different.

It was miserable.