Ed Hanze has been Duke of Hanze since five years ago, the former Duke of Hanze died in an unfortunate accident when he was fifteen years old, forcing him to take the position of Duke without siblings to help him as he is the only son.
He was a very gloomy child his entire childhood, his father was very strict and his mother could do nothing and just lived like a beautiful doll all her life, turning a blind eye to her husband's strictness to their child.
At such a young age, he needed to think and make decisions like an adult. With an unreliable mother, Ed tried to strengthen his heart and carry out his duties as a Duke well. Starting from looking back at how his father did his job so far.
Now that gloomy child has grown up to be a graceful and charming man, Ed is increasingly confident in what he is doing, in his hands he has succeeded in changing the bad things his father did for the environment and the people in their territory.
Ed raised his champagne glass high into the air. "Thank you for attending this banquet, ladies and gentlemen. Hope you enjoy your time." He cheered along with all the invited guests, the ballroom right away filled with laughter.
As the other nobles socialized with each other, Ed left the ballroom and walked towards a large door. He opened the door which led him to the luxurious room occupied by the Dukes and the emperor, Ed was not in the room for long, he only said his greetings before going to the room where the Duchess was chatting and saying greetings before returning to the ballroom.
Even though he has become a Duke, he still socializes with people his age. With a huge age difference between him and the other dukes, Ed still felt uncomfortable talking to them, also the emperor was always with them during the banquet.
But this time there was something he had to do, Ed returned to the ballroom. Some people of course stopped his steps to chat for a moment, Ed responded politely but his eyes continued to scan around the ballroom trying to find someone.
When he finds a man leaning in the corner of the ballroom, hidden from everyone in a servant suit, Ed rushes over to him after politely telling the person he's talking to that he has to meet someone.
At the end of the harvest season, the Duke of Hanze always held a big banquet not only for the nobility but also for the common people in his territory, although he had to put some restrictions in order to avoid chaos due to social status.
But tonight's banquet was held not only to celebrate the end of the harvest season, but also to help his important guest to find someone.
A few days ago Ed received someone he had not seen for a long time, his father's guardian came to him and told him a long yet short story about the consequences of what happened five years ago to him. Ed's face darkened at the story, with guilt over what happened to the man because of his father, he decides to help him find the person he is looking for.
Gradually the night was getting late, the ballroom which was once filled with many people now began to be quiet and slowly leaving only the servants who were in charge of cleaning.
In his office, Ed opened his vest and threw it on the armrest of the sofa. He then stood in front of the large window, staring at the several carriages slowly leaving his manor.
“Did you find her?” He asked without looking at his important guest who had suddenly appeared behind him.
“She is not here. Only her… family.”
“It is alright. We will find her.” Ed reassured him. “Are you sure you can't find her whereabouts? You told me she was your new master?”
He sneered indifferently. “I can. But not now. I just came out. Need to adjust my locked power before using it, and again my contract with her... It's hard to explain it to you now.”
Ed finally turned around, looking at a man who was already sitting casually on the sofa. “I'll help you find her to atone for my father's sins. But you also have to keep your promise.”
“Don't worry about that. You are different from your father. You didn't even accept the contract with any guardian.”
Ed said nothing and rolled his eyes. “Don't talk about it again. I will accept one when I am ready.”
Luca had already returned to his carriage, because he came to the banquet from the palace he returned to the manor in a different carriage from his family.
His eyes were tightly closed, with hand resting on the carriage window frames, supporting his chin. Luca just quietly let Michael, who was sitting in front of him say what he wanted to say since hearing Luca's conversation with the Duke of Heiza.
“Isn't Lady Rayla ready to become Lady Alicia's knight? They even met a few days ago, Lady Alicia couldn't wait to get out of the manor with only Lady Rayla accompanying her.”
Luca fell silent. Between Alicia and Hera. All this time, who has he always prioritized? His jaw tightened, he remembered the last time he saw Hera before their tea time. At that time Hera looked at him with a blank gaze and pale face, kneeling in front of him without moving even though the blood had already pooled under her bleeding feet.
Luca's forehead creased even more as he remembered the incident. All he knew was someone tried to poison Alicia when she pulled Hera to join her for tea together, everyone around them immediately accused Hera when Alicia suddenly fainted after coughing up blood.
Alicia immediately received treatment and Hera was immediately punished.
Is it really that simple?
Of course Luca quickly investigated what happened, but after the report from his men came he didn't read it at all and believed that Hera was the one who did it. His action was solely to calm Alicia who did not believe that Hera had poisoned her.
Luca still has the results of that investigation and he just read it yesterday. What he read in that report made his emotions rage, he didn't know what to feel at that moment. Anger? Regret? He didn't know anymore.
Hera didn't do it.
In fact, it wasn't just Alicia who was poisoned at that time.
It's just that, when Alicia asked Hera to have tea with her, she had finished a few glasses before Hera sat down with her. Hera, who had just sipped her tea, immediately paled and panicked when she saw Alicia coughing up blood and fainted.
From the reports he got. Several days from then Hera had done nothing and just lay in her room and vomited up all the food she had eaten.
No one knows that she fell ill at that time. Even Freya, who was already working in the kitchen. With no one looking after her, it was a miracle that Freya didn't find her lying dead in her room.
Luca's face darkened at that thought.
“We have a lot of knights who can protect Alicia. Let Rayla protect Hera as her knight.”
“...” Michael paused before reminding Luca. “Lady Hera already had Zane to protect her.”
Luca's eyes twitched, he slowly opened his eyes, he didn't like the arrogant face of the man whenever he talked about how he knew Hera better than them. “I don’t trust him.” He hissed.
“Then why let him take Hera to Mrs. Greene?” Michael was puzzled, sometimes he could not comprehend what was on Luca's mind.
“I have no other choice.” The emotions in Luca’s eyes were deep and complex. “I don't know how to approach her, all I know about her is a lie.” He snorted coldly. “I didn't even know about her health until Sir Aaron screamed at me.”
This time it was Michael who was speechless. He remembered when Sir Aaron came to Luca's office that day with a pile of reports about Hera’s meal plan that Freya wrote, at that time Sir Aaron was so angry that he didn't hesitate to scream at his employer.
His anger reached a new peak when he learned that Hera was going to her grandmother's house, Sir Aaron's face immediately flushed with anger. Luckily he still respected Luca, so with gritted teeth he asked Luca to let him go examine Hera again.
“I asked Freya what she thought about... that man. And was it true that Hera wanted to leave the manor and not because of... that man. And do you know what the answer is?” Luca asked rhetorically.
“...” Michael remained silent.
“She said that Hera had been preparing to leave the manor a long time ago.” Luca laughed bitterly.
Michael sighed softly. Luca is out of his mind right now. His eyes narrowed sharply, all because of the dream Luca had told him yesterday.
Dream. He knows someone who can control people's dreams. Zane even used that person to threaten him.
...
As if he had just realized something, his eyes widened. Zane knew things he shouldn't. Is it because of her? Zane knows her? How does he know her?
