I Won’t Accept Your Regrets

"This is my son."

"Ah, this is Ellie's child… Stop, what?!"

Lumont's eyes widened, and there was a shout in the carriage.

The voice was so loud that the sleeping Carlisle flinched.

"It's a secret… Lumont, please, not so loud."

When Helen put in her word, Lumont covered his mouth awkwardly.

"I’m sorry. I didn't know this detail. Yesterday I was so nervous that I couldn’t sleep. Haha…"

Lumon's face showed his utter amazement. It was obvious what conclusion he had come to.

"Don’t be so surprised. This isn’t His Majesty’s child."

"…Yes?"

"We are divorced with His Majesty. I met a new man in the Lund Kingdom. The child has nothing to do with His Majesty. Please refrain from these strange guesses."

"Ah… Yes, as you say."

Lumon's face twitched as if he couldn't believe what I was saying. And I felt his eyes on Carlisle.

Shiny blonde hair, the opposite of black, the symbol of the royal family. Purple eyes like mine.

Carlisle's hair and eye color was completely changed with the help of a new little magic tool Jed brought before we left.

It’s a magical instrument in the form of tiny earrings, so others might even think that Carlisle changed his appearance through magic.

Only when Lumont checked everything himself did he be sure of my words. And the next moment the carriage stopped.

"We've arrived."

Lumont, smiling happily, opened the carriage door for us.

* * *

"Moooom…"

"You need to sleep, Carlisle."

Laying Carlisle gently on the bed, I covered him with a blanket.

He quickly fell into a deep sleep.

I gently stroked Carlisle's hair and stood up, kissing his small forehead first.

When I left the room, Helen, who was fiddling with her luggage, turned to me.

"Where are you going? Do you need help?"

"No, Helen. You are tired, so put your luggage and go to bed."

"Ellie didn't sleep either. You couldn't sleep on the ship."

"Everything will be fine. You better watch Carlisle when he wakes up. I'll just talk to Lumont and come back."

I put on a new magic ring from Jed.

Now the color of the hair and eyes has changed to brown, and the features of the face have changed slightly.

It was a magical tool that came handy for Jed in the days when he had to hide his identity. He said he bribed the wizards to help him.

When I went down to the lobby, I saw Lumont from the back. He gave instructions to the servants.

"Lumont."

"Ellie?"

"That’s right."

When he saw my new changes, he immediately recognized me by looking at my clothes.

"We need to talk in private."

"Yes Milady. Well, let's go to the office."

He ordered tea to be served and walked with me to the office on the first floor.

"Milady, I am very sorry that I couldn’t furnish this office in accordance with all the needs. But I think that you will not stay here anyway."

As it turned out, there weren't even desks or bookshelves to show that it was an office in an aristocrat's mansion. The shabby sofas and tables looked disgusting, but I really shouldn't have stayed here long.

"Everything is fine. I don’t mind."

When I sat down first, Lumont also sat in front of me.

Soon the maid came in, put the tray of tea on the table and departed. Right after that, we got down to business.

"Lumont, please escort me to the Duke's house disguised as a new servant."

"Pfff. What?! As a servant?!"

He was just about to take a sip of tea and spat it out. He couldn’t hide his embarrassment and widened his eyes.

"I must personally visit my father."

I couldn’t wait for the trial.

The report simply stated that he was being held in custody at the ducal estate.

I need to know if he is sick and how he is holding up.

"Oh, this… It won't be easy now. Imperial knights watch over him day and night."

Lumont had an embarrassed face.

"But that would not be entirely impossible. People go out for food and basic necessities. Although… It would be dangerous. After all, if you are caught, the knights will immediately report to His Majesty."

"Can you see my real face?"

Lumont took a close look at my new appearance. He carefully examined my eyes, nose and mouth.

"No. I don’t even know. I don’t think they will notice you, if so… Okay, then I’ll see what I can do."

"Thanks. Hurry up as much as possible. And did you find out more news about the whole incident?"

"Oh, should I lay it out to you right now? Don't you want to sleep?"

"Tell me."

He got up from his seat, briefly left the office, and then entered. He put the stack of papers on the table.

"It contains information about the once disappeared caravan from a foreign country, as well as details of the fraud case."

"Good work."

"Then I'll be back early tomorrow morning."

After he left, I went through all the papers.

From the moment the caravan entered the Empire until the day it disappeared, everything went smoothly.

Chewing each letter, I read and read the entire content of the report. So many times that I learned it by heart.

Finally, I put the papers aside and took a deep breath.

There was no significant difference from the report I received from Jed. It seemed that all the evidence pointed to the father, and the foreign traders seemed to have evaporated.

And recently, Viscount Metas, who made a deal with my father, was found dead.

Worst of all, Metas's suicide note was also found, which said it was my father who set it up.

"Viscount Metas…"

I ran this strange name in my head.

I didn’t know all of my father's assistants thoroughly, but I knew all the main ones.

Since my father appreciated loyal people, those who worked under him have hardly changed over a decade.

Maybe he started working for my father after I left the country.

Why had he entrusted such a gigantic deal to an unfamiliar man?

According to the information in front of me, my father has delegated almost all powers to Viscount Metas.

In addition, it says here that all documents sent by Metas bear the ducal seal.

Especially on a document that guarantees a payment of 4,000 gold.

After all, it is clear that my father was wary of such documents.

It was not customary to make such a huge contribution in a lump sum. The larger the amount, the more it was split into parts. And the larger the deal, the more carefully it was necessary to think over everything.

I couldn't believe my father, who had been the head of the Foreign Office for ten years, did it.

And my father denied before the investigators that he had put his seal on such papers.

However, as a result of a magical print check, no signs of forgery were found on the document. As a result, the father's words were dismissed as a lie.

‘How the hell was the seal tampered with?’

Of course, I didn't think my father had stamped these papers.

Did someone steal the seal?

Before, I thought I would find out more after meeting Lumont.

"Mom."

Carlisle's voice rang out. Waking up from my thoughts, I looked at the door.

I saw Carlisle open the door and look inside.

"Mom, can I come in?"

"Of course."

Carlisle jumped up with a grin.

He jumped onto the sofa towards me.

"Why did you wake up so early?"

"Not early. The sun is already high."

After Carlisle's words, I looked out the window. While I was digging through these papers and rolling over everything I read, a lot of time passed.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes and you?"

Carlisle looked at me with his puppy eyes. Apparently, he was hungry and couldn’t wait for me.

"Shall we eat together?"

"Yes! Let's do it! Helen said she found a restaurant nearby!"

I smiled at the excitedly screaming Carlisle, we held hands tightly, and together went to the restaurant.

* * *

Imperial Palace of the Agrita Empire.

It was dawn, and most of the people in the palace were asleep, except perhaps for the guards.

In the deepest part of the main palace, a groan came from the Emperor's bedroom.