There is one name in the Adelhard family that should never be mentioned.
Julia Adelhard.
She was the eldest daughter of Duke Adelhard, and the older sister of Cassis, who was two years old.
Unlike Cassis, who was blunt enough to question whether emotions existed, Julia was a warm person like the sunlight on a spring day.
Beautiful and lovely Julia. Her name was always followed by those words.
From birth, she was the only kind person to Cassis, who was raised harshly as the heir to the Ducal family.
She sincerely loved and cared for Cassis, who was avoided by peers because he did not express his emotions properly.
Cassis, who didn’t even love his parents, was the only one who recognized Julia as a family member.
Seven years ago, she died at the manor after suffering a severe fever.
At least that’s how it was known to the public.
But the truth of that day is different. In fact, she secretly gave birth to a child in her estate and died of the aftereffects.
Cassis, who loved his sister dearly, feared to hear that Julia had died giving birth to an illegitimate child of no father.
So he decided to take on the child by making Ruth his son.
That was how Cassis’s nephew, Ruth, became his son.
At the same time, Cassis completely erased Julia from the Adelhard family.
Removed her portrait, and ordered the employees to keep quiet about Julia.
So Ruth didn’t know anything about Julia.
Julia, in other words, was a traitor to Cassis, who seemed to have nothing to fear in the world.
Then one day, Count Venion found out by chance that Ruth was Julia’s son, and used that as an excuse to urge Cassis to marry Evelia.
‘If that’s all he had to go on, I don’t think Cassis would listen.’
Rumors had already spread once in the world that Ruth was Julia’s child, not Cassis.
It was because he had never had a problem with women since he was young or now, it was hard to believe that a man who had attended the Imperial Academy since his early teens could have fathered an illegitimate child.
However, rumors about him died down when Ruth formally showed his face in the social world.
It was because even though he was still a child, Ruth’s appearance resembles Cassis.
‘Maybe the writer set it that way on purpose.’
So now it was clear that if Count Venion insisted that Ruth was Julia’s son, it would sound nothing.
But how could he blackmail Cassis?
‘Count Venion knew Ruth’s biological father.’
Julia didn’t reveal who Ruth’s real father was until the moment she died. Despite Cassis’ pleas to tell him, she shut her mouth.
After Julia’s death, Cassis gave up on finding Ruth’s father, who was irresponsible.
He had already made Ruth his son and heir to the Adelhard family, so there was no need to find his father.
Ruth’s real father hadn’t shown up first, so he thought he’d never find him in the rest of his life.
That was until a year ago, when Ruth started experiencing abnormal symptoms.
―Duke, the young master has a seizure!
Ruth, who ate and played well as usual, suddenly began having seizures in the middle of the night.
The eyes turned up until you only saw the whites, and the fever soared beyond control.
What stood out most of all was the black pattern that suddenly appeared on the left chest.
The pattern that looked like the moon or the sun was definitely not there before Ruth suffered from a fever.
A leading doctor from the Empire came and examined Ruth, but couldn’t come up with a name for the illness.
―It doesn’t seem like a simple fever.
In the end, Cassis even called priests and wizards. They focused on the patterns on Ruth’s body. After researching and researching the patterns, they came to a conclusion.
―It seems to be a curse.
―What does that mean? Curse, who the hell…
―Looking at the fact that the curse can’t be tracked, it seems like a curse was here from his birth.
―He has been gifted since birth. Ruth obviously didn’t have such a pattern.
―It seems that the inherent curse was manifested belatedly. It seems like a curse that has been passed down from generation to generation. Do you have anything to pinpoint?
Every long-established family had at least one secret. However, as far as Cassis knew, there were no curses or genetic diseases passed down in the Adelhard family.
I looked through the family records just in case, but no one showed the same symptoms as Ruth.
After researching for days and days, Cassis came to a conclusion.
―It seems like a curse descending on Ruth’s paternal side.
However, since he didn’t know who Ruth’s biological father was, he had no way of knowing what kind of curse it was or how to get rid of it.
Fortunately, Ruth gradually got better after being cared for by the wizard and the priest. But since then he has had two more seizures.
In order to solve Ruth’s curse, Cassis began to secretly seek out Ruth’s true father.
However, it was not easy to find Ruth’s biological father even with Adelhard’s intelligence.
Just when he couldn’t find a clue, Count Venion appeared in front of him.
He knows that Ruth is actually Julia’s son, and threatens to tell Ruth’s father all this if he doesn’t marry Evelia.
-Ruth is my son. Who do you think you’re to make up this nonsense?
Naturally, Cassis didn’t believe him at first.
It was surprising that he found out that Ruth was Julia’s son, but he thought there was no way the Count knew Ruth’s real father.
How could the Count know what he couldn’t find?
Count Venion then pushed the evidence. What he held out was golden hair as bright as the sun.
-I already know everything. Even if you don’t trust me, you will believe in magic artifacts.
He claimed it was Ruth’s father’s hair.
The Empire had magic artifacts that could prove blood ties. Cassis, just in case, compared Ruth’s hair with the hair Count brought.
As a result, it turned out that the owner of the golden hair and Ruth were in a parent-child relationship.
Julia’s hair color was platinum blonde. So, the person behind the hair that Count Venion brought must be Ruth’s father.
Of course, it’s not impossible that the evidence could have been tampered with.
However, the artifact Cassis used was also used by the imperial family, and the person who verified it was a long-time vassal of the Adelhard family.
There was no corner that could be manipulated anywhere.
Also, wouldn’t it be more reliable to bring black hair the same color as Ruth’s to manipulate it?
Worst of all, Count Venion information was the only hope, as even the possibility of tampering yielded nothing.
Even if he couldn’t trust the Count, Cassis had no choice but to hold on to that only hope.
Ruth had already been cursed, and it was important to find the child’s father as soon as possible. So Cassis had no choice but to be engaged to Evelia.
That’s how the story started.
And Evelia also took advantage of that.
In exchange for the information that Cassis desperately wanted, Ruth’s biological father, she demanded a breakup.
‘No wonder you’re so wary of me seeing Ruth.’
Perhaps, from Cassis’ point of view, Evelia might have had another trick.
Evelia barely opened her mouth to clear up Cassis’ misunderstanding.
“I’m sorry. But I think you misunderstood…”
Cassis cut her off.
“What misunderstanding are you talking about?”
At that time, feeling that the atmosphere was unusual, Ruth opened his arms and blocked Evelia’s way.
The child was desperate even though there was no way Evelia could be covered with just that.
“Father, Lady Evelia did nothing wrong. I invited her. I was wrong.”
However, the child’s voice and slender shoulders trembled. Cassis said nonchalantly to Ruth.
“You go to your room.”
“But….”
“Hurry.”
Despite his urging, Ruth didn’t leave his seat. Even worse, Evelia gave him a slight push on the back.
“Young master, I have something to say to the duke, so please go to your room for a moment.”
Ruth looked back at Evelia with uneasy eyes. Evelia winked at his nanny, who was monitoring the situation from a few steps away.
“My dear, it’s time to take a nap. Would you like to go to your room with me?”
“Yes.”
Ruth left the drawing room with his nanny skillfully guiding him.
Then, Cassis and Evelia were left alone in the drawing room.
