Chapter 20

"Sir, Cynthia is a saint, isn't she?"

In the middle of the ceremony for the saint being held in the school's dance hall, although it was still some time before it was Cynthia's turn, Soning, my wife, had asked me this question over and over again.

"Relax. It's fine."

I answered while holding Soning's hand, but I had known for years.

Cynthia is not a saint.

Because Margaret is the saint.

"I'm sorry to my parents."

From the moment we met, Scarlett had been apologizing to me.

I fell in love with Scarlett at first sight.

When I was still 20, my parents died in a sudden accident, and I was betrayed by the adults I trusted, so I came to the empire in desperation.

However, the proposal made in exchange for assistance was outrageous.

There was no way I would accept such a thing.

After all, I was not the right fit for a duke's family. I had given up.

But then, the moment I met Scarlett, the world changed.

I didn't care about the duke's family anymore. I just wanted to make Scarlett happy.

I wanted to make Scarlett, who had been abandoned by her parents and had her lover run away, happy.

There is no love in this marriage. The child in her womb is not mine.

But, the man Scarlett loved is gone.

I am the one who married her, and even if it's just on paper, I am the father of the child in her womb.

It's fine if it's just a little at a time. I want to become a family.

I want to be the father of Scarlett's child.

"I'm pregnant."

A few months before Scarlett's child was born, Soning, my lover, told me this with a triumphant look, even though we hadn't met since I fell in love with Scarlett.

Ah, it must be the child from before I came to the empire.

The world went dark before my eyes.

"Margaret."

Since the child was born, Scarlett always loved, cherished, and cared for the child, no matter what.

What I couldn't bear was how she called the child's name as if it were a treasure.

Marcus and Scarlett's child. Margaret.

Ha. There's no way I could become a family.

Scarlett's heart always, even now, held the man who abandoned her and ran away.

"Fairy?"

I was surprised when, as usual, while watching Scarlett from a distance, she suddenly started talking to herself.

Was she finally breaking down, given that her life was nearing its end?

If she was broken, would she not love me?

But when I saw the letter in her hand disappear and heard what Scarlett murmured, I understood everything.

Margaret was the empire's "beloved child of the fairy."

It was impossible.

Even in her final moments, as she was dying, Scarlett never once called my name.

"Margaret's mother is from a baron's family in the empire."

The world after Scarlett's death was dark.

If I hurt Margaret, the "beloved child of the fairy," would I be able to go to Scarlett?

But I was never hurt by the sacred power.

Margaret always had a blank expression.

No matter what Soning or Cynthia said, she never responded.

She silently ate her dinner, which was the only one with a clearly different green sauce.

I began to think that the "beloved child of the fairy" felt nothing, no matter what humans did to her.

So, the first time I talked to Margaret alone, after the engagement was broken, I felt for the first time that she was a normal human being.

Just because she is the "beloved child of the fairy" doesn't mean she doesn't get angry or feel anything.

She had been enduring it all along.

Ever since Scarlett died, she had been alone.

"Cynthia!"

In front of Soning's gaze, Cynthia was in the middle of the hall, repeatedly placing her hand on the crystal that was supposed to glow, but it didn't, and her face was contorted.

You're right, just as Margaret said, Cynthia and I are a father and daughter who are very similar.

We only look up and don't realize what's truly important, contorting our faces.

I should have cherished her.

As Scarlett's child.

I should have seen her as a human, not as the "beloved child of the fairy."

That's all it would have taken.

"Sir! Please stop Cynthia!"

Cynthia was holding up the sacred crystal, a national treasure.

The hall was in an uproar due to the unexpected event.

"This is definitely a fake! I am the saint!"

Crack!

Cynthia shattered the crystal.

This is the end. Everything.

In the end, the one who led me to my downfall was not the child I had no blood relation with, who had been oppressed since birth, nor the fairy who loved that child, but my own flesh and blood, my genuine daughter.