The Great Purification Day
The Day of the Great Purification.
During this period, the Holy Spirit performed the Purification Ceremony.
The purification lasted an entire week, and on the final day the imperial family hosted a grand banquet.
Finally, it’s today.
At tonight’s banquet she would meet Argon and extract the information she needed. Brimming with anticipation, Canna dressed with meticulous care. But then—
“What did you just say?”
All the blood drained from her face.
“His Grace the Duke is escorting me?”
“Yes. He is waiting for you in the lobby right now.”
Canna wondered if Leah was lying. The news was that shocking.
Escorting me?
She had planned to attend the party without an escort. Under normal circumstances Kallen would have done it, but his prospective fiancée, Princess Yoanna, made that impossible.
So she had intended to go alone. Yet now Alexandro Addis was volunteering to escort her?
Why?
That can’t be right.
Even while telling herself it was impossible, she found Alexandro waiting for her in the lobby exactly as announced.
“You’re here.”
He gave her a brief glance and extended his hand. He really was offering to escort her.
He must have finally lost his mind.
“Why are you suddenly doing this?”
The moment she climbed into the carriage, Canna could no longer hold back.
“Why are you escorting me?”
“You’ve been divorced.”
Alexandro answered with his eyes closed, as though even opening them was too much trouble.
“Yes. And?”
“It will be better.”
Better? In what way?
What on earth is he talking about?
Canna quickly understood.
To nobles, divorce was an unspeakable disgrace.
For a woman it was even worse. It was a catastrophic event that could shatter every ounce of reputation she had painstakingly built.
But if she appeared at the banquet on the arm of Alexandro Addis, no one would dare look down on her.
He condensed all of that into two sentences?
You’ve been divorced. It will be better.
And that was the end of it.
He had omitted far too much!
Was he telling me to infer the rest myself?
It was so absurd she nearly laughed.
“Of course that’s true. But what does any of this have to do with you, Your Grace?”
“Why wouldn’t it have anything to do with me?”
“I simply find it strange that you would concern yourself so delicately with me when you are not even my real father.”
“You are an Addis.”
As expected, the reply was curt. But Canna, now accustomed to his manner of speech, understood his meaning perfectly.
Which only made it more ridiculous.
If he intended to look after her, he should have done so long ago. After pretending ignorance for years, he suddenly decided to treat her as an Addis?
Her stomach burned with resentment.
Still, Canna answered with a cold smile. Or rather, she tried to.
Thank you, but I fear it may tarnish Your Grace’s honor. It would be better if we entered the banquet hall separately.
If she said that, how would Alexandro respond?
Did I come here to persuade you?
Yes. He would undoubtedly answer exactly like that again.
Just imagining it irritated her so much that she clenched her fists. She felt that punching him once would satisfy every wish she had!
No, no. Calm down. Calm down.
In any case, he was trying to help her right now. She felt not even a speck of gratitude, but still.
This is the first time he’s helping me so openly.
Come to think of it, this wasn’t the first time he had shown her goodwill.
When the Empress had framed her for poisoning and tormented her, he had taken her away while she pretended to be unconscious.
He had also manipulated Prince Cassil’s letter to tilt the trial in her favor.
It was probably him who had tortured Isaac—the assemblyman who had been Cassil’s accomplice—until the man spilled everything.
What is he thinking?
He seemed to hate her.
Yet at times it also seemed he cherished her.
Alexandro constantly drifted between those two attitudes. His capriciousness was truly difficult to predict.
But at least for now, he is leaning toward the side that cherishes me.
No one could say when his attitude might flip again. Shouldn’t she make full use of this opportunity?
Canna stared directly at Alexandro.
His face with its calmly closed eyes looked like a sculpture. The sight of him so defenseless—unlike his usual self—made her heart pound violently.
Perhaps this was her chance.
“Your Grace is not my father, correct?”
“Correct.”
“Then what should I call you from now on?”
“Whatever you wish.”
“May I continue calling you Father?”
Father.
She never wanted to call him that again.
It felt as if her tongue would rot, but she had a purpose, so she spoke gently, like an affectionate daughter.
Alexandro opened his eyes. He answered quietly.
“I am not your biological father.”
Ah. A failure?
“But if you want to, you may call me that.”
Did he dislike it or like it?
She realized it again and again, but his manner of speech truly made it impossible to discern his true feelings.
“Last time I was so startled that I said some terribly harsh things. I didn’t mean them.”
Of course she had meant every word.
“In any case, you did raise me.”
He hadn’t raised her; he had abandoned her.
“I heard that when I was born, you raised me even while being denounced as a Black Apostle. If you tell me the reason, I will definitely repay this debt one day.”
“Reason?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know it either.”
“……”
Oh, is that so? You didn’t know. I see. Then who does? Shall we take a poll?
Canna barely suppressed the urge to sneer.
As expected, this level isn’t enough?
Even while in his rare “cherishing mode,” he clearly had no intention of actually talking.
Should I rattle him the way I did Kallen? Would he speak then?
But the opponent was Alexandro. It would be incomparably harder than with a novice like Kallen. Besides, doing so would make separating from the family even more difficult.
For now I need to speak with Argon. He said he obtained information about my father, so I’ll decide after hearing it.
Canna glanced at him. He had closed his eyes again.
Looking at that face, serene as if submerged in eternal sleep, she felt a strange sense of dissonance.
A man like this had a mistress?
Quite vigorous, indeed. Well, that explains how he fathered four children.
Alexandro Addis’s mistress.
Who could it possibly be? She couldn’t imagine at all.
His Grace Duke Alexandro Addis and Lady Canna Addis have arrived!
It was exactly as she had expected.
The moment she entered the banquet hall on Alexandro’s arm, the scene unfolded precisely as she had imagined. Everyone stared in shock and immediately began whispering frantically.
Where is Argon? Where is he?
Argon, where are you?
“Father, you’ve arrived?”
Kallen and Princess Yoanna approached. Kallen looked utterly astonished.
“I didn’t know you would be escorting my sister, Father.”
Alexandro stared directly at Kallen’s face. Then he said flatly,
“You seem displeased.”
“Please don’t joke, Father. What could I possibly have to be displeased about?”
Yet inwardly Kallen felt as if his sore spot had been stabbed. And he could not understand why he felt that way.
Yes. He really was displeased.
But why?
Why did it bother him?
Wasn’t it better that Canna had not entered alone?
He told himself it was fortunate.
He thought that, yet…
Escorting my sister is supposed to be my role.
He had never once imagined that someone else would escort her.
If that was the case, then rather—
It would have been better if she had entered alone without an escort.
Kallen discovered his own ugly selfishness and smoothly covered it up.
“Please don’t say such things. I am simply grateful that you are looking after my sister, Father.”
Meanwhile, Yoanna watched Kallen with a steady gaze.
As expected, something is strange.
Having recently focused all her attention on the relationship between Kallen and Canna, Yoanna did not miss the subtle undercurrent.
Kallen Addis became strange whenever the topic involved his sister Canna.
He doesn’t act this way even toward his twin sister Isabel. Why is only Canna special?
Isabel, unfortunately, could not attend the party. It was due to Kallen’s order that she remain confined.
For a woman of marriageable age, such an order was as cruel as ending her life.
Why would a man so cold-hearted react with such hypersensitivity only toward Canna?
It’s suspicious.
And Canna was closely observing that very Yoanna.
Kallen’s fiancée, Princess Yoanna of the Yalden Kingdom.
The princess kept glancing back and forth between Kallen and herself. It seemed she had already sensed Kallen’s bizarre obsession with her.
No woman would enjoy watching her prospective husband being swayed by his sister-in-law.
Suddenly, a brilliantly clever idea flashed through her mind.
A princess of the Yalden Kingdom could easily create a false identity for me, couldn’t she?
Watching Kallen being jerked around by his sister-in-law, she would surely view Canna as a thorn in her side. She might even wish for her to disappear.
If Canna gently persuaded such a Yoanna, the princess might help her escape.
If separating from the family fails, I will eventually have to flee anyway. In that sense, our interests may align.
Then, for the time being, she would have to show Yoanna exactly how much of a fool Kallen became in front of her. Canna hid a secretive smile.