The Sub Male Lead is Burning with Jealousy - Chapter 6 Part 10
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He kept postponing his decision, but his father did not wait for him. Thus the disaster was inevitable.
“Ha-Hahaha…”
Practically falling off his horse, he walked towards the mansion. The previous night, he had reluctantly followed a friend who wanted to drink despite having abruptly cut off contact.
Even while drinking, Jeremy had a nagging feeling that something was off. This was the same friend who had mocked him and had him thrown out of the club after he was expelled from his family. There was no way this person, whom he no longer considered a friend would be acting so subservient. Because it seemed that this guy was certain Jeremy would never return to the duchy.
“Damn it.”
Tears streaming down his face, he crossed the scorched garden. The mansion had burned down the previous night, leaving everything burnt to ashes. Rumor had it that the lady of the house had become the mistress of a nobleman and made a lot of money, so people guessed it must have been a robbery.
All the household members were found dead with stab wounds, and it was assumed that the intruders set fire to the house to destroy the evidence after stealing valuables. The guards only received the report after the mansion was already ablaze.
By the time the guards summoned a low-ranking mage to put out the fire, it was already too late. All they could do was take preventive measures to stop the fire from spreading to other houses.
When the fire was out and morning came, a man who appeared to be the mistress’s lover arrived.
“L-Laila… Charles…! Was there a boy here, around six or seven years old?”
He grabbed a guard in the garden, looking deranged as he clutched his hair. The guard first verified who the man was.
“I am this house owner’s husba… l-lover.”
Though expelled from the duchy, he hadn’t proposed to his mistress, Laila. They were still just lovers, and Jeremy had no intention of making her his wife. After all, he was a noble.
And he still regretted the things he had lost.
“What were you doing last night?”
Even when the guard asked questions with a suspicious look, Jeremy did not get angry. He was willing to answer as much as needed if it meant he could get some answers.
“I was drinking with a friend! Are Laila and the boy safe? Where are they?”
Jeremy asked, but he already knew the answer. Duke Noer had demanded it, and the duchess had threatened multiple times. Either of them could have orchestrated this.
“It seems there was a robbery last night.”
There was a story about a loud noise in the middle of the night, followed by the discovery of the mansion on fire. The bodies were too charred to identify, but as he had mentioned, they found the remains of a boy who appeared to be about six or seven years old.
When he heard those words, Jeremy’s legs gave out, and he collapsed. There were no other children in this house, so it had to be Charles. And Laila wasn’t the kind of woman who would stand by and watch her son, whom she adored, die; she must have died before him.
‘This can’t be.’
If he had known it would come to this, he would have told Laila to flee the capital with Charles. Although he couldn’t make Charles a high-ranking noble, but with the money Laila had saved, the three of them could have lived comfortably. He had given her enough money when she was pregnant.
The only reason they couldn’t flee was because he couldn’t give up the duchy. A baron without land was no different from a servant. Even Mikhail, the butler of the Noer family, was a fallen noble with a baron’s title.
His heart felt like it was being torn apart, but he was also frightened by the sense of relief he felt. Now, he no longer had to weigh his son’s life against his title.
‘With the illegitimate child dead, marriage proposals will come again.’
He felt certain that with his son dead, his father, Duke Noer, would treat him less harshly for a while. His father was that kind of man. The only thing that bothered him was not knowing whether it was his father or mother who had ordered Laila and Charles to be killed.
‘Both will likely take that secret to their graves.’
When there is no clear target to blame, the desire for revenge tends to fade. Neither of them wanted to incur their son’s wrath, which is why they had hesitated until now.
Jeremy felt resentment towards them, but he also thought it was inevitable. He had impregnated Laila with the greedy intention of making her his mistress.
He had planned to do his best for the child that was born as a result. At first, he really meant it. He had even planned to adopt the child as his firstborn after marrying another noblewoman.
All of those plans fell apart because of Anais.
He had planned to lower his family’s status and marry the daughter of a marquis for Laila’s sake, but who could have predicted that she would notice and demand to break off the engagement before the wedding?!
‘If she had found out after the marriage, none of this would have happened.’
He felt frustrated and wronged that the Emperor had taken her from him. It wouldn’t have been so disappointing if Anais had married a man from a lower-ranking noble family than the duchy.
Now, she was the Empress, and no matter whom Jeremy married, he would always have to bow his head to her.
“Young Master.”
Mikhail, the butler, approached with the coachman and the escort knights. The Duke Noer had already sent a carriage for him. Jeremy gave a bitter laugh and turned around.
As they say, even if the master is unrecognizable, the servants can be recognized, and the guards seemed startled to recognize Mikhail’s face.
