• From Dylan’s Father’s perspective

“…Never did I think a day would come when I would now feel regret.”

Brandon returned to his room from where Avril and Samuel were, his expression twisted with irritation.

He spent his days quietly in the mansion, as though his former free-spirited ways had never happened. The separate wing where he had once gathered women he fancied and merrily lived with them had also been dismantled by his son, Dylan.

All of the mistresses he had loved dearly had been sent away while the servants treated him coldly, well aware of his past misconduct. Thus, his remaining years were spent unfortunately.

However, Dylan and his wife, the new masters of the house, were in the royal capital. Even though the annex was gone, Brandon had thought he could simply carry on as before. It would simply need to be done discreetly. Except, becoming entangled in the human-trafficking incident occurring aboard the Victoria and having been questioned by the police had taken a clear toll.

He no longer felt inclined to take on any new mistresses and so had no choice but to live quietly.

“To find value in that which I once thought unnecessary, and only after no one is around me… how ironic.”

Brandon was spending his days in solitude when his son and daughter-in-law returned. Along with them they were accompanied by a young boy they said was learning etiquette. 

The small chair the boy was using was the same one Dylan had used daily when he was a bit younger than the boy was now. Brandon couldn’t help but reflect upon seeing it, of the happy life he might have lived.  He could have led a loving life where he was loved by his wife and son, sincerely served by his staff, never forced to relinquish the title of Duke of Lanchester early, and living with the respect of those around him.

“Is it because I’ve grown old that things I can’t obtain look all the more dazzling…?”

He looked out the window as his shoulders slumped in disappointment.

There he spotted Avril. She had gone outside to do some gardening and was swinging around a large pair of shears. The boy and gardeners frantically stopped her, yet the garden trees appeared to have been properly pruned. It was far too mysterious. She was truly a strange woman.

“I thought a woman like her would be easy to win over.”

His son’s wife, whom the word airheaded seemed fitting, certainly had a keen memory, but there was something off about her as a person. Given how she had fully played the part of some mysterious villainess, he had thought that if he pushed her just a little, she might sympathize with his circumstances.

In spite of that, she was surprisingly stubborn, showing no sign at all of yielding to him.

With his scheme having failed, he was once again driven out of the mistress’ room. Crestfallen, he spent another day in solitude.

“They’re far too cold to their aging father.”

That said, he did understand why he was disliked.

Hence why he offered advice against drawing closer to the Marquis of Brandner and such. He was also behaving in ways meant to make them think, little by little, that he had changed.

However, it was also true that getting closer to the Marquis of Brandner could genuinely produce less-than-favorable results

“…I hope nothing comes of it, but it has nothing to do with me.”

He recalled the violin he saw in the room earlier. Playing musical instruments was a refinement expect of nobility. That Samuel of the Marquis of Brandner household, a family of musicians, could play the violin was only natural. Likewise, Dylan, too, was given private tutors from a young age and raised with an elite education.

“But is that woman really going to be all right?”

Did she really understand the significance of hosting a music festival with the cooperation of the Marquis of Brandner family? Depending on the circumstances, she could even end up being asked to perform as the host. That was not something that could be managed with a fine instrument borrowed from one’s married-into household and a naturally good memory.

Well, it has nothing to do with me. Spending his remaining years alone was lonely, so he was merely pretending to be a good man while meddling with the affairs of his son and daughter-in-law.

In truth, he had no intention of helping them. Not in the slightest.

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