Chapter: 686

Her maternal grandfather was reading a book with the light on by the window.

“What’s wrong?”

“Now tell me about my mother.”

Astelle said it bluntly.

“Are you here at this hour to ask that? Where’s the emperor?”

“He is with Theor.”

The Marquis stared blankly at Astelle for a long time and sighed.

“What else can I explain? It’s like what you guessed.”

The Marquis continued the conversation lamentably.

Count Ecklen, who was then the Marquis’ lieutenant, was said to have been very close to Astelle’s mother, Jacqueline.

A lieutenant visits his superior’s mansion every day to help him with his work.

Of course, he has no choice but to meet often with his superior’s family.

A young daughter of a great aristocrat and a young lieutenant are in the perfect environment to become lovers.

“It seemed that the two of them were in love. I was very anxious, so I tried to send him to another unit. As you know…… At that time, such a relationship was unacceptable.”

That’s true. It was like that back then.

The daughter of a noble family and the son of a country knight could never marry.

“Then it turned out that he had made a big mistake during the battle….., so I drove him away.”

Astelle listened quietly.

She could understand why her maternal grandfather was so uncomfortable even just hearing his name.

“But it wasn’t his fault, was it?”

“……it was later revealed that it wasn’t.”

The Marquis continued the explanation.

That year there was a skirmish at the border.

It wasn’t a great battle. Because the immigrants at the border only caused a disturbance for a while.

However, the battle that was expected to end easily was delayed by inflicting minor damage, contrary to expectations.