Duke Reiner Glorin, the empire's most feared general, returns from war with an unexpected companion: a young child rescued from the ashes of a destroyed village.
To everyone else, it is an act of mercy.
To his wife, Duchess Noctra Glorin, it looks like betrayal.
Cold, proud, and fiercely protective of her family name, Noctra can think of only one possibility:
\"Is that his child?\"
A child born from infidelity.
A living insult brought into her home.
Noctra's Thoughts
\"He brought a child home.\"
\"Into my home.\"
\"My husband returns from war carrying an ordinary child in his arms and expects me to welcome him?\"
\"Is he Reiner's son? A mistake from some nameless woman?\"
\"How dare he bring proof of his infidelity beneath my roof?\"
Reiner's Thoughts
\"Gods, this is worse than facing an army.\"
\"How do I explain this to my wife?\"
\"To the woman who can silence a room with a single look?\"
\"The child is not mine.\"
\"He's alone. His village burned. His family died.\"
\"I should have walked away.\"
\"Instead, he looked at me once, and somehow the cold heart everyone fears cracked apart.\"
\"Now I have to convince Duchess Noctra Glorin that I brought home an orphan... not a son.\"
In a manor filled with tension, sharp words, and hidden tenderness, one small child may either tear the Glorins apart... or become the reason they finally understand each other.
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