Chapter 33

“N-no, that’s not true!”

Agnes raised her voice without meaning to, then stopped herself.

“From now on, I won’t hide anything about getting Noah back. I swear.”

Her voice was steadier than before. Dylan narrowed his eyes slightly, studying her face, then released her shoulders.

“Then tell me in detail. Is there any remaining proof that Noah is not your biological child?”

“There shouldn’t be. Rickman is skilled at covering his tracks. And it’s already been six years since Noah was born. That’s more than enough time to erase everything.”

“Indeed. Considering how well he’s hidden his illegal dealings, I wouldn’t expect less.”

Agnes gave a faint laugh, though this was no moment for humor. The smile faded quickly as worry flooded back.

“There are witnesses. Rickman’s closest aides. But what worries me most is Noah’s real mother.”

“Do you know anything about her?”

Dylan asked quietly, then gave a small sound of realization.

“So that’s why you went to the information agency.”

Since Pavel had accompanied her under Dylan’s orders, he must have reported her movements to his master.

Dylan hadn’t hidden that fact, and Agnes wasn’t surprised. She simply nodded, thinking carefully about what else she could share.

“I managed to uncover a few things, but I still couldn’t find the most important clue, her whereabouts. If she’s alive, I wanted to meet her and ask for her help. But since she hasn’t turned up, I’m starting to wonder if Rickman might be keeping her hidden.”

“That’s unlikely.”

Agnes widened her eyes at Dylan’s certainty.

“Why do you think so?”

“Rickman wanted to invalidate the trial altogether. He knew that once it began, things would turn against him. The side that wanted this over quickly wasn’t us, but him.”

“Oh… then if he had the mother, he would have brought her to court, wouldn’t he?”

“Exactly. He wouldn’t have needed to spin that ridiculous story about family opposition and a tragic death during childbirth.”

Dylan frowned as though the thought itself disgusted him. To someone as coldly fair-minded as he was, such a performance of sentiment was nothing but vulgar.

Agnes pictured Rickman in the courtroom, pretending to be a virtuous man, his every gesture desperate to preserve a good image. To her, it had been the clearest sign that he was cornered.

Then another thought came to her.

“Come to think of it, Rickman’s reaction was strange. He must have known I’d accuse him of abusing the child, yet he didn’t respond properly. He didn’t even try to deny it.”

“Now that you mention it, that is odd. I would have expected him to argue that it wasn’t abuse, only discipline. He would normally have some long, self-righteous speech ready for that.”

“Exactly.”

Agnes replayed the moment in her mind when Rickman had shouted in rage.

He hadn’t tried to defend himself at all.

‘Agnes Everchen! How dare you insult the bond between me and my son!’

“That’s what he said. That I insulted his relationship with Noah. But that doesn’t sound like he was talking about the abuse itself.”

Dylan furrowed his brows slightly.

“Didn’t you say during the trial that you sometimes doubted whether Rickman even saw Noah as his own son?”

Agnes’s golden eyes sharpened. Yes. That was exactly what she had said.

‘I sometimes doubted whether Rickman Overhen truly regarded Noah Overhen as his own son.’

It had only been a criticism of Rickman’s failure as a father, not an accusation of something deeper. Everyone in the courtroom would have understood that.

And yet Rickman had lost control, revealing a flash of raw hostility.

“Could it be that Rickman isn’t Noah’s biological father?”

“It’s only a possibility.”

“I suppose so. A man like him wouldn’t raise another man’s child under his own name.”

Agnes fell silent as her lips slowly parted in realization.

“Your Grace, I know this isn’t appropriate to say to my fiancé, but since this isn’t a normal situation, please forgive me.”

“What is it?”

Agnes gripped the folds of her dress tightly.

No one knew this secret. No one but her and Rickman.

“I never spent the wedding night with him.”

They had never once shared a bed.

She had married at eighteen, barely an adult, and had been too busy raising an infant to question anything.

Her understanding of marital relations came from the moral lessons taught to noble daughters, where such things existed only to produce heirs.

Since they already had a child, she assumed their lack of intimacy was natural. In fact, she believed the Everchen couple, known for being “too affectionate,” were the strange and improper ones.

If she were honest, she had even felt relieved. The idea of physical intimacy had always seemed unpleasant to her.

But over time, she learned more.

She attended balls, overheard her maids gossiping, even read a few romance novels out of curiosity.

Eventually she realized that for a couple never to consummate their marriage was, by all common standards, unusual.

Even then, she never confronted Rickman about it. By then she had grown to love Noah sincerely and had no thought for any other child.

That had been her only concern until now.

“Could he be… impotent…”

The crude word slipped out before she could stop herself. Agnes gasped and covered her mouth, glancing at Dylan in embarrassment.

He gave a startled laugh.

“So you know that word?”

“I overheard my maids saying it. I just… wondered if Rickman might be… incapable.”

Though his laughter was quiet, the smile on Dylan’s face was strikingly beautiful. Unlike his usual composed expression, it drew her eyes almost unwillingly.

He spoke with calm certainty.

“Yes. If that’s the case, it would explain everything.”

The possibility that Rickman was impotent was embarrassing to voice, but neither of them cared about his private affairs.

What mattered was that it would destroy his argument.

If Agnes’s custody claim was invalid because she was not the biological mother, then Rickman’s claim would crumble as well if he was not the biological father.

“If Rickman truly isn’t Noah’s father, he might hand Noah over rather than let the truth be revealed. That’s the kind of man he is.”

“Then it’s worth finding out. Do you have any leads?”

“About the real father? None. Knowing Rickman, he’d rather eliminate every trace than leave a weakness behind.”

Agnes hesitated, her tone softening.

“I promised to tell you everything, so I did, but honestly, I don’t want to dig into that part. If Rickman really isn’t Noah’s father and we uncover it, everything will turn into a dirty fight. I don’t want Noah to suffer any more than he already has.”

She lowered her eyes as she finished speaking.

Dylan found her both fascinating and strange.

Agnes cherished Noah too deeply, almost excessively.

A parent’s duty was to protect their child and guide them toward independence. In that sense, Agnes had done everything right.

She had saved the boy from emotional abuse and even allied with a man she did not love to secure his safety.

Now that Dylan had vowed to protect Noah, the boy would grow up in comfort and security, with every opportunity before him.

With the Duke of Vasteron as his guardian, Noah would stand above most of his peers even before entering society.

And yet Agnes still blamed herself, worrying endlessly that the boy might get hurt in the slightest way.

Dylan had grown up surrounded by love and family, yet what he saw in her was a kind of affection he had never known.