Yuder quickly scanned the report again, checking the precise location of the villa. It wasn’t exactly in what people generally considered the North, but it was close—an ambiguous spot. If Nathan Zuckerman had passed through the North on his way down to the capital, it wouldn’t have been difficult for him to stop by.

“It’s not even in the East, where Diarca’s main territory is... and yet he owned a private estate and villa in such a nameless place?”

For a noble like the Duke of Diarca, owning countless estates and properties was hardly unusual. But even nobles like him didn’t go around claiming just any land.

The more powerful a noble, the more beautiful and resource-rich the land they owned tended to be. Only places with abundant resources or scenic value were deemed worthy of ownership.

But the location listed in the report was nothing like that. A remote territory, completely unfamiliar to Yuder—even the name was new. Which made it stand out all the more.

Unable to find an immediate answer, Yuder mentally bookmarked the oddity and continued reading. Nathan Zuckerman had collected information from local residents, summarized as follows:

First:

The locals had no idea the land and villa belonged to the Duke of Diarca. They only knew it as the place where a “daughter of the Dilejian family” once lived.

Second:

The Dilejian family was the house Langretsi la Diarca had belonged to before marriage. It had since collapsed entirely—its members nowhere to be found.

Third:

It seemed that ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) while Langretsi was still alive, people from Diarca occasionally visited the estate. After her death, no one came again—but the house and grounds continued to be quietly maintained.

Fourth:

During his inquiries, Nathan encountered the family of a former servant of the Dilejian house. They speculated that Langretsi Dilejian might not have simply been a daughter of low birth—but a “Golden Cuckoo.”

Golden Cuckoo. Yuder narrowed his eyes at the unfamiliar term.

“What’s a Golden Cuckoo?”

“Ah. You’ve gotten to the part I found the most curious—and coincidental—just before you returned.”

Kishiar furrowed his brow slightly, lifting the corners of his lips. Yuder recognized that expression—it was the one Kishiar made when feeling a particularly deep disgust.

“A cuckoo lays its eggs in another bird’s nest. Among nobles, the term is used when someone places their own child into another house to be raised as that family’s child.”

That was distinctly different from standard adoption. It wasn’t unusual for childless noble houses to take in children by mutual agreement. There was no shame in it.

But when the term “cuckoo” was used, it usually meant the sending party had forced the child into the other house—often for underhanded reasons.

“Typically, it’s used for children born out of wedlock, or those born with physical or mental defects. The parents pay some peasant family a small sum and discard the child with minimal fuss.”

Even hearing it made one feel sick. Trash behavior, plain and simple. But—

“The Dilejian family was still noble, even if it’s now defunct. They couldn’t have been so poor they had to take in a child that way, could they?”

“That’s where the golden part comes in.”

Kishiar’s eyes turned cold.

“If someone bypasses the easy route—dumping the child on peasants or leaving them to die—and instead forces their kid into a noble family, it means they held immense wealth and power.”

How many people could even do such a thing? Among nobles, only those considered great houses, the uppermost tier. If not...

Royalty?

Yuder’s thoughts grew tangled as Kishiar spoke again, voice slower now.

“According to this new investigation, the Dilejian family never inherited any great wealth, nor did they possess talent or profitable connections. Langretsi la Diarca was known to be the daughter of a low-ranking noble house, and yet... most people remember that family as wealthy. Odd, isn’t it?”

A family with no means of income... yet remembered as rich.

Where did that money come from?

The servant’s family, who had accepted Nathan’s payment and shared old stories, confessed it had all been thanks to Langretsi.

According to what they had heard—Langretsi wasn’t a Dilejian bastard at all, but a child completely unrelated by blood. The Dilejian family had taken her in, and in return, received a massive fortune annually.

“Then she died, and the easy money disappeared. The family fell apart. That’s the story. The people who shared it weren’t the original servants but their descendants, so we still need to verify the truth. But I believe there’s a high likelihood it’s accurate.”

The original Dilejian servant had passed away long ago. There was a chance their descendants had lied—but if Kishiar found it credible, then...

“You’ve found supporting evidence?”

“Thanks to Nathan’s thorough investigation into the Dilejian family’s rise and fall.”

The period during which the Dilejian family prospered, spending money even in the capital... And the period when it collapsed...

They matched almost exactly the lifespan of Langretsi Dilejian—later known as Langretsi la Diarca.

Coincidence? Too precise to believe.

It could only be described as the work of someone’s hand.

“To think the Duke of Diarca’s second wife—long dismissed as an unremarkable noble daughter—might actually have been a Golden Cuckoo. It’s deeply fascinating. Especially because I don’t believe the Duke would have accepted a wife without knowing her background.”

“If he took her in knowingly... there must’ve been significant value in doing so.”

“Exactly. To think that man—so adept at deception—was hiding something like this all along... It’s astonishing.”

Yuder felt the same. He’d let Kiole’s mother live on a whim in his past life, trying to diverge from the old path. Could she really have been hiding such a monumental secret?

What was more—Kiole himself hadn’t seemed to have any particular memory or emotion regarding his mother. That only made it more shocking.

Unbelievable, yet undeniably a new truth—one he never could have imagined in his past life. And if they uncovered the full truth... then perhaps the Emperor and Kishiar would finally hold a proper weakness against the Duke and House Diarca, who had long tormented them.

“That’s why I plan to find out who placed Langretsi la Diarca in the Dilejian house.”

It was an event from decades ago. Easy to say, hard to investigate. But sometimes, the passage of time itself brought buried things to the surface.

Just like the former Dilejian servant’s family who had confessed to Nathan Zuckerman.

“Do you have any suspects in mind?”

There weren’t many people capable of planting a child in a noble family. Even if you limited it by status, it would be a short list. And by tracing Langretsi la Diarca’s age in reverse, that list could shrink even further.

“Nothing certain yet. But if we investigate nobles or royals active around the time Langretsi was born, we’ll likely find an answer.”

Kishiar’s eyes moved across the report in Yuder’s hands. His gaze, dark and sunken, seemed to pierce through the neatly written text—reading the story behind the words.

“Human traces. The flow of money. Neither are easy to hide completely. That’s their common weakness.”

Kishiar promised that if he discovered the truth, he would tell Yuder immediately.

Not long after, someone knocked on the commander’s office door again.

When Yuder opened it, Kanna was standing there with a slightly nervous smile.

“Yuder. I didn’t come too early, did I?”

“No, it’s fine. Come in.”

At last—Kanna had arrived to ask Yuder for help reading her grandfather’s final keepsake.