"But father! Don't you have work to do?" I asked.

"Well, I do but taking a day off won't hurt," he replied.

"But as far as I remember the council meeting in the capital will be after a couple of weeks right?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied calmly.

"So won't it be a pressure to skip a whole day of work?" I asked.

"Your brothers are returning in a week, so I will have them work while I can rest," he said.

"Those boys are grown up now, they should take over their fathers work so this old man can rest a bit." he chuckled.

"You know you are not even that old, you can still swing your sword at the barbarians and come back without a scratch." I muttered.

"Well, what do you want to start with? We have the whole day left behind us, we can't wait for it all on tea." I looked around for an appropriate answer to his question. Until my eyes fell on something familiar.

"Let's play chess!" I smiled.

"Really? Very well" the duke said as I quickly grabbed the chess board and placed it between us. Finally, those years I worked in middle school are finally going to pay off!

...

"I lost..." I breathed out as my head rested lifelessly on the table.

"Well, I was never planning to go easy on you." he said with a slight smile. To think the cold and serious duke of the Esmeray estate is so lively is a surprise to me. Though he doesn't even laugh loudly, mostly gives a small smile and chuckles, I guess that is more than enough.

"If you play against Orion, you will win for sure. You have skills for chess but you need practice to win against me. You can play with Kaven, he will be a good practitioner." he suggested as I frowned with my head still on the table.

"Come on now, get up." the duke scolded as I just huffed like a kid.

"Yes father." I whined.

Time passed away and it was time for dinner. Evanora who mostly had her meals in her room, so after being reincarnated it's my first time having meals at the dining room of the mansion. As I promised to spend the day with the duke, I had to join him for dinner as well.

After the food was served by the maids, silence fell upon the room and the only noise made was the spoons clinking against the plates. The food was nice so I was enjoying the silence.

"Evanora," I looked up from my plate and looked at the duke who had barely touched the food.

"Yes?"

"You brothers will be returning home in a week," he answered.

"Oh," I didn't even try to hide my emotions, my face fell. "I see."

"They are really worried, so they are trying their best to come as quickly as possible." the duke assured.

"Well, I am fine now. They should focus on their work instead of something like this." I looked down at my food once again, my face turned expressionless. My brother, to be exact Evanora's elder brother is the one who finds the villainess from her hiding and hands her over to the crown prince who kills her.

Unlike Evanora's elder brother, her second older brother was killed by her husband Cirillo Adrastus. Evanora's second brother Orion had a love and hate relationship with his sister. When Evanora got married to Cirillo Adrastus, Orion was not happy about it as Cirillo had quite a reputation around the empire about being temperamental and heartless. And the recent news about finding dead bodies around the Adrastus duchy wasn't doing Orion any good. As he accepted Evanora as the sister, he was edgy about this wedding. And finally when he decided that he can't allow Evanora to be with Duke Adrastus, he went against Cirillo. And the next dead body found near the Adrastus dukedom belonged to Orion Esmeray. Evanora, who was almost crazy and brainwashed by Cirillo, only listened to him and did what he asked. She was beyond saving, Orion's death was in vain.

So, yes one of her brothers will throw her to her death, and the other died trying to save her. And knowing the brothers, the devil's spawns are coming back in a week is like them bringing hell home for me.

"Evanora, you are spending time in the library. Well you answer a question for this old man?" the duke asked. Thinking the conversation about the brothers dropped, I nodded my head.

"There were three siblings who had been in conflict for many years," the duke started. I choked on my food on how accurate the statement was. If you want to beat about the bush then you must camouflage the story more!

"The two siblings realized how wrong they were and how they accidentally hurt their third sibling. But the two siblings didn't know how to approach the third sibling. What do you think they should do?" the duke said.

Being the single father of three of his kids, he always wanted to solve the awkward situation between them but it never got solved. But now Evanora, aka me who has lost her memories, the duke is trying once again to fix the conflict in his house.

"Hmm. Even if the other two siblings tried, the third sibling won't forgive the other two." I said calmly as I took a sip of my water.

"You shouldn't beat about the bush with such a matter father." I said looking the duke in the eye as he sighed.

"I may have forgotten my memories but not all of them. My feelings and emotions are still there, father," I said, the duke's face falling. I sighed.

"But, as the third sibling has forgotten most of her memories. The first and second sibling must try their hardest to rebuild a good bond. If the third sibling is happy, then everything will take a good turn." I exclaimed; the duke stared at me with wide eyes as I gave him a slight smile. I pushed my chair backwards as I stood up.

"I will be returning to my room now father, good night father." I said as I walked out of the dining room straight to my room. That was a headache.

...

Well, of course I didn't visit the duke today without a plan. Knowing that this annoying storyline will only lead to death, I spend sleepless nights trying to form a plan but in the end I have none.

It took me a long time to realize that since the second I got reincarnated into this world, the story changed. As every one of my actions makes a change in the story line, small or big. The news of my amnesia also made a change, for example the duke looking for a new opportunity to fix the conflict. So, it is probably quite like the butterfly effect.

And for that the first step was winning the duke's affection. He couldn't reach out for his daughter because of the iron wall Evanora built around her. But Duke Reuel Esmeray blamed himself for not being able to take care of Evanora and called him a sinner. So he was not a bad person.

With the current plan, if the conflict inside the duchy is fixed then neither will Orion die (I DON'T plan on marrying Crillio) nor will Kaven kill me. And even if the conflict isn't solved, I already have the most powerful person of the duchy by my side. The Duke Reuel Esmeray, of Esmeray.