'Sorry, Kaian. There is a lot of noise inside and outside the kingdom, so I can't treat you special in front of the old nobles.'
From behind, out of sight of others, Valquiterre approached him with the lines blurred to the point where he couldn't even tell he was disappointed. Then, Kaian accepted it again.
Being the owner of Rowen was a difficult position.
His succession came too suddenly, and Kaian had to juggle the responsibilities of becoming the head of the family and filling the void left by his parents.
Without any time to console his empty heart, Kaian tried not to think at all as he left the territory to his father's close friend, who had become Valquiterre's subject, and headed to the battlefield.
No matter what he was thinking, it was better to clear his head.
Although he had the immunity granted to members of royal blood, everyone in Rowen rebelled against him for being unable to use it. But even about that, Kaian thought resolutely.
'There's no way Valquiterre did that to me on purpose.'
Rather, he thought that Valquiterre's position was so difficult and unstable that he could not guarantee the rights that clearly existed and influenced dramatic moments in the long history of Oberon's kingdom.
They had a special relationship, and there was absolutely no reason for Valquiterre to put him in danger. As there was no reason, there was no room for doubt, and Kaian was even more willing to support Valquiterre.
There was a request within the family that someone from the collateral should be sent out as a proxy, but the plan was to show that other subjects could not speak out if he stepped forward himself.
'Kaian of Temnes will obey His Majesty's orders and annihilate the enemy in the name of Oberon.'
As the Duke of Temnes, who had immunity, followed the King's wishes, none of the nobles under him were dissatisfied with the fact that the head of the family or the eldest son had to go to war. Except for Vermont, who decided to bring in his son-in-law and send him out.
Even so, nothing could be the same as before.
From children who play by clashing toy swords against each other, to boys who practice wooden swords together, to adults who can wear a sharp sword at their waists.
There wasn't that much of a gap during the time they spent together with Valquiterre, but did the difference in their positions between the King and subject make their relationship so unnatural?
Kaian felt sorry for himself for not being able to enjoy Valquiterre's visit with pure joy.
'If we stay for two and five days, it cannot be said to be short due to the King's suffering.'
He hoped that Valquiterre, who asked where he could rest if not here, would spend his time in peace and return to the royal castle with a little relief.
Kaian hurried towards Valquiterre, who looked back as if asking if he was coming.
***
I couldn’t remember what I was thinking when I returned to the bedroom.
Bang!
I couldn't move it as I wanted, so I put all my strength into it, and when I closed the door too hard, Hannah, who was coming to greet me, looked at me in surprise.
"Lady. How did you come back alone?”
"Ah."
“Called the butler or said you were coming with an escort, so you told me not to wait and go first.”
I sat down in the chair at the table by the window, leaning forward as if I couldn't hear what Hannah was saying. Hannah, who felt that such a sight was strange, examined my complexion.
“But suddenly you walk like a person with no energy. Are you uncomfortable? Ugh. Look at your sweat.”
"Hannah. Can you give me some water?”
At my words, Hannah diligently poured cold water with lemon into my cup.
“Drink it slowly.”
“Ugh. Cough cough.”
Claudel, who had hurriedly drank some water, struggled to get up and started coughing, so Hannah quickly patted me on the back.
“Why are you doing this, Lady?"
I looked at Hannah's face with ny unfocused eyes.
‘Claudel, don't cry.'
Overlaid on my face was the face of the girl who had comforted me, with traces of her tears hanging on her tangled cheeks.
‘You have me. I have you too.'
It was as if I could hear the voice of the young Hannah, desperately comforting me.
'Because he just became a star like my aunt.'
My memories of my father's funeral were fragmentary. I couldn't stop crying and continued to shed tears, but the maids in the castle ordered me to wear black clothes and shoes under the Duke of Vermont's orders.
I then had to watch my father's coffin being placed in the family cemetery at Valmonde, and the young me pounded the sarcophagus with my tiny fist before going down into the basement.
'Dad. Dad. Wake up, Dad.'
Then I passed out, and when I opened my eyes, the funeral was over. Next to me was Hannah, who was trembling and crying as if she would be in big trouble if she even let go of my hand.
From that day on, I became a child who did not cry.
I didn't even hesitate to open my mouth to my friend, with whom I was bound by a bond. Because I had no idea what to say or how to say it.
“Shall we bring the doctor?”
Seeing Hannah trying to take care of me, I felt like I was going to explode and die if I didn't say something right away, so I grabbed my friend's wrist.
“Ma’am?”
"Hannah."
“Your hands are so cold.”
"Hannah."
Hannah's expression changed as she realized that I was shaking as I called her name in a dazed state.
“Claudel, why? Why are you doing this?”
When Hannah left the host and the maid and returned to my friend, I showed off the name plate I had been holding tightly in my hand the entire time.
"This. You remember?"
As soon as she saw it, Hannah's expression changed.
“Where did you get this?”
"Ha."
Hannah's eyes flashed like a crazy person as she fiercely took the piece of red stone away from Claudel.
"This... This is yours, right?”
Hannah, who lost her entire family in the fire and was left with nothing, kept one thing as a keepsake from her parents.
These were the clothes Hannah had been wearing when she left the village.
It was a dress that Hannah's mother had hand-sewn for her using soft fabric and threading a needle with very small stitches. Hannah washed it well, took off her pillowcase, and placed it inside. Then, it became her sleeping habit every night to put her hand inside and caress it.
How bad she was, did she even have to have that?
Hannah was so excited that her eyes were half rolled back.
“Where did you find this? Huh? Say something, Claudel.”
Hannah was more desperate and earnest than me, who was buried in the castle catacombs, even if it was my father.
“At Kaian’s desk.”
“...What?"
Her wide-open brown eyes wavered, unable to figure out where I was going.
"Hannah. I feel strange.”
I hugged Hannah's shoulder.
“As soon as I saw this, I was so scared. My eyes went dark and I couldn’t hear anything.”
The woman, unable to cry, could only shrug her shoulders and whimper.
“Can I ask Kaian why he has this? Is that okay?”
It had to be that way, but I didn't know if it would be good to hear it, and it felt like my vague fear was slowly wrapping around me, starting from my ankles.
A series of horrendous events hit me, leaving me with a huge scar. Even though I lived my life without thinking that it was a thing of the past, the hideous wounds were clearly visible when I discovered them.
I was so panicked that I trembled just from being touched, even though I couldn't guess why or how it got into Kaian's hands.
It was Hannah who came to her senses first.
'It's because of Aunt Leonie.'
Hannah, who ran into Leonie by chance in the capital city, heard many stories from Hannah during her brief time there.
'Was it you who sent the prescription for Herzol to the lord?'
'Evan was always worried about that.'
A shadow appeared on her face as she remembered someone who was no longer in the world.
'She said that Claudel did not receive the baptism of ice because of her.'
'That's a disease that only people living in frozen lands get. She wouldn't have caught it if she had continued to live in Plogne.'
‘You don’t know what people do. Who knew that Claudel would end up living in the Castle de Valmonde?'
Leonie seemed like a person who had bitterness in every word that came out of her mouth.
'He thought his worries were useless. Thanks to you, Claudel lives.'
Leonie remembered that Evan had entrusted a prescription for Herzol to her apothecary, and so she sent someone to look for it at Rowen Castle.
‘There are many precious things in Herzol’s medicine. The cost of the medicine must have been quite a lot of money.'
Then, after paying a certain amount of money, they would have given the rest of the medicine a nameplate with the intention of paying it when they received it.
'If you get caught wrongly, the Lady could be in danger.'
As Madame Cronach, all she had to worry about was Claudel.
'Maybe Claudel too.'
Why did she meet her daughter for the first time in ten years without even pretending to know her?
Because she knew that Claudel truly liked Kaian.
The young man who lived leisurely in the Rowen estate, saying, ‘I came to rest’, was indeed not an easy person. Since this was a relationship that was forced upon him to reconcile the enemy families, the commoner mother could not reveal who Claudel was to her daughter and kept her mouth shut for fear that it might have a negative impact on her daughter's marriage.
'I can't let my aunt's efforts go to waste.'
Hanna tried to calm Claudel down.
“Claudel. Listen to me.”
Claudel's golden eyes looked at her, still unable to control her confused emotions.
“I guess you’ll have to pretend I didn’t see this.”
"Why?"
“Don’t you remember the old days? How long have we hidden the existence of Plogne Village?”
Claudel just blinked without reacting to Hannah’s words. She seemed to have been greatly shocked by encountering her deceased father's belongings in this way.
“We have to hide that we lived there.”
Some time had passed since they arrived at Castle Valmonde. After Claudel became the Duke of Vermont's adopted daughter and Hannah got new parents on paper, the Duke of Vermont called them in and forced them to join.
“The Duke of Vermont also said so. From now on, this matter must be kept a secret.”
Hannah clutched the object in her hand.
“I will put this back in its original place.”
But as soon as she finished speaking, the door to the room opened.
“What should I do with this? I wanted to hear more about that secret.”
Kaian said coldly.
“I’m very curious to hear that the Duke of Vermont issued a silence order.”
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