Chapter 02
It felt like waking from a long, deep sleep; my mind was hazy.
As my vision cleared, sensation slowly returned to my body. I could feel the air against my skin. Along with a strong sense of reality, my surroundings came into view.
The sound of an organ filled a chapel with a ceiling as high as the sky. It was a sad funeral march, soothing the souls of the dead. People dressed in black sat scattered, sobbing softly.
‘……Is this my funeral?’
But for a ghost, my body felt incredibly alive.
I could vividly feel the warmth of the woman holding me snugly, and the sensation of my dangling legs swinging in the air.
I needed to assess the situation.
Rolling my eyes around, I first stretched out my arms. Short, tiny fingers came into view.
A cute, small baby’s hand was clearly attached to me.
“Bbuu…?”
With that small hand, I touched my face. My chubby, bursting cheeks overflowed in my palm. Looking down, I saw my small feet floating in the air. As I wiggled my legs, my short, plump limbs flailed about.
Only then did I realize I was being held in someone’s arms.
‘What in the world is going on?’
My confused gaze turned toward the front of the chapel.
In the center stood an ornate coffin. The subject of the portrait displayed before it was someone I couldn’t possibly not recognize.
A dignified woman with silver-tinged platinum blonde hair and mysterious violet eyes.
The woman who soiled her honor.
It was my mother’s portrait.
I had returned to the day of my mother’s funeral, when I was about three years old.
‘I’m sure my neck was cut.’
A chilly feeling crept over me, and I touched my neck. There was not a single scar on my plump, short neck.
‘Is this… is this really the past?’
Amidst the confusion, the funeral proceeded in order.
Valencia, the largest temple in Elmeras, the County of Tesarus.
Here, where my ancestors lay, my mother would also be laid to eternal rest.
“It’s hard to imagine meeting someone like Lady Adelade again.”
“She was always devoted to Elmeras.”
“How heavy her heart must have been, leaving such a young child behind.”
My mother’s reputation, having become an unwed mother after giving birth to me, had fallen to the ground. Not a single noble attended the funeral. Only the citizens living in Elmeras, my mother’s land, gathered to mourn her death.
My eyes grew hot.
‘If only I had had the time to know my mother too…’
Was it because I had read her diary, which held all her love for me? Even though she was someone I had hated my entire life.
“Over there!”
“It’s Tesarus’s spirit!”
It was when the grave was completed. From the sky, twelve white-tailed eagles flew down. They drew a giant circle and slowly descended to the ground.
Everyone watched, mouths agape.
“The eagles… it’s like they’re paying tribute.”
The white-tailed eagles surrounded the grave in a circle and bowed their heads solemnly. A blue ribbon was tied to the foot of the largest eagle. I knew that one.
‘That’s Marilyn.’
The bird my mother cherished was named Marilyn, after a famous actress.
According to the diary, my mother received Marilyn as a birthday gift. She cared for it until it could be independent, then tied a blue ribbon around its foot and let it fly away to find its freedom.
‘Even afterwards, Marilyn lived freely and stayed with my mother.’
At that moment, Marilyn raised its head. Our eyes met. I thought it was my imagination, but the firmly fixed gaze was definitely directed at me.
I felt no threat or hostility. It just seemed to want to convey something.
I recalled a story Alfred had told me once.
—
“A long time ago, the ancestors of Tesarus spoke with animals and used white-tailed eagles as messengers and weapons.”
—
Even the most outstanding mages couldn’t control animals at will. It was something only the Tesarus family could do.
—
“……However, the family’s abilities gradually degenerated over time. But the white-tailed eagles still remain in Tesarus Castle.”
—
My mother was the first ability user of the family to appear in 300 years. The eagles flying to the funeral was no coincidence.
Tesarus’s magic remained, and perhaps the same blood flowed through me.
After paying their respects, the white-tailed eagles spread their wings one by one and flew into the sky.
And so, I bid my mother farewell.
—
***
—
After the funeral, we returned to Tesarus Castle.
“Take the brat with you, then. Our son would have inherited everything anyway, wouldn’t he?”
Juliana grumbled.
The last time I saw Juliana, she was middle-aged, but now she was much younger.
Her dazzling platinum blonde hair was similar to my mother’s, but her deep chestnut-colored eyes were different. The black dress draped over her gaunt frame made her look like a demon with folded wings.
“There might be a way.”
The person who added from the side was Etienne.
Juliana’s husband, my uncle by marriage.
He also looked younger than in my memories.
Juliana clicked her tongue and glared at me disapprovingly.
“The will stipulates that if the child dies, everything reverts to the nation. We have to keep her alive.”
Did they plan to kill me? A mere three-year-old baby?
I couldn’t believe my ears.
‘If things continue like this… again…’
I would suffer under my aunt and uncle’s abuse, only to fall for Duke Rector’s scheme and die.
I absolutely couldn’t let that happen.
‘I need someone who can raise me properly.’
Someone with a closer relation than my aunt, who would have priority custody rights.
My mother’s lovers she met during her travels.
My three potential fathers.
If even one of them would show up…!
The white-tailed eagles coming to the funeral was clearly unusual. If I could use the eagles to send tokens to the three father candidates…
The desk holding the tokens of the three men was likely in the Count’s office or library.
There was no time to waste.
Taking advantage of my aunt and uncle’s distraction, I quietly slipped towards the second floor.
Creak-
I reached the office quickly.
Rising on my tiptoes, I just managed to reach the doorknob, turned it, and went inside.
The office, bathed in the lazy afternoon sun, still bore clear signs of recent use. Stacks of documents awaiting review, art pieces adorning the walls, and bookshelves lining one side of the room. Everything was arranged according to my mother’s taste.
‘It feels cozy.’
The desk I was looking for was right there. The large desk that had seemed to uselessly take up space in a cramped nook now fit perfectly here.
Without hesitation, I crawled under the desk.
I had to find the button I’d accidentally pressed before, bumping my head. I pressed haphazardly here and there until I found a mark near the edge that looked like a wood grain.
“Found it!”
When I pressed near that spot, it sank in perfectly, and a secret drawer opened.
The diary, faded with age, looked as clean as new paper, and the three items also showed no signs of wear.
The tokens of the father candidates.
An Ace of Spades playing card, a bookmark, and a child’s wooden sword handle.
Who my biological father was didn’t matter. I didn’t expect any family love.
What I wanted was someone who would pull me out of the hellhole of my aunt and uncle’s abuse and raise me like a human being.
‘Let just one of them work. Just one.’
As the items came into my hands, my desire grew more desperate.
I left the office and walked towards the west tower. The unfamiliar sights of Tesarus Castle came into view. Simple wallpaper dominated by white and blue, masterful paintings reminiscent of a gallery. Unlike its former cluttered state with cheap decorations, it exuded elegance.
‘Juliana must have changed everything.’
To erase my mother’s traces.
I steeled my resolve once more. I would protect this place this time. I wouldn’t let them touch what my mother had cultivated.
I was hurrying along with renewed determination.
“Hey, orphan Count!”
A large boy blocked my path.
Robert Patelier. The eldest son of the Patelier couple, who had one son and one daughter.
“My mom says if you weren’t around, I’d be the Count of Tesarus.”
The eldest son, Robert, was a boy who had inherited only the worst traits of his parents. He loved luxury, was violent, and judged people solely by money and status.
His temperament, about three or four years older than me, seemed no different from when he was an adult.
“But what’s that?”
Robert’s eyes glittered maliciously. The items in my hand seemed to catch his fancy.
“Mine.”
I answered without even looking his way. As I tried to ignore him and walk past, he suddenly grabbed my hair. ‘The child is father of the man,’ as they say; he was the same trash who used to lay hands on me at every opportunity.
I cried out in annoyance.
“Let go!”
“Give it to me!”
Whether child or adult, this family was all the same. They all tried to take everything from me.
As that thought crossed my mind, I couldn’t bear it anymore. Consumed by rage, I lunged at him with all my might, throwing my entire body weight into a tackle.
“Waaaaah!”
My body was still small, but it was effective. Robert fell backward, landing hard on his rear.
“Y-you… you little runt… Huh-hwahhh!”
“Hmph!”
I snorted and left the bawling Robert behind, then ran pitter-patter towards the west tower.
“I’m telling Mom and Dad! You’re gonna get it!”
His booming cry echoed through the hallway.
Robert’s threat was laughable, but my short legs moved quickly.
If I got caught now and they took these things, my last hope would be gone.
Don’t get in my way!
