TYF 14

Chapter 14

* * *

“Sona, what are you doing going into the garden?”

Someone spoke to Sona as if they knew her. It was Seymour, who was working in the ducal castle.

Seymour, who had come out to rest for a moment in the garden where sunlight poured down, spotted Sona and approached.

“Ah, Sir Seymour!”

“……And what is that basket?”

“I’m gathering materials right now.”

Materials?

It was hard to understand what kind of materials she would gather in the garden, so Seymour tilted his head in confusion.

At that moment, he saw something very small rustling and moving busily beside Sona.

Seymour’s puzzled eyes turned that way.

Soon, Rierusha appeared, wearing a hat with a wide brim and a white ribbon.

Both hands were full of flower petals.

“Ttona! Look at this. Will Hadabuji like it?”

“Of course, Lady Rierusha. Now, hurry and put them in the basket.”

“Yeah!”

Rierusha quickly put the flowers she had picked into Sona’s basket.

Then she saw Seymour and waved her hand.

“Hehlo.”

“……Yes, Lady Rierusha. It’s been a while.”

It was their first meeting since he had seen her in the duke’s office last time.

At the sight of Rierusha, who looked endlessly harmless, Seymour’s head throbbed.

‘My goodness, to think I would see a scene like this in the Arakrene ducal castle in my lifetime!’

He never would have imagined it.

Seymour forced down the corners of his mouth that wanted to lift on their own.

“What are you gathering that for?”

“To give pwezzents to Hadabuji and Daddy.”

“To both of them?”

Seymour seriously searched his memory. He wanted to check whether there was some anniversary he had missed.

But no matter how he thought, there wasn’t such a day.

“Lady Rierusha wants to become close to the two of them. So we’re gathering materials to make gifts.”

“Oh.”

When Sona added the explanation, Seymour let out an exclamation that he couldn’t relate to at all.

‘It doesn’t feel like she needs to go that far.’

Rierusha probably didn’t know.

Ackmund was not, by nature, kind to people.

Yet that Ackmund had shown a bold move in this disciplinary committee that was enough to shock everyone.

“They will like it very much.”

“Shh.”

“Huh?”

“You have to keep what you saw today a secret.”

With a very serious face, Rierusha brought her index finger right up in front of her nose and said it was a secret.

Seymour, eyes wide, ended up bursting out laughing.

“Yes, I will keep it secret.”

* * *

Duke Ackmund Arakrene’s office.

“It’s been a long time.”

“For someone who came home after four years, your greeting is short.”

Ackmund frowned and reproached him for his son’s greeting, brief to the point of lacking sincerity.

“Because of such a half-wit, I was even going to cut ties, and I don’t want to see a face like yours.”

At the duke’s words, Pernoer gave a snort of laughter.

“And yet you put Kaden as Rierusha’s teacher?”

“……Your news travels unnecessarily fast.”

“I heard you have Rosinante report to you about Rierusha all day long.”

Thanks to that, they had been able to submit evidence that she was innocent at the disciplinary committee.

Ackmund had predicted that something like this would happen.

Having already been paying attention to Rierusha and yet pretending otherwise, Pernoer snorted.

As if his true feelings had been seen through, Ackmund’s eyebrows twitched.

“That is only because it seemed there was an issue with Rierusha’s awakening, so I told him to keep watch. The disciplinary committee matter was just something that happened to be useful.”

“Then stop paying attention to my daughter now. And stop using my aide, too.”

“Worthless bastard.”

Ackmund muttered with a loud click of his tongue.

He recalled the day Rierusha was born.

The deep dawn when a child who had been born with no magic power at all burst into loud crying.

That day, Ackmund made a choice that went against the family’s rules for the first time.

He allowed Rierusha, who should not have been entered into the registry, to bear the surname Arakrene.

Why had she been born without even being able to awaken magic power?

If only she had at least been born with silver hair…….

The moment Rierusha was born, the atmosphere of the family became chaotic.

People began saying it was not a problem with the bloodline, and then those who harbored other intentions began to appear.

Internally, divisions began to form, and the imperial family, sensing it, even began approaching collateral houses in secret and showing suspicious movements.

All of that was what had happened in the four years since Rierusha was born.

“As you know, there is no one in the ducal castle whom we can trust right now.”

“I know.”

Pernoer replied shortly.

He knew that quite a few had secretly been in contact with the imperial family.

Knowing it, Ackmund still had no choice but to turn a blind eye to the imperial family’s outrages in order to keep his promise with Pernoer.

In order to keep the promise to do his utmost so that Rierusha’s position would not become precarious.

That was why Ackmund could not bring himself to like his own granddaughter.

It was fortunate she had awakened now, but…….

‘Rather than awaken ambiguously, it would have been better if she could never awaken for the rest of her life.’

A child who could not properly handle an ability was, in many ways, easy to tear at.

And there was another worry.

If it became known to the world that a child who had not properly inherited the Arakrene bloodline had awakened not a paltry ability but a dangerous one?

In many ways, Rierusha’s existence was a troublesome problem.

At the same time, Ackmund sometimes found himself thinking: what wrong had that little one done?

He found himself thinking it was pitiful, the way she tried so hard to adapt in an atmosphere where no one welcomed her.

So there was also that reason he had summoned Pernoer when he heard the disciplinary committee would be opened.

To be honest, because she was of his blood, his eyes could not help but go to her.

With complicated feelings, Ackmund opened his mouth.

“You have heard news of Rierusha and know it, yes? An ability one cannot handle is nothing but a disaster.”

“It still isn’t certain, is it. And I won’t let it be that way.”

“How ridiculous. With what means? Even you won’t be able to handle that child’s ability.”

It was an ability Ackmund also could not easily promise anything about.

Recalling the day he met the child in his office, Ackmund’s eyes darkened.

Perhaps everything had been wrong from the start.

“From birth, the vessels through which Rierusha’s mana flows were twisted.”

“……I know.”

“If it runs wild, an irreversible situation will occur. Who will take responsibility for that?”

Many lives would fade away.

Their eyes met sharply.

Pernoer spoke first.

“Because you fear that, are you telling me to abandon Rierusha?”

“If you alone withdraw, both the child and the family can be safe.”

“Are you telling me to let Rierusha live on the outskirts for her whole life?”

Pernoer let out a scoffing laugh, as if it were ridiculous.

To awaken an ability yet continue to live on the outskirts was another kind of execution.

Because it meant she would not be permitted a single thing she could enjoy as an ‘Arakrene.’

“That will not happen.”

“You are impossible to talk to. If you have shown your face, leave. I don’t even want to look at you.”

When Ackmund saw there was no room for compromise, he waved his hand.

At the dismissal, Oberon quietly opened the office door.

However, Pernoer did not care.

“I haven’t brought up the main point yet.”

“……So you came to see me and offer greetings, and that was only a formality?”

Ackmund displayed irritation with a displeased face.

No matter how much time passed, Pernoer was the very image of an unfilial son.

“Looking around the main fortress for a moment, I saw several problems.”

“So you mean to interfere in my family. If something bothers you, become the duke and clean it up yourself.”

As the conversation seemed likely to grow long, Oberon quietly closed the door again.

Pernoer, who had lowered his eyes for a moment, spoke indifferently.

“Do you remember what I said before, that I would give up the young duke position and leave?”

“……Did we not agree you would not say that anymore?”

“I will leave.”

At that moment, Ackmund halted and his expression hardened.

But at the words that followed, Ackmund’s face twisted.

“The Arakrene main fortress is not helpful for the children’s emotional education.”