REDA | Chapter 33

~Chapter 33~

He suddenly remembered something his mother had joked about when he was little:

“Ivan, you must meet a girl like me someday.”

She’d been sick, but always bright and cheerful when she said it.

Why was he thinking of that now?

Startled, Ivan looked down at Maria in his arms.

Surprisingly, the baby was also looking at the painting, just like her sister.

Even with her mitten in her mouth, her eyes stayed on the canvas—as if she were listening to Ruby and “appreciating” the art.

Curious, Ivan shifted Maria so she could see the painting better.

“Can a newborn really look at paintings?”

“Your Highness’s painting must be special. Maria’s interested,” Ruby said.

Ivan brushed it off as polite flattery. A newborn couldn’t really understand art.

But Ruby spoke to Maria as if to prove she meant it.

“Pretty, isn’t it, Maria? This is the late empress. Remember her well.”

“O-ah,” Maria babbled, as if she understood.

Ruby kept explaining the paintings to the baby Ivan was holding.

When they moved to the next painting, she explained again—and each comment matched exactly what Ivan had intended when he painted them.

“Can you paint too?” Ivan asked, now more amazed than surprised. It felt like she could see right through his work.

“I’m not good at painting, but I’ve been interested in art since I was young,” Ruby answered.

In her childhood, Ruby had tried drawing and learned a hard truth: brains don’t replace natural hand-skill.

So instead, she trained her eye—to recognize valuable art. She knew this kind of culture would help her someday.

(Not that she’d planned to use it to analyze Ivan’s paintings.)

“Your level is high. Most noble ladies couldn’t read this much,” Ivan said.

“I just said what I saw and felt,” Ruby replied lightly.

To Ivan, it was very impressive.

Maybe he had looked down on her a little, thinking she’d lived almost like a commoner.

Learning she also had refined culture, he found her even more remarkable.

After they finished the audience room, they went elsewhere.

“This is my study,” Ivan said.

Once again, Ruby pushed open a wooden door.

The smell of books greeted them at once.

Both walls were covered with shelves; the room was large, and the number of books was huge.

It was hard to believe anyone could read them all.

“You must like books, Your Highness?”

“I do.”

“I like them too,” Ruby said, moving to the shelves with bright eyes.

“May I take one out?”

“Go ahead.”

With permission, Ruby carefully scanned the spines and pulled out one: Family Swordsmanship and Theory.

“You’re interested in swordsmanship?”

“My younger brother is. I thought teaching with a book like this might help. There’s a limit to what I can teach with just the body—he needs to learn to understand on his own, too.”

Ivan was startled again.

That was exactly what his instructor, the current Captain of the Guard, always said:

“Your Highness, your swordsmanship is excellent, but not enough to break your own limits. Don’t ignore the basics—study theory steadily as well.”

While he was still surprised, Ruby took out another book: The Aesthetics of Combat.

“Then your family has talent in martial skills?”

“Oh, this one is for my little sister.”

“The sister from earlier?”

“Yes. It’s about Sasha, she’s four.”

“A four-year-old has talent for combat? Already?”

Ruby glanced up from the book and lowered her voice, like sharing a secret.

“Sasha actually has super strength. If she grips something hard, most weapons just… break.”

Ivan found it hard to believe—but Ruby didn’t seem like she was lying.

“Both Calix and Sasha will be famous warriors someday,” Ruby said, turning pages.

Her voice held pride for her siblings—so different from Ivan, whose relationship with his brother was distant.

“You really cherish your siblings.”

“They’re family.”

“Family,” Ivan repeated, sounding doubtful.

Ruby responded to the doubt in his tone.

“You have family too, Your Highness.”

“You mean His Majesty?”

The emperor was his father by blood—but he was, before that, the father of the entire empire.

His duty was to care about the people’s well-being, not the small details of his son’s life.

So “family” felt awkward.

“No, I mean Prince Theo.”

“Theo?” Ivan raised an eyebrow.

He and Theo were an odd fit to call “family.”

They were half-brothers, and to adults’ eyes, they looked like rival princes.

Even Ivan himself didn’t know how he should treat Theo.

Call them family? Together?

“Is it just because we share half our blood?” he asked coldly.

He was angry—Ruby was speaking so easily about something she didn’t know.

“Family isn’t decided only by blood,” Ruby said. “It’s the bond where you can trust each other and be each other’s strength. That’s enough.”

Ruby stepped closer and took Maria back into her arms.

Her gaze on the baby was as warm as when she’d talked about Calix and Sasha.

“Maria doesn’t share our blood. But I consider her my real sister.”

Ivan knew from reports that Maria wasn’t the grand duke’s blood granddaughter.

But he didn’t understand why Ruby kept caring for an adopted baby as her youngest sister, even after their parents died.

“How can you do that?”

“Because our mother and father said so. They told me, ‘From today, Maria is your sister. Take care of her.’”

At first, Ruby had snorted at the idea.

She already had two siblings who were hard enough to handle.

And now she was supposed to take in a child with no blood ties?

Their living expenses were tight—why spend them on a stranger’s child?

For a time, she even resented her parents.

Then she regained Woo Yeon-soo’s memories.

She began to feel sorry for Maria—for the cruel fate of being bullied just because she wasn’t blood-related.

She’d wondered if, as the heroine, Maria was “supposed” to suffer that story.

But even if it broke the original plot, Ruby chose to raise Maria.

She made a promise to raise the other siblings kindly, too.

She believed strongly that Maria was a sister, a gift from their parents.

To Ruby, that—helping without a specific reason and being on each other’s side—was what family meant.

“Once she became part of our family, Maria is my sister forever.”

Ruby lowered her forehead to touch Maria’s.

Maria laughed brightly and reached a tiny hand to Ruby’s cheek.

It looked like the two were sharing a wordless connection.

Ivan stared, entranced.

Ruby’s pure smile for Maria was striking—far brighter than her usual faint smiles.

Maybe that expression was a special smile allowed only for those precious to her—her siblings.

Ivan felt a strange wish: that she would smile like that at him, too.

But he wasn’t her family.

“Still, Your Highness doesn’t have to accept my view,” Ruby added. “Whether you see Prince Theo as family is entirely your choice.”

“Is it really my decision?”

“Of course. No matter what others say—if you think of Prince Theo as your younger brother, no one can deny it.”

“And if I do see him as my brother, what changes?”

“You’ll have someone on your side,” Ruby said.

Ruby knew the ending of Our Family Must Regret.

That’s why she wanted Ivan and Theo’s relationship to improve—especially for Ivan’s sake.

Of course, the choice was up to Ivan and Theo.

Theo seemed to like Ivan, but Ivan still looked confused about Theo’s existence.

So she gave this small push.

“Someone on my side…” Ivan repeated quietly, turning her words over in his mind.