TBFP 14

Chapter : 14

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“Could you burn me for a moment before that?”

“……?”

Gaien stopped briefly and looked down at Leticia. He touched his ear once.

Seeing his behavior that suggested he might have misheard, Leticia spoke more clearly in a louder voice.

“I need to be burned once before going into the water. Astrid told me to do so.”

Strictly speaking, Astrid had never made such a request to Leticia. Rather, she had tried to persuade Leticia that she didn’t need to sacrifice her life.

But Leticia had already decided to die, and if she was going to die anyway, she judged it better to die in a more useful state.

“…What?”

Leticia advised Gaien, who seemed unable to properly comprehend her words.

“Since the forest might burn, it would be better to burn me somewhere else.”

***

Unfortunately, Gaien didn’t just carry Leticia away to put her in the fireplace and set her ablaze.

This was because Gaien was too rational to believe that his daughter-in-law, who had been sleeping for the past 5 years, suddenly appeared in the prince’s dream and gave a revelation.

Of course, there had been an incident where the daughter-in-law seemed to briefly possess the prince in the forest, but even so, the risk was too great to follow the prince’s words exactly.

There was only one sacrifice available, and it would be a disaster if they died in the fireplace.

So instead of burning the precious sacrifice, Gaien kidnapped her again for verification.

This time it wasn’t the forest, but a mansion.

And not just any mansion, but the main castle where the Grand Duke and his family lived.

Of course, the massive castle wouldn’t show any difference from one small child entering, but that wasn’t the important part.

“…Could my eyes be deceiving me?”

The servants working at the Basilinte main castle doubted their eyes when they saw Leticia sitting quietly in Gaien’s arms.

Why was a man who never even held his own sons or grandsons in his arms carrying a hostage?

“Maybe he’s carrying a corpse that’s already dead.”

“Or perhaps it’s a doll or something like that?”

Though they didn’t know the exact details, the servants knew that Gaien had been divorced by the former Grand Duchess because of his indifferent attitude when something happened to Basilinte’s second young master.

It was too big an incident not to know about.

Five years ago, the Grand Duchess, who was heavily pregnant with the second young master, suddenly collapsed. And from then on, she was never seen again.

The servants who didn’t know the secret of the western tower assumed that both the child and mother had died during childbirth.

And after that incident, when Gaien saw the former Grand Duchess grieving…

“Since your mother wants a second grandson, hurry and meet another woman to have a second child.”

…he ended up making this outrageous statement during a family meal.

It was truly a crazy thing to say, showing a complete lack of understanding of human emotions.

“Are you even human?!”

In the end, the former Grand Duchess grabbed a silver tray from a servant who was serving the meal, hit Gaien on the head with it, and left the house.

The divorce papers arrived the very next day, and Ferik temporarily imprisoned his father in the underground dungeon before signing in his place. That wasn’t the end of it. Ferik’s grudge ran very deep.

“Mother has been regularly meeting with a painter ten years her junior recently. In her letter, she wrote five whole lines about how much she likes that painter.” “Patronage of artists is a noble’s duty.”

Since the humans of the Basilinte family, who properly lacked emotions, had no eye for art either, that was merely Gaien’s self-rationalization.

“Indeed. Perhaps that’s why she wrote two lines about becoming interested in sculptors as well, not just painters. She particularly had a private meeting with one of the recently emerging sculptors, and wrote about how beautifully the muscles of the body moved dynamically…”

While it was common for artists to demonstrate their work process in front of their noble patrons, the facts distorted through Ferik’s words caused Gaien to unconsciously break quite a few objects.

Of course, even then, Gaien didn’t particularly go to meet the former Grand Duchess.

There was no reason to.

Although he did secretly go to check on her occasionally under the pretext that she might have revealed Basilinte family secrets to others.

Gaien was still the type of person who blamed the poor quality of items supplied to Basilinte castle rather than acknowledging his own inability to control his strength.

He remained steadfast in his belief in his own rationality.

But those who knew Gaien well knew better, especially his son, Grand Duke Ferik.

So it came as no surprise that after learning of the prince’s kidnapping, Ferik insisted on receiving daily reports about Gaien’s activities.

“What is Father doing?”

“While he hasn’t done anything particularly unusual today…”

Gaien had taken the prince to the room closest to his own quarters and was taking care of him.

Though they knew how ill-fitting the word ‘care’ was for Gaien, there was no other word to describe his actions.

Yen explained the bizarre situation.

“He holds the prince while feeding him, has medicine prepared to nourish his body, and takes him for walks. Ah, and he also ordered new clothes to be made, saying babies have sensitive skin.”

“…”

Ferik had never imagined he’d have to worry about Gaien carrying the prince around.

“Why is Lord Gaien acting like this? As it is, the prince’s wet nurse keeps coming at all hours, crying and begging for the prince to be returned.”

The Grand Duke remained silent for a moment before standing up.

Yen asked.

“Where are you going?”

“I need to see Father.”

“What? Now? Is it necessary?”

Before Yen could finish speaking, the Grand Duke had left his office.

***

Soon, the Grand Duke arrived near Gaien’s quarters.

And before entering the room, he witnessed a strange sight in the corridor.

“…?”

Pieces of jerky were scattered at regular intervals along the corridor.

Seeing the red jerky lined up on the clean corridor, the Grand Duke asked Yen.

“What is this?”

“Well… bait perhaps?”

“To catch what?”

“I’m not sure…”

But their questions didn’t last long.

Because from around the corner, a small shadow appeared, picking up pieces of jerky one by one and putting them in a pocket.

With messy blonde hair and a fluttering thin body. Though they couldn’t see the face as it was focused intently on the floor, it was easy to guess who it was.

The child looked a bit more human compared to the skeletal appearance they had first seen.

Though still thin and small, at least they didn’t look like they might suddenly drop dead.

Yen newly realized how beautifully the child’s features were formed.

‘He’ll probably become quite handsome when he grows up.’

Seeing the long limbs despite the small frame, it seemed like he would grow well if properly fed.

However, Yen stopped that train of thought, realizing that the child wouldn’t live long enough to become an adult anyway.

Meanwhile, the prince carefully picked up pieces of jerky, wiped them on his pants, and put them in his pocket. His movements showed intense concentration.

“A hobby?”

At the Grand Duke’s mumble, Yen questioned.

“You mean picking up things from the ground?”

While they were still speculating about the prince’s behavior, suddenly something huge appeared in front of the prince.

It was the Grand Duke’s father, Gaien Basilinte.

Gaien simply lifted the prince up and sat him on his left arm, then snatched away the pocket the prince was holding and threw it to the floor.

“Ah…”

“I told you not to pick up things like this.”

The prince, suddenly settled in Gaien’s arms, nodded and smiled. So brightly that it made the onlookers pause.

And hugging Gaien’s neck tightly, he asked.

“Grandfather! Where did you go?”

It was a voice dripping with intimacy and affection that anyone could hear.