TMLOH 06

Chapter : 06

The world stopped.

A small girl stood by the window, like a painting frozen in time.

Hair like molten sunlight—platinum blond. Eyes like rose-colored gemstones. A pale white face he instantly recognized.

The Lady of House Halbern, Arellin.

Arellin Sigria Halbern.

Swooooosh—

A fierce wind blew again.

The girl by the window turned her head and looked at Pession.

“Ah.”

At that moment, the frozen world began to move again.

Her vacant gaze found focus, and her pale face regained a hint of life. Pession was struck by an indescribable feeling.

“Huh?”

Arellin’s eyes widened when she recognized Pession.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince?”

“Uh, uh?”

Her rose-colored eyes, soft like spring, met his, and Pession, uncharacteristically flustered, stumbled for words.

“How did you… get here?”

“Ah, I wanted to apologize!”

He couldn’t bring himself to say he’d snuck in, so he chuckled awkwardly.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes. As you can see.”

It was only their second conversation, but this one felt different. Pession clenched his fists in nervousness, then tilted his head.

Why am I acting like this?

“Ahem, sorry. I mean, for telling you to run…”

He regretted saying it as soon as the words came out. He had wanted to apologize more coolly.

He didn’t know why he felt that way, but what he just said wasn’t cool. Not at all.

Still, the apology had to come. That was what mattered.

“I didn’t think you’d really collapse. I’m sorry. I won’t do that again.”

“It’s okay. It can happen.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t have to worry about it.”

“Eh?”

Her calm reply made Pession tilt his head.

He was grateful for her cool response, but something felt off. Like this wasn’t how it should go…

“Is it… is it okay to forgive me so easily? You collapsed, after all.”

“I’m naturally weak, so it couldn’t be helped. It’s not like you had bad intentions. I ran knowing I’d collapse anyway.”

“W-Well, that’s true, but still…”

Arellin smiled faintly and shook her head.

“You snuck in, didn’t you? You should go back now.”

“Huh? Uh, uh? D-Did I say that out loud?”

“Mehen wouldn’t have given you permission, so I figured. I’ll keep it a secret—just head back. I still need to rest.”

“Oh? Y-Yeah, you should rest.”

Arellin saw Pession off with perfect posture.

She was gentle, but it was as if she was telling him to get lost.

…No way. He was the Crown Prince. He was welcome wherever he went. That couldn’t be it.

‘She must still be very sick.’

As he left her room and walked back, Pession couldn’t shake the strange sense of disappointment.

“What is this feeling?”

Not long after Pession left—

“Is everything alright?”

Mehen appeared, perfectly timed.

‘So I really did sneak in.’

He’d expected that, but having Mehen show up like some enforcer made it feel oddly real.

“Yeah. Nothing happened.”

“…”

Mehen’s sharp eyes scanned her like he could see right through her.

As if gauging whether she was lying.

Arellin had no loyalty to the Crown Prince, but dealing with unnecessary trouble was bothersome.

“It’s true.”

When she held out her hands as if asking to be believed, Mehen finally relaxed his expression—but then looked surprised.

“…I apologize. I wasn’t trying to interrogate you.”

Mehen clamped his mouth shut, unsure what to say. It was curious to see him so flustered around her.

Why is he so nervous?

She was just a burden—a child someone else had forced him to raise.

Too heavy to throw away, too inconvenient to care for, but too human to ignore.

They weren’t family. There was no deep connection.

Just a guardian and his ward.

Mehen had a duty to look after her, but there was no obligation to be kind.

Come to think of it…

“You’ve been visiting a lot lately.”

Lately, Mehen had been stopping by her room frequently—a rare thing.

Usually, he left her in the care of the nursery staff and showed his face only occasionally.

Her remark made Mehen flinch and look at her with a strange expression.

Not that she was upset or anything.

“You’re busy. I get it.”

“…That’s not…”

“I’ll behave.”

Their eyes met.

“I’ll stay quiet, like I’m not even here. You don’t have to pay me any mind.”

Mehen’s expression hardened.

“It’s fine. Really.”

“…”

“You’re busy. Go do your job.”

“…”

Mehen finally spoke, spitting the words out like they tasted foul.

“Arellin. No, my lady.”

“Hm?”

“…”

Mehen looked like he was about to say something—then bit his tongue.

He clenched the edge of the chair she sat on like he might crush it, then released it.

The stormy pressure he radiated suddenly vanished.

And then came his answer.

“If that is your wish, then so be it.”

By the time Mehen had locked away all emotion, she couldn’t read anything from his face.

“Sorry for disturbing you. Please rest well.”

He bowed neatly and left.

Only then could she exhale fully.

“…Why was he angry?”

That surprised her.

After the Crown Prince’s visit and what happened in Arellin’s room…

Mehen’s mood plummeted like a rock into an abyss.

The Halbern estate turned grim with tension. Everyone walked on eggshells.

Eventually, someone broke and dared to speak.

“Lord Mehen, may I ask… why are you so angry?”

Mehen’s assistant, Dylan, posed the question. Mehen stopped in his tracks.

“Angry?”

He thought he misheard.

“Me?”

“Yes. Aren’t you angry?”

“…”

Am I… angry?

Because of what Arellin said?

Mehen’s face twisted into a mess. He eventually gave up pretending to read his documents and held his forehead.

‘So she said she’d stay quiet so I don’t have to worry about her.’

That was exactly what he’d always wanted.

He truly had wished the difficult child would stay quiet enough not to worry about.

But hearing it out loud…

It felt awful. Disgustingly awful.

It sounded like she was blaming him for being unworthy. And sure, he had recently been acting like a real ‘guardian,’ but still.

Isn’t that too harsh?

Or… am I just garbage?

“Damn it.”

He didn’t know.

But still…

He hadn’t wanted her to make that face.

‘My lady… are you really okay with that?’

Mehen bit his lip.

The thoughts that always haunted him returned.

Maybe he truly was an unfit guardian. Maybe she needed someone better. Even with the best staff he assembled, he always felt it wasn’t enough.

But there was no one to turn to for advice. The Halbern estate was surrounded by hyenas who’d love a scandal.

And the real father hadn’t even shown his face since leaving her here.

“What about the Northern Fortress? Any word?”

“Still in the midst of fierce battle. They say no contact for at least two weeks.”

“That damn war…”

“The front lines are quite intense.”

It wasn’t even surprising anymore. That place was always fighting and people always dying.

“Any response to my letters?”

Mehen’s repeated requests to send another guardian: rejected.

His question of when the duke would return: “I’m doing my best.”

Regarding Arellin’s health: “Figure it out.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

If he weren’t a paper-pushing office worker, he would’ve stormed the fortress himself and grabbed the duke by the collar.

“Saying she needs family… Is it that hard to show your face?”

Just as Mehen massaged his pounding temples, Dylan hesitated, then gave a suggestion.

“Perhaps… Lord Mehen, you’re overthinking this.”

“Me?”

Mehen was stunned.

“Maybe… from Lady Arellin’s perspective, you, who she’s seen every day since she was young, feel more like family than a father she’s never met.”

“…Someone like me?”

Mehen’s face contorted strangely.

He couldn’t believe it.

“You’re joking.”

He was just a ‘guardian.’ A servant who knew his place.

Arellin was his master’s child. He should never cross that line. But Dylan seemed to disagree.

“No matter how well-meaning they are, the nursery staff are ultimately ‘people caring for her because you told them to.’ That’s how she sees it.”

“That can’t be. They’re…”

“Think carefully, Lord Mehen. A child that age doesn’t want jewels or crowns.”

Dylan spoke with conviction.

“They just want the warmth of a kind guardian.”

“…”

“Sometimes, just having the guardian nearby is enough.”

It was solid advice.

Mehen’s gaze grew even darker.

“Graham.”

‘Again?’

The Crown Prince’s chief attendant, Graham, desperately wanted to resign lately.

For one reason.

“Graham.”

“…”

“Graham?”

“…”

“Graham!”

“Yes, Your Highness. I’m listening. Please continue.”

He hadn’t been listening at all.

He had been tuning it out, thinking back to the day it all started.

It definitely began the day Pession returned from House Halbern.

Since that day, the Crown Prince had been acting strange.

“You know, Graham.”

Pession wore an odd expression as he recalled his meeting with Lady Arellin—for what felt like the five-hundredth time.

“What… was that all about?”

“…”

“This is a first for me.”

Pession, at seven years old, looked like he was facing the biggest mystery of his life.

Graham turned away with a stunned expression. If he kept watching, he was going to blurt something out.

“She said, ‘You don’t have to worry about it,’ but I made her collapse. Don’t I have a moral obligation to do something?”

“You already apologized properly, and the palace sent tons of gifts…”

“Graham. I’m the Crown Prince. I have to set an example.”

“…”

“Don’t you agree?”

“…I suppose so.”

The answer was already decided. He just had to agree.

Graham begrudgingly nodded. Pession looked satisfied.

“And when I left, she bowed to me. It felt meaningful. What do you think it meant?”

Probably nothing.

“What do you think, Graham?”

I think nothing at all.

“Hmm.”

If his tutor saw him now, he’d be scolded for how deeply he was overthinking it.

Since that day, the Crown Prince had been like this all day, every day.

‘What on earth happened?’

Curiosity was dangerous.

It wasn’t his place to know. He just had to follow orders—but Graham was reaching his limit.

Whether the prince noticed or not, he now gazed out the window, chin in hand.

And as he did, he thought again of Arellin’s side profile, gazing outside with an empty stare.

What had she been looking at that day?

“Graham, what do you think the young lady is doing now?”