FTP-SS3-01

Anje furrowed her brows.

“…Right. That’s why ‘Peach Fitzroy’ was a bit… well…”

During her morning sickness, Anje could only eat peaches without issue, so she had once suggested naming the baby “Peach,” leaving Aiden at a loss.

‘I want to give the baby a unique name, one that no one else has in the world!’

The intention was good, but what if the child got teased at school? Besides, if the child was a boy and grew up to be a sturdy man like Aiden, wouldn’t such a cute name not suit him at all?

‘Thank goodness the last name is Fitzroy.’

He had just barely managed to change her mind by saying that the name and the surname didn’t go well together.

Anje, who had been pursing her lips and brows for a moment, slowly relaxed her expression and muttered drowsily.

“Come to think of it… is there a name you want to give the baby? Yawn… I don’t think I’ve ever heard your thoughts on it…”

Aiden, who had been carefully tucking the blanket around Anje’s shoulders, paused for a moment.

“Well… I just wanted to follow your wishes as much as possible…”

Since she was the one going through all the hardship as the mother, he believed that what Anje wanted mattered most. Though he did want to avoid overly unique names.

“Come on, it’s not just about me… Your opinion matters too, Aiden…”

Shifting slightly under the blanket, Anje continued in a faint voice.

“You’re… the dad too. I’m the mom… and if we choose the name together… wouldn’t that be wonderful…”

“Hm, well… I’ll give it some thought.”

Only when Aiden responded with a soft chuckle did Anje finally nod with relief.

“Alright, I’ll be looking forward to it…”

Trailing off mid-sentence, she soon drifted deeply into sleep.

“Good night, Anje.”

After placing a kiss on her forehead, which was peeking through her hair, Aiden quietly got up so as not to wake her.

A bath was one thing, but before that, there was still the sauce pot left in the kitchen, used and then forgotten.

Both Anje and Meg had been so out of it that they completely forgot about the pot. But he, at least, had remembered for a while now that he should clean it up secretly.

‘If it sits there until tomorrow, the residue will stick and be hard to clean.’

If Anje suddenly remembered the pot and went looking for it in a panic, she’d be surprised to find it already gleaming clean.

‘By the way, about the name…’

He reached into his inner pocket and opened a small notebook. Dozens of names, densely written across several pages, greeted him.

Out of respect for Anje’s opinion, he hadn’t let it show—but every time the thought, “What if we gave the baby a name like this?” crossed his mind, he would jot it down, one by one, into a list.

‘I wonder if there’s one among these that Anje would like too.’

He would think it over while scrubbing the pot. Simple tasks often sparked good ideas.

Whistling softly, he headed to the kitchen. It was the chorus of the carol that Vice Principal Casey had been playing earlier.

Side Story 3: Felix

The boy stood with his hands on his hips, carefully observing each passerby. But in the end, he couldn’t find the person he was looking for and let out a sigh as if his breath might vanish.

“Sigh, seriously, Mom and Dad…”

He shook his head, looking troubled.

“What kind of adults get lost like this? That’s why they should’ve held my hand tight.”

Considering that a child no older than six or seven was standing alone in the middle of the street, it was more likely that the one who was truly lost wasn’t the parents, but the little boy.

However, the child, Felix Fitzroy, firmly believed that he was not the one who had gotten lost.

‘I’m not a baby or anything. I wouldn’t just get lost just because I came to the capital for a visit!’

A little explorer who could memorize winding forest trails and wide open fields in no time, and who could figure out the direction of home just by looking at the sun and shadows.

One day, he would travel to the southern seas to mine glaciers and ride cheetahs in the jungle. That was Felix Fitzroy. Someone like him couldn’t possibly get lost in something as mundane as a marketplace.

TL: OMG. I LITERALLY CAN’T STOP CRYING, IDK WHY BUT, I’M SO HAPPY AS IF THEY WERE MY CHILDREN AND THEIR CHILD WAS MY GRAND CHILD…

‘Anyway… What now?’

He looked around the crowd again, but there was still no sign of the Fitzroy couple.

‘Both Mom and Dad are pretty easy to spot. Could they have gone that far already?’

With his silver hair and red eyes, his father stood out even in Leslie, and was just as tall and broad-built here in Londiane. On top of that, the mother standing beside him was, in Felix’s eyes, the most beautiful person in the world. No way they could be invisible in a crowd.

Felix shrugged and shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

“Guess there’s no other choice.”

It seemed he’d have to look for them himself.

‘If you ever get lost, stay right where you are and wait for us. Got it?’

That’s what Aiden had told him repeatedly in the carriage on the way to the capital. But for little Felix, visiting Londiane for the first time, that advice had long slipped his mind.

Even while tagging along beside his parents earlier, he’d been itching to get a better look at everything around him.

“Where should I start looking?”

His mischievous eyes sparkled as he energetically started walking. Every person passing by, every item on every stall, was a new and wondrous sight to him.

Naturally, he was completely unaware that someone in a black cloak was secretly watching him.

“What should we do?”

A man standing near the one in the cloak asked quietly.

“Wouldn’t it be best to keep an eye on him for a bit, just in case, David?”

David, who wanted nothing more than to leave this place as soon as possible, scratched his forehead for a moment before replying.

“…Yeah, I suppose so.”

He didn’t say it out loud, worried it might sound too alarming, but there had been cases of missing or abducted children in Londiane before.

The child they were now watching—no, observing… or rather keeping an eye on—Felix Fitzroy, was the son of a knightly family, a minor noble in his own right.

Moreover, from his glossy hair, rosy cheeks, and fine velvet clothes, it was clear he had been raised with love and care.

“Then until the Fitzroy couple reunites safely with the child, shall we keep following him from this distance?”

The man in the cloak gave a silent nod and began to move first so as not to lose sight of Felix. With a deep sigh—much like the one Felix had let out earlier—David followed after him.

‘I knew I should’ve insisted on coming alone.’

But how could a mere attendant defy the stern command of his master? As soon as word got out that Felix Fitzroy had arrived in Londiane, someone insisted he had just happened to be planning a patrol in that area. How could he argue with that anyway?

The escort knights stationed secretly out of their sight were probably baffled by this unexpected covert movement as well.

‘Seems like they go through as much trouble as I do.’

Thanks to them, he could roam the market without much concern for safety, but still, the crowd made it hard to feel completely at ease…

“David.”

Too busy grumbling in his head, David didn’t notice Felix for a moment and replied a beat late.

“Yes? Your— I mean, my lord.”

He almost used the familiar honorific title, forgetting they were supposed to be undercover.

“The child just fell over, you know?”

Ah—he really had. One moment, Felix had been dashing off so energetically and confidently, and now he had bumped into a cart and was sprawled out on the ground.
The cart owner glanced briefly at the fallen Felix, then tossed out a remark and moved on.

“Hey, kid. Watch where you’re going, will ya?”
“……”

William, who had been silent for a moment, turned to David and asked,

“Shouldn’t we deal with that?”

“Excuse me? Deal with whom?”

“That cart guy.”

“Sorry?”

David dug at his ear. Was he hearing things?

“A mere commoner dares to knock over someone with imperial blood and then acts so shamelessly.”

“… Officially, the child isn’t related to the imperial family.

“Even so, shifting the blame for his own failure to watch ahead onto a child? Such a person doesn’t deserve to be under my rule.”

Oh dear God. David felt the urge to rip out his hair.

“No matter what, that’s a bit extreme for something like this… I’ll ask the escort knights to rough him up a little.”

Noticing the dissatisfied look on his lord’s face, David quickly tried to divert his attention.

“Look—young Fitzroy is already back on his feet. We’ll lose him if we don’t hurry.”

Surprisingly mature for his age, Felix stood up and brushed the dust from his clothes.

‘My knees and elbows hurt a bit… but crying over something like this wouldn’t be worthy of a great adventurer.’

Though tears brimmed in his eyes, he wiped them away with his sleeve and pretended nothing had happened.

“I’m fine. This much is nothing.”

And then he started walking again—at a pace quick enough that David and the others had to stay alert not to lose him.

“Did the Fitzroy couple go that way?”
“No, actually… that’s the complete opposite direction.”

Unfortunately, spirited though he was, Felix Fitzroy had completely misread the layout of the market from the start.
It was already a large market, but today it was especially crowded and chaotic, so it was understandable.

That was because Londiane’s newly established autumn festival was being held in this very market.
It was such a grand festival not only commoners but even nobles—who normally avoided such places—were quietly visiting, bringing along their servants or maids.

Moreover, this year, the Dilton Farm School was also participating in the festival, selling crops grown at the school, homemade wine, fresh butter, and more.

David heard a muttered voice near his ear.

“At this rate, can he really find his way alone?”

“Well… The couple will probably come looking for him too, so it should be fine, right? And there should be people from the farm school around as well.”

“…He almost got bitten by a donkey just now.”

“Looks like it was just playing around while being petted?”

“That guy—could he be part of a human trafficking ring?”

“To my eyes, he just looks like a kind vegetable vendor giving candy to a cute little kid.”

David cast a side glance at William.

“Since when did you care so much about young Fitzroy to be acting like this?”

“Care? Me?”

He scoffed in disbelief, but David was persistent.

“You came rushing to see him the moment you heard he came to Londiane.”

“Well, that’s just because every time I sent a gift, Sir Aiden would reply with a long-winded letter. I just got curious—what kind of amazing son must he have for him to make such a fuss?”

That would be easier to believe if he hadn’t also been sending birthday gifts without fail every year… David suppressed the urge to retort and asked,

“So, how do you feel now that you’ve met him in person?”

A moment of contemplative silence followed.

“Without a doubt… blood doesn’t lie.”

“Exactly.”

Though the child’s facial features resembled his mother, his black hair and red eyes were identical to the late emperor’s—or to Aiden’s in his youth.
They had probably put that large hat on him on purpose to make the hair less noticeable. In a rural town like Leslie, it might be overlooked without much thought, but in Londian, someone might recognize that combination as a symbol of the imperial family.

“If Father were still alive, he would’ve doted on him immensely.”

David assumed no response was required and kept silent, albeit a bit awkwardly.
A faint curve formed on the lips visible beneath the cloak, as if trying to change the mood.

“When I die, How about passing the throne to that child? In terms of legitimacy, that would be the right thing to do, wouldn’t it?”

David actually clutched at his own hair. Ah, at this rate, I’m going to go bald.

“You’re just saying nonsense like that to avoid getting married, aren’t you?”

“Tch, caught me.”

“Forgive me, but for the sake of your dignity as Emperor, you must attend at least once—even if you return right away.”

Despite his age, the Emperor had neither married nor taken a lover, and the gossip around him was relentless…
They wouldn’t say it to his face, but as his attendant, David heard it all—and it was exhausting.
When he overheard people speculating that the Emperor might be into men—and worse, that his lover might be David himself—he sincerely wanted to rip his ears off.

‘It’s not like I can go around explaining that His Majesty simply doesn’t like showing his body to others.’

He didn’t want to say something needlessly and have others possibly grow curious about the reason—That story was tangled with a shameful part of the imperial family’s past.

TL/N: AWW, WILLIAM IS SUCH A CARING UNCLE, I REALLY WISH HE WOULD FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN EMBRACE ALL HIS SCARS AND PAST TRAUMAS;[

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