“How about I’m going for some sword training.”
“Oh, do that. You’ll feel much better after working up a sweat.”
Seeing me distracted by my thoughts, Jessia pushed me gently with a bright face.
“……..”
It was really bad. No matter what, Jessia was still an Emblem.
She used to drag me to meet Enoch on days I tried to avoid him. But now she had changed.
Even Jessia, who had relatively friendly exchanges with Gray, had changed like this.
How much worse must it be outside the mansion? Like the old saying goes, it would be dangerous to even mention Gray’s name in front of an Emblem.
“I’m off.”
I changed into my training clothes and headed to the training ground.
The main training hall was unavailable due to the damage from a fight between my mother and grandfather.
So, I was doing my personal training in a corner of the garden that my father had set up as a temporary training ground.
I had received the honorary knight’s medal from the emperor and was the youngest apprentice knight, so I was supposed to join the knight’s group training.
But there was a reason why I was training alone.
“Lawrence isn’t here, the other knights aren’t here, the apprentice knights aren’t here. No one is here.”
All the Emblem knights had gone to the palace to lie down in front of my grandfather, refusing to leave unless he stepped over them.
The emperor was barely stopping my grandfather from actually stepping over the Emblem knights.
“It’s lonely.”
I sniffled and started stretching. After always being surrounded by noisy people, being left alone like this made me feel emptiness and sadness.
I wanted to lie down with the Emblem knights in front of my grandfather too.
But both my parents and even the knights told me to stay out of it.
‘I understand you want to keep me as a seven-year-old child… but it really makes me lonely.’
I couldn’t even tell my grandfather not to go.
He was avoiding me because he knew he’d feel weak if he saw me.
Although the emperor was holding him back, my grandfather stayed in the palace because of me.
“Ugh.”
I grumbled, knowing no one could hear me, and picked up a wooden sword.
I took down Enoch’s portrait that was pinned to the training dummy.
“……Sorry.”
I wasn’t in the mood to hit Enoch’s portrait today.
I gently placed it next to the dummy and prepared for a vertical slash, calming my breathing.
When my mind was a mess and my heart uneasy, focusing on my breathing while swinging the sword often led me to a state of no thought.
As I kept swinging the sword, time flew by.
‘I hope this conflict ends soon.’
I swung my wooden sword, wishing that everything would be resolved while I was lost in swordsmanship.
Suddenly, the training dummy fell back with a cracking sound.
“Huff, huff, huff…….”
I realized that I had swung the sword hard enough to break the dummy.
It had been with me since I first held a sword.
I had grown attached to it, having fixed it many times. But this time, it felt different.
“Ah, that can’t be.”
I hurriedly checked the dummy’s condition.
Its thin legs were completely broken.
If the upper part had been damaged, I could have fixed it, but broken legs meant it couldn’t stand anymore, even if I cut and reattached the broken part.
“Why do bad things all happen at once?”
If I were nine, I might think it was a jinx, but unfortunately, I was seven.
A fragile child in a greenhouse, not immune to misfortune.
Unlike my tough previous life, I had become soft from all the love in this life, making it hard to handle misfortune now.
In my past life, I was called a mad dog for almost having and then losing something.
I couldn’t imagine how I’d be labeled if I lost everything here.
“Grandfather, mom, dad…….”
I was terrified.
The image of my mother fighting my grandfather and my father on edge was burned into my mind.
I couldn’t believe our happy home was on the verge of being a happy home of the past.
It was becoming clear that the Emblem would have a different atmosphere from now on.
“Why are you crying so sadly?”
At that moment, I heard my grandfather’s voice behind me as I held the dummy and cried.
“……..…!”
As I turned around in surprise, I saw my grandfather spreading his arms wide as he always did and saying to me.
“Come here, my dear Cherry.”
“Grandfather!!”
Without hesitation, I ran and hugged him tightly. I let go of all my pride and burst into tears.
“Heuung, Grandpaaaaaa.”
“Yes, yes, my pretty one.”
I finally realized how much I had desperately missed grandfather’s rough hands lifting me up and gently stroking my back.
“Grandfather, don’t go! Please don’t leave me!”
“Where do you think I’m going? Who told you such nonsense?”
Despite my incomprehensible sobbing, my grandfather understood everything I said and comforted me with his kind voice, gradually calming my heart.
“You’re not…sniff…going to leave, are you?”
When I managed to stop crying a bit and asked, my grandfather nodded with a smile.
“That’s right. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Really?”
I clung to him with all my might, burying my face in his shoulder.
Feeling the dampness from my tears soaking through, he didn’t push me away but continued speaking.
“I’ve decided to step down from the Duke of Emblem title. But that doesn’t mean I’m no longer the Emblem.”
I lifted my head from his shoulder in surprise. Was he really going to do as Jade Gray suggested?
“How can you say that? If you’re no longer the Duke of Emblem, then…”
“The title doesn’t define me as the Emblem. It’s my sword and my way of life that define that.”
There was no regret in my grandfather’s face.
Instead, he seemed relieved.
I was afraid that he would let go of everything and fly far away, so I held on to him tightly.
Sensing my anxiety, he laughed heartily to reassure me.
“I’m not leaving the empire. I’m still His Majesty’s knight, and without the title, I can focus more on my sword.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. Now that I’m free from all the tedious paperwork and managing the Emblem estate, I’m thrilled.”
Grandfather smiled mischievously, saying it’s all my mother’s responsibility now.
“By the way, I haven’t given you a congratulatory gift yet.”
“……..!”
“I heard about what happened at the hunting competition. I’m so proud of you.”
Grandfather put me down and rummaged through his pockets, then took out a red ribbon and clumsily tied my hair.
His touch was rough but filled with affection.
“Now, let’s see how it looks.”
Grandfather looked at me with a satisfied expression after tying my hair into a ponytail.
