Chapter 18
It wasn’t a big deal. It was just something I did because I felt so sorry for the little child who was being bullied like that. However, Alexis didn’t forget the favor he received that time and still kept her by his side, thinking of her as a mother figure. So he didn’t take her nagging as rude at all.
“She seems like a nice person.”
Before he knew it, they arrived in front of the office.
Alexis glanced at the maid before going inside. He thought she was just talking nonsense, but there was something strange about her eyes that seemed to be a little bit nitpicky. She seemed sincere.
Alexis, who had been staring at her blankly, entered the office without saying anything. However, the head maid could tell that his silence meant affirmation.
“Are you here?”
Aide Samuel finally showed up and greeted Alexis. His expression seemed somewhat excited. Did you get some good information?
Alexis sat down at his desk and nodded at him, indicating that he wanted to report. Samuel quickly handed him the parchment he was holding.
Alexis took the parchment with a leisurely gesture and unfolded it. However, that leisurely feeling faded like fog the moment he confirmed what Samuel had handed him.
“……What is this?”
“This is a family portrait of the Counts of Millan from eight generations ago.”
Samuel added that it was very difficult to obtain. The feel of the paper on his fingertips was rough and dry, as if it were old. Nevertheless, the portrait was clean and clear, as if it had been completed a week ago. This was thanks to the preservation spell.
What was drawn on the paper was, as he had said, a harmonious portrait of a family. A middle-aged man and woman sitting on a couch, and a pair of sisters standing behind them, looking friendly, filled Alexis’s pupils.
No, the only thing that took up his eyes was the woman standing on the left.
‘… … It’s the same.’
Of the two young women, the one on the left had the same face as the woman he had just seen off, Sis Millan, and seemed like a twin. And at the same time, she had the same face as the red-haired woman who had saved Alexis.
The facial features were so similar that it was almost as if one were the same person. What’s more, even the hair color and deep, sinking eyes seemed to have been copied exactly.
If it was 8 generations ago, then it was roughly a few hundred years ago. The woman Alexis met when he was young and the Sis Millan he first encountered at the banquet hall were not a few hundred years ago, but were living in the same era as him. It meant that there was a time difference that was too long to be connected.
“And take a look underneath.”
Samuel, who had confirmed Alexis’ stiff face, finished his unfinished report.
Alexis’s eyes slowly lowered. His heart rate gradually increased with an unknown tension, or perhaps fear. It was never a good sign. At the bottom of the portrait, the names of the family members were written in elegant letters.
Alexis’ eyes wandered among the unfamiliar names, but soon settled on one place.
Millan Siss
Even if he closed his eyelids and opened them again, the name that entered his eyes did not change.
Alexis suspected that Sis was a relative of the woman who had saved him. If the resemblance was genetic, then it would be somewhat understandable.
However, the information presented before his eyes caused an unexpected storm in his mind. The eldest daughter of the Count Millan family from 8 generations ago and Sis Millan are exactly like identical twins. It is strange and amazing enough that their appearances are similar… … and even their names are the same?
It was so exquisite that it felt out of place, almost too odd to dismiss it all as a coincidence.
“That’s not all.”
Samuel held out a stack of similar papers in front of a confused Alexis.
Among the few pieces of paper he handed over, there were pictures of a happy family of four drawn from various angles, and several were documents showing the existence of ‘Sis Millan’ from the past, including the Count’s family’s certificate of registration. All of the bundles of papers that came to him were filled with traces of Sis Millan.
He couldn’t figure out what conclusion Samuel was drawing from these reports. Alexis rubbed his temples, his head aching.
“So what are you trying to say?”
“Isn’t it possible that the Siss Millan that Your Majesty ordered to be investigated and the Sis Millan, a member of the Count’s family from several hundred years ago, are the same person?”
The aide spoke his mind without hesitation. Alexis drummed his fingers on the desk, his eyes fixed on the paperwork.
“They must be relatives who inherited the same name and appearance.”
“Do you really think that people from different eras can be so
similar just because of their bloodline?”
Instead of answering, Alexis lowered his eyes to the portrait.
The woman depicted in the portrait looked no different from Sis Millan, whom Alexis had been watching all along.
Through the time we spent together, not only Sis, but Alexis also learned a lot about her.
For example, her usual posture of keeping her back straight and her hands clasped together, the way one eye squints more deeply than the other when she smiles, the way her cheekbones curve deeper to the right when she arches her mouth, and even the three black dots on the nape of her neck above her dress.
His gaze lingered on the spot on her neck for a particularly long time. If it were just one, it could be considered a coincidence, but a mole of such a special shape that it formed a triangle would be difficult to duplicate, no matter how much blood was inherited.
Certainly, it was too much to be attributed to coincidence.
“If the two of them are the same person, that is, if the young lady is truly the one who has lived from the past to the present.”
Samuel’s voice suddenly broke into Alexis’ thoughts.
“The person Your Highness has been desperately looking for could be Miss Millan Sis.”
If Siss Millan really has lived that long, she could be the same woman he met when he was young. The woman from the past that Alexis has been searching for so desperately.
Alexis put the portrait down on the desk and recalled his memories of Sis one by one from the beginning. Among the many memories, the maturity and sadness that sometimes appeared for her age, or the loneliness. The eyes that could not hide that emotion came to mind most clearly.
The name Millan written on paper brushed his fingertips.
My heart started pounding, beating faster than usual.
If she really was the one I was looking for, Sis Millan. If that was true. Just thinking about the family made my chest tighten. It was clear evidence of anticipation.
It wasn’t yet possible to make a conclusion. Still, in a corner of my heart, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was suspicious. But once the anticipation is high, it paralyzes my brain and makes me interpret the situation in my own way.
The thought that the woman of his dreams might have appeared before him made his heart tremble with excitement. It was enough to make him want to ignore his doubts about Sis.
For a moment, he even thought that it didn’t matter what she was hiding.
No, maybe.
Just by putting up with the deception I hate so much and staying by her side for this long, the answer may have already been revealed. Now, whether or not she is the woman from my past, I secretly want to keep her by my side.
