☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
When I arrived back at the room and opened the door, Mother was in the Grand Duke’s embrace, crying.
She looked the most peaceful I had ever seen her. Like a tired little bird folding its wings to rest. As if she had finally found a place to settle.
I realized that if this was what made my mom happy, I could never tear them apart again.
“Ar?”
Mother noticed me and quickly separated from the Grand Duke. For a moment, an annoyed expression crossed the Grand Duke’s face, but it quickly disappeared.
His reaction was somewhat amusing, almost making me burst into laughter.
“Ar, come here.”
Mother reached out her hand towards me. A flood of indescribable emotions filled my heart at that moment.
I tried to hold back tears, my face scrunching up for a moment before I choked up. It had been a whole week since I last heard Mother’s voice.
“Mom!”
I ran into Mother’s arms. I tried not to cry, but hot tears streamed down, staining Mother’s white nightgown.
“Ar, were you very worried?”
My mother also hugged me and burst into tears. She cried more like a child than I did.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Sweetheart, how scared and worried you must have been all alone.”
“No, Mom. I’m okay.”
I hugged Mom tightly and pressed my face against her cheek. I couldn’t believe someone who had been so close to death could come back to life like this.
I pulled back and examined Mom’s face. She still looked pale, as if she might collapse at any moment.
“Are you okay now? Are you completely better?”
Mom nodded her head in response. “Yes, I’m okay now. I’ve recovered. So, don’t worry.”
She was about to continue speaking when suddenly my body jerked upward.
“Your Highness?”
The Grand Duke put his hands under my arms and gently separated me from Mom.
Startled and confused, I stood there as the Grand Duke spoke.
“Libby, we agreed you’d just see her face for a moment.”
“But, Your Highness…”
“Didn’t you hear the doctor say not to overexert yourself right now?”
Mom flinched at his angry tone.
I sighed softly. I wanted to tell off this obsessive father who was lurking around, watching every interaction between Mom and me, but I didn’t have the courage. He loved Mom, not me.
“Your Highness is right. It’s too late now, so let’s talk about this again tomorrow.”
When I addressed him as ‘Your Highness’, Mom looked surprised.
“I didn’t realize I forgot to say something important. Ar, go greet your father…”
“Enough, take this child away.”
Jas, who had been watching nearby, stepped forward. The Grand Duke handed me over to him almost carelessly, as if passing a doll, and I quietly took Jas’s hand.
Mom tried to say something again, but I placed a finger on my lips, signaling her to stop.
“I’ll come again tomorrow, Mom. Rest well.”
Seeing me mouth these words silently, Mom nodded slightly.
I walked down the corridor again with Jas. After observing my expression for a moment, Jas spoke approvingly.
“You’re really mature, Ar. You didn’t throw a fit about wanting to stay next to your mom.”
I chuckled softly.
Since I lived 20 years in my previous life, I was like an older sister to Jas, who is currently 17 years old.
“But how did you know that His Highness is your father?”
My eyes widened at his sudden question.
“Huh?”
“I overheard a bit of what you two were talking about earlier. Olivia mentioned that she never talked to you about your father. So, I was wondering how you knew that the Grand Duke was your father.”
Since I couldn’t reveal that I had read about it in a book, I made up a vague excuse.
“Well, the Grand Duke of Iskas is the only one that uses the dragon symbol in their crest. I figured it out when I saw my mom’s ring.”
“Wow, Ar, you’re really smart!”
Looking genuinely impressed, I quickly changed the subject.
“Can I meet Mom again tomorrow?”
Jas nodded.
“Of course, as long as the doctor permits… Oh, but will His Highness interrupt again like today? Hmm…”
Jas pondered for a moment before smiling broadly at me.
“His Highness has a meeting with Lord Salle in the morning tomorrow. So, you can meet with your mom as much as you want then. I’ll tell the guards beforehand.”
“Thanks, Jas.”
“If you have any more requests, just let me know. I’ll do my best to accommodate anything you need.”
Jas was as kind and affectionate as in the original work.
In reality, my current situation was quite ambiguous. I couldn’t undergo a genetic test to confirm if I was truly the Grand Duke’s child, and he hadn’t formally acknowledged me as his offspring either.
Even if the Grand Duke were to acknowledge me as his, it wouldn’t be the end of it. If he continued to lose control as in the original story, insisting on keeping Mom as a mistress, I would just be a mere illegitimate child.
Yet Jas tried hard to do many things for me, undoubtedly due to his warm-hearted nature.
According to the original story, the Grand Duke would soon rebel and eventually die with Mom.
And that fate would also befall the person standing in front of me, Jas.
This affectionate person would die before reaching adulthood.
“…”
As I gazed at his face with complex feelings, Jas rubbed his cheek with his finger.
“Is there something on my face?”
I quickly shook my head.
“No, it’s nothing.”
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
The next morning, I woke up early with a strong desire to see Mom.
Opening the window, a cool breeze greeted me. Perhaps because we were transitioning from autumn to winter, the air was quite chilly.
After eating the breakfast brought by the maid, I headed straight to my mom’s room. However, I ran into an unexpected person in the corridor.
“Oh? It’s you?”
It was Ledo, the son of Lord Salle. I flinched and stopped my tracks.
“Hey. You didn’t show up for class, so I wondered where you ran off to. Turns out you were hiding here?”
“It’s not that…”
“Whatever. Follow me.”
I tried to back away slowly, but two servants immediately grabbed my arms.
“Young master, please stop this!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Who do you think you are to stop me?”
My desperate protests were in vain. I was dragged away by the servants.
Unfortunately, there were no knights of the Grand Duke in the corridor.
No, even if there were knights, it wouldn’t make much difference. Apart from Jas, there were hardly any people who knew about my relationship with the Grand Duke.
In their eyes, it would just seem like the lord’s son taking away a commoner boy, something they wouldn’t care about.
Ledo took me to the training ground behind the castle. He usually received swordsmanship lessons there. Of course, whenever Ledo didn’t finish his homework or couldn’t perform properly, I got punished instead.
“…You don’t have swordsmanship lessons today, right?”
Ledo received swordsmanship lessons three times a week, with the teacher coming the next day.
At my words, Ledo shrugged.
“There’s a lesson tomorrow, so I need to practice today. If I do well tomorrow, you’ll get punished less too, so it’s good for both of us, right?”
I sighed quietly to myself. Since he was so stubborn, I decided it would be better to help him practice and then go to his mom. Anyway, he would be panting and wheezing after a little exercise, so he would probably collapse completely tired in about an hour.
“What do you want me to do?”
“You can be my sparring partner.”
“But I didn’t learn swordsmanship?”
He chuckled softly in response.
“That doesn’t matter.”
I soon understood what he meant. Ledo drew his sword from the sheath at his waist and stood before me.
The problem was, the sword he now held wasn’t a wooden practice sword but a real blade. He smirked as he stared at my frozen expression.
“I’ve always wanted to try using a real sword. Don’t worry. Do you think I’ll kill you?”
Yeah, he wouldn’t kill me. Instead, he would just play with me like a cat playing with a mouse, enjoying my fear.
I gritted my teeth and swallowed. How could a 9-year-old kid like him grow up to be so pathetic?
“….!”
Before I could think further, the sword came flying towards me. I quickly dodged to the side, but Ledo swung the sword again.
“Ugh!”
This time, it grazed my shoulder, and I felt blood trickling down. Ledo’s eyes gleamed momentarily as he saw the blood flowing red.
“Hey, try to dodge a bit better. It’s no fun if you just stand there like a target.”
Crazy bastard.
The servants didn’t even try to stop him. Looking at them turning their heads away, I realized there was no one else here who could save me but myself.
First, I almost died yesterday, and now this? It seemed like my luck was really bad lately.
“I’m purposely being gentle, but your dodging is too slow. How will my swordsmanship improve like this?”
Ledo approached with a smile. As he raised his sword high, I crouched down and grabbed some dirt from the ground, throwing it into his face.
“Aargh!”
I heard Ledo scream as I turned and started running away. If you meet a crazy guy with a knife on the road, there’s no other way. You have to run to survive.
“Catch him!”
At Ledo’s command, the servants chased after me. If they caught me now, I really felt like I would die, so I ran as if I were truly mad.
However, it was impossible for a six-year-old to outwit a grown man with his short legs. At that moment, when I could hear the servant’s breathing right behind me, I hit my face hard on something.
“Ah!”
My body flew backward and fell. Stars flashed before my eyes from the impact. The pain in my face from the collision made tears flow uncontrollably.
I heard a startled voice behind me.
“Y-your Highness!”
Your Highness?
I lifted my head, and indeed, Grand Duke Iskas was standing right before my eyes.
