Chapter 131
Side Story Chapter 2
–Don’t you have lunch? Why don’t you join me? They’re serving lasagna today, and it looks delicious.
She even came to visit me for something completely unrelated to class.
At first glance, Julia seemed to have many friends and was popular, but everyone didn’t understand why she was following Lionel around.
–Do you really have no friends? Why do you keep following me? If you have time, do something more productive.
I asked that one day. It wasn’t that I was annoyed by Julia’s persistent attitude.
It was just pure curiosity. What on earth is this girl thinking when she does something that doesn’t really benefit her?
It would have been much more beneficial for her to spend her time hanging out with other high-ranking nobles of the Empire and building friendships.
There was no benefit for her in taking care of someone from the kingdom who would leave one day.
But then Julia said something.
–I just want to be around you a little longer, but you don’t like me?
Even after 10 years, I can still see the shy blush on her normally confident face.
What did I reply to her at that time?
“Have I ever said that you have unique tastes?”
“Yes?”
Lionel muttered to himself, Ruth, who was reading a book across from him, suddenly raised his head. The child who came to the Kingdom of Cesia with Celsion during the winter was reading a book about the history of the kingdom.
As he pondered Lionel’s words, Ruth raised an eyebrow.
“Do I have unique tastes?”
“No.”
Lionel realized what the child was misunderstanding and quickly denied it.
“I was just talking to myself. As I thought about the past, without realizing it…”
Ruth’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“If it was in the past, did you mean about Lady Julia?”
“… Yes.”
The child closed the book and quickly moved to sit next to Lionel.
“Were you thinking about your time at the Imperial Academy?”
It wasn’t something to hide, so Lionel obediently agreed.
“Yes. I thought about the first time I met Julia.”
“How did you meet?”
Ruth could hardly hide his excited expression.
After the secret of Ruth’s birth was revealed, Cassis often told the child stories about Julia.
He rummaged through his memories, trying to tell him everything he could remember, but it wasn’t enough for Ruth.
Cassis mostly talked about her childhood, before she entered the Academy.
He also said he didn’t know how Julia was doing at the academy.
Ruth was very curious about Julia’s school days. He was scheduled to enter the Imperial Academy two years, and he wanted to know in detail what his mother saw and felt there.
Lionel, who was the only person who knew Julia at that time.
But he didn’t dare ask Lionel, who was the only one who knew Julia during those years.
Not only because he didn’t know him well enough to have such close conversations with him, but also because he subconsciously avoided talking about Julia.
But looking at the current atmosphere, it seemed like Lionel might be willing to talk about the past if she asked.
Lionel sensed the child’s feelings and gently stroked Ruth’s head.
“ Do you want to hear it?”
“Yes!”
Ruth, who responded loudly, noticed him belatedly.
“ If it’s okay with you. I’m not saying I really want to hear it…”
“The first meeting between Julia and I wasn’t as romantic as the story in the novel.”
Lionel told him about the past that came to his mind a little while ago. Ruth’s lips parted, absorbed in the story.
It was a story he had never told anyone.
A story shared only by Lionel and Julia in this world .
Those secret and precious memories would be remembered through Ruth even without them in the future.
–I’m pregnant.
Lionel recalled a moment when Julia was talking seriously.
It was the first and last time he’d ever seen her normally cheerful face so full of depth.
Lionel was shocked for a moment, but then hugged Julia tightly, who was not purely happy.
–It will be lovely just like you, Julia.
He said after a long silence. Looking at Julia, smiling faintly with tears in the corners of her eyes, Lionel vowed to himself.
I must live more fiercely from now on. To protect the ones I love.
To Lionel, life had no meaning.
He had royal blood, but he could never be a legitimate heir, and paradoxically, being a descendant of the king made him a target for the Queen.
There was a time when I struggled to survive, but I wondered if there was any point in living like that.
The days that had been passing by meaninglessly changed when he met Julia.
But I never dared to dream of having a harmonious family with her.
Adelhard wouldn’t allow it, and even if it were allowed, he didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to drag Julia into my miserable life.
But now…
–I’ll take care of everything. So don’t worry too much.
The promise I couldn’t keep still haunted me.
What if I had stayed by Julia’s side instead of going to the kingdom?
My life went astray anyway, what would it have been like to ignore the kingdom no matter what the royal family said?
The divine beast is his duty?
“… Mister?”
Julia was talking to Lionel about studying in the library until night.
Ruth tilted his head at the sudden stop in the conversation.
Lionel muttered unconsciously as he observed the child sitting in the winter sunlight .
“You really look alike.”
“Yes?”
“You look so much like Julia.”
Ruth scratched the back of his neck.
“But my mother says I look just like my father, and I think I do….”
Ruth was right.
In terms of appearance alone, there was no resemblance to Julia at all in the child. In fact, Ruth’s uncle and stepfather, Cassis Adelhard looks just like him.
If it weren’t for the divine beast, a symbol of the Cesia royal family, Lionel wouldn’t have recognized at a glance that Ruth was his biological child.
He didn’t have Julia’s platinum hair like spring sunshine, or her puppy-dog eyes.
Sometimes I resent it a little. Even if he doesn’t look like me, I think he could look a little like Julia.
It wasn’t that I didn’t love Ruth, but I wondered if I would love him more if he had Julia’s eyes.
At one point, I thought about it and looked for signs of my old lover in Ruth, but I gave up after about two years.
Even though he didn’t look like either of them, Ruth was their son no matter what anyone said, so his appearance didn’t matter.
But after spending time with Ruth for four years, he began to see things.
“Your smiles are very similar.”
The gently curved eyes and the refreshingly raised corners of the mouth resembled each other.
The quiet way of speaking is similar, and the warm heart is also similar.
But more than anything else, he had the same caring and loving heart for others as Julia.
He may have had similar personalities naturally, but Evelia and Cassis have raised him with love over the past few years.
It was clear to see that the timid and shy child had grown with each visit to the kingdom.
“Julia would be very happy if she saw you now.”
“…….”
“She would have loved you so much.”
Unfortunately, Lionel couldn’t stay by the pregnant Julia’s side for long.
I wanted to finish the work as quickly as possible, so I headed to the kingdom before Julia’s stomach got bigger.
That way, he could return before the child was born.
Still, I knew how much Julia loved the unborn child. She used to smile happily as she rubbed her flat belly.
She must have loved him even more after she felt him in the womb.
Even without looking, I pictured that face in my mind.
Unlike Lionel’s happy face, the child’s face was a little clouded.
Even though Evelia said that Julia’s death was not his fault, Ruth still felt a slight sense of guilt.
“So live happily for me and Julia’s.”
Because through you, I have regained the purpose in life that I lost after Julia’s death.
From now on, the world I see through you will become my everything.
Ruth nodded vigorously, as if he had heard the words he couldn’t bear to say.
“Yes!”
Celsion, which was lazily lying down, wagged its tail and barked.
Lionel smiled as he looked at the clear sky.
So Julia, you don’t have to worry about Ruth.
Me, your brother, and Evelia will take good care of him.
He whispered like that.
