However Winfred discovers the reason quickly. Ayla’s look made it difficult to discern her true feelings in contrast to Ophelia’s unchanged lovely smile.
How much influence does facial expression have on one’s impression?
“Um, Duchess… … ?”
When Winfred carefully called Ophelia, Ophelia had been looking out the window, smiled, and turned her gaze towards Winfred. Not a trace of the tears that had welled up remained.
“Why are you doing this, Your Highness?”
“You said the Duchess was originally from the Republic of Tamora, right?”
Winfred spoke carefully. He didn’t know why the story about her hometown suddenly came up, but Ophelia nodded quietly.
“Then the other family members…” … Are you staying in Tamora as is? Or did you move to the Empire with the Duchess?”
Not only did he ask about his hometown, but he also asked about the well-being of family members whom young Winfred had never seen before. At this point, Ophelia couldn’t help but feel that his questions were very suspicious.
“My family is in Tamora. I came to the empire alone.”
After answering the suspicious questions obediently and without making any fuss, Winfred looked somewhat disappointed when he heard that his family was in Tamora.
“Oh, I see. That… … “What kind of family is the Heiling family? Do they all have silver hair like the Duchess?”
However, the hesitation only lasted for a moment. Winfred’s interrogation, or rather the questions, continued.
When Ophelia glanced at Winfred, thinking about the intention of her question, Winfred made a nervous expression. It was as if his life or death depended on Ophelia’s answer.
“… … No. “My silver hair resembles my mother’s.”
“Ah… … . “So what about the Duchess’s siblings? Is she an only child?”
“… … .”
His questions were truly endless. When he answered one question, he asked another one. He even seemed to ask how many spoons there were in his hometown.
“Majesty.”
“… … yes.”
When Ophelia called in a stern voice, Winfred lowered his gaze after realizing that he was too excited to ask a question.
It was the expression he made whenever he was scolded by his parents or the Duke and Duchess.
“Why are you suddenly interested in my parents’ home?”
“… … .”
Contrary to the expression on his face that looked like he was going to give his reason and apologize at any moment, Winfred’s mouth was stubbornly closed.
“Majesty?”
Ophelia tilted her head to the side and made eye contact with Winfred, who was just looking at the floor. Winfred’s heart continued to waver at the sight of Ophelia like that.
Wouldn’t it be okay to tell Ophelia? They’ve been sharing secrets for a long time that they couldn’t even tell their parents.
And the thought that he might know about Ayla made his mouth itch.
“… … “Actually.”
Winfred opened his mouth with difficulty. Ophelia smiled and nodded her head. It was a sign that she was listening to his story.
“Not long ago, I met a silver-haired girl with the last name Heiling.”
“A girl?”
“Yes. “She said she was twelve.”
Ophelia was deep in thought at Winfred’s answer. A twelve-year-old silver-haired girl with the last name Heiling.
‘My brother’s daughters have silver hair.’
Since Winfred has never been abroad, they must have met within the Pheles Empire. Her nieces and nephews were all living in Tamora. Above all, they were not twelve years old.
This was because Ophelia’s older brother was quite close to her, and her nieces were also quite old.
“What did you say your name was?”
Since there was no clue as to who the girl was, Ophelia asked Winfred for more information.
At her question, Winfred’s mouth twitched. It’s not that he didn’t want to talk, but he seemed to have trouble opening his mouth.
“… … “Ayla. It was called Ayla Heiling.”
“Now… … “What did you say?”
Ophelia’s face turned white when she heard Ayla’s name.
“Ayla. “The child’s name was Ayla.”
Winfred couldn’t figure out why Ophelia did that, and said Ayla’s name again with a puzzled expression.
“When? Where did you meet?”
Now, Ophelia was the one asking questions instead of Winfred. With wide eyes and a puzzled expression, Winfred replied.
“Last time, we met on the way to Mount Primus. I met him in two places… …. “It was Grunfeld and Bahait. I think so.”
He tried to keep his memories with Ayla a secret from others.
Ophelia felt like she had to give an answer, so she answered without realizing it.
After hearing Winfred’s answer, Ophelia quietly fell into thought.
‘Ayla Heiling.’
A silver-haired girl who was twelve years old at the time.
In the meantime, time passed and her birthday passed in the fall, so she would have been thirteen now, but doesn’t she have a lot in common with Ophelia’s daughter Ayla?
“By any chance, the color of that child’s eyes… … ?”
“It was blue eyes. Blue eyes that glowed mysteriously in the moonlight. Come to think of it, they looked a lot like the Duke of Weishafen… … .”
While responding to Ophelia’s sincere inquiry, Winfred suddenly closed his mouth.
He was curious why Ophelia suddenly asked so urgently, but it was because she found the answer herself before even asking why.
A girl with a small, oval-shaped face, and small and cute lips. And silver hair that gives off a soft glow. The overall impression is that she resembles Ophelia, and her high nose, intense eyes, and blue eyes also resemble Roderick.
“… … no way.”
Is Ayla the lost princess of the Duke of Weishafen?
If so, all the questions have been resolved. Ophelia’s suddenly pale appearance as if she was about to collapse, as well as the homework that Ayla gave her.
“No way, Ayla… … “Are you the Duchess’s daughter?”
Winfred spoke out the questions that filled his head.
Ophelia did not answer, but Winfred could tell that what he said was true.
Ophelia had a strange expression on her face that made it hard to tell whether she was laughing or getting angry. She had a mysterious expression on her face, and it was hard to tell if she was crying. Hot tears were already flowing from the corners of her eyes.
* * *
“Dismissal! “Your Excellency the Duke!”
Roderick said to have an important business meeting and left, but this was really an excuse; he had nothing truly essential to attend to and was simply sitting in the study poring over paperwork.
He raised his head when he heard an urgent male voice calling him, and it turned out to be Jacqueline, the knight guarding the front of Ophelia’s room.
“What’s going on?”
“Well, His Royal Highness is urgently looking for you.”
Roderick got up from his seat after closing the document he was reading, and asked as if he was a bit confused.
“Your Majesty? For what reason?”
“You just said it was a very urgent business.”
He stepped out of the way to speak with Ophelia alone, but how long has it been since then that he’s been seeking him again? Furthermore, for really important business.
Since Winfred was not the type of person to be capricious, Roderick steps on his way back to the living room where Ophelia and Winfred were very hurried.
And Roderick entered the living room, could not help but be astounded by the scenery unfolding in the room.
This was because Ophelia was crying silently, and Winfred was restless, unable to do anything.
“Well, that…” … I didn’t make you cry on purpose… … .”
Because he knew that Roderick was a terrible person to his wife, he looked afraid that he might get scolded.
“What happened?”
Until he left the room, Ophelia clearly seemed to be in a good mood as she had welcomed a welcome guest for the first time in a long time.
Although she had shed a lot of tears recently due to many things happening, Ophelia was not the type of person to break down like this in front of young Winfred.
“… … .”
Winfred looked embarrassed, as if he didn’t know where to start explaining, and just kept taking in his breath as if he was about to open his mouth.
“Roderick, Ayla, our Ayla… … .”
Ayla? When the name of his lost daughter suddenly came up, Roderick sat down next to Ophelia with a very serious expression. It was an action that seemed to cover his crying wife.
Ophelia could only cry and seemed to have difficulty talking.
She believed that Ayla was definitely alive somewhere. She should say it was a mother’s feeling.
Ayla was alive somewhere. No matter how far away Ophelia could feel her daughter.
However, contrary to her clear feeling, there was no eyewitness account of her lost daughter. However, she had just heard from Winfred that Ayla was alive.
When Ophelia could not continue speaking, Roderick looked at Winfred asking for an explanation. Winfred sighed and repeated what he had said to Ophelia.
“… … Grunfeld and Bahait?”
Roderick frowned slightly. Both Grunfeld and Bahait were large cities in the western part of the empire. It was hard to believe that he had seen Ayla in such a large city.
Meanwhile, Roderick was wandering around looking for Byron, who had rebelled and disappeared in order to track down Ayla.
The day the nurse disappeared with the child while the parents were away was the morning after Byron’s failed attempt to assassinate the late emperor.
Byron thought it was Roderick’s fault that his father had made his younger brother Hiram the crown prince instead of him.
It was thought that he advised the former emperor to appoint Hiram as crown prince out of revenge for the love triangle over Ophelia.
And the Byron he knew was a man for whom it would not be strange at all to say that he had kidnapped his daughter as revenge.
However, Byron’s idea was an absurd misunderstanding.
