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Chapter 35
“Blood really does tell, after all.”
In this household, maybe you can’t even argue freely as a married couple.
As I trembled while imagining an in-law family I’d never experienced before, Kamin once again calmly restrained his younger sister.
“Calm down, Susan. Ever since you were little, once you sink into a thought, you never manage to crawl back out.”
“How can you be so calm after hearing something like this, Brother?! That’s what’s strange!!”
Honestly, I also think Kamin is way too calm.
Wouldn’t anyone be bothered by the existence of a sort-of-ex who sends a “You up?” text at dawn to his girlfriend? Still, getting angry like Susan in this situation wouldn’t help.
“I’m really fine. I don’t feel anything at all, and I don’t even harbor resentment anymore. I’m just worried that I’m causing too much trouble for Faustine.”
“You never know whether you’re really fine or not! You’re really, absolutely not going back, right? You won’t throw my brother away, will you?!”
No—why does it keep coming to that conclusion? Shaking my head, I answered firmly.
“I’m never going back! Compared to Kamin, that man is nothing but a squid!”
At my answer, Kamin’s eyes widened. I scratched my cheek.
Yikes, was that comparison a bit too simple?
As I stood there awkwardly, Louis spoke up, sparkling.
—Hey, uh, Master. I think I’m a little embarrassed on your behalf right now.
What are you saying, you squid-like sword?!
Just as I was about to smack Louis with an incredulous expression—and Louis buzzed away to dodge me—Susan suddenly linked arms with me, rubbing her cheek against mine like a cat.
“I like you even more now, Sister-in-law. There’s absolutely no problem left in the love between you two!”
“…Did you actually listen to what I said?”
Why is there no problem with love? My father is literally leading soldiers to attack us right now.
Isn’t the biggest problem the fact that my father is a complete lunatic? How can you say there’s no problem?
Whether my feelings have changed or not isn’t even the issue right now. He came to drag me back by force. And he’s a duke, at that.
While I was wondering whether Susan and I were really thinking the same thing, Kamin calmly called my name with an unreadable expression.
“Riena.”
My head was a complete mess of thoughts. Seeing me at a loss, Kamin met my gaze.
“Your answer is the most important. You want to keep staying in Faustine, right?”
“Of course! Th-that decision might trouble Faustine, and that really bothers me, but…”
It was so hard that I couldn’t decide based on my feelings alone. After all, hadn’t the lady of the domain’s precious agave been damaged because I was hiding in Castle Faustine?
Then I’ll just have to swing Louis and subdue Father myself!
That was the only way I could think of to handle this without causing harm to others. Just as I grabbed Louis tightly with a resolute expression—
—Uh, um, Master. Being serious is fine, but your palm is sweating and it’s extremely unpleasant. Could you let go?
You little—! This is a serious situation!
As Louis and I locked eyes in a silent standoff, Kamin curved his eyes and smiled gently.
“I’m happy you said you’d never go back.”
At that bright smile, Susan, Louis, and I all stared at Kamin in surprise.
“…What would you have done if I’d said I wanted to go back?”
“Well…”
Why trail off like that?
He’d been speaking so clearly just a moment ago, so dodging the answer now felt awkward.
As I hesitated, Kamin placed his hands on my shoulders and neatly summed things up.
“Riena, what you want is to cause no harm at all to Faustine, right? And to make Duke Pond give up as well.”
“Yeah.”
“I have an idea. Just wait a moment.”
“But Kamin, you—”
What could you possibly do? My father is a duke of this country. And the one ordering my return is the crown prince himself.
I was afraid Kamin might get hurt for no reason. As I fidgeted anxiously, Kamin smiled and said,
“If a man is proposing to you, he should be able to do at least that much. Trust me.”
Kamin said it would be better for Susan and me to go inside the castle, and he personally escorted us to our room. Just as he was about to close the door, he whispered in a low voice,
“…Even if you had said you wanted to go back, you would have stayed by my side.”
What does that mean?
Before I could ask, the door closed. Staring blankly at it for a moment, I hugged Louis tightly and asked,
“For some reason that felt really creepy. Is it just my imagination, Louie?”
Kamin has a proper, upright image, but when he whispered just now, I felt an indefinable sense of danger.
At my words, Louis complained loudly.
—I told you. You can’t ever let your guard down around the Mareschal lot. There’s definitely madness running in their blood.
“…Then why did you choose a Mareschal as your master?”
—Th-that’s… ah, I don’t know! You don’t question the beginning of love! And anyway, my master is my master now!
I narrowed my eyes at Louis’s words.
So this guy’s a looks fanatic, huh.
Meanwhile, unlike what Riena thought, Kamin was not calm.
He only appeared calm on the surface; inside, he was burning fiercely.
So much happened today.
The first person Kamin thought of was his grandfather—the man who had been Lady Aurelian’s husband.
In his later years, weakened and ill, the old man spewed nothing but venomous words at everyone. He was especially cruel to Kamin, the crown prince who, unlike himself, was loved by many.
“You can try as hard as you like, but you’ll never become an emperor acknowledged by all. Are you even superior to me in martial prowess?”
Unable to crush Kamin, who was brilliant and efficient, the only thing he could boast of was his martial strength from his youth.
Constantly belittled by his grandfather, Kamin clenched his teeth and honed his swordsmanship relentlessly.
And to think it was all the power of the ego sword.
Truly vile and pathetic to the very end—that was Kamin’s grandfather.
As Kamin bit his lip, recalling a grandfather long dead, he reflected that while everything had been terrible, it wasn’t all bad. He ran a hand through his hair.
Still, it’s fortunate. Because the ego sword chose Riena, she came to Faustine—and I met her.
Having met someone precious, what could be better than that?
Thinking that even a wretched man could leave behind one thing to be grateful for, Kamin opened the door to the lord’s chamber.
“Are you all right, Grandmother?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Lady Aurelian replied in a calm voice. In stark contrast, her room was filled with armor, swords, and bows that made one’s knees tremble just to look at them.
They were items that fully embodied her legendary reputation from her prime.
She’s serious.
Everything he’d heard was true. Once she spoke, she never took her words back. With a fiery temperament, she exploded like a volcano at anything she couldn’t accept.
She’d been speaking so gently ever since I met her that I thought age had mellowed her.
In the end, it was simply that she hadn’t yet had reason to reveal her true nature.
With a sigh, Kamin stepped closer to Lady Aurelian.
“I’m worried you might collapse from high blood pressure if you get too angry.”
“My body isn’t that frail. Don’t worry.”
Though aged, Lady Aurelian—neither rusted nor dulled—keenly grasped Kamin’s intent.
“Are you trying to stop me, Your Highness?”
Kamin fell silent for a moment, then spoke slowly.
“…You said the duke is Riena’s father. No matter how their ties were severed, he is still family, and she wouldn’t be happy to see her father hurt.”
“He trampled my agave and snapped its leaves. Do you know what that plant means to me?”
Lady Aurelian’s thin hand clenched tightly.
In her mind, a moment from the past surfaced.
Back when he was not yet emperor—when the two of them were young, speaking freely about the future.
“Do you know what this is, Aurelian?”
In the pot her lover held out was an extremely ugly plant. Triangular leaves bristling with sharp thorns. Aurelian tilted her head.
“A cactus?”
“This is a plant called agave that grows only in the northern empire. It can be used to make liquor and medicine—a precious plant. It’s indispensable to our country, but it was all burned and destroyed during the previous civil war.”
“Then we’ll grow it ourselves.”
Aurelian accepted the pot together with him and smiled softly.
“You and I can do it.”
Back then, it felt like they could do anything. As long as they supported each other, there was nothing in the world to fear.
In the end, that vow which had seemed eternal faded. The man who had sworn eternal love claimed he no longer even remembered such days, yet Lady Aurelian continued to cherish and grow the agave.
Recalling the past with a bitter heart, Lady Aurelian gave a wry smile.
“Do you find me ridiculous? Clinging alone to a fleeting heart that changes so easily, still unable to let go.”
Kamin shook his head.
“It isn’t ridiculous. I, too, can’t give up what I’ve kept in my heart. In that sense, I must take after you, Grandmother.”
At his words, Lady Aurelian widened her eyes and stared at Kamin. After a moment of silence, she asked in a slow voice,
“…What do you intend to do?”
