10.

Aeir must be waiting…

The ticking second hand felt slower than ever as it moved from mark to mark.

About ten minutes later, someone suddenly threw open the reception room door.

“Merchant Lord!”

It was Peter — his face drained of all color

“S-someone came from the kindergarten…”

“From the kindergarten?”
A strange dread tightened in Estelle’s chest.

“Y-Young Master Aeir! They said he disappeared from the kindergarten!”

“…What?”

Her ominous premonition proved true without the slightest error.

Don’t tell me… the Duke or the Emperor—

Coincidentally, it was right after Zephion had left. The thought forced even the worst possibilities into her mind.

No!

Her vision dimmed as if all the blood had drained from her body, and she staggered — but there was no time to freeze.

She had to go to the kindergarten immediately and find a clue.

“Now! Prepare a horse immediately!”

“Yes!”

There was no time to wait gracefully for a carriage. Estelle threw off both her wig and mask and swiftly mounted a horse.

“Hyah!”

She spurred it forward and rode off at a fierce pace.

***

“Master, what has you in such high spirits?”

Inside the carriage returning to the inn after meeting the head of the Erme Merchant Guild, Rodolan guild member Greg could no longer contain his curiosity and asked Zephion.

In the three years since Greg’s life had been saved by him and he began following him, this was the first time he had ever seen Zephion smile so brightly.

Now that I think about it… the Master has been acting strangely these past few weeks.

It began on the fourth day after they came down to Aren upon hearing that the Erme Guild was searching for the Rodolan Guild.

When they first heard the news, the Rodolan Guild was filled with suspicion.

That was only natural — until now, aside from a very small number of people, even guild members themselves operated without knowing the guild’s name. They identified one another solely through the symbol of the evening primrose.

Yet a merchant guild wandering around while calling out the name of a guild unknown to the outside world? It was impossible not to feel curiosity and doubt.

We came to Aren intending to eliminate them if confidential information had leaked…

What exactly had the Master seen while tailing the merchant lord?

Until then, despite his handsome face, Zephion had always carried a gloomy air — but suddenly, vitality returned to his expression.

And then today, he suddenly ordered me to tail a young member of the Erme Merchant Guild.

Greg didn’t understand the reason, but he followed the boy as instructed.

After subtly letting slip that he belonged to the Rodolan Guild, the situation naturally led to a private meeting between the merchant lord and the Master.

What on earth is he thinking? It could be a trap! How can he be so calm about this?!

He was a man whose true thoughts were impossible to read.

“Nothing special. I was simply called by a name I wanted to hear again after a long time.”

Greg wasn’t sure if this was the right way to describe it, but Zephion looked like a dog that had found its lost master. The fierce, sharp aura he once carried like a wary beast had long since vanished.

Whether he noticed his subordinate’s confusion or not, Zephion gazed out the window with pleasantly curved eyes.

In the distance — the harbor.

A young man who had just disembarked from a ship was joyfully reuniting with those who appeared to be his wife and child.

Ordinarily, Zephion was cold toward the affairs of others, yet today even unrelated scenes felt gentle to him.

I knew you were alive, Estelle.

Four years ago, Zephion could not accept Estelle’s meaningless death.

He knew the body found by the ducal house was fake.
After all, the one ordered to fabricate the corpse by the Duke had been his own father, Count Tenev.

No one in the ducal house doubted her death — not even the Duke of Astria who had ordered the false body to be prepared.

And yet Zephion refused to believe it.

Protecting Astria had been his duty since birth. But it was Zephion himself who chose Estelle over the young duke Regulus.

For the first time in his life, he had chosen his lord by his own will.

Estelle was the greatest meaning of his life.

In the end, on the day Estelle’s memorial service was held, Zephion lost the meaning of his life.

That was why he abandoned every honor he held as a knight and even his status as the young Count Tenev, choosing instead to wander.

To find Estelle.

The reason he founded a new secret guild — taking the night-blooming flower, Rodolan, as its symbol — was also solely to search for her.
He waited for the night when his star, Estelle, would rise again.

Even when I first arrived in Aren, I had nearly given up.

He could never forget the moment he saw her again at the edge of the continent after four years of wandering.
More precisely — while observing the Erme Trading Company, he had accidentally spotted Estelle leaving the building, and a shiver ran through his entire body.

Her hair color, eyes, even her name were completely different.

Yet he recognized her at once.

After that, he secretly watched over her.
He frightened off an old baron who treated her lightly, and even broke the ankle of a filthy thug who followed her through the night streets — the latter turned out to be the second son of the local lord, Baron Vernes.

During that time, he learned several surprising things.

She had a young son. Most likely… the Emperor’s child.

He did not want to admit it, but the boy resembled the Emperor astonishingly.

And judging by the innovative way the Erme Trading Company was run, he could also infer that the masked merchant lord operating it was Estelle herself.

Estelle… for you to seek me out. I couldn’t be more honored.

So he appeared before her under the name Rodolan, to once again carry out the orders of the Estelle who needed him.

And there was one more thing he learned from today’s meeting.

Lady Estelle wishes to live as a commoner.

She did not want to be called Lady, and she was hiding her identity.
Zephion wanted to respect that. Rather — he preferred it that way.

Because he remembered the hollow eyes she had while living as Empress Consort.

The Estelle he knew in childhood had been a girl shining with grand dreams.
But the “Imperial Consort” who yearned endlessly for an emperor’s love that would never come had crumbled day by day, like petals drying and falling apart.

Now, it was different.

In the eyes of the woman he met today was firm resolve aimed toward a goal.
It felt as though he had finally met the Estelle of his memories — the one who once sparkled like a star.

At last… you’ve returned to yourself.

He still did not know what her goal was.

But one thing was certain —
he did not want her trapped in the Imperial Palace again.

He wanted to help her remain here, free, and accomplish whatever she desired.

And above all, there was something even more important.

Here, there is no longer the master-servant bond between Astria and Tenev that bound my entire life… nor the Emperor who did nothing but wound Her Highness the Imperial Consort.

The disloyal desire he had long suppressed slowly began to surface.

If this feeling is no longer disloyalty…

This was a chance granted to him by the heavens.
This time, he would never let his star slip away.

***

“Aeir!”

“Mom!”

Even from afar, Estelle recognized Aeir standing in front of the kindergarten gate.
He must have returned while she was on her way — thank goodness.

Relief flooded her, yet her urgency only grew as she urged the horse forward, checking for any sign he might be hurt.

Closing the distance in an instant, Estelle leapt from the saddle as though flying — landing cleanly and steadily, like a seasoned knight.

“Aaaa, Mom!”

Only then did Aeir run toward Estelle.
It was thanks to her repeated safety lessons—never rush toward a horse no matter what.

The child buried himself in her arms. Even feeling his warm body and racing heartbeat, Estelle couldn’t calm down. She carefully checked him all over.

“Aeir, are you hurt anywhere? What happened?”

“Sorry, Mom… A really pretty bird kept making me follow it…”

Unaware of her panic, the boy excitedly described what he saw in the forest, cheeks flushed as if he’d gone on a grand adventure.

“Aeir’s mother! I’m terribly sorry. We should have watched more carefully… We didn’t notice there was a hole in the back fence big enough for the children to slip through…”

His teacher, Miss Anne, hurried over, bowing repeatedly with a trembling voice.
Her messy hair, dirt-stained skirt, and tear-swollen eyes showed how distressed she was.

On the way here, Estelle had been certain Aeir was kidnapped.
But from the child’s story and the teacher’s explanation, he had simply wandered out during playtime.

The kindergarten was partly at fault for poor maintenance…
yet Estelle realized it was also time to teach him to be more careful.