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Chapter 56
“Yes, there’s nothing worth seeing anywhere else. This place is the best.”
“I’m relieved. I was always worried that if you didn’t find anything you liked here, you wouldn’t grow attached and might leave.”
Elia looked at Alexis with a face that said, What are you talking about?
“How can you say that when there are so many things I like?”
“Hm?”
Elia chewed and swallowed the sandwich she had bitten into, then pointed at Alexis with her index finger.
“The person I like the most—our Duke—is right here. And there’s Uncle Dmitri, Uncle Campbell, Uncle Felix, Sister Jasper, Meril, Norman… So many people I like are here, and you say I don’t have anything I like?”
“Is that how it is?”
“And also, I still have so much to do here.”
“That sounds like you’re saying you’ll leave once it’s done.”
Is that what I said?
But Alexis’s face had grown serious. It was a strange expression—half angry, half sad.
Elia swallowed dryly and asked,
“Duke, would you really like me to stay here forever?”
“Isn’t that obvious? I adopted you because I intend to take responsibility for you forever. And I’m your guardian.”
She had never once thought his declaration of adoption was a light thing. Still, she had once thought that someday, after finishing what she had to do, she might leave.
“I didn’t decide lightly either. If I was going to leave, I wouldn’t have become your daughter in the first place. I told you already—I’m responsible for your marriage too.”
“Elia, why are you stretching it that far? My marriage is my own—”
“No.”
“Hm?”
“If it’s not me, you’ll never get married.”
She meant it.
This love-idiot had failed to marry in her past lives and had died three times over.
“I’m thirsty. Juice, please.”
“Ah, right.”
Alexis quickly poured juice into a glass and handed it to her.
It was orange juice.
Elia cheerfully ate her sandwich and drank the fresh juice.
For some reason, Alexis felt like he had been talked around by her, but oddly, it didn’t feel all that bad.
A month later.
The store in the capital was finally finished.
The exterior was coated in an elegant shade of purple paint, and the wide glass windows allowed the interior’s beauty to be displayed.
The entrance was made into a graceful arch, decorated with white orchids and lavender flowers along the frame.
The interior was kept as simple as possible.
All display stands were polished white furniture, and in the center, a circular island showcased the cosmetics.
Just as Elia had designed, the finished store was captured in a crystal recording orb.
She wished she could see it in person, but Camelci, the capital, was far from the North. Elia was still too young to make the journey alone.
And since Alexis was bound to the North under the emperor’s command, Elia had to stay there too.
It was all to protect both Elia and Noah.
It would be problematic if it became known that Noah was in the North, since the emperor had announced he had been sent to the White Tower.
Until Noah turned fifteen and returned to the palace, Alexis was responsible for protecting him.
That was why the emperor had tied Alexis to the North. Call it part of his grand design.
So, all business in the capital had been entrusted to Lapis.
The cosmetics shop specifically was to be managed by Sister Jasper.
When Elia visited the Tower to tell Felix about it, he went up in arms.
“It’s already hard enough to see her, and now you’re sending her to the capital?! Absolutely not!”
“But aside from Sister Jasper, there’s no one else I can trust with this.”
“You could just ask the Black Pearl Merchant Guild.”
“They admitted they don’t know cosmetics and aren’t confident.”
“Then just hire someone who does know cosmetics!”
“And trust them how?”
“…Excuse me?”
“In a world where even close ones can betray you, how am I supposed to trust some hireling not to betray me?”
“…Lady…”
“I don’t trust anyone outside of the ducal estate.”
Even someone she had loved had betrayed her.
So why couldn’t strangers?
If you’ve been betrayed even once, it becomes nearly impossible to trust again. In her third life, she hadn’t trusted anyone, even those close to her, just to avoid betrayal.
“So for you, the world is only the ducal estate?”
“And what of it?”
Felix looked at her gravely.
“Uncle Felix, the world is one where you can be stabbed in the back even while you sleep. That’s why you can’t just trust people so easily.”
She was serious, but Felix looked… sad.
“My lady.”
“Hm?”
“May I hug you once?”
“Are you crazy? No way.”
“It’s fine, I’ll hug you.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“I just feel like I should.”
“What?”
But before Felix could hug her, someone scooped Elia up.
It was Austin.
He slipped his hands under her armpits and lifted her high.
“Hey kid, come play with me.”
“What?”
Before she could even respond, Austin carried her off to his room.
And then he suddenly said,
“Wanna fly with me?”
“Fly?”
“You want to, or not?”
“…Okay.”
With her permission, Austin smiled, held her tightly, and leapt straight out the window.
She’d said she wanted to fly, not jump out a window!
“Are we really flying?”
“Yep, we’re about to.”
With one hand, Austin formed a spell. His body rose into the air, light as though riding the clouds—he was truly flying.
As they broke through the clouds and descended, a vast ocean spread out below.
“Wow.”
It was breathtaking.
On the sparkling surface, dolphins swam.
A pod leaped, cutting through the waves.
Above them, seagulls glided across the sea breeze.
“How is it? Amazing, right?”
“It’s wonderful.”
In Austin’s arms, Elia floated through the sky for what felt like ages.
It was an unforgettable experience.
By the time they returned to the Tower, the sun was setting.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Did what?”
“You knew I was in a bad mood and took me out to cheer me up.”
“You know, for a kid, you work way too much.”
“Me?”
“List your daily routine.”
“Eat breakfast, office, lunch, lab, dinner, office…”
“See?”
“But I have so much to do—”
“At your age, you’re supposed to play. If all you do is work, you won’t grow.”
She realized she couldn’t recall any proper memories of playing. She didn’t even know how.
“…What should I play?”
“Why ask me? You should figure it out.”
“What did you play with when you were little, Tower Master?”
“Me?”
Austin thought for a moment.
“Magic, mostly, I guess…”
“I don’t know magic.”
“Normally, you’d play with kids your age.”
“Kids my age?”
“Yeah, friends. Don’t you have any?”
Not quite peers, but she did have people she was close with.
Like Noah, or Rasley.
But Rasley lived in the capital, so she didn’t see him often. Mostly, it was just bickering with Noah.
“You only get this time once. Enjoy it.”
“…I’ll think about it.”
Elia returned to the ducal estate with this heavy thought on her mind.
Over dinner with Alexis and Noah, she casually asked,
“Duke, what did you do for fun at my age?”
“Me? I mostly sparred with the knights in the training yard.”
So, no different from Noah.
Noah basically lived in the training yard outside of his study hours with Austin.
“Why are you asking?” Noah asked, frowning.
“The Tower Master said I work too much. He said at my age, working all the time makes no sense.”
“He’s right.”
Alexis’s expression grew serious too.
“Elia, you really do work too much.”
Alexis listed off her schedule himself.
Noah’s eyes went wide.
“You really do only work!”
“It’s all so I can get rich.”
“So that’s why you’re not growing taller.”
“What does that have to do with my height?”
“All you do is eat and work—you’ve got no time to exercise.”
“Exercise?”
“Of course. You need exercise to be healthy.”
Come to think of it, she didn’t exercise at all.
At best, she took light walks.
