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Chapter 26
The next day, Vivian went with the two to the garden.
In one quiet, sunlit corner of the garden, a gravestone stood.
Isela Edelbein
Vivian briefly let go of Rahel’s hand and took out paper flowers from her bag.
She had stubbornly picked them up and gathered them yesterday, despite Rahel trying to stop her.
Because of that, when Vivian let go of her hand, Rahel flinched slightly but soon stood quietly, waiting.
Kalz gazed at Vivian, who carefully pinned the paper flowers down with stones so the wind wouldn’t blow them away.
They were the flowers Isela had loved—the ones she had once woven into a crown for him.
He had never told Vivian about that flower, so Rahel must have been the one to tell her.
A child who remembered the flowers her mother loved would, of course, have wanted to visit her mother’s grave.
Kalz belatedly realized this truth and swallowed the emotions rising inside him at his own foolishness.
He broke the silence and asked Vivian:
“Do you know how to honor the dead?”
“Yes. Whenever I pray to my mom, I do it like this.”
Vivian nodded and brought her small hands together, showing him.
“Good, just do it the way you always have.”
As Kalz bowed his head, Vivian followed suit.
Watching Vivian, Rahel also lowered her head.
After the rustling of leaves brushed by the spring wind sounded a few times, Rahel instinctively turned her eyes—and met Kalz’s gaze.
At that moment, her heart dropped as she recalled the sound of her grandfather’s sobs at Isela’s funeral.
She quickly bowed her head again, but—
“Rahel.”
Kalz’s voice was already following after her.
[To save her, Isela, you did this…!]
The phantom voice in her ears made her heart pound and her breath hitch.
She wanted to run away right then and there—but she couldn’t.
Because Vivian was holding her hand so carefully. She couldn’t abandon this child and flee.
“Your mother would be happy to see you.”
But the voice that followed, and the look in his eyes, held neither the anger nor the unbearable grief Rahel had always imagined.
“If I had known, I would have brought you here sooner.”
It was deep longing.
That feeling only grew stronger when their eyes met.
Rahel stared blankly as Kalz gently brushed the gravestone as though stroking a child’s head.
“I thought… you were afraid of me. But that was just my cowardly excuse.”
“……”
“The truth is, I didn’t have the courage to face you. Every time I looked at you, I couldn’t breathe, thinking that I was the one who killed your mother.”
Kalz’s eyes twisted painfully with self-mockery and regret.
Yet in them, there was no resentment or anger.
At that moment, Rahel realized for the first time how much she resembled her grandfather.
The sorrow in those blue eyes.
“I regretted it all my life. That I let your mother go, that way, that day…”
“……”
“But I’ve only just now realized those regrets were already too late. And that when this moment passes, I’ll only regret it again.”
His hand, which had been endlessly caressing the gravestone, finally stilled. He turned his head toward Rahel and continued.
“I should not have let my grief consume me and left you so alone.”
“……”
“I’m sorry.”
At those words, Rahel’s eyes wavered like a stormy sea.
Kalz’s gaze trembled too, as did the lips that had been speaking so steadily.
He moved his lips for a long time before finally whispering:
“…This foolish old man realized it far too late.”
Facing her grandfather’s true feelings at last, Rahel didn’t know what to do.
Did I want to hear these words? Or am I angry? Or maybe…
She didn’t know. Only that her throat ached.
Rahel turned away, refusing to be swept up by the emotions welling inside her. Then she ran.
Kalz watched her retreating figure with bitter eyes but did not call out to her.
What remained by his side was Vivian.
“The young lady doesn’t hate you, Duke. It’s more like… when you quarrel with your father, then reconcile, and things are awkward for a while afterward.”
“……”
“She’s been hurting for a very long time, so it’ll take even longer for her.”
“……”
“But… you’ll wait for her, won’t you?”
The thoughtful golden eyes of the child seemed to gently soothe him.
Looking into those eyes, Kalz let out a small laugh and nodded.
“…Of course.”
As long as needed—even longer than Vivian had waited—he could wait.
At that, Vivian beamed.
“Then I’ll wait with you.”
“…With me?”
“Oh, after I go find Rahel first, of course.”
The girl pointed in the direction Rahel had run and asked for his permission.
Kalz gladly nodded, and Vivian dashed off in Rahel’s direction, waving a bright smile back at him.
As her pink hair fluttered into the distance, Kalz’s eyes grew as calm as an afternoon lake.
“…Be well, Isela.”
Now, he felt he could leave behind the past he could never undo and live in a present without her.
More than that, he had begun to wonder about the children’s future.
“We’ll be well, too.”
After offering his final farewell, Kalz took a step down the path where the children had already gone ahead.
Searching the mansion for Rahel, Vivian spotted a familiar figure in the library.
Rahel was crouched between the bookshelves.
“So you were here?”
Vivian didn’t bother hiding her footsteps and sat down beside her.
Rahel didn’t look up, but she didn’t move away either.
Gauging Rahel’s mood for a moment, Vivian spoke carefully.
“Rahel, did you run off earlier because you were embarrassed?”
“……”
“Or was it because you’re angry at the Duke?”
Rahel gave no answer, no reaction.
Her chest felt like it might burst, but she didn’t want to show this side of herself to Vivian.
Still, Vivian didn’t give up.
“I want to know how you feel, Rahel.”
“……”
“Because if I don’t, I won’t know what to say to you.”
Vivian wanted to see and comfort the emotions Rahel herself couldn’t understand. That sincerity was in her careful tone.
Suddenly, Rahel remembered something Vivian had once said:
[Friends share their true feelings. When one is sad, the other comforts them. When one is angry, the other takes their side. They even share secrets they can’t tell anyone else. That’s how you become closer friends.]
Even raw, unrefined emotions—even unstable confusion—
Would you understand me anyway?
Hesitating, her lips parting and closing, Rahel finally raised her head.
“…I don’t know, either.”
Whether she was happy or sad, what she wanted to do with her grandfather—she didn’t know.
Vivian blinked in surprise at the confusion flickering in Rahel’s eyes. Then she crouched down in the same posture and whispered.
“Then until you figure it out, I’ll stay by your side.”
“……”
“If you cry, I’ll comfort you. If you laugh, I’ll laugh with you. If you’re angry, I’ll be angry with you.”
“……”
“Because I’m on your side.”
At that moment, Vivian’s amber eyes curved gently, glowing in the light like jewels brighter than anything else.
Looking into them, the turbulence in Rahel’s eyes began to calm.
Even in her confusion, there was one feeling Rahel was sure of in that moment.
Those eyes shining toward her…
She liked them very, very much.
