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Chapter: 20
I’ll Give You New Memories
“Ahem!”
“Where do you think you’re going, Serena?”
“Over there!”
Compared to the island, the city of Salmon Province was shabby in every respect. The man looked toward where Serena was pointing with an indifferent gaze, then clicked his tongue. He had spotted something.
“Tsk. Let’s go somewhere else. I can already tell what’ll happen if we go there.”
“No! Stepmother, help me. Please?”
“…Can you really promise to just look? From where I’m standing, I doubt it.”
For once, the Duke and Duchess were of the same mind.
Against the wall along a shaded street were rows of paper boxes, and inside them small creatures stretched out their front paws and wriggled about. They looked like puppies only a few months old, brought out to find new owners.
Serena’s eyes sparkled.
“Of course!”
“Miss, don’t lie. We all know you’ll sit down and refuse to move until you’re holding one.”
“Even you too, Sir Bay? Stepmother, I’m turning eight soon. One puppy should be fine, right? Please take my side! Please?”
“I knew it,” muttered Luphelion, clicking his tongue.
As if her cuteness alone wasn’t enough, Serena kept humming about wanting puppies and kittens whenever she got the chance.
But the Duke never gave his permission.
He said that if she truly liked animals, she could name the foal in the stables however she pleased. But what good was that? What Serena wanted was a small, cute animal that wagged its tail the moment it saw its owner.
A thick horse’s tail was far too big for a seven-year-old.
Aile tried to soothe her.
“Serena, taking care of a puppy that’s just been weaned isn’t easy. Once you bring it home, it’ll insist on climbing onto your bed and cause all sorts of trouble. Would you really be okay with it tearing up your toys and books?”
“O–Of course!”
“Judging by that stutter, no. Come on, let’s go somewhere else.”
“Pleeease? Just one. I won’t insist on taking them all.”
The Duke looked incredulous.
“Is that how you negotiate, Serena?”
“I won’t dump the puppy-care duties on Sir Bay!”
She was desperate not to miss this chance.
From what she could tell, her father was flustered, trying to bring back her stepmother who had run away. This was her opportunity to get a puppy. And… if she had a cute puppy, maybe her stepmother would pay her attention more often too?
“……”
“Dad! Hic… Stepmother, please take my side. Please?”
Pretending to cry without a single tear, Serena sniffled. Aile almost laughed at the absurdity, but instead gently stroked the girl’s beige hair.
“What power do I even have?”
“What you’re saying means Dad will do whatever you ask! Please, that white, fluffy puppy. If we don’t take it, I’ll keep thinking about it!”
“You’ll ‘keep thinking about it’? Where did you learn an expression like that?”
“Anyway!”
Even while arguing, Serena slowly edged closer to the puppies.
A well-dressed man and woman, accompanied by a knight—clearly wealthy customers. Seeing an opportunity, the seller hurriedly spoke up.
“They were just weaned a few days ago. Their mother thinks they’re grown and won’t share her food anymore. With all the biting and shoving, we can’t keep them together, so we have to send them off. Pick one!”
“…We walked right into this,” the Duke muttered.
Sensing that he was inevitably going to have to take a puppy home, he sighed.
“I’ll be good. Please? Please? Please?”
In the end, the adults lost.
Out of the eight puppies, Serena chose the smallest and cutest one and cradled it in her arms. It was snow-white, without a single spot.
She seemed to like how it wagged its tail without any shyness and smeared clear nasal mucus all over her sleeves and clothes.
Even after returning to the hotel, Serena was busy playing with the puppy. She poured water into a bowl and squealed over how cute it looked lapping it up, lying flat on her stomach on the carpet to watch—until she got scolded.
“You said you’d behave. When are you going to mind your decorum?”
“Can’t you let it slide just for today?”
“…Should we take it back?”
Aile asked with a smile.
“Serena, what are you going to name the puppy?”
“Hehe, I’ll think about it. I’m going to raise it into a brave hunting dog that can even catch tigers, so it needs a cool name.”
Sir Bay burst her bubble.
“A dog’s breed is determined at birth, Miss. Even when fully grown, this one will only be good at wagging its tail and acting cute.”
“Hmph! You won’t know until it grows up.”
The Duke spoke to Serena as she bickered with his knight.
“Serena, listen carefully.”
“Yes?”
“Starting tomorrow, you’ll return to the island first and resume your postponed lessons. If you don’t, you’ll never be allowed to come back to Salmon Province. I overlooked your running away without permission, and you even got a cute puppy—so you should listen to me, right?”
Serena, who had been trying to catch the puppy’s wagging tail, widened her eyes.
“Then what about Stepmother?”
“…She’ll rest here for the time being.”
As he spoke those sorrowful words, his eyebrows drooped despite himself. With that sentence, he had confirmed his return.
Whether he liked it or not, he had duties as the Duke. Even after perfectly teaching everything to Serena so she could inherit them—long into the future.
That was one of the reasons Luphelion Cran kept living.
“Then I’ll bring my teachers here and stay too…!”
“That won’t do. Come on, say your goodbyes now. Everything will be decided based on what you do from here on.”
Separated from Aile once again overnight, Serena’s face crumpled.
“Hiiing, Stepmother. You won’t forget me, right?”
“How could I ever forget you? I’ll always pray for you.”
The Duke had no intention of indulgently watching their tender moment. From the start, wasn’t he excluded from the understanding the two of them shared? Unable to forget that resentment, he teased his daughter rather spitefully.
“If you don’t study hard, Stepmother won’t attend your eighth birthday party.”
“T–That’s unfair….”
“It doesn’t seem like you’re in a position to say that.”
“Hmph! If I get recognized as a genius, then what will you say?”
“I’ll just say you did well.”
“Wow….”
At his words, Serena sniffed, but she had no clever retort.
Her annoying father was an overwhelmingly large presence, far too difficult for a young girl to catch up to. Getting her stepmother to run away this time was her only victory—and even that was fading as time passed.
Just you wait. I’ll study harder so Dad can’t ignore Stepmother anymore. I—I can do it!
That evening, Aile couldn’t fall asleep early. It was hard to believe that the three of them had gone to the market together so peacefully.
It feels like a dream. I thought the worst would happen if he got angry, but I’m safe.
What should she call this feeling? Like being submerged in lukewarm water—calm and secure? Even if everything before her eyes blurred, she didn’t think she’d be afraid.
After extinguishing all but two candles, that feeling deepened. She absentmindedly gazed at the dark window, then startled.
Even when te light disappears, perfect darkness doesn’t arrive. Somewhere, traces of light remain, allowing vague shapes to be seen.
For example—Luphelion reflected in the window, standing behind the sofa where she sat.
“When did you get here?!”
“…A while ago. You seemed lost in thought, so I waited without waking you.”
Only now did the man speak of his waiting.
She stared at him, eyes wide. Without brighter light, she couldn’t discern the deep, dark color of his eyes.
But that was fine. He was… here, sharing this space with her. Maybe it was okay to put off identifying the color of his eyes.
Aile leaned back further into the velvet cushion at her back, as if its soft texture might hide her within it.
Yet she stayed where she was, and he remained still—neither approaching nor retreating.
The distance between them remained unchanged.
“……”
“Aile.”
“Yes?”
Though he called her first, Luphelion said nothing more, standing silently in the dim room.
Strangely, the silence wasn’t uncomfortable.
Without realizing it, Aile slightly lifted her chin to look at his face. Even in the dark, the outlines of his handsome features were faintly visible.
…That didn’t seem important either. If she wasn’t even looking at the color of his eyes blinking in the darkness, what did appearances matter?
She lowered her head again. Beneath her sleeve, she saw her husband’s bare hand, ungloved. That hand suddenly extended toward her.
Lup…
She wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out. And even if she spoke—would it matter? No elegant words could compare to his moonlight-pale hand.
An indescribably strange moment.
Aile didn’t sharply turn away to avoid him. But she also didn’t reach out and grab his hand. Just as she began to worry that his arm might go numb, Luphelion finally spoke.
“I’ve been thinking carefully about what you said yesterday.”
“……”
“Even if it’s late now, if I make the effort, things can improve. Don’t you think?”
Can they?
Aile couldn’t bring herself to answer yes. She hadn’t forgotten, even for a moment, how coldly he had treated her.
With eyes wavering endlessly, she replied.
“No.”
“Aile.”
“If I take your hand and return to the island, it might look like you’ve changed for a while. But someday, you’ll go back to how you were. You’ll close your mouth, and I’ll live like dust floating in the air. That kind of everyday life—because it’s familiar to both of us.”
Unable to run to her as she spoke clearly from the sofa, he cried out where he stood.
“No, I won’t do that again. I—!”
“You’re too dangerous a person for me.”
“Aile!”
“So… please leave. Yes, that’s right. If time passes like this, I might collapse into your arms and fall silent. Telling you to do whatever you want—just like before. And then someday, I’ll even forget this ever happened. That would just be returning to the past, wouldn’t it?”
