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chapter 41
“I didn’t expect Rei to come.”
In the carriage returning to the Baraota Manor, Uriella said this, sounding surprised.
“There’s a guest at the mansion.”
“Pardon?”
Uriella couldn’t understand the connection between a guest arriving at the mansion and Rei coming to fetch her.
“Riel, because it’s your guest.”
“My guest? Did my older sisters or Daisy come?”
Uriella asked this because she knew no one would come to see her except her sisters or Daisy.
“No. Someone else.”
“Someone else? Then who?”
No matter how she thought, Uriella couldn’t figure out who the guest could be.
“Apparently, it’s your maternal uncle.”
“My maternal uncle?”
“Yes. He’s the younger brother of the Marquise Longo. He came to see you. I considered sending word to the royal family first, but if it turned out to be false, strange rumors might spread.”
Uriella hadn’t yet sent a letter to the Raia family. She had postponed that after dealing with matters concerning the Sylvestri Marquises.
“He came to see me even though I hadn’t contacted him? That never happened before…”
Before her reincarnation, nothing involving her mother had ever happened, so Uriella’s thoughts deepened.
“It must be because the Crown Prince and I returned to the past knowing the future. Ever since the return, it feels like I’m slowly discovering facts I didn’t know before.”
“Riel.”
The call of the Duke of Baraota pulled her from her thoughts.
“Yes?”
“Are you nervous?”
“I just have a lot on my mind. Why he came to see me, and how he found out that I’m my mother’s daughter.”
Uriella worried that the person who came to see her might make strange demands simply because they knew the name of Baraota Manor.
“Before coming to the royal palace, I greeted him briefly. He didn’t seem like that kind of person. Also, he’s not from the Empire but a noble of the Estain Kingdom.”
Uriella nodded at the Duke’s words. Meanwhile, the carriage had arrived at Baraota Manor.
Count Raia, anxious, kept sipping tea while waiting for the Duchess of Baraota.
“He came boldly, yet I feel more nervous than ever.”
The thought of possibly meeting the family he had been searching for decades made him struggle to calm his mind.
“The Duke and Duchess of Baraota have arrived.”
Soon after the maid’s voice, the door opened, and the Duke and Uriella entered.
“Oh… how can she look so much alike…”
Silver hair, deep blue eyes like the night sky, and a fragile aura—Count Raia froze at the sight of Uriella, who so closely resembled his sister.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Uriella Baraota. You said you’re my maternal uncle?”
“I suppose so.”
The Duke of Baraota alternated his gaze between Uriella and Count Raia.
“Even if she’s the daughter of Count Raia, there’s no sense of incongruity in her appearance.”
Her neatly kept silver hair, blue eyes reminiscent of the midnight sea, and the subtle aura she carried—they resembled Raia’s sister so closely that if they weren’t related, it would seem like divine trickery.
“However, I would like to speak alone with her.”
“That won’t be possible.”
The Duke of Baraota firmly rejected Count Raia’s request.
“She’s not in good health. It would be unsafe to leave her alone.”
Uriella had shown signs of hyperventilation in the carriage back to the capital, which concerned the Duke. Holding her hand carefully, he spoke.
“I understand. Do you happen to have anything that could serve as proof?”
But Uriella’s thoughts were somewhat different.
“I can’t rely on appearance alone. He might have used magic.”
“This is a portrait my sister painted before leaving the Raia family.”
Count Raia showed the portrait he had kept. Uriella studied it calmly.
“These earrings…”
“Oh, those were a gift from my grandmother to my sister. Even though she left everything else behind when she left home, she kept these.”
At Raia’s words, Uriella called Madel.
“Madel.”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Could you bring me the one by the bedside?”
“Understood.”
Soon, Madel returned with the earrings.
“These are heirlooms left by your mother. Her most treasured items. They appear to be the same as those in the portrait.”
Before Uriella finished speaking, tears fell from Count Raia’s eyes.
“Oh… my sister had a daughter.”
He quickly tried to compose his emotions.
“My grandmother cherished our siblings above all else. That’s why she treasured this so much. Was my sister happy here?”
“…She must have been happy. She always told us about how fortunate it was in her life to meet all four of us and to meet my father.”
Longo Marquise had changed after her mother’s death, so Uriella thought that at least while alive, she must have been happy.
“That’s a relief. I always hoped that the place she left would be better than the life where she had to live quietly.”
“Was my mother not welcomed in the Raia household?”
Count Raia exhaled deeply.
“My father was very eager for children. Perhaps because of that, he was never satisfied with us. I also wanted to leave the Raia family several times, but I endured it in case my sister returned.”
“I see. May I ask how you found out about me and came here?”
“The child of someone close to my sister came to see me. It was the first time meeting him since he was a baby. He said that my appearance was very similar to the Duchess of Baraota.”
Count Raia had to modify his words slightly because he could not disclose information about Conrad.
“I see. Do you plan to meet all my sisters?”
“If possible, I would like to. And also visit my sister’s grave.”
“Ah… there is no grave for your mother.”
Uriella’s answer shocked not only Count Raia but even the Duke of Baraota.
“Riel. What do you mean by that?”
The Duke remembered the Marquise Longo’s grave clearly; he had attended the funeral.
“I clearly laid flowers at the grave, so how can there be none?”
“…When people are obsessed with money, they sell everything. My deceased father sold everything, even the grave and land… I tried to stop it, but…”
Uriella chuckled, her eyes red.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me before? If I knew, I would have searched for the body and the grave.”
Urgency seeped from the Duke’s voice.
“It went to a place we can never reach again.”
“Do you remember anything?”
“…It’s not something I can talk about in front of the uncle I’m meeting for the first time in over two hundred thousand days.”
Uriella deliberately changed the subject, leaving the Duke and Count Raia unable to press further.
“You must be tired from the long journey. Let’s rest a bit and continue later. We also need to share this news with my sisters and Daisy.”
Uriella stood.
“Victor, could you prepare a guest room for my maternal uncle? Is that okay, Rei?”
“Of course.”
With the Duke’s permission, Uriella quickly left the parlor.
“I hope you’ll rest comfortably while staying at the manor.”
After the formal greeting, the Duke followed her.
“Riel! Riel!”
Uriella ran ahead, seemingly not hearing the Duke’s voice.
“Riel!”
The Duke urgently caught up with her.
“Calm down. What if you hurt yourself again?”
Uriella lowered her head at the Duke’s concerned gaze, trying desperately to hold back her tears.
“…I always show this side only to Rei.”
“This side?”
“All the family secrets I want to hide are all exposed.”
She felt ashamed that she always appeared weak in front of Reits.
“I wanted to show only a good side… I’m not a child, yet I keep showing only this side.”
“You’ve gone through so much, it’s natural. Pretending to be okay is worse. By the way, tell me about your mother’s grave. What happened?”
Uriella hesitated a moment before speaking.
“He sold her body and land. I don’t know where exactly. Suddenly, men in robes came and took the gravestone as well. No matter how I asked who they were, they didn’t answer. They just repeated that even they didn’t know.”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“I asked my sisters to investigate, but they found nothing. I just assume it was moved to a medical academy or some similar place.”
The Duke of Baraota tightened his hold on Uriella. She buried her face in his chest and silently shed tears.
