I parted my lips and quietly began to speak.
“I'm okay. It was just an accident.”
Fortunately, my voice didn't choke up embarrassingly.
“Leon saved me right away, so I wasn’t hurt. I guess it’s because I had a lot of pent-up stress.”
I forced a smile, but my grandfather’s face, staring at me, didn’t soften.
Why, why is he like this.
Feeling uneasy, I rambled awkwardly.
“Grandfather, I’m really fine, so you can go back and rest. What if you catch a cold from me?”
Even at a joke he would’ve normally laughed at, Grandfather stayed the same.
“……Child.”
Instead, his grip on my hand tightened.
“I only ever wanted you to be happy.”
I couldn’t quite grasp what my grandfather was trying to say.
“……Was I wrong to think that?”
“What do you mean by that!”
Startled, I quickly shook my head.
“I grew up well thanks to your love. Just like you used to say, I’ve become a fine adult. So why… why are you saying this now?”
But there wasn’t a glimmer of light in my grandfather’s eyes, darkened by shadow.
“……I heard about Ricardo.”
Still, I didn’t really know what he meant.
Ricardo having feelings for Idette? But Grandfather already knew that.
If not that… then the incident at the lake?
Since the Duke had left his fiancée to save a complete stranger, of course word would have reached Grandfather.
Not knowing what to say, I only mouthed soundlessly.
I wanted to call off the engagement with Ricardo.
But would Grandfather want that?
It was a promise made in the war he shared with the former Duke.
……Am I even worth that much to Grandfather?
“Grandfather, I…”
Words didn’t come easily. My throat tightened again. I forced open my dry lips.
“……The truth is, the Duke already has someone in his heart.”
The words slipped out before I realized it.
Grandfather’s eyes slowly began to tremble at my words. I lowered my gaze, unable to meet his eyes.
“You said living as the Duchess would be my happiness, but I’m not so sure anymore.”
“…….”
“I just…”
I wanted to return to where I used to be.
But I couldn’t finish that last sentence. It wasn’t something Bianca, whom Grandfather loved so dearly, should say.
“I think I’m not a good enough granddaughter to fulfill your wish.”
Grandfather didn’t have much time left. And yet, I was whining like this.
Only then did I snap out of my daze.
“I-I shouldn’t have said that! The Duke treats me well. Just like you said, he’s gentle―.”
“Child.”
Grandfather’s hand was trembling pitifully.
“……Bianca, you’ve never once been an unworthy granddaughter to me. If anything, you were more than I deserved.”
For a moment, my body froze.
With a pained expression, Grandfather opened his mouth.
“I was wrong. I thought you wanted that position. Trapped in the past, unable to face the present.”
“…….”
“……Bianca, I’m sorry. I placed a heavy burden on you.”
With a dazed look, Grandfather pulled me into his arms.
The familiar scent filled my nose. With trembling hands, he embraced me.
“……You’ve been through so much.”
Grandfather gently patted my back.
For some reason, tears began to fall.
* * *
“Cedric.”
Blua called Cedric as he caressed his sleeping granddaughter’s cheek.
“Yes.”
“……I wanted to protect you both until the end of my life.”
Blua fastened the buttons of his disheveled uniform and stood up. His uniform gleamed with countless medals—marks of the life he had lived.
“I suppose I must acknowledge it now. That time has passed.”
Before Cedric stood the perfect soldier. The general who once commanded the Empire.
The hero who restored peace to the land—Blua Roygin. A moment when his name resurfaced again.
“We’ll have to bring your coronation forward.”
Blua donned his formal hat and started to walk.
“Does that mean―”
“It means it’s time for me to retire. It seems my use ended with the war fifty years ago.”
“……If Bianca heard what you just said, she’d be absolutely delighted.”
Even at Cedric’s words, Blua’s face remained unmoved. Paul, standing in the hallway, bowed his head to Blua.
“My lord, the carriage is ready.”
“Good. Thank you.”
Blua climbed into the carriage with a faint smile.
“This will be my final duty as the Marquis of Roygin.”
It was a perfect retirement ceremony.
* * *
“I don’t want to take the medicine.”
“Are you the lady’s personal doctor?”
As I sulked and pouted my lips, Emily seized the moment and slipped the medicine spoon into my mouth.
“I usually want to honor your requests, my lady, but not this time! You absolutely have to take your medicine!”
Before I could even protest, Emily popped a piece of candy into my mouth.
“Bianca, you’ve got a good maid.”
Rayler mumbled quietly as she glanced at Emily’s retreating back while leaving the room. Then she examined my face from side to side and let out a deep sigh.
“Are you really okay?”
“I said I’m fine. Everyone’s just overreacting…”
But Rayler’s expression remained grim.
“I should’ve come back from the West no matter what. What on earth made you ride the same boat as Idette!”
I half-listened to her words as I rolled the candy in my mouth.
“Was the trip fun?”
“Fun, my foot. Can’t you tell I rushed back because of you?”
“You didn’t have to come.”
“You really are!”
Rayler pulled on my cheek as if offended.
“What would you have done if I almost drowned?”
Her words left me speechless. Only then did she let go of my cheek.
“I mean it. I’m only being nice because you’re sick. Otherwise, no mercy.”
I rubbed my stinging cheek and let out a small laugh without thinking. Rayler sighed deeply and laid me down on the bed.
“Still, I’m glad. At least you weren’t seriously hurt.”
“……”
“Do you know how shocked I was when I heard? I was peacefully picking out your gift, not knowing anything, and then I heard that—honestly!”
“So, did you get me the gift?”
“When would I have had the time! I came straight to the capital as soon as I heard!”
Rayler thumped her chest as if frustrated.
“Do you know what I was thinking in the carriage?”
“What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking about how to get rid of that Hestia woman without anyone noticing! So what!”
Rayler boldly declared her desire to assassinate a member of the royal family.
……Still, I was kind of touched.
“And that damn Duke too. How could he ignore his own fiancée?”
As Rayler fumed, I narrowed my eyes.
“How do you know about that?”
“How do you think? The rumor’s already everywhere! The streets are all abuzz with the Duke’s scandal. He saved his lover while leaving his fiancée behind!”
Unable to contain her anger, Rayler paced the room several times. Biting her thumbnail, she still couldn’t calm down and finally let out a scream.
“No matter how I think about it, I can’t forgive it. How could he do something like that, leaving you behind? Hah! A person was drowning!”
Then Rayler strode toward me and shouted.
“Let’s break off the engagement.”
I never expected those words to come from Rayler.
“Half the world is men. Even across the sea in the Kingdom of Orphen, there are plenty of handsome ones. You’re too good for that snake, Bianca. And take this opportunity to improve your taste in men.”
Rayler’s grip tightened on my shoulders.
“Yeah.”
“I knew it from the start. You’re way too good for—what? What did you just say…?”
“I’m going to do as you say.”
Rayler’s eyes widened.
I had never intended to keep the engagement anyway.
It was for the best. He’d caused this much of a scandal already.
* * *
The room was full of bouquets and letters.
Just as Rayler had said, it seemed the rumors had spread seriously. I was getting letters of concern not only from relatives I barely knew but also from people I hadn’t been particularly close with.
But among them, there wasn’t a single letter from Ricardo. Instead, I received a letter from Hestia.
She wrote that there was nothing wrong with the ship, and the weather had been the issue that day.
……Do I look like a fool?
I pushed aside the letters and gifts piled high on the table. Then I noticed a suspicious letter marked with the Sun’s emblem.
Could it be…
The moment I hastily opened the envelope, a complex pattern floated in the air and began to form someone’s silhouette.
Soon, a silver-hued image became clear.
……Peril?
“It’s been a while.”
Peril greeted me as I stared at him in surprise.