Episode 108
“What? Master Moghold is in critical condition?”
I only found out the next morning that Len and Ernst had both left the hotel.
I had thought all that was left was to apologize to them and honestly confess my feelings, so I couldn’t help but be flustered.
“He was plagued by communications from the Tower all day, and later, the red summoning orb rang. The atmosphere was unusual.”
I shot Callisteon a slightly suspicious look and asked.
“Then why did Ernst leave without saying goodbye? Don’t tell me you chased him off, Cal?”
Callisteon hesitated for a moment but eventually spoke.
“Ernst… it seems he overheard our conversation outside the door yesterday.”
What conversation…?
But after a moment of racking my memory, I soon remembered.
It was clearly from when we were both insisting who the baby looked like.
I was so stunned I was left speechless.
“…I knew I sensed something then. But I didn’t want to hide it any longer. The Crown Prince asked me to make some other excuse to you, but I have no intention of making excuses… or apologizing to you.”
“Carl…”
I was the one who should have been apologizing.
It was something I should have done from the moment multiple men stepped forward claiming to be the father.
Even if it was something Louise had done in the past, it was my burden to bear, since I had the happiness of holding and raising Frilis in her stead.
So I wasn’t angry with Callisteon. Just…
‘I feel too sorry for Ernst.’
Was it just Ernst?
If Callisteon was Prilis’s real father, then he too had every right to resent me.
How absurd must it have been for him, knowing I had considered another man as a marriage partner instead of him.
But Callisthene, on the contrary, curled his lips into a smile.
“That Tower Master bastard gave Frilis a necklace as a present. To be honest, I was full of the urge to just discard it, but I put it on her, thinking of it as an expensive shield.”
“…Thank you, Carl.”
In the end, that’s what I had to say.
It was the only thing I could say.
Three days passed since then, but Ernst still hadn’t returned.
‘Did he become certain that Frilis wasn’t his child?’
Because the baby resembled Carl’s looks, as he claimed?
‘Or had Ernst secretly suspected that he might not be the father?’
While I was making these various conjectures, I felt very uncomfortable, but I didn’t have the courage to contact him first.
After all, even in the diary I had diligently checked for a while, I hadn’t found a single piece of evidence that Ernst was the father.
Meanwhile, Len’s voice, which contacted me about once a day, was deeply depressed each time.
Master Moghold’s condition seemed truly poor, to the point that even Callisteon was worried about him.
“…This might sound cold, but the former Tower Master is elderly. I wonder if that bastard Ren is forcing things, trying to hold onto someone who should be let go. No matter how excellent his abilities are, his magical power isn’t infinite.”
But I couldn’t say anything about that.
From my position of secretly fearing meeting Moghold, agreeing with Callisteon’s opinion felt too cowardly.
‘If Ren wants to hold on to his Master that much, who am I to interfere…’
We were having a busy time in Edessa in our own way.
Recovering from childbirth without Len’s help and occasionally looking after the baby was quite taxing enough.
Just over a week later, a happy event occurred.
Frilis, whom I had been waiting for, wondering when she would finally make eye contact, finally opened her eyes wide and sparkling.
“My goodness…”
The wet nurse came running over, making a fuss, while I was with Callisteon.
Beneath the baby’s pink eyelashes, the golden family’s red eyes sparkled.
They were incredibly round and large eyes.
My daughter Frilis truly looked like a living doll.
Of course, since I had been worried the baby might be another man’s and not Callisteon’s, Prilis’s red eyes made me feel a little uneasy too.
But meeting those eyes that resembled mine made my heart pound with joy.
“Red eyes.”
Callisteon shook his head from side to side.
“Since she’s our daughter, it’s prettier that she takes after you, of course… but at this point, I think I’m allowed to be a little jealous too.”
Despite his words, he looked immensely happy.
Disregarding the eyes of those around us, our lips met.
Perhaps from being attached to me all the time, his body temperature, now similar to mine, overlapped affectionately.
By the time he pulled away after freely tasting my breath, the wet nurse had already taken the baby back.
Callisteon spoke up in a worried voice.
“Really… if this continues, I’ll never have the face to see His Imperial Majesty again. I think it’s about time I visited him and begged for forgiveness.”
“You can’t, Carl.”
I still remembered how the Callisteon from the novel was killed by Rurik, so I absolutely could not allow it.
The probability of Rurik harming him, even the slightest, must not exist.
“Ru.”
Callisteon kissed my forehead tenderly.
“Look at our daughter. You’ve given me everything. Although it took some time, you’ve forgiven my rudeness in the end…”
…Rudeness?
I couldn’t recall any moment where he had been rude, so I hesitated for a moment, unable to follow the conversation.
He held my hand and said.
“If it were during my time as a prince, no offering would have gained his forgiveness… but fortunately, he is now the Emperor. He will likely receive Babenberg’s sincerity more gladly than before. Don’t worry.”
That doesn’t seem right…
I told him about the plan I had long devised to persuade him.
I explained that no matter how angry Rurik was, he wouldn’t be able to harm me or the baby, so I would visit him separately later to persuade him, and I asked Babenberg to simply submit a letter of courtship for now.
“You want to marry while hiding our baby from His Majesty the Emperor, my family?”
Callisteon had granted every request of mine until now, but this time he shook his head firmly.
“I can’t do that. I admit the order was wrong. I’ve said it repeatedly, I am reflecting. But if I had known you were coming here intending to hide the baby all along, I would never have agreed.”
I breathed in discreetly.
So, the ‘rudeness’ Callisteon was talking about seemed to refer to crossing the line with me before marriage.
But I had never heard any words of apology from him about that…
‘Maybe Louise got angry at Cal about that incident?’
Recalling Phoebe’s reaction when she noticed my pregnancy, it might be that in this world’s social norms, that was indeed a big deal.
Anyway, Callisteon and I walked an unyielding parallel line like that for several days.
Meanwhile, Frilis continued to grow robustly.
Her skin grew fairer, and the time she spent with her eyes open gradually lengthened.
The baby’s lips resembled Callisteon’s more with each passing day.
To anyone who saw her, Frilis had a face that looked like a perfect mix of him and me, and she would stare intently at the star and moon mobile Ren had hung for her.
“He’s going to miss her so, so much…”
Helena said regretfully.
With Ernst suddenly gone and Len back at the Tower, Helena ended up staying in Edessa a little longer than planned, tied to the hotel.
Of course, part of the reason was that Helena didn’t want to be apart from the baby.
She had been stuck to Frilis’s side as much as the wet nurse, but there was a limit to how long she could placate my brother, who was urging her to return quickly.
In the end, Callisteon decided to open a temporary gate to send Helena back to the Imperial Capital.
He insisted again that he would take the opportunity to go before Rurik, reveal everything, and beg for forgiveness, but I did not consent.
Helena seemed a little confused, but she appeared to have reluctantly accepted the fact that Callisteon was the baby’s father.
“You are both so exceptionally beautiful, so of course it’s a given, but she is a truly, truly lovely baby. It’s as if only the most beautiful parts of both of you were collected and mixed together.”
“Please take care of my brother, Helena. Tell him I will visit soon, and that I’ve almost recovered my health.”
I repeated the words I had said many times before.
‘He hasn’t yielded his position yet, but won’t Callisteon soon pretend to be defeated and accept my opinion?’
So, I planned to go to the Imperial Capital alone for a short while, leaving Frilis behind, as soon as I recovered my health.
Unless Callisteon was opposed to wanting to receive the Imperial family’s courtship letter, he would have no choice but to send the courtship letter when I returned to the Imperial Capital.
‘Once we’re married and I show him the baby, Rurik won’t be able to do much about it anyway.’
Helena held Frilly one last time to say goodbye.
“Frilies, stay healthy until I come to see you again?”
But at that moment, a very tumultuous commotion was felt from outside.
