Chapter 6
I let out a dry laugh and looked at the child.
“Don’t speak casually to me.”
How dare a little brat like you.
At my words, he obediently answered,
“Yes, Nyunya.”
“Nyunya?”
Was his tongue really that short? Maybe because he was still a child. It was… kind of cute.
“You look at least five years older than me, so…”
“Oh. That’s true.”
I nodded and stood up.
“That’s why we’re not on the same level. Don’t hold on to today for too long either. …Just think of it as, ‘Ah, something like that happened once.’”
It’s burdensome to become someone’s entire world.
So I’d rather remain a faint memory.
Today is the last time we meet in person.
“Take care.”
I walked him back to the orphanage. At my final words, he didn’t try to grab me.
He only looked at me once, then stared down at his reddened wrist for a long time.
I left without turning back.
That was all.
***
The next morning.
Marshal arrived at the Vuitri estate’s conference hall in high spirits.
He had heard that Sienna had sent out a letter.
“There is an important matter to discuss today. All vassals of the family are requested to attend.”
If it was an important matter, it was probably to appoint him as her guardian.
A smile spread across his face.
‘Good. This family will finally be mine!’
He thought a teenage duchess would be easy to handle.
But when Sienna entered the hall, she carried a sharper air than usual.
After scanning the gathered people, she spoke calmly.
“Thank you all for coming. First agenda item. The Harbor Bridge construction project will be carried out directly by the Vuitri family. I will oversee it myself.”
“…!”
“In other words, we will not be involving any additional intermediary companies.”
Marshal hadn’t even sat down yet.
In just a few sentences, she had eliminated the paper company he had set up.
He shouted in shock.
“Sienna, what are you saying? Do you even understand the business? You’re still too young to make such important decisions. You are a minor under imperial law.”
Sienna calmly arranged the documents on the table and replied coldly,
“Even as a minor, I can act as head of the family. That is our house law. So, Uncle, are you saying you intend to directly challenge the authority of the acting Duke of Vuitri?”
Marshal felt his vision go red.
How dare she!
In any case, it was obvious he would become her guardian soon—
“Sienna, you misunderstand me! I only wished to become your guardian. To stay by your side in your difficult time!”
In the past, Sienna had tried hard to please him. She had no family left. He had been her only support.
What she received in return had been clear betrayal.
“Guardian? I have not appointed a legal guardian. And if you truly wished to become one, you should have brought a formal proposal. But you never once submitted proper documents to me. As acting Duke of Vuitri, I will now deal with the criminals who embezzled our family funds while I was grieving.”
Her tone was gentle.
But the meaning was clear.
She would purge the vassals.
“While a poor, grieving child had lost her senses, some people tried to swallow the family whole… Truly disgusting, don’t you think?”
The room grew icy.
Sienna began tearing through the accounts.
Then she smiled brightly at the stunned vassals.
“If you don’t want to die, confess your past misdeeds and pay what you owe.”
Once she removed the tumors, the capable guardian she wanted would finally step forward.
***
That night.
“I greet the head of the family.”
A man with long gray hair and gray eyes entered quietly.
His appearance was gentle and warm, but there was a faint sharpness hidden in his gaze.
He was five years older than her.
“My name is Bell Dio.”
The person Sienna had been waiting for had come.
Bell Dio. A low-ranking vassal of the Vuitri family.
Because of his low status, he always sat at the very end during family meetings.
But in the future, he would be recognized for his administrative talent, summoned to the Imperial Palace, and eventually granted the title of Chancellor.
‘This time, I won’t let the palace take him.’
He had always been kind to her.
She wanted to see the people of her family laugh happily.
“Well then, Bell Dio. If you can take responsibility for your words, I’ll listen.”
Bell Dio looked at her with clear gray eyes.
“There is a serious error in this year’s budget documents. In my name, I believe this is evidence of embezzlement. Would you care to verify it?”
“Good. Bring it.”
Sienna carefully examined the documents he handed her.
After about ten minutes, she smiled.
“Perfect. I look forward to your work from now on.”
***
Meanwhile, time passed for the boy in the yellow raincoat—Ppuppu.
He grew.
And one winter, when no one could call him “cute” even as a joke, he received a letter from Noona.
Before leaving, she had said that although they wouldn’t meet again, she would sometimes send letters when the seasons changed.
“What am I doing? Just volunteer work, I suppose.
I want the world to be peaceful.”
I hope Noona achieves her dream.
‘If that grand dream comes true… and she’s less busy… will she meet me?’
Her single sentence became the strongest spark of desire in Aldehyde’s heart.
And so—
Ppuppu decided to save the world.
He would bring peace and lay it at her feet.
But at that very moment—
‘My wrist…’
Whenever he thought of Noona, a faint light flickered over his wrist.
He didn’t know what it meant.
But whenever it glowed, his heart thumped hard.
By the time he turned thirteen,
Aldehyde had fully mastered the Authority of Instant Death.
Without hesitation, he decided to dedicate himself to world peace.
The first step was simple.
Eliminate war.
He enlisted in the Imperial Army as a low-ranking soldier.
“Take care.”
Jenny looked worried as she saw him off.
Then she glanced at the white bird gliding through the sky.
Watching it carry letters back and forth had always been wondrous.
Now, the bird would belong to him.
Because she had always told him—
“When you leave the orphanage, take this bird with you.”
“Yes.”
“One last thing. Have you chosen a name? You were nameless before.”
“Yes. I have.”
“…Will you tell me?”
He didn’t answer.
He only bowed his head.
After that day, the boy disappeared from sight.
***
Years passed.
Dozens—hundreds—of victory reports arrived from the battlefield.
It was said the young general had collected hundreds of monster heads.
But to Noona, he was still just Ppuppu.
Each season, he sent her letters.
“Nyunaaa! Are you well? I’m now forteen!”
At fourteen, he smiled softly after sending the letter.
It was written in the middle of a battlefield.
“Noonaaa, the wind is very strong! Be carefull!”
At fifteen, after spending nights worrying about her,
He calmly ate poisoned food at the center of a storm.
Even if he coughed up blood, it didn’t matter.
A letter from Noona had arrived.
“You’re seventeen now, right?
Your spelling is still cute. Study Imperial language, Ppuppu.
You need to be able to take care of yourself.”
At seventeen, after receiving another letter calling his spelling cute,
He resolved to become even cuter.
And to stand on his own feet.
Covered in blue blood, he reduced a thousand monsters to ashes.
Finally—
At twenty, he reached adulthood.
“Congratulations on your coming-of-age.”
Ten years.
Enough time for the crying orphanage boy to become a general who commanded battlefields.
And so Ppuppu turned twenty on the battlefield—
And reached the final chapter of the continental war.
In the dragon’s lair,
He unexpectedly obtained the “Map of Capital Rift Points.”
The dragon had annotated it, predicting when and where rifts would appear around the imperial capital.
There was even a prophecy.
If one hundred rifts were sealed, true peace would come to the world.
Then—
“Shall I return now?”
If he sealed one hundred rifts and brought peace to the world, Noona would meet him, right?
“Next season…
There’s something I really want to tell you, Noona.
Will you listen?”
With a pounding heart, he sent that letter.
After conquering the entire continent under the Empire’s banner—
The boy who had once been Ppuppu returned.
His goals were simple.
- Eliminate the rifts and bring peace.
- Become cute again before meeting Noona.
There was just one small problem.
His appearance had grown very, very far from anything resembling “cute.”
