Chapter 03
“……”
I was left speechless.
“Your mother’s matter was something she brought upon herself. I don’t even want to think about it anymore. Please, let’s stop. Continuing this kind of talk won’t lead to anything good…”
His answer just now contained nothing but pure sincerity, without a single lie.
“Leave.”
“…Idis?”
Roberic’s face filled with confusion.
“Leave. And don’t come here again.”
A voice colder than I expected reached my own ears.
“Wait, Idis!”
Roberic urgently reached out his hand.
“Why are you holding onto me? I’m my mother’s daughter, aren’t I? Someone you hate.”
At that moment, Roberic’s hand froze in place as if blocked by an invisible wall and could no longer move.
“What do you mean by that? You are my child!”
Suddenly, a deafening shout erupted from Roberic.
I covered my ears with both hands.
“Ah, Idis…”
Roberic quickly covered his own mouth, visibly flustered.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you…”
I watched him fidget and thought.
Roberic feels guilty toward me.
Toward me, who he didn’t even know existed, left in what must have been—by his standards—a poor and neglected environment.
So he wants to make up for it as much as possible.
For his ignorance, and for the love he never gave because he didn’t know.
But in that guilt… Mariette did not exist.
A line from the original story flashed through my mind.
“Young Mariette, haunted by the memory of her father being dragged away in front of her, approached the slowly fading Roberic first.
Even when Roberic refused to respond, the small girl reached out her hand again and again—dozens of times, hundreds of times.
Then, one day when two seasons had passed and winter returned…
Something changed. Roberic finally took the small hand that had been persistently offered.
Another season passed, and when spring sprouts began to grow…
Roberic finally regained a smile that resembled sunlight.
Mariette, who watched him smile, did not show it outwardly—but in her heart, she could not have been happier.
The girl who wanted to free the boy trapped in a prison of grief offered him nothing but her sincere heart—filled with warm affection that no one else could easily obtain.”
And yet, he later broke off their engagement, saying he loved another woman.
He discarded Mariette, who had devoted everything to him, and dismissed her suffering as nothing more than jealousy and cruelty.
He cast away the hand that saved him and ultimately brought ruin upon his benefactor’s family.
None of that past regret existed within his guilt toward me.
“Idis… please. Why are you acting like this…”
Roberic knelt down, tears falling steadily as he looked at me.
When I first saw him, he looked like a pure man—beautiful as cherry blossom petals in the blue sky, seemingly untarnished forever.
But in truth, he was an extremely self-centered person.
A man who becomes fixated once something leaves a strong impression on him, who clings desperately and apologizes with tears, but whose remorse contains no real understanding of the other person’s pain.
So it makes sense that he could speak so coldly about Mariette.
Even if I couldn’t fully accept Mariette as my real mother separate from the novel, this was not something a human being should accept.
Without wasting any more time, I shut the door.
Bang—
The door closed, and silence followed.
It was quiet.
But I stood still, knowing Roberic was still outside.
Yes, this is enough.
I closed my eyes.
If I cut ties like this, I can just live quietly as I always have.
Ding— ding—
The clock rang to mark the hour.
Noon.
“…I should eat something.”
I turned away from the door.
If Roberic had any sense, he wouldn’t keep lingering there anymore.
* * *
Footsteps echoed faintly.
“Your Grace.”
Perion lifted his head. His brows immediately twitched.
“…Perion.”
So he went to see that woman’s daughter again and returned looking like that.
As if he had been abandoned by the one he loved most in the world.
Perion bit his lip.
What a foolish man.
The one Roberic should truly care about was Shastia and Alea in the Grand Ducal residence.
So why was he distracted here?
Roberic clenched his lips, unaware of his friend’s thoughts.
The girl’s words still echoed in his ears.
“Leave. And don’t come here again.”
It felt like his heart was being torn apart.
“…What should I do.”
At Roberic’s painful whisper, Perion frowned.
His damp red eyes reflected the clear sky.
“How do I make her come with me?”
“…What did you say?”
Perion’s expression twisted.
“Your Grace. What are you talking about?”
“…Ah. I didn’t tell you.”
Roberic tilted his head down from the sky.
“I intend to bring Idis to the Grand Ducal residence, Perion.”
He spoke as if it were obvious.
Perion was struck with shock.
Even when he came all the way to this remote estate, he had still thought—
surely it was not to take that woman’s daughter.
If he did, what about public opinion?
What about Shastia and Alea, who had finally escaped their painful past and were living in peace?
“Bring her…? Have you truly forgotten who her birth mother was?”
Perion spoke, unable to hide his trembling voice.
Please, change your mind.
If guilt is the problem, there are other ways—like paying support.
At that moment, a cold wind brushed against his neck.
Perion instinctively held his breath.
“……”
Roberic’s red eyes, once clear and bright, now carried a chilling intensity as he looked at him.
A wind spirit.
Perion froze, unable to move under the sharp pressure of air like a blade behind him.
“Do not speak useless things, Perion.”
Roberic said calmly, suppressing his anger.
“Who her mother is doesn’t matter. What matters is that Idis is my daughter.”
“…I have spoken out of place. I apologize, Your Grace.”
Perion immediately knelt.
Roberic looked down at him for a moment before raising his gaze.
“How do I atone so she will accept me as her father?”
His voice, now filled with sorrow, replaced his earlier anger.
“She must have suffered greatly. Wondering why she has no parents… grieving over it again and again. And I didn’t even know…”
Your daughter is in the Grand Ducal residence.
Perion swallowed those words.
“…What have I been doing all this time…”
A cold dread gripped him.
Roberic’s beautiful face was filled with melancholy.
Yet what he said next carried an ominous feeling Perion did not want to hear.
Roberic’s daughter was supposed to be the angelic Alea.
Hadn’t he raised her as his own child all these years?
“Perhaps you think I am being cruel. But, Perion…”
Roberic looked down at him.
“Alea is not my real daughter. Her father is someone else. As you know—the disgusting man I don’t even want to name.”
Perion did not answer.
Roberic sighed as he looked at his silent subordinate.
“…Forget it. What would complaining change now?”
He turned away, his silver-gray cloak swaying.
“For now, I will stay in this town. That is all.”
Perion watched Roberic leave.
“…!”
Crack.
The moment his figure disappeared completely, Perion’s expression twisted violently.
Roberic had denied everything they had built until now.
Perion had believed Roberic truly loved Alea.
Of course he did—Alea, Shastia’s daughter, was pure and lovely enough to never remind anyone of her father’s dark nature.
She was completely different from “that child” who would inherit Mariette Bastavan’s cruel nature.
But to think even Roberic believed otherwise…
His real daughter?
“That kind of bloodline means nothing…”
What mattered more?
“Perion… I’m scared. Everyone hates me. They all want to drive me away. What should I do…? What did I do wrong…?”
The tearful woman’s voice echoed in his memory.
Perion bit his lip.
He had sworn to protect her.
So he would.
He needed a clear solution.
He would ensure Roberic never wavered again.
He had to act himself.
