Chapter 155
The lesson that had started with excitement about the Western Academy ended up completely differently.
“Chestnut gathering?”
“That’s right. This year there’s a big harvest of chestnuts, so even the trainee knights, and all the other servants at Vanessa’s mansion, are busy collecting chestnuts all day.”
Luska excitedly boasted about the chestnuts from her estate’s forest.
“It’s not just because it’s a good year. Our estate’s chestnuts are always big. And they’re super sweet! So much that every autumn, even nobles send letters asking how the harvest is this year.”
“I’ve eaten chestnuts a lot, but I’ve never picked them… They don’t grow in the South.”
Evebie murmured this quietly from the side.
“You’ve never eaten chestnuts? Are they tasty?”
“You’ve never eaten them?”
Irene, Arcel, and Luska all looked at Evebie in surprise.
Evebie just nodded instead of answering.
Even in Elam City, chestnuts were rare. At best, only a small amount could be harvested, so they were considered a luxury. She had only read about them in books and never tasted them. Even at the Academy, it wasn’t chestnut season, so they had never appeared in the dining hall.
Hearing this, Luska clapped her hands.
“Perfect! If you’re free this weekend, why don’t you come to my house? You can take as many chestnuts as you want. There’s plenty for the forest animals too, and if we leave them, they’ll just rot, so it’s a waste not to take them.”
Then Luska turned to Evebie and said,
“We had a big harvest this year, so if you want, I’ll even send some to your friends. How about it?”
“Really?”
Evebie’s eyes sparkled when she realized that Luska meant her friends at the orphanage.
“Of course. The estate staff often travel to the west when the seasons change. If you ask them along the way, it’ll only take a few days.”
“Then I want to go pick chestnuts too!”
“Great! So this weekend, we’ll all go to my house together?”
Luska continued, excitedly explaining:
“Roasted chestnuts are the best, but you can peel them, simmer the inside, and then cook them in sugar water in jars. Then you can eat delicious chestnuts all winter—no bitter taste, just nutty, sweet, and chewy…”
“Gulp.”
Evebie and Irene licked their lips at Luska’s description. Even Professor Malres in the back looked interested.
“Bring me a jar too!”
“Then come and pick some chestnuts!”
“All right! Bring your math books too!”
“No, Professor. As your student, I can offer at least one jar as a gift,” Luska said calmly.
After the usual playful bickering between Luska and Professor Malres, the class ended.
Evebie completely forgot her earlier gloom and laughed with Irene while talking about chestnuts on the way back.
Luska waved to the two as they walked away, then let out a long sigh.
“Phew… How was it? Did it seem natural?”
Arcel, standing beside her, nodded.
“Yes. Luckily, neither of them seemed to notice that we arranged this on purpose.”
That morning, Duke Kailen had quietly called the two boys and asked them to keep Evebie at the Ragselve mansion over the weekend.
“Is something wrong?”
“Count Aradman’s actions have been strange. So, stay at the Marquis’ house all next week.”
Being at the Academy wasn’t bad, but there was a risk that other students or professors could get involved. Some families at the Academy might even secretly support Count Aradman.
So it was safer to keep Evebie at the Marquis’ mansion until things calmed down.
“Did you find out anything else?” Luska asked Arcel, thinking about how many chestnuts they would gather that weekend.
“They said we need to find someone named Noma.”
“Noma?”
“Yes. They’ve been talking with Sabina constantly. She seems very afraid of him, so she follows him. But Count Aradman doesn’t know him, and Eve doesn’t know him either.”
“That can’t be. The servants who snuck into the Count’s mansion said mysterious visitors came often. The Count, Eve, and even Izriella all know him, yet they pretend not to.”
“What about Evebie?”
“The innkeeper said that villagers found a baby abandoned in the forest and entrusted her to someone for a single coin. The cloth wrapping her had wolf claw marks, but she had no injuries.”
“….”
Luska bit her lip. Each new testimony seemed to confirm that Evebie was Lilian’s daughter.
“Right now, Sabina says she lost the child in the middle of the forest on the road. If she admits that, things will be easier.”
“But Sabina brought Eve to the palace as a princess,” Arcel said.
“There’s a report from the maid who cared for Evebie. Sabina said something strange.”
“Strange?”
Arcel explained that Sabina had called Evebie “Your Highness,” treating her as the princess.
“Then why not bring Evebie to Sabina right away? She’d call her princess again,” Luska asked.
Arcel shook his head.
“She’s quiet now. She’s still calling Evebie ‘Your Highness’ to Eve. Her father keeps meeting with Sabina to review everything.”
To outsiders, it would look like they were just checking Sabina’s testimony. But Arcel, taught since childhood how to detect subtle hints, knew it was more than that.
‘Everyone might think she’s repeating herself, but the tiniest details are different.’
If Sabina said something differently from her memory, she’d react. Duke Kailen would notice and make her aware of her mistakes. Over time, the false memories would break down.
“Getting Sabina to change her testimony is the fastest way to stop Eve’s recognition as princess….”
Even so, they both knew there was an even faster way.
“I wish Evebie had the mark too,” Luska muttered regretfully.
The royal mark appeared in Clovis’ bloodline. It was weaker than the first Emperor’s, but it had saved him in battle. If Evebie was Lilian’s daughter, the mark should have appeared even stronger.
Arcel said, “I read in old records that the mark can temporarily disappear if too much power is used.”
“Oh? Then maybe… when Evebie was attacked by the wolf as a child and survived…”
“Yes. Lilian’s power helped, but the mark’s power might have used itself all at once. Anyway…”
Arcel remembered what he read in old books.
“The mark never disappears completely. It will show again.”
Until then, they had to protect Evebie. Not just because she was a princess.
“I want to find Mom and Dad someday,” Evebie had said shyly when asked what she wanted after graduation.
Everyone thought it natural. Evebie missed the people she saw every day. Arcel wanted to reunite her with her father so she could live happily without envying anyone.
Her smile was what Arcel wanted most.
Clois went alone to the forest.
He saluted the guards and went straight to his wife’s grave, brushing the leaves off the tombstone. His hands felt weak.
Before coming here, he had visited Eve. He had quietly gone near her room, telling her not to announce his presence. Inside, he heard her laughter:
“Look! Krebel has so many clothes!”
After falling into the pond, people said she was very upset, but it seemed the child wasn’t deeply hurt.
He should have been glad, but strangely, he didn’t feel like going in. He stood still and left.
This was something he had never imagined.
For seven years, he had wondered what it would be like if his wife and daughter were alive. In that imagination, he always cherished and loved his daughter.
But now, with his daughter actually alive, why did he feel nothing? He didn’t even feel affection for Evebie, even though she was alive.
No matter how hard he tried, his heart wouldn’t follow. Even now.
She said she had longed for her parents all her life. But why did she cling to him and not care about her late mother?
That’s why Eve had never come here even once.
‘Am I expecting too much from a child?’
He sighed.
“Lilian, am I doing something wrong?”
At that moment, thock! An acorn fell squarely on his head.
“…?”
Startled, he looked up at the tree. Then suddenly, dozens of acorns rained down on him as if telling him to get hit more.
