Episode 12
The Empress cried in her mother’s arms for quite a while.
Her mother silently patted her back, soothing her.
Only after a long time had passed did the Empress pull away from her mother’s embrace.
Until then, Adrian and I had to stand a few steps away, simply watching the two of them.
“Are you feeling a bit better now?”
Mother looked at the Empress with an apologetic expression.
The Empress nodded awkwardly. But perhaps out of embarrassment, she couldn’t properly meet Mother’s eyes.
“Would you… like to have some tea before you go?”
The Empress suggested.
Mother readily nodded in agreement.
“Of course. Let’s go back to our seats.”
As Mother guided the Empress, she glanced back at me.
I didn’t particularly want to stay here any longer, but since Mother said she’d have tea, I followed her back to my seat.
Adrian, still holding onto my hand, trailed behind me, grumbling under his breath.
Just like before, we sat on the chairs prepared inside the building. Brijina served fresh tea to the Empress and also prepared some for Mother.
She asked if I wanted another glass of juice, but I declined.
Tea loses its flavor when it gets cold, but juice isn’t meant to be drunk hot anyway.
While drinking tea, Mother and the Empress talked about many things.
From what I gathered:
Empress Marianne had originally been Mother’s friend. And she had secretly harbored feelings for the Emperor.
However, the Emperor’s fiancée had been Mother. Just as Marianne was trying to give up on her feelings, Mother suddenly eloped for love, leaving the position of the Emperor’s fiancée vacant.
By chance, Marianne—who had loved the Emperor—ended up becoming Empress. But even then, the Emperor continued to wait only for Mother.
Because of that, it took two years after their engagement before they could hold their wedding.
Empress Marianne said she had been unhappy, torn between her love for the Emperor, her concern for Mother, and her resentment toward the Emperor for not looking at her.
At least until Crown Prince Adrian was born.
Still, after Adrian’s birth, she found someone to care for, which allowed her to endure life in the imperial palace, she said with a faint smile.
After hearing all this, Mother took Empress Marianne’s hand. The Empress looked down at it in surprise.
Then she raised her head again to look at Mother. Tears welled up in her eyes once more.
“Cornelia, why have your hands become so rough?”
The contrast between Marianne’s slender, pale hands and Mother’s sunburnt, calloused ones was striking. Mother’s hands bore scars from needle pricks and injuries from sewing.
“After Gail passed away a few years ago, I had to take on all kinds of hard work. It’s not easy for a woman to raise a child alone.”
“What about the Grand Duke? Didn’t he help you at all? He loved you so much…”
“I don’t know what happened, but I couldn’t reach Father at all. I thought he must resent and hate me for abandoning the family, so I couldn’t bring myself to go back.”
Empress Marianne let out a deep sigh.
Regret and sorrow flickered in her eyes.
“You could have contacted me through our family, at least. We’re still friends. You didn’t think I wouldn’t help you, did you?”
“How could I have the nerve?”
Mother’s smile looked sad. It seemed she had already guessed Marianne’s situation to some extent.
“…And yet I only complained about my own troubles.”
As Marianne bowed her head in guilt, Mother smiled gently.
“No. These scars and calluses are the history of me struggling to live with my daughter. I’m not ashamed of the result. So please don’t worry too much.”
While the adults finished their conversation, I felt Adrian staring at me.
When I turned, he was looking back and forth between me and the cookies on my plate with a puzzled expression.
“Is something wrong?”
I tilted my head, confused by his gaze.
I didn’t think he was eyeing my cookies—after all, as the Crown Prince, he could simply order more.
“Don’t you like cookies?”
“It’s not that… they’re just too sweet for me.”
“You don’t like sweet things?”
“I don’t dislike them, but I can’t handle overly sweet things these days.”
It wasn’t that I disliked sweets either.
But when I was younger, when children usually crave sweets, they were too expensive for me to eat.
Later, when I started earning money as a mercenary, I occasionally bought them. But at some point, excessively sweet foods just stopped appealing to me.
Maybe because of that, even now, overly sweet things didn’t suit my taste.
I preferred milder desserts, like the egg tart I had this morning.
“I’ve never seen someone who doesn’t like sweets.”
“I don’t dislike them. I just don’t like things that are too much.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
Adrian frowned, not understanding.
Being still young, he didn’t seem to grasp the difference—more precisely, since he liked everything regardless, he didn’t understand why there would be distinctions.
I glanced at him once, then turned my attention away, looking around the garden as I waited for time to pass.
I had only come here because of Mother, and it seemed she had already accomplished what she needed.
So there was nothing left for me to expect here.
After some time, when all the tea and drinks had been finished, the adults’ conversation finally came to an end.
The Empress and Mother stood up first, and I followed. The chair was a bit high, so I had to hop down.
“Come visit the imperial palace anytime. I’ll prepare Kent tea just for you.”
The Empress said, unable to hide her regret.
Mother turned back to her with a smile.
“I’ll visit often. But don’t complain if I come too frequently.”
“Of course not. Then take care on your way back. I won’t walk you out.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I’ll see you again.”
“Farewell, Your Majesty.”
I bowed politely with Mother.
As I glanced beside the Empress, I saw Adrian staring at me again.
I simply nodded slightly and turned away.
—
We left the imperial palace and got back into the carriage.
When I glanced at Mother, she looked much more at ease compared to how tense she had been on the way here.
Seeing everything go so smoothly made my chest ache a little.
If Mother’s letter had reached Grand Duke Crayton from the start… if their feelings had reached each other properly… then in the past I experienced, Mother wouldn’t have suffered and died of illness.
And not just that.
Grand Duke Crayton wouldn’t have died tragically without knowing his daughter’s heart.
If only Daniel—the root of all this—hadn’t existed.
Thinking back, Daniel had called himself my great-uncle.
That meant he was the Grand Duke’s younger brother.
When I visited the Grand Duke’s estate in the past, everyone there had already been under Daniel’s control.
He must have turned all the servants to his side without the Grand Duke knowing.
Then what about now?
Whose side are the servants on now?
Having only been in the Crayton household for a single day, there was no way for me to know.
But one thing was certain:
Someone had intercepted Mother’s letter.
“Our Bell, what are you thinking so hard about?”
“Huh? Oh… it’s nothing.”
Mother asked, puzzled by my serious expression.
I shook my head and answered lightly.
Then I carefully spoke again.
“Mom, about the Grand Duke—”
“Mirabel.”
Before I could finish, Mother called my name.
“Yes?”
“I know it’s hard to change right away, but could you try calling him ‘Grandfather’ instead of ‘Your Grace’?”
“Grandfather?”
“Yes. As you know, the Grand Duke is your maternal grandfather. He doesn’t show it, but he’s probably hoping you’ll call him that. I won’t force you, but… when you feel ready, will you try?”
“….”
I couldn’t answer immediately.
To me, the Grand Duke still felt like a stranger.
Even though I couldn’t forget how he tried desperately to protect me at the moment of death, I had lived over twenty years with only Mother and Father.
Calling him “Grandfather” so suddenly wasn’t easy.
But Mother had a point.
He was her father—and my grandfather.
“…I’ll try.”
When I finally answered, Mother smiled brightly.
“That’s enough. Starting with trying is good.”
She looked happy as if I had already started calling him that.
It felt a bit burdensome, but seeing her happy made it worth it.
“By the way, what were you going to ask earlier?”
“Oh, I was wondering if the Grand Duke has other family.”
“Of course he does.”
Mother smiled.
“There’s Daniel Crayton—my uncle, and your great-uncle.”
Just as I thought.
So what I experienced in the future wasn’t false.
“Come to think of it, you’ll meet him today. He said he’d visit the estate this evening.”
