Chapter 42
“Ah….”
The name written on the paper stood out with painful clarity. Ailesia almost let out a sigh before hastily closing her mouth.
In the original story, the former grand duchess’s personal details were never explained in depth. She was mentioned only as “Eleonora’s mother.”
‘…She must miss her parents a lot.’
Putting on an even brighter smile than usual, Ailesia gently patted Eleonora’s head.
“I’m sure your mom and dad would love this so much. Can you read it for your teacher too?”
“My mom is Bieze Flamber von Letis, and my dad is Randrit Iolene von Letis!”
The child answered in a clear, ringing voice, then continued reading the names she had written below.
“Grandma is Iolene Diana von Letis, Uncle is Termion Haran von Letis! Ellie is Eleonora Bieze von Letis!”
“My goodness, you did such a wonderful job.”
“Oh! There’s still one more!”
Eleonora pointed proudly at the very bottom of the page, where the largest letters were written.
“Teacher is Ailesia Milenoff!”
“…My little one, you can even write your teacher’s name?”
“Yes! Did I write it right?”
Amazingly, Eleonora had written her teacher’s name perfectly—even though Ailesia had never taught her the spelling. Unable to hold back her emotion, Ailesia pulled the child into a tight hug.
“Thank you, sweetheart. Teacher is really, really happy.”
“Hehe. Ellie is happy too!”
Nestled in Ailesia’s arms, Eleonora smiled brightly and whispered into her ear in a voice brimming with affection.
“I like Mom and Dad, and I like Grandma and Uncle, and I like Teacher too.”
“Pfft—then your uncle’s going to get sulky, you know?”
“Still! They say you should always tell the person next to you that you like them. Because later, you might want to say it but won’t be able to. So right now, Teacher is the best!”
At those words, Ailesia’s body stiffened for just a moment.
They were kind words, but for a five-year-old to say something like that on her own, the meaning behind them felt unbearably sad.
‘And this line in particular…’
Gently setting Eleonora down, Ailesia asked in as calm a tone as she could manage.
“My goodness, you speak so beautifully. Who taught you that?”
“Um… Uncle! Uncle told me!”
“Did he? Honestly, Termion… I thought he only ever said mean things.”
“Huh? Did Uncle say something mean to Teacher? Ellie’s going to scold him!”
“Ohoho, you don’t have to. Teacher is super strong.”
“That’s right! Teacher is super strong!”
Ailesia kissed the child lightly on the forehead, smiling wide—yet inwardly, her heart felt heavy.
‘So Termion already told her things like that…?’
That scene definitely existed in the original story—but much later, after Eleonora had turned sixteen.
As the conflict between the imperial family and House Letis deepened, Eleonora’s relationship with the Second Prince became strained. Back then, Termion had said those words to encourage his niece.
Later, when he realized those very words had become the catalyst for Eleonora and the Second Prince developing a romantic relationship, Termion had gone into a rage.
‘I remember laughing for ages while reading that, thinking, “What a doting uncle.”’
Well… the story didn’t have to follow the original down to every tiny detail.
Maybe it was something he’d said when she was young and simply repeated later. After all, plenty of things had already changed.
“Next lesson, we’ll make spells, so be sure to remember the words you wrote today. Okay?”
“Do I have to memorize all of them?”
“There’s no need to memorize them right now. If you practice while using magic, you’ll remember them in no time.”
As Ailesia began tidying the pen and ink on the table, there came a knock at the door.
Knock, knock.
“It’s open—come in!”
“Is the lesson over?”
“Uncle!”
Termion entered, wearing a thick cloak as if he’d just come in from outside.
Walking over to the table, he gently stroked his niece’s cheek.
“Did you enjoy studying?”
“Yeah! Teacher said my writing was really pretty!”
Eleonora proudly lifted up her notebook. Seeing the page filled with round, neat letters made a smile rise naturally to his face.
But that smile faltered when his eyes drifted to the page beside it.
“…You even wrote the family’s names?”
“I’m going to write letters later!”
“I see…”
Carefully, Termion traced the names—ones he could no longer call out—with the tip of his finger.
It was a relief that his young niece could live brightly even without her parents. But perhaps the one who still hadn’t escaped their absence was himself.
‘Don’t waver. Ellie is trying this hard.’
As he gently patted Eleonora’s head, the writing at the very bottom of the page caught his eye.
The letters were twice as large and bold as the rest—even larger than the names of the family members, including his own.
“Ailesia Milenoff…?”
He read it aloud without realizing, then snapped his head around. Flames burned fiercely in his eyes as he stared at Ailesia.
“Ailesia.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Did you teach her how to spell your name too?”
“No? She said she just wrote it based on how it sounds. It was perfectly spelled—I was surprised too.”
“Then why is your name written so much more elaborately than the others?”
“Well… I’m not sure…?”
How would I know, Your Grace? She probably just wrote it the way she wanted to.
When Ailesia blinked innocently, clearly just as puzzled, Termion slowly dropped to one knee and pulled Eleonora tightly into his arms. His lips stuck out in an uncharacteristically sulky pout.
“She’s my niece.”
…Who said otherwise? I know that too.
I’m not stealing her—no matter what, he just refuses to believe it.
* * *
“Kyahaha!”
“Sweetie, don’t go too far!”
“Okaaay!”
Eleonora, out playing for the first time in a while, was bursting with excitement. Snow had piled up quite a bit, turning the training grounds behind the grand duchy completely white.
Watching his niece roll around in the snow with the two wolves, Termion spoke first.
“Ellie writes very well.”
“You’ve never really seen it before?”
“I’ve only been directly in charge of her for about ten months.”
The accident that claimed the former grand duke and duchess had happened this past January.
After attending the New Year’s banquet at the imperial palace, the couple began a tour of their territory on the way back to the grand duchy. At the time, Eleonora had been staying with Termion at their townhouse in the capital, waiting for her parents.
“Once the two of them arrived at the grand duchy, my sister-in-law and the duchess planned to return to the capital. I was supposed to head to the grand duchy to assist my brother.”
Hearing a story she’d never known, Ailesia glanced carefully at Termion. His gaze remained fixed on Eleonora, his expression heavy.
“Was it really necessary for everyone to move back and forth like that?”
“In spring, social activities in the capital increase, including imperial banquets. Meanwhile, in the grand duchy, magical beasts that have overwintered begin to stir. It’s not severe enough to require a full-scale subjugation, but they need close monitoring for about a month.”
“And that’s when the accident happened during the tour?”
“Yes. While returning to the castle after their final territorial visit, they were attacked by an unidentified group. To shake off pursuit, they passed through the Guardveil Mountain Range—and were caught in an avalanche.”
“…Then you never caught the culprits.”
A faint heaviness seeped into Ailesia’s voice. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the shock suffered by young Eleonora—or by Termion himself.
‘So there was a backstory like this…’
In the original novel, it had been brushed off briefly as a simple “accidental death.”
“No meaningful clues came from the site investigation. At least we were able to recover their bodies intact.”
“…That must have been hard.”
“No matter how hard it was for me, it couldn’t compare to Ellie.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
Without thinking, Ailesia gently wrapped one of Termion’s hands in both of hers.
Though startled by the unexpected contact, he didn’t pull away.
“There’s no measuring grief when you lose your family. And in the middle of all that, you had to take care of Ellie—and suddenly inherit the title of Grand Duke.”
“…It was something I had to do. Even now, I’m still lacking.”
“How could you possibly do more? You’re trying harder than anyone for Ellie and for Letis. Even I can see it, and I haven’t known you long. That’s truly amazing.”
“You really… think so?”
“Yes. You’re doing wonderfully, Your Grace.”
Smiling warmly, Ailesia slowly patted the back of his hand.
If it could ease even a little of the weight on his heart, she was more than willing to offer comfort and praise like this.
Perhaps sensing her sincerity, Termion slowly turned his head and met her eyes.
