I burst out laughing and whispered as I looked at the child.
“Don’t speak informally.”
How dare such a little brat talk like that?
The boy quickly corrected himself, answering obediently.
“Yes, Nunya.”
“…Sister?”
His tongue was still short. Was it because he was just a baby? It was so cute I nearly chuckled again.
“You look at least five years older than me, so…”
“Oh, right.”
I nodded and stood up.
“So, we’re not on the same level. Don’t hold on to today for too long. Just think to yourself, ‘There were memories like this, too.’”
It was too burdensome for me to become someone else’s entire world. I just wanted to remain as a faint memory.
Today would be the last time we met in person.
“Take care.”
I dropped him off at the orphanage, and at those final words, the boy didn’t try to stop me.
He only looked at me once—then lowered his gaze, staring at my swollen wrist for a long time.
I left without turning back.
And that was the end.
The next morning.
Marshall entered the conference room of the Vietri mansion—and froze in disbelief.
Today, Sienna had sent out a letter.
“There is an important matter to be discussed today, so I ask that all family members gather together.”
If it was something so important, surely it would be the announcement of his appointment as her guardian.
Just thinking about it made Marshall’s chest swell with pride.
Yes. From today onward, this family will belong to me!
He was certain that a teenage princess would be easy to manipulate.
But when Sienna entered the conference room, her expression was sharper than he had ever seen before.
She swept her gaze across the gathered vassals, then spoke with calm precision.
“First of all, thank you all for coming. Let’s begin with the first agenda item. The construction of the Harbor Bridge will be handled solely by the Vietri family. I will personally oversee it.”
“……!”
“In other words, we will not be involving any outside businesses.”
Marshall hadn’t even settled into his chair, yet with a single sentence, Sienna had destroyed the paper company he had set up in secret.
Flustered, he shot up from his seat.
“Sienna, what are you saying? Do you even understand business properly? Child, you’re far too young to make such weighty decisions. You’re still a minor under Imperial law—”
Sienna calmly stacked the papers before her and cut him off with an icy tone.
“Even a minor can act as representative of a household. That is the law. Uncle… are you declaring that you intend to challenge my authority as acting Duke of Vietri?”
Marshall’s vision swam for a moment at her blunt words.
Where is this girl getting her arrogance from? It doesn’t matter—in the end, I’ll still be named her guardian…
Forcing his expression into something gentle, he said, “Sienna, you’re misunderstanding me! I only meant that I wish to be your guardian. To stand by you in times of hardship—”
In the past, Sienna might have been swayed. When she was still desperate, still clinging to the one family member left to her.
But what had she received in return? Betrayal.
“Guardian? I haven’t appointed one. And if my uncle truly wished to take that role, he should have brought forward a proper plan. But you’ve never once submitted a single proposal. As acting Duke, I intend to deal with those criminals who embezzled the family’s funds while I was in mourning.”
Her words were soft, but her intent was merciless.
To clean house.
“A child loses her family and falls into despair… and in that very moment, there are those who would try to devour her inheritance. Truly… despicable trash, aren’t they?”
The atmosphere in the conference room plummeted into ice.
Sienna smiled faintly at the pale faces of her vassals.
“If you do not wish to die, then voluntarily pay back every coin you’ve stolen.”
And so, one by one, the parasites were cut away.
This was the first step toward finding the competent, trustworthy guardian she truly wanted.
That night.
“I greet you, my lady.”
A man with long gray hair and gentle eyes stood before her. Though his demeanor was soft, there was a hidden sharpness in his gaze.
He was five years older than her, handsome, yet with a subtle thorn beneath his elegance.
“My name is Bel Dio.”
At last, the man Sienna had been waiting for appeared in secret.
Bel Dio—just a low-ranking vassal of the Vietri family. The kind of man who always sat quietly at the very end of family meetings.
But Sienna knew what the future held. A man recognized for his administrative genius. A man who would one day rise to Prime Minister of the Empire.
This time, I will not let the palace take you away.
She wanted her family—the ones who had always been warm to her—to finally smile in peace.
“Yes, Bel Dio. If you can take responsibility for your words, speak.”
His clear gray eyes locked with hers.
“There are serious errors in the family’s annual budget. I, Bel Dio, swear on my name that this is proof of embezzlement. Will you allow me to show you?”
“Bring it.”
Sienna carefully examined the documents he placed before her.
After ten minutes, she looked up with a bright smile.
“Perfect. I look forward to working with you.”
Meanwhile, time did not stand still for the “yellow raincoat boy,” Pupu.
Winter came, and he grew so quickly that no one would dare call him “cute” anymore.
One day, he received a letter from his sister.
Though she had said their last meeting in person was final, she promised to write him letters as the seasons changed.
“What should I do? Just continue volunteering, maybe?
I only wish for a peaceful world.
I hope you can live your life as you dream.”
Her words lit a spark in Aldehyde’s heart.
If that great dream comes true… if the world becomes peaceful… then maybe… maybe she’ll see me again.
And so, Pupu made his decision.
He would save the world.
He would bring peace—at his sister’s feet.
At thirteen years old, the glow that appeared on his wrist whenever he thought of her blossomed into full strength.
Unbeknownst to him, it was the mark of instant death—the overwhelming power that made him a monster among men.
From that moment on, he swore to devote his life to peace.
The first step: eliminate war.
He enlisted in the Imperial Army as a mere foot soldier.
“Goodbye.”
As he finished packing his things, Jenny, the caretaker of the orphanage, looked at him with worry. Then her gaze shifted to the sky, where a white bird glided gracefully, carrying a letter in its beak.
She had always been amazed by it.
“From now on, that bird will be yours,” she said softly. “When you leave the orphanage, take it with you.”
“Yes.”
“One last thing. Have you chosen a name? You were always ‘the nameless one.’”
“Yes. I’ve decided.”
“……Will you tell me?”
The boy only bowed his head. He never answered.
And from that day on, his whereabouts became unknown.
Years passed.
From the battlefields, news of victory after victory spread like wildfire.
The young commander’s record was so monstrous that the number of demon heads he had collected exceeded the hundreds.
But to his sister, he was still simply “Pupu.”
Every season, he faithfully sent her letters.
“Nunyaaa! How are you? I’m already twelve!”
He wrote this on his fourteenth birthday, grinning sheepishly even as he stood amid the smoke of war.
“Nunyaaa, the wind is soooo strong here! Hehe!”
At fifteen, while storms raged across the battlefield, he stayed awake worrying about her. He ate poisoned food as if it were nothing, coughing up blood, just because a letter from her had arrived.
“Are you seventeen now?
Your spelling is still cute.
Study Imperial properly, Pupu.
You need to take care of yourself.”
At seventeen, receiving her words that his misspellings were “cute,” he swore he would become even cuter—and, more importantly, capable of taking care of himself.
That day, drenched in blue blood, he reduced a thousand monsters to ash.
Finally, when he turned twenty—the day of adulthood—
“Congratulations on reaching your coming-of-age.”
Ten years.
Enough time for a weeping orphan boy to become a general who commanded armies.
And so, on the battlefield, Pupu celebrated his twentieth year—
and at the same time, entered the final chapter of the continental war.
In the depths of a dragon’s lair, he uncovered something unexpected:
The Capital Rift Map.
Annotated by the dragon itself, it predicted when and where rifts would tear open across the Empire.
And scrawled beneath it was a prophecy:
“When one hundred rifts are sealed, peace will descend upon the world.”
“…Then it’s decided.”
He clenched the map tightly.
“I’ll return. Once I’ve sealed them all.”
If he could bring peace, surely then—surely—his sister would meet him again.
“Next season… I have something I must tell you.
Will you listen to me?”
With that trembling letter sent, Aldehyde—the boy once known as Pupu—brought the entire continent under the Empire’s banner and returned.
He had only two goals.
- To seal the rifts and achieve peace.
- To meet his sister again—this time, in a way so irresistibly cute she couldn’t possibly refuse him.
There was only one problem.
His appearance… had become anything but cute.
