Chapter 38
It wasn’t as though he and Lor did anything particularly great.
When Lor chattered on about her daily life, Kainel just nodded along.
Sometimes he teased her, taking advantage of his height, a head taller than hers, and seeing his reflection shining in her green eyes always made him feel oddly satisfied.
When Lor pouted, glaring with the whites of her eyes, she would soon burst into bright laughter, clapping her hands, and Kainel found that laughter—like a song—pleasant to his ears.
“We’ll meet again tomorrow, right? Like this! We promised!”
When the moon rose high above, Lor always hooked her finger with his and pressed down as though stamping a seal.
At first, he scoffed. Who ever keeps such childish pinky promises?
But for some reason, Kainel went to see Lor the next day as well. And the day after that.
Even while thinking, ‘Why do I keep going to see her?’ he still went, out of habit.
“This promise is just our secret!”
Because of those words. Our secret.
The fact that Lor could tie the two of them together with the word “we.”
Whenever he thought of their little secret, his heart always fluttered.
But now the Duke knew as well.
“Hmmm.”
That didn’t feel so good.
Kainel frowned, displeased.
But he couldn’t very well ask Lor about it directly, so he shifted the topic instead.
“Then why were you crying?”
“Guunyaang… it was just a liiittle bit of tears….”
“If tears came out, then you cried.”
“But… tears come out when you yawn, too?”
“But you didn’t yawn. The tears came out on their own. That means you cried.”
Lor tried to wriggle her way out, but Kainel’s reasoning left no loophole.
“Huuuh….”
Lor let out a big sigh and finally admitted the truth.
“You know… since Dad went far away, right? Even when I was at Dad’s house, I kept, kept missing Mom, and now I miss Dad too, so I feel upset… but then Raykal only says all these hard words….”
That’s why I got sad.
After finishing, Lor fidgeted with her clasped hands.
But then she suddenly smiled again.
“But it’s okay!”
She raised her little hand high.
Around her chubby wrist was a bracelet of sparkling amethyst beads strung on a thread.
“Because I have this!”
“What’s that?”
Had she really cheered up already?
Kainel, meeting her suddenly bright face, asked with a small smile.
“Dad gave it to me yesterday before he left. As long as I have this bracelet, it means Dad is with me. And when it breaks one day, Dad will come back!”
“…Really?”
Did the Duke have such an ability?
Kainel stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Then, almost unconsciously, his hand moved to his neck—remembering the necklace hanging there.
“…This was also given to me by His Grace.”
So then, I’m the same as you.
Both of us have something given by him.
For some reason, the stifling pressure he felt when wearing the necklace seemed to ease just a little.
Lor didn’t hear his muttered words. With innocent energy, she bounced over and leaned close to him.
She motioned for him to bend down, and when he did, she cupped her hands around his ear, whispering in secretive tones.
“This is a seeecret…”
She even looked around carefully, just in case.
“Hm?”
What is it now? Amused, Kainel tilted his head to listen.
“Because I have Kainel!”
“Huh?”
He blinked, not understanding. When he asked again, Lor stomped her little feet in frustration.
“Because I have Kainel, the dark clouds in my heart flew away!”
Hehe.
Satisfied with her confession, Lor stepped back with her hands folded behind her back.
Though shy, she twisted her body, but her wide grin—missing a front tooth—was like the sun breaking through the clouds.
Kainel found he couldn’t look away from that face.
‘Wait… what’s this?’
Realizing he was staring blankly, he became aware of his heart pounding heavily in his chest.
Watching Lor run past him, full of joy, Kainel murmured quietly to himself.
“I also… like being by your side.”
He didn’t know why, but when he was with her, the suffocating chains and restraints that had bound him since birth seemed to loosen.
‘I owe you so much.’
Whispering words that would never reach Lor, Kainel quickly snapped out of it and chased after her.
“Hey! Wait up!”
“Over here, Kainel!”
Lor was squatting in a corner of the garden not far away.
As Kainel approached, Lor picked something up as though she’d been waiting.
Her green eyes sparkled in the darkness with excitement and wonder.
“Look at this!”
Had she found a flower fallen to the ground? What was there to marvel at in the garden? Kainel wondered, but he obediently turned his gaze to Lor’s hand.
“Do you know what this is?”
This little brat—after making me feel so restless—still had endless curiosity.
Eight-year-old Kainel sighed inwardly at the five-year-old Lor.
‘She doesn’t even know how I feel….’
Putting on a deliberately indifferent face, he looked at what Lor had found.
It was a large, dark-red flower. This was…
“A Fioleta.”
He hadn’t expected to see this here.
“Fio… leta?”
“Yeah. That’s the flower’s name.”
Fioleta was a lavish blossom with layers of crimson petals.
Toward the edges, the tips curled slightly upward, the color darkening into black, like a dress worn by a neighboring kingdom’s princess—or perhaps the daughter of a demon lord—in a fairy tale.
Even Lor, who had grown up in the mountains, had never seen such a flower.
‘Woooow—.’
Burying her nose into it, Lor breathed in the scent.
“It smells so nice.”
She passed the flower to Kainel to smell too, then suddenly asked:
“But why is this here?”
During their secret nighttime strolls, she and Kainel had already explored every corner of the garden.
But she had never seen such a pretty flower here before.
Kainel agreed, nodding.
The back garden was hidden behind the mansion; hardly anyone came there, so even the gardener only trimmed it enough to keep the weeds from overgrowing.
There should have been only simple wildflowers and modest trees—not a difficult-to-raise flower like Fioleta.
Looking closer at the blossom, Kainel noticed something.
Its stem was cut cleanly.
“Someone must have brought it from the Glass Garden.”
He concluded.
The Fioleta garden inside the glass greenhouse was the pride of the Duke’s estate.
“Glass Garden?”
Lor, who had never been to the greenhouse, tilted her head in confusion.
Kainel just shrugged and told her they’d go see it together next time.
* * *
The Venerata Mountains.
“Ah—Your Grace, Duke, welcome! Though the circumstances are grim, still… welcome, or rather….”
The burly knight, Andrew, stumbled over his words as he bowed repeatedly to Alcade.
When he heard last night that the Duke himself would visit here, he had been shocked. Honestly, he hadn’t believed it.
But now, here he was—in person! And in half a day’s time!
Alcade accepted Andrew’s fussing with indifferent nods.
The black cloak draped over his shoulders rippled gently with his movements.
Considering this was a monster-threatened region, his attire was surprisingly light.
Instead of heavy armor, he wore only a vest reinforced with thin steel plates beneath his cloak, with leather guards strapped to his wrists and shins.
Since he had been staying at the ducal residence for so long, even this simple outfit felt unfamiliar.
“Then, please lead the way.”
“Y-yes! This way, sir!”
Andrew, still flustered, cautiously guided him forward.
Following them closely, Giselle glanced around.
The village was quiet. Even after the Keiak subjugation, danger still lingered, so the residents had been evacuated.
The only people around were the Duke’s knights and the laborers sent to repair the damage caused by the monster attack.
At the village center, they passed a small fountain. Despite the lack of caretakers, water still trickled gently from it.
“Hey, Marita!”
Andrew waved, calling out to someone.
