CHAPTER 47…………………………………………………..
After so long, the siblings who had finally found each other reunited in tears.
In the original story, Kylus would never have seen Lillian again.
He would have had to wait until her funeral to say a final farewell after she died from her illness.
But now, many things had changed.
Lillian had overcome the chronic illness brought on by mana and survived. With her health somewhat restored, she was able to meet her older brother again.
Someone who would have died before the timeline of the original story now lived.
In a way, a major part of the story had been twisted before it even began.
Yet to Yurenia, this felt like the proper course of events.
If the children could regain the vitality appropriate for their age and receive love—and if twisting the original story was the only way to make that happen—then she would intervene however many times it took to help them.
It was while Yurenia was making this determination that she heard the siblings speak, still tearful, toward her.
“Teacher… sniff… th-thank you.”
“Uh-huh… Lili…”
The siblings, hugging each other tightly, spoke to Yurenia. Maeve, nearby, nodded while dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.
“If we hadn’t met you, I don’t know what would have happened. Thank you so much.”
“I’m really glad everything worked out.”
Yurenia smiled warmly. She had been flustered when Maeve first expressed her gratitude, but after hearing “thank you” so many times during her stay at the mansion, she could now respond with ease.
“It’s thanks to Princess Lillian following the mana treatment diligently.”
“Teacher…”
When Yurenia shifted the praise to Lillian, the girl looked at her with teary eyes and pouted her lips. Yurenia approached, opening her arms, and hugged the girl kindly.
Kylus, who had been hugging Lillian, immediately pulled her into his embrace as well.
Holding both children at once, Yurenia exchanged a pleased glance with Maeve, who was watching warmly.
“What are you doing? Come here. Mom has to hug you too.”
“Yu… Yurenia.”
Maeve, her face full of emotion, came forward and wrapped them in her arms.
The children squirmed, giggling, feeling a little stifled in their mothers’ arms.
The more they struggled, the tighter Yurenia and Maeve held them.
“Mom! Mommy!”
“Teacher!”
Yurenia laughed as she held the wriggling children. Maeve’s face, looking at her, also broke into a bright smile.
At last, in the mansion that had felt like a gloomy, dismal winter, a warm and vibrant spring had arrived.
“…Yurenia Dobine, huh.”
Hugo murmured the name as he read Maeve’s letter, seated in the gently rocking carriage.
He was on the way back to the imperial palace after visiting the temple with the emperor.
Once a year, the emperor offered prayers at the temple, wishing for the empire’s peace and prosperity.
The annual pilgrimage was meaningful not for public display, but for the prayer itself.
For that reason, the emperor moved in secrecy, accompanied only by a select few.
Hugo, his close friend and state counselor, was naturally included among those personally chosen attendants.
Moreover, Hugo had accompanied the emperor throughout the ceremony, even sharing a carriage with him.
“Who’s that?”
Hugo muttered absentmindedly, and the voice from across the carriage made him lift his head.
Meeting Emperor Aston’s curious gaze, he clicked his tongue softly.
“I thought you were asleep.”
“I was. Until someone woke me.”
“My voice that loud?”
“Not at all. But I heard a familiar name.”
Aston chuckled, leaning his arm on the carriage window.
“You just said Yurenia Dobine. Recently, William mentioned that name too.”
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince?”
“The name of the tutor who saved Lillian, isn’t it?”
Hugo folded Maeve’s letter at Aston’s question. The royal family really had an obsession with House Valerio.
“Yes. I didn’t know the Crown Prince even knew her name.”
“She’s an important person if she saved Lillian.”
“Maeve also talks about her a lot. Not only did the tutor cure Lillian, but the children became much brighter as well.”
“And yet…”
Aston furrowed his brows, reading Hugo’s expression sharply.
“From what I gather, this tutor brought good news to the Valerio family. So why do you look so displeased?”
Aston really knew him too well.
Hugo stroked his jaw, frowning.
“She seems… almost too good a person.”
He looked at Maeve’s letter again, puzzled.
According to it, the tutor cured Lillian’s incurable illness and provided Kylus, who had been lonely, with love and care.
Even that alone was suspicious.
Lillian’s illness was a problem even the mana tower lords and high priests found impossible.
Yet a tutor appeared out of nowhere, possessed negative mana, and used it to cure Lillian.
Was it really just coincidence?
Even the title of tutor seemed dubious.
According to reports Hugo had received from Enzo, Kylus had had over ten different tutors before.
He was a difficult child, picky about who could handle him.
And yet, he had opened up only to this tutor.
On paper, she was no different from the others, yet what exactly had Yurenia Dobine done to gain his trust?
Let’s assume every coincidence was just that.
She happened to have a negative mana constitution suitable for Lillian, and she coincidentally matched well with Kylus.
But then, why does she demand nothing in return?
That was the part Hugo found most suspicious.
There is no kindness in this world without a price.
Surely, this woman must want something.
And it was probably so large and difficult that it could not be granted through ordinary means.
Being a minor noblewoman who could not inherit her title simply because she was female, perhaps she intended to secure a position in House Valerio for herself.
From the letter, Maeve had already completely fallen for her.
Lillian and Kylus, of course, and even Chester seemed favorably inclined toward her.
Astonishingly, she had even enchanted the high priest.
The high priest they met at the temple spoke passionately of the tutor’s virtues to Hugo, praising her as though she were the incarnation of a saint.
Whatever methods she used to charm people, she was remarkably skilled.
‘I can’t leave this be. I’ll have to see her myself soon.’
Hugo narrowed his eyes.
Having traveled abroad with the emperor and been busy with temple affairs, he had neglected household matters.
But he could not allow House Valerio to fall into the hands of some lowly minor noblewoman.
He intended to petition the emperor for leave, so he could meet the woman himself.
