Chapter 96
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Chapter 96
* * *
"Lucella, I—wait?"
Edwin lowered the hand he'd raised in greeting toward Lucella.
She had suddenly turned her head away, despite their eyes meeting moments before.
'I could have sworn our eyes met.'
Was I mistaken?
Edwin scratched his cheek awkwardly.
It was the Duke of Bellomen who grasped Edwin's hand and lowered it.
"Haven't you learned proper Banquet Hall etiquette yet?"
"Oh, no, sir. I have learned it."
"Then what was that gesture just now?"
"I apologize...."
Edwin bowed his head deeply.
This isn't allowed, that isn't allowed, but you must do this instead.
Father's words poured down upon me with such severity.
I wanted to pretend ignorance and go to Lucella and Lucian, to boast about how splendid these clothes looked on me and how quickly I'd mastered Banquet Hall etiquette.
But the Duke would not permit Edwin to leave his side.
He continued introducing me to strangers, even though they showed little enthusiasm for meeting me.
'I want to go home.'
I should never have agreed to come.
I shouldn't have nodded so eagerly when Father suggested we attend the Banquet Hall together.
Regret was beginning to creep in when—
"Marquis Agris."
The Duke of Bellomen called out a familiar name. It was Claude.
"...It has been a while, Duke of Bellomen."
With the arrival of that familiar face, Edwin's dampened spirits lifted slightly.
'I should ask how Amelia is doing.'
I should say I want to watch another lacrosse match together, and that this time I'd like to go on a picnic with everyone too.
"Hello, Marquis!"
Edwin greeted Claude, believing that unlike the others, he would welcome him warmly.
"...It's been a while."
But Claude's response was no different from the other nobles'.
His face clearly displayed awkwardness and discomfort.
Of course, there was one difference.
"Duke of Bellomen, what on earth are you thinking?"
He was the only nobleman who openly displayed hostility toward the Duke of Bellomen.
"Surely you understand what it means to bring a child to this gathering."
His voice was harsh.
At this, Edwin instinctively shrank back. The man before him was utterly different from the person who had always smiled kindly at him.
"I'm well aware of that. That's precisely why I brought him here."
"Have you given any thought to how Lucian might feel facing this situation?"
"I fail to see why the Marquis would concern himself with such matters."
At Claude's pointed remark, a crack appeared in the Duke of Bellomen's expression, which had maintained a smile throughout.
"This is my family's affair. It is not your place to intervene, Marquis."
The implication was clear—as a family matter, outsiders should know better than to speak.
"I understand that well. It is improper to meddle in another house's affairs. However, this matter... is it not ethically questionable?"
Yet Claude did not yield gracefully.
"Openly discriminating between two children is hardly a pleasant sight, Duke."
Lucian was the child Lucella cherished—her very reflection. I could not bear to watch her beloved suffer from such mistreatment.
Beyond that, there was the bond forged through our monster subjugation campaigns.
To me, Lucian was a comrade who had fought alongside me through the gates of life and death. I could not tolerate my precious comrade being treated poorly by his own father.
Especially not when that comrade was merely seven years old.
"Hardly a pleasant sight, you say..."
The Duke of Bellomen repeated Claude's words, as if tasting them.
Edwin sensed the atmosphere growing tense.
Both my father and Claude were precious to me.
I wished they could get along without conflict...
"Those words sound to me like a direct challenge."
As the Duke finished speaking, every nobleman present drew in a sharp breath. The Duke of Bellomen's words had been unmistakably blunt.
Yet Claude remained unfazed.
"Think of it as you wish."
With that, Claude turned away from the Duke of Bellomen.
He walked toward where Lucella and Lucian stood.
"My lady."
"Oh, Marquis."
At Claude's arrival, the crowd surrounding Lucella parted to either side.
"What were you discussing so intently?"
"Oh, nothing much..."
Claude and Lucella's conversation continued.
Unlike when speaking with the Duke of Bellomen, Claude's expression grew remarkably gentle in Lucella's presence.
The same was true for Lucella.
Lucella's face, which had seemed to be holding back frustration, gradually brightened with a smile.
Even Lucian, who had been downhearted, regained his spirits thanks to Claude.
"Lucian!"
"Ahin and Melissa!"
"How have you been? I see His Majesty bestowed quite an impressive commendation upon you?"
"Ahem!"
When the two mages approached, he broke into a radiant smile as if he had never been downcast at all.
"Why don't we step outside rather than linger here? The garden before the Banquet Hall is quite beautiful."
"Then let's do that. I saw a wooden elephant carved over there."
"An elephant!"
Lucian's mood brightened instantly, and he dashed out of the Banquet Hall. The two mages followed in his wake.
"Shall we go get some fresh air as well?"
"I'd like that."
Claude disappeared toward the Balcony with Lucella, still not sparing a glance in Edwin's direction.
'Everyone but me....'
Edwin felt dejected.
I thought everyone would be delighted when I came to the banquet. I thought I would enjoy myself playing happily with Lucian and Lucella.
'No one welcomes me.'
Not only did they fail to smile at me, but none of them even offered a simple greeting first.
Of course, this was because of the Emperor leaning against the Second Floor Railing, gazing down from above, though Edwin did not know this.
The nobles dared not take the initiative under that sharp, all-seeing gaze.
No matter how formidable the authority of the Duke of Bellomen was, it could never surpass the Emperor's. The nobles had no wish to invite the Emperor's displeasure through careless actions.
'His Majesty was so kind to me last time....'
Edwin lifted his head and looked upward.
A gaze far colder than what he had witnessed at the last meal met his eyes.
'This is hard.'
My shoulders felt heavy, as though bearing a great stone. I found myself struggling to breathe without reason.
In the original story, it was such adversity that forged Edwin into a stronger person.
The determination to prove my worth to them had made Edwin a resilient child.
But reality was not condensed as neatly as fiction.
The reality unfolding before a seven-year-old's eyes was terribly harsh.
'I want to go home.'
But could I truly rest once I returned home?
Could I dare call a place where I cannot rest my home?
Endless questions spiraled through my small mind.
* * *
Lucian and I boarded a carriage heading home before midnight.
I had no wish to leave Lucian in this sordid place rife with hidden machinations.
Yet as we prepared to return home, I found myself troubled.
'I don't want to go back to the Duke's Mansion.'
I had no desire to face the Duke even within my own home. Seeing Edwin in this state would be difficult as well.
But as an orphan with no friends, I had nowhere else to go.
Claude crossed my mind briefly, but we were both unmarried.
'An unmarried young woman visiting an unmarried man of her age at nearly midnight....'
That was why I had declined Claude's suggestion to stay at his estate.
Accepting that offer would certainly ignite the absurd suspicion that Claude harbored feelings for me.
'Besides, Lucian is a child of House of Bellomen. It makes no sense for him to leave the Duke's Mansion.'
In the end, I had no choice but to return to the Duke's Mansion.
"Aunt, I'm so sleepy...."
"Mm. Rest your head on Aunt's lap."
I laid the drowsy Lucian across my lap.
"Aunt...."
"What is it?"
"I don't regret much, but there's something that bothers me a little."
"What is it?"
I gazed down at Lucian's face, his eyelids blinking slowly, and replied.
"It's about Edwin."
"...."
"I wonder if I was wrong to bring him to our house...."
"...."
"Finding Father, whom I never knew—that was truly a good thing. Edwin said he wished he had a family. But...."
Lucian's quiet voice made my hand, which had been stroking his bangs, pause.
"When Edwin is with Father, I feel a little hurt...."
The child rubbed his small chest with his tiny hand.
"It feels all twisted inside here."
"...."
"I like Edwin. I don't hate him at all. But when Father only dotes on Edwin, it makes me sad."
"...."
"I'm Father's son just like Edwin is...."
Lucian tugged at his shirt collar and asked.
"Aunt, did I do something wrong?"
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