Failures? Uncle Helmer’s dishes were never failures.
“Don’t say that.”
“But Lara. You know it as well as I do. The reason your parents ended up like that is all―.”
Cutting off Uncle Helmer’s words as he tried to repeat the same thing he always did, I smiled brightly.
“Then may I take some of those dishes with me?”
At my question, Uncle Helmer wore a baffled expression, as if he had forgotten what he had been saying just moments ago.
“My dishes? What for?”
“You know I like your dishes, Uncle. I just want to take them to the imperial palace and use them!”
I deliberately did not explain their detailed purpose.
Because it was plain to see that if he knew I meant to give them as a gift to someone, he would absolutely refuse.
“There are a few I made recently left over……. If you need them, take them.”
I had worried he might have smashed every last one, but a weight lifted from my mind.
“They’re probably in the workshop. I was going to throw them away anyway, so take them all.”
“Thank you, Uncle.”
Delighted that I wouldn’t have to return empty-handed, I entered the workshop with Terni in tow.
Perhaps seeing a working workshop for the first time, Terni exclaimed in admiration again and again.
“Wow. This is my first time seeing a pottery workshop. Artie, Artie. Is that uncle a dish artisan?”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to give these to Her Majesty the Empress as a gift, right? I told you before. Her Majesty won’t accept anything unless it’s by the artisan Jürgen. Is he that excellent an artisan? Hm?”
Stepping over broken shards, I walked to the shelf on the inner wall. Whatever he was so curious about, Terni poured out question after question.
Instead of answering, I examined the teapot set and the dishes. Contrary to Uncle Helmer’s claim that they were failures, they were flawless works.
I picked up one dish.
“Unless it’s the work of a considerable artisan, it’ll be hard to satisfy her.”
At Terni’s words, I smiled slightly and brushed the underside of the dish with my fingertip.
“It’s all right.”
Seeing the spot my thumb had swept across, Terni’s eyes went wide.
“Because he’s not just any considerable artisan.”
“Jürgen?”
There, a clear initial was engraved.
W.H.
A kind of mark that the artisan Jürgen left beneath his works.
“Wier……?!”
“Shh!”
I raised my index finger and silenced Terni, who had belatedly realized. When I gestured toward the workshop door with my eyes, he seemed to understand my intent and nodded slowly.
When I first heard the name of the artisan Jürgen, I hadn’t known it was Uncle Helmer.
Because I had always called him by the surname Helmer rather than the name Jürgen.
I had learned the identity of the artisan Jürgen when Gabriel showed me the bottom of that dish.
How could I not recognize an initial I had seen since early childhood?
It was the signature of Uncle Helmer, who was like a godfather to me.
Once I knew that, it made sense why all of the artisan Jürgen’s works had become masterpieces.
“Since you smash them like this, of course you couldn’t release any works.”
“Why does he smash them?”
“There are complicated circumstances.”
He looked curious about what those circumstances were, but I had no intention of telling him.
“Then shall we take these and go?”
“You’re going to take all of them?”
“If I leave them, they’ll all be smashed anyway. Better to take them, isn’t it?”
As I carefully gathered the intact dishes, I felt an incredibly burdensome gaze on me.
When I turned my head, Terni was looking at me with both eyes sparkling brightly.
It was unpleasant!
“Speaking of which…… my precious little sister!”
“Yes……?”
“Give me one dish too.”
So that was why he had been staring so burdensomely—he was after the dishes.
“Hmm…….”
When I hesitated without answering readily, Terni clung to me黏黏糊糊地 and began whining without waiting for an answer.
“Artie. Artieeeee. Give me just one, and I’ll forgive you for coldly throwing me out. Hm? Hmmm? Hmm?”
Annoying.
Very annoying. Extremely annoying.
I subtly peeled Terni’s arm off and nodded vaguely.
“All right. I’ll give you one when we leave here. If Uncle finds out, he won’t allow it, so you have to stay quiet. Understood?”
“Yeah! Of course!”
The artisan Jürgen must truly be something. To turn Terni, who had been sulking the whole time, into a smiling angel.
As I came out carrying the dishes, I saw Uncle Helmer gulping down water as if it were liquor.
No, why is he drinking water with a face carrying all the worries of the world?
“Uncle. Do you have something troubling you?”
“Troubling? If you’re done with your business, go on in now!”
He acted as if my sudden visit was a nuisance and tried to shoo me out, but I knew his true heart.
He was being considerate, worried that I might be scolded for returning late.
I looked at him with a smiling face.
“Uncle Helmer.”
“What?”
“Your works aren’t failures.”
“…….”
“And it’s not because of you that I ended up alone.”
“……Lara.”
“So I hope you’ll keep making beautiful dishes like before.”
I had always told him it wasn’t his fault, but Uncle could not easily shed his sense of guilt.
Perhaps this single remark would be of no use in soothing his heart.
But I had faith that if I kept telling him it wasn’t his fault like this, someday he would understand.
“Then I’ll be going now, Uncle. Cut down on the drinking.”
“I won’t go far.”
After smiling at Uncle, who answered gruffly, I opened the door.
Just as I was about to close it, Uncle’s voice came through the gap.
“……If it’s too hard and you have nowhere to go, come here, Lara. I can at least feed one mouth.”
In it, I felt Uncle’s true heart.
* * *
Visiting Artie’s bedroom had now become something like a habit for Adrian. Today he had been a bit late because of work, but he stopped by her bedroom without fail.
But, she wasn’t there.
He couldn’t tell when she had left, but there was no trace of her having stayed.
I told her to stay quietly in her room—so where on earth is she wandering?
Was it because Artie had acted as she pleased, or was it because he couldn’t see her the moment he wanted to?
Whatever the reason, irritation rose in him.
“Madam Lucy.”
“Oh my. You’ve come again today, ohohoho!”
“Where did she go?”
“What might you be referring to?”
She must have understood well enough, but perhaps she was deliberately teasing, for Madam Lucy feigned ignorance and smiled elegantly.
After a short battle of stares, the loser this time as well was Adrian.
“My fiancée.”
“If only you would say it like that normally, how lovely it would be. Ohohoho!”
“So, where did she go?”
“Unfortunately, I also do not know.”
“What?”
If the head maid didn’t know the whereabouts of the person she served, what was she to do?
Finding it so absurd that he simply stared at Madam Lucy, she shrugged and disappeared with a laugh.
Artie’s whereabouts thus fell into a labyrinth.
Adrian clutched his throbbing head and plopped down roughly on the sofa.
Where on earth did she go?
“Damn it.”
It had only been one day of not seeing her, yet he felt as though he were suffering from withdrawal.
Why am I this anxious?
Adrian anxiously scanned Artie’s bedroom. Compared to before, nothing had disappeared or changed.
After sitting still for a few minutes, Adrian shot to his feet with a hardened face.
He immediately left the bedroom and sought out Diano and Terni.
“Diano. Where’s Terni?”
He found Diano at the training grounds, but Terni was not there. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Diano wore an expression of confusion.
“Weren’t you together?”
“I only saw him briefly in the morning. I haven’t seen him all day.”
“Ah, then he must have gone to Lady Artienne.”
Adrian’s expression hardened in an instant.
“She’s not there.”
“What?”
“I said she’s not there.”
What’s not there? As Diano chewed over Adrian’s words, his expression grew increasingly dark.
Sensing from that change that something was amiss, Adrian pressed Diano with a cold aura.
“You know something.”
“It’s not certain.”
“Tell me.”
When Adrian ground out the words, Diano, at a loss, scratched the back of his head.
The more he delayed, the more murderous the surrounding air became. In the end, Diano confessed the conversation he had had with Terni some time ago.
“Well, hasn’t Your Highness been a bit strange lately? Coming to Lady Artienne’s room every day, staring blankly without a word, and then leaving.”
That’s right.
“Because of that, Lady Artienne once sought counsel from us. So we gave her sincere advice.”
“What did you say?”
“We told her that Your Highness seemed likely to kill her soon, so perhaps she should plan an escape route―.”
Bang!
Before Diano could even finish, Adrian kicked over a scarecrow that had been standing intact.
And without giving anyone time to stop him, he stormed out of the training grounds.
‘……I think His Highness has lost his mind.’
He had never seen Adrian this enraged recently.
Remembering the murderous look Adrian had given him, Diano hurriedly chased after him.
Adrian struggled to steady his breathing.
His head felt like it would spin from rage.
Run away? She dared to run away?
He had said he would send her away after his mother’s birthday banquet, but that was to happen after Essen was found.
He hadn’t found Essen yet, so she must not run.
“Damn it.”
No, that was just an excuse. Adrian simply did not want to send Artie anywhere.
Whether Essen returned or not, he had no intention of letting her go.
He was more selfish than anyone, and the thought of letting go of someone he liked for their sake did not occur to him in the slightest.
If she truly left because she hated him, he would bring her back by any means necessary.
Adrian walked on without even knowing where he was headed. He searched everywhere Artie might be, but could not find a single strand of her hair.
It was only his last shred of patience that kept him from laying waste to everything around him in his surging fury.
As Adrian left Lily Palace, his steps gradually slowed.
“Your Highness?”
Artie was there.
Clutching something precious to her chest, she looked at him with wide, round eyes.
The moment he recognized her presence, his thoughts stopped.
His body moved before his mind.
Adrian approached without hesitation and embraced Artie.
The surging fury vanished completely. What remained in its place was only the relief that he had not lost her.
