Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Grandpa had been perfectly healthy, without a single ailment. He had been around the same age as the Duke of Decarean, so if it hadn’t been for the accident, he could easily have lived for another twenty or thirty years.

Perhaps he might even have lived to see me meet someone I loved and get married.

—When Vivi gets married, I will be the one to walk her down the aisle while holding her hand, Father. No matter that you are my father, I cannot yield on this.

—What are you talking about, Dietrich? With Grandfather still alive and well, how could it possibly make sense for her to walk down the aisle holding her uncle’s hand? I will be the one to hold Vivi’s hand.

—Vivi is my only niece.

—She is my only granddaughter, too.

I suddenly remembered a time when Grandpa and Uncle Dietrich had argued over such a trivial subject.

I had wondered why they were fighting over something like that, but the two of them had been quite serious.

In the end, when both pairs of eyes turned toward me, I came to a peaceful conclusion.

—Heehee! I’ll walk in holding both Grandpa’s hand and Uncle’s hand! I have two hands, you know! Wow, I guess that’s why Vivi has two hands.

Grandpa and Uncle Dietrich laughed cheerfully at my innocent answer.

—That’s a good idea, Vivi. I don’t know who our niece takes after to be this clever. Could it be me?

—But now that I think about it, I can’t imagine marrying Vivi off. What if she ends up with some worthless scoundrel?

—That does make sense, Father. Why don’t we just keep Vivi by our side for the rest of her life!

In that respect, too, Grandpa and Uncle Dietrich had been in complete agreement.

It had been less than a year since I had spent days filled with nothing but peacefulness, without a single worry or concern, yet somehow it felt like something that had happened long ago.

“This isn’t the time to be crying like this.”

With Grandpa and Uncle gone, I was the only one who could protect Mother. Besides……

Sniff. I rubbed my eyes roughly. Then I began writing down whatever came to mind on the slate.

◎ Erwin met Marcus at 11, separated at 13

In the original story, the two of them would meet about a year from now, but if I helped, they could meet sooner.

Erwin Roschild.

An illegitimate child born between the late Crown Prince, Henry Roschild, and a woman from a foreign land.

It was Marcus who rescued him after he had endured a difficult childhood. Then, after Marcus suddenly disappeared, Erwin was left alone again and used the swordsmanship he had learned from Marcus to become an active mercenary.

Then, after accomplishing a great feat on the battlefield, he was granted a knighthood and went to the Imperial Palace……

◎ Went to the Imperial Palace at 16

‘That was when the Emperor came to suspect that Erwin was his grandson.’

And a year later, Erwin was officially recognized as a prince.

‘That was also when he began openly opposing Klaus, the duke.’

◎ Erwin VS Klaus

Beneath that, I immediately continued writing.

◎ Klaus = Marcus Olden

“How did this happen?”

Marcus had clearly said that he had raised his friend’s child, Erwin, as his own. Yet Klaus not only failed to recognize Erwin and opposed him, but even tried to kill him.

If Klaus and Marcus were truly the same person, it made no sense.

‘By the time Erwin was summoned to the Imperial Palace, Uncle was already the Duke of Decarean.’

Thinking carefully, there was something strange.

“Uncle said he had no intention whatsoever of returning to Decarean, didn’t he?”

After disappearing as Marcus Olden, something must have happened to him before he returned as Klaus Decarean.

Otherwise, there was no way he would search blindly for ten years, then fail to recognize Erwin, whom he had raised, and even try to kill him.

◎ Klaus = Marcus Olden

→ Did something happen that turned him evil?

The question was, what on earth was that ‘something’?

“Ugh!”

My head throbbed with frustration. I stretched out both arms and flopped down on my stomach, letting out a deep sigh.

To be honest, I had never intended to actively interfere with the original story. I had planned to give Marcus useful information in exchange for the help he provided to Mother and me, and not concern myself with anything beyond that.

But Marcus was a better person than I had expected, so I came to hope that he would be able to remain on good terms with Erwin without separating from him.

‘That way, when the time came for me to leave, I thought it might make my heart feel a little less heavy.’

But now my plan had completely fallen apart.

‘If he makes plans to kill Erwin in the future, just like in the original story, won’t I end up getting dragged into it for no reason?’

By then, Mother would probably have become Klaus’s ‘ex-wife’ and would have no dealings whatsoever with the Decarean family.

But could life really go that smoothly?

We might be falsely accused after someone deliberately picked a fight with us, with the accusation, ‘Your Arno family actually knew about Klaus Decarean’s plans, too!’ and end up having our heads chopped off along with him.

‘No! Now that Mother has married Klaus, I have to stop him from turning evil!’

I had to do it not for Klaus and Erwin, but for the safety of Mother and me.

And…… even if that weren’t the reason, I wanted to stop him from turning evil.

‘It would be sad to see someone as kind and affectionate as Marcus change like that.’

Klaus, or rather Marcus Olden, had treated Mother and me extremely well.

Even though we were a family brought together simply by a contract, he sincerely thought of us as his family and took care of us.

I’ll admit it honestly. I had completely fallen for him over the past few weeks.

Having never had a father since birth, having a stepfather was truly sweet to me.

If I could, I wanted the three of us to remain a family forever.

‘But that’s impossible, isn’t it? If they were to actually get married rather than having a temporary marriage, the Duke of Decarean would oppose it, and more importantly, what matters most is how Mother and Klaus feel.’

I didn’t want to force Mother into a choice she didn’t truly want simply because I liked him.

Anyway, the important thing was that now, even if Mother and I left, I wanted Klaus to live happily with Erwin.

Klaus would be happy, and there would be no trouble left behind for Mother and me, so it was the best possible future.

‘To make that happen, I need to find out what happened before Klaus returned to Decarean, and why he forgot his memories with Erwin and turned evil.’

I endlessly drew circles around the part that read, ‘◎ Marcus Olden, Missing at Sea! Returns Later as the Duke of Decarean,’ before pressing the red button.

The writing I had put on the slate disappeared in an instant.

‘I wish my worries could disappear like that, too.’

I flopped down onto the bed.

“For now, I should find Erwin first.”

While I was here, warm and well-fed, leisurely worrying about things, he must have been going through a hellish time where every minute and every second felt like an eternity.

“After that, I have to find Uncle Dietrich……”

Without thinking, I even wrote ‘Uncle Dietrich’ on the slate before my face eventually crumpled.

“Where on earth are you, Uncle?”

Are you really alive?

I don’t think for a second that anything happened to you, Uncle.

You’re the strongest knight of them all, so I’m sure you’re alive somehow.

—If I don’t protect my Vivi and my sister, then who will? Don’t worry, Vivi. Uncle will definitely protect the two of you. You trust Uncle, don’t you?

You promised, Uncle.

So please come back now.

If you can’t come back right away, at least send us some word.

“Please……”

When I thought of Uncle, who always gave me a silly, beaming smile whenever he saw me, my eyes filled with tears.

I buried my face deep into the pillow to hold back my tears.

But once the tears had started, they showed no sign of stopping.

***

“It would be best to just let her sleep. It seems she must have been tense this whole time.”

When Rayna and Klaus returned after having a more detailed conversation with the Duke of Decarean and went to find Vivi, the child was sleeping soundly.

More time had passed than they had realized, and the sun was already setting outside the window.

They had come to find Vivi so they could have dinner together, but they couldn’t bring themselves to wake her.

“I’ll have them prepare some food so that Vivi can eat whenever she wakes up hungry in the middle of her sleep.”

“Thank you.”

When Klaus picked up Vivi, who had been sleeping on her stomach, to turn her onto her back, he saw the still-damp pillowcase and Vivi’s reddened, swollen eyelids.

Rayna’s face hardened when she saw Vivi’s face, which clearly showed that she had cried herself to sleep.

While she sat on the edge of the bed and examined Vivi’s face, Klaus heard what had happened from Dorothy.

“She said she wanted to practice writing, so I brought her the kit. She told me she was tired and thought she would fall asleep soon, so I left the room and told her to rest comfortably. I thought she might feel uncomfortable if I stayed.”

“Nothing else happened?”