A strange, inexplicable silence fell over the room.
The atmosphere was deeply uncomfortable — no one could find a way to agree with what Pernoa had just said.
Even Oberon seemed caught off guard, visibly flinching.
Arcmund, who had been struck speechless for a moment, finally opened his mouth with a sour expression.
“That’s hardly something you have the right to say.”
“….”
“Whatever happened to I’ll take responsibility alone and leave, just take Riersha? And now you’re threatening to take the children with you?”
“I’m being shipped off to the front lines. How could I possibly take the children with me? Even I have a conscience.”
You most certainly do not.
Arcmund’s eyes said exactly that.
Pernoa shrugged with practiced nonchalance.
“And who would that even benefit?”
Most of the collateral branches had reasonably good relations with the Arachrene family — but among the minority, there were those who were desperate to send Pernoa and the other heirs off to the front by any means necessary.
The longer the direct line was absent, the more freely they could wield power to suit their own appetites.
No doubt some of them had been hoping, this time as well, that Pernoa would not come back alive.
In truth, Pernoa had been exposed to assassination attempts with alarming frequency at the border.
And yet, here he was. Alive.
“The day I left the ducal castle, I realized something. That even after inheriting the title, when it truly matters — there is nothing I can do as I please.”
Arcmund’s expression grew serious and still at Pernoa’s words.
“Are you trying to reproach me?”
He was asking whether Pernoa meant to blame him for failing to protect Riersha properly.
From the very beginning, Arcmund had not been able to show his granddaughter even a trace of affection.
The moment he revealed any feeling toward the child, it was all too obvious where the collateral branches would aim their arrows.
“That’s not what I mean. I simply want to make one thing clear. If a moment comes again where I must choose — as it did that day — I will abandon this family.”
“…Pathetic fool. Without the family, what power do you have to protect the people who are yours?”
The notion of abandoning the fortress that was the Arachrene Duchy sounded like the raving of a madman.
The Imperial House had always sought to curb Arachrene’s strength.
If the family that their ancestors had built over generations were to collapse, they would be left entirely exposed to danger.
Arcmund was clicking his tongue in disapproval when it happened.
Pernoa’s crimson eyes flickered with something dangerous. He wore a meaningful smile that carried the faintest trace of killing intent, and at the sight of it, Arcmund’s expression hardened with a sudden dread.
Pernoa lazily pointed one finger upward.
“Then I will simply take a higher seat.”
“…Have you finally lost your mind?”
“So please — don’t leave so much as a scratch on that seat of yours. Don’t give me any other ideas. Just keep it in one piece and hand it over when the time comes.”
“So the real point of this conversation was to threaten me.”
Pernoa shrugged as if to say as if I’d ever do that.
In the end, Arcmund chose to concede one step.
“Fine. Tell me what the problem is with the ducal castle.”
“I was reading the parenting bestseller Rosinante gave me yesterday. It says that a warm, harmonious, and safe home is the most important thing for a child.”
“…What did you just say?”
Arcmund’s thoughts ground to a halt.
After all the threatening and the theatrics — it came down to something this trivial.
In other words… he had been subjected to talk of potential treason over something pulled from a parenting guidebook?
All of that had been said for this?
Arcmund let out a helpless, disbelieving laugh.
At the door of the study, Oberon — who had been listening to the conversation with an utterly blank face — drew an uneven breath.
“So what I’m asking is that we pretend to be a father and son who get along. In front of the children, at least.”
“….”
“It’s an ordeal for me too, believe me.”
“Why you little—!”
Arcmund finally lost his patience and hurled the first thing his hand landed on at Pernoa.
Pernoa sidestepped the flying stack of documents with the ease of long practice, then rummaged through his subspace pocket and produced a thick book, setting it on the desk.
“And if you’d rather not look at a granddaughter who reminds you of me, perhaps you ought to read this as well.”
Those words carried extraordinary power.
Arcmund reached out and took the book as though drawn by some invisible force.
⁂
It was the weekend. Which meant there was not a single lesson scheduled for the day.
Even in Arachrene’s main castle — the very birthplace of its legendary obsession with education — the weekends were set aside as a time to rest.
Riersha walked through the garden hand in hand with Sona, glancing around with a puzzled expression.
“Is something the matter, my lady?”
“It’s strange.”
The castle felt a little different somehow.
It was difficult to put into words exactly, but there was an undeniable sense that everything had grown brighter overall.
The garden, too, seemed to have been freshly arranged.
“Ah — all the drab, gloomy things are gone, aren’t they?”
Sona laughed.
A few days prior, an order had come down from Arcmund — one that no one had quite believed at first.
All staff working within the main castle were to wear a brightly colored tie or accessory over their uniforms. That had been the directive.
And beyond that, cheerful-colored installations had begun to appear here and there throughout the ducal castle.
Benches that had once been plain wood were repainted white. The pergola where the retainers spent their break time had been made cozier and far more charming.
“Is it ’cause there’s a guest?”
Riersha tilted her head, having no idea that the changes were being made on her behalf.
Sona bit back a smile.
“Do you like the way the castle looks now, Lady Riersha?”
“…It’s pwetty, so I like it.”
Riersha nodded.
There’s no question — the young lady awakening was a blessing for this entire house.
Sona looked up at the sky.
Arcmund, who had always seemed far too stern and unyielding to ever issue an order to brighten the atmosphere of the house, had grown gentler.
Part of it was surely that his nerves had eased now that Pernoa had returned — but at the root of it all was Riersha’s very existence.
The child’s presence was gradually softening the air of the ducal house.
Slowly. Seeping in like light through stone.
Those who found this turn of events unwelcome, meanwhile, were surely watching with their nerves drawn tight.
“Where are all those people going?”
Riersha pointed at a group of people moving through the grounds in a steady stream.
They wore red garments — the mark of the Arachrene family’s elders.
Sona’s gaze sharpened for just a fraction of a second.
The majority of the family’s elders at present were men who had fallen under the Imperial House’s influence.
Catching herself before Riersha could notice, Sona smoothed her expression into a gentle smile.
“There’s an elder council meeting in the great assembly hall today. It happens once a week — everyone comes to make their reports.”
“I see. …Is Gwandpa and Daddy there too?”
Riersha let her eyes drift in a little circle as she quietly asked what she’d been wondering.
With one hand, she fidgeted with the small pouch that held the flower bracelet she and Sona had made together a few days ago.
Sona smiled faintly and nodded.
“Of course. You’d like to give them your gifts, wouldn’t you?”
“Mm-hm.”
But was it all right to go to the great assembly hall?
Riersha turned her head cautiously in the direction where the elders had disappeared.
She worried she might interrupt something important and get scolded for it.
“…Is it okay to go?”
“Of course it is.”
Sona had caught on instantly that Riersha was hesitating, and she answered without a moment’s pause.
The anxious look in Riersha’s face eased just a little.
She did want to deliver her gifts — but more than that, she wanted to see Pernoa.
It had been a full week since he’d returned to the castle.
Riersha had been busy with her own schedule during that time, swept up in one thing after another.
In all that time, she had not crossed paths with Pernoa even once. It was remarkable, really, that their paths had managed not to overlap at all.
In the end, Riersha had no choice but to voice the wish she’d been carrying around for days.
“I wanna see Gwandpa and Daddy.”
“Yes — shall we go right now?”
Sona was quietly glad to see Riersha growing more honest with herself and acting on her feelings.
She still had a tendency to think too little of herself, but Sona trusted that time would take care of that as well.
Still, Riersha hesitated a moment before asking.
“What if I’m in the way?”
“Hmm. Then shall we wait outside the great assembly hall until the meeting is over?”
“Yeah, that sounds better.”
A sensible solution had been offered, and Riersha nodded right away.
Her red eyes filled with anticipation, drifting again and again toward the direction of the assembly hall — and then, as though to hide it, darting away to look at something else entirely. It was terribly endearing.
“Ha. This really is a miracle.”
Sona murmured it with a kind of wonder.
That a life carrying the bloodline of a family gone so far astray should be none other than Riersha.
It was nothing short of a miracle.
Sona reached over and took Riersha’s hand without hesitation.
“Please remember this, Lady Riersha. There is not a single place in this castle where you are not welcome.”
