The moment Riersha saw the glass of water, she realized just how thirsty she was.
She took it in both hands and drank, and Sona watched her with a warm, satisfied smile.
In the quiet room, the soft sound of her swallowing filled the silence.
“You must be terribly hungry. I’ll go prepare a meal. You’ve been unconscious for two whole days, my lady.”
“…Two whole days?!”
No wonder her body felt utterly drained of strength.
Is this what happens after an awakening? The aftermath?
She had no way of knowing. There was no one to tell her, and no one obvious to ask.
Sona began to explain, keeping things simple.
“It was Rosinante who carried you back to the castle, my lady.”
“Wozinante…?”
Riersha rolled her eyes blankly at the unfamiliar name, her expression making it clear she didn’t recognize it.
And yet, she had a feeling she knew who it was.
The man she had encountered in the forest came to mind. That must have been his name — Rosinante.
I had no idea someone like that lived here.
If he had been staying in the main castle, she should have crossed paths with him at least once. But even now, at ten years old, she had never seen his face before.
A man with features like that — she surely would have remembered him.
“It makes sense that you wouldn’t know him, my lady.”
“Why?”
“Because… Rosinante was only reinstated yesterday.”
“Weinstaited…?”
The difficult word made Riersha furrow her brow.
Sona smiled brightly and explained.
“It means he got his position back.”
“…So where was he before? What was he doing?”
“He served as the eyes and ears of House Arachrene.”
The more Sona explained, the less Riersha understood.
If someone with that kind of ability had existed, why had he ever lost his position in the first place?
Did he commit some terrible crime?
Noticing the look of deep concentration on Riersha’s face, Sona added another detail.
“Rosinante was the aide to the Young Lord.”
“To… Daddy?”
Riersha’s head snapped up.
It was only natural. She had never once heard news about her father, and here it was, coming from Sona’s own lips.
“Yes. Now that you’ve awakened, my lady, there is nothing left to worry about. Everything is going to be all right.”
Sona answered with a face full of joy.
Riersha still didn’t fully understand what Sona’s words meant.
But she sensed, dimly, that something very important was woven into them.
“And it’s not only Rosinante. I am also one of the Young Lord’s people. In truth, there are quite a few of us within this castle.”
Sona said this while gesturing to herself.
“Soon, all of the Young Lord’s people will return to the main castle.”
Riersha’s eyes went wide as she listened.
Did that mean — that until now, Rosinante and everyone else who followed the Young Lord had all been stripped of their positions?
Sona just said that everything would be fine now that I’ve awakened.
Then… could it be that the reason the family had been destroyed…
Was it me? Is that what it meant — that the family fell because of me?
Riersha had failed to awaken, and for some reason she had yet to fully understand, her father and everyone around him had lost their authority.
And the reason behind that — whatever it was —
“It’s because of you.”
It had been because of her.
The thought surfaced, quiet and certain, in the voice of the man who had once pointed a sword at her.
Riersha spent the next several days pouring every ounce of her energy into recovering.
But even as her body rested, her mind refused to stop turning.
From what I know, the Oberon of this time should have been more loyal to this family than anyone.
The Oberon of now was a man who held the complete trust of the Duke of Arachrene.
So what had been the decisive reason that made him turn his back on them?
What had finally driven Oberon — who had endured, who had waited, year after year past her tenth birthday — to suddenly raise his blade against the family?
Or had he been a traitor from the very beginning, and no one had ever realized it?
Riersha’s head throbbed with the weight of it all.
“You must be so eager to see the Young Lord again, my lady.”
“Yeah. I wanna see him weally bad.”
He hadn’t come because he hated her.
She had not been abandoned by her father.
Since learning this, Riersha had begun waiting every single day for word of the Young Lord.
“When is Daddy coming?”
Riersha asked, her face open and clear.
“Just a few more sleeps, and the Young Lord will come — pop! — just like that, to see you.”
“Mm.”
“Until then, you have to eat all your meals and be a strong, brave girl!”
“Mm.”
Riersha flinched and quietly tried to hide the carrot she had pushed to the side of her plate.
Sona, who had been watching it the whole time, fixed her with a stern expression. But when Riersha began making a show of spearing the carrot with her fork — lips moving as if chewing, without actually putting it in her mouth — Sona gave up any attempt at seriousness and burst out laughing.
“But why aren’t you eating the bread? That’s much tastier than carrots, surely.”
“Mm, I don’t wike bread.”
“…The bread?”
Sona tilted her head in puzzlement. She had noticed Riersha quietly moving things she disliked to the edges of her plate, but she had never heard the girl say outright that she didn’t like something.
It was a hearty bread packed densely with nuts — chosen for the child’s health.
But Riersha shook her head, wearing a small, unhappy expression.
“May I ask why?”
“’Cause eating stuff wike peanuts makes me sick.”
Riersha scrunched her face at the unpleasant memory the thought stirred up.
Understanding at once what the child meant, Sona’s expression turned grave.
“You have an allergy, my lady.”
Sona had received every piece of documentation relating to Riersha. She pressed her brows together.
Not a single report about this had ever been filed. She had never known.
Which meant Riersha had learned about it entirely on her own — by suffering through it herself.
The realization of just how thoroughly neglected this child had been settled over Sona like cold water, and she pressed her lips together tightly.
She had heard that Rosinante had swept through Riersha’s quarters once, but she hadn’t imagined it had been this bad.
Those people. They hadn’t taken care of her. Not properly.
How dare they.
Knowing now that little Riersha had been left to navigate it all alone — learning the shape of her own limitations through pain, looking after herself without anyone to guide her — Sona lowered her head.
Her eyes had gone very still. Very cold.
“I will ensure that nothing like this is ever allowed to happen again. You have my word, my lady.”
The news that Riersha had awakened her ability spread through the ducal castle like wildfire.
The treatment the family had been receiving — cold and dismissive for so long — changed overnight into something of an entirely different order.
Every meal that arrived was lavish. Every maidservant stood a little straighter and bowed a little deeper.
And beyond that, the things that had previously been provided — already quite fine — now looked almost shabby beside the extravagant gifts that began filling the room.
“…Is all of this really mine?”
“Of course it is. These are things that should have been given to you from the very beginning, my lady. You are simply reclaiming what was always rightfully yours.”
Riersha’s mouth fell open and refused to close.
A princess bed she had only ever seen in storybooks, furniture so exquisitely crafted she wasn’t sure she was allowed to touch it — they filled every corner of the room, one beautiful thing after another.
