The Reason to Live
The carriage swayed gently as it rolled along the paved road. Sunlight spilled into the cabin, illuminating the interior.
Ferdinand sat quietly, watching Duke Klaus, who leaned back against the cushions with a weary expression. Having spent nearly the entire night weeping, the Duke was certainly not in the best of health. Yet, to Ferdinand, he did not look like a sick man. The Duke’s eyes were bright, clear, and full of life. As far as Ferdinand could remember, this was the first time he had ever seen the Duke with such a lucid gaze.
Like the loyal man he was, Ferdinand remained silent, holding back his questions, though his curiosity only continued to swell. Who exactly was Giselle? And who was Lady Laila?
Duke Klaus cleared his throat, his voice still raspy as he spoke.
“Thank you, Ferdinand.”
“It is nothing, Your Grace. I merely delivered the message.”
“And yet, you haven’t asked a single question.”
The Duke offered a faint smile. Ferdinand replied calmly.
“I trust that if it is something you can tell me, you will. Besides, the situation last night was far from ideal.”
“Indeed.”
Duke Klaus muttered, gazing out the window with a thoughtful expression.
“That child must have had her reasons for not coming to find me sooner. But yes, her judgment was correct. I have wasted my life for the past twenty years. I couldn’t even protect them twenty years ago….”
Over those twenty years, the Schwaben Duchy had grown even more powerful, while the Klaus family had withered. Furthermore, he was a man who did not know when he might die. Who would be left to protect the child after he was gone?
He could not suppress the regret blooming in his heart. He should not have spent his time merely grieving on a sickbed. He should have managed his health and raised a reliable successor. He should have rallied the loyalist faction and continued to fight against Schwaben.
Had he done so, the child could have returned with her head held high, a diamond tiara resting upon her brow, and the royal scepter in her hand.
“Your Grace.”
Ferdinand spoke up cautiously.
“I do not know what you are worrying about, but I will do my utmost for you. Not just me, but all the retainers of the Klaus household as well.”
“I know.”
The Duke murmured low. Then, covering his face with his hands, he spoke in a voice heavy with emotion.
“Since you were the one who brought me the news, you deserve to know. Giselle… she was the lady-in-waiting to Adele, my daughter. Until now… I believed she had died on that day… the day of the assassination.”
“Yes.”
Ferdinand replied, his own heart heavy. He had not known the name, but he knew that even during his seclusion, the only thing the Duke cared about was remembering those who had died alongside the late Empress Adelaide and caring for their families.
But to think one of them had survived. And that Laila was her daughter?
He was a sharp young man, and he had been by Duke Klaus’s side for a long time. He knew the Duke would not have collapsed simply because of the daughter of a maid he thought had died, nor would he have sobbed uncontrollably just to hide her identity.
And above all, there was a sense of déjà vu.
When he first saw Laila, he had thought she looked familiar. And last night, when she appeared after washing off her makeup, she had looked even more recognizable. He had attributed it to having seen Laila’s face multiple times the previous night, but now, he finally understood.
He gasped, his breath hitching.
“The portrait….”
He muttered it without thinking. His sense of familiarity must have stemmed from the portrait of the late Duchess hanging in Duke Klaus’s bedroom.
Most of the portraits of the late Empress Adelaide hanging in the Duchy were from her childhood, but even recalling those, it was obvious who Laila resembled.
“Your Grace, surely… No, but….”
The body of the Imperial Princess who died ‘back then’ should have been discovered long ago and buried in the imperial cemetery.
Duke Klaus spoke in a low voice. He did not even accidentally utter the word ‘Princess’.
“She was found as a drowned corpse, still strapped to her nurse with a baby carrier. But the discovery was quite late… and decomposition had already set in.”
It meant the identification had not been certain. Ferdinand trembled.
It was truly hard to believe. But if it were true, the loyalist faction would finally possess a massive justification and power to stand against Schwaben.
However, he could not start with such talk to Duke Klaus. To the Duke, the joy of having found his only granddaughter would be far greater than any political pivot for the loyalist faction or the imperial succession rights that could push aside Princess Roella.
Knowing how long the Duke had lived with such loss, Ferdinand understood that the emotions he was feeling were unfathomably deep.
The Duke muttered as if to himself.
“I thought everything was over… I thought there was nothing left to live for.”
Duke Klaus’s voice wavered.
“But I was wrong.”
He felt a crushing regret for the lost time.
He could recall the tiny hands and feet of his granddaughter as if it were yesterday. The sensation of her chubby cheeks and the sound of her giggling were still vivid in his mind. He had spent hours peering into her cradle, cooing at her. People said grandchildren were dearer than one’s own children, and he realized that wasn’t entirely wrong. When she was still in her mother’s womb, there were times he felt annoyed, thinking she was tormenting his daughter too much, but once she was born healthy, there was no child in the world as beautiful as she was.
“Father, do you think Via is prettier than me?”
“Of course. Look at this. There isn’t a single part of her that isn’t beautiful.”
Saying she was prettier than his daughter was a joke, but that she was just as beautiful was the truth. He had visited the Imperial Palace so often to see the baby that the Minister of the Imperial Household had jokingly asked if he intended to move into the palace entirely.
He would have given her anything. Whenever she patted his cheek with her warm, damp little hands, he couldn’t help but smile.
He used to plan what he would give his granddaughter in the future. He intended to buy her pretty shoes when she started to walk, and gift her her first tiara when she turned five. When a jeweler brought a beautiful diamond headpiece, he had bought it in advance, thinking she wouldn’t be able to wear it until she was sixteen.
Love was truly infinite. While raising his daughter, he had thought there could be no greater love, but once he had a granddaughter, an equal amount of love had sprung forth.
And when he lost both children at once, that love had turned entirely into grief, and he had been dying in a state of endless sorrow.
But she was alive. Even if you divide infinity in half, it remains infinite. He hadn’t just found half of what he lost; he had found a reason to live.
“When I saw her standing before me last night, I thought my heart would stop.”
“I am glad it did not, Your Grace.”
Ferdinand replied with a smile.
“Lady Laila was very worried as well. She will be concerned if you collapse again.”
“Yes. I must not collapse. I have to meet her. There is still so much I can do for her; I must not die.”
At that, Duke Klaus finally smiled.
While they were speaking, the carriage arrived at the Klaus estate. As Ferdinand stepped out first, he saw a woman wearing simple clothes and a veil standing among the servants who had come to greet them.
He offered her a slight smile and a bow, then helped the Duke out. Duke Klaus stumbled as he leaned on Ferdinand for support, but as he turned toward the front gate of the mansion, he came face to face with her.
Olivia removed her veil and approached the Duke.
She, too, could not wait for their meeting; although she had returned home at dawn, she hadn’t slept a wink, and as soon as morning broke, she had come to the Duke’s estate.
Tears welled up in Duke Klaus’s eyes once more.
He slowly opened his arms. Olivia approached him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and held him tightly.