Chapter 71
Chapter 71
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Tears for Mother
-----------------------------------------------------------------
71
"You never showed any sign of that... not even once."
Was it because of what Joachim had said?
Even in the warm afternoon air, a chill hung in the atmosphere.
I opened my mouth several times, trying to respond, but ultimately failed.
All I managed was to wave Joachim off, telling him to go back first.
Joachim glanced back at me several times before the nurse who had come to fetch him led him away from the garden.
'I should go to Dad.'
With that thought, I started walking briskly, almost running, but soon slowed to a stop.
What was I supposed to ask Dad?
Chase after him like this and ask, "Erich hates me and Dietrich—could he die before he grows up?" to that kid's own father?
Or throw out something like, "You didn't abandon Erich because he became useless, did you?" to Dad?
Dad wasn't the type to do that.
I couldn't fully believe everything Mark had spat out, either.
But...
'But I've already been abandoned once before.'
I was Kang Haejin, abandoned at birth, never knowing my parents' faces or names.
I knew there were parents in the world who would never abandon their child.
But I couldn't be sure mine were like that.
Dad in this life was a good man who loved me dearly, but...
"Ah!"
Lost in a daze as I wandered, I failed to notice a small protruding stone and tumbled forward.
A stinging pain shot up from my knee, probably scraped against the ground.
As expected, there was a long gash on my knee.
Blood welled up.
Erich, called the north's defective product.
I believed it couldn't be true, but maybe Dad had abandoned him... maybe he'd die before becoming an adult...
"Hiiing..."
I couldn't control my emotions at all.
Just like a real four-year-old, my lip started to pout.
Blood kept oozing out even as I sat there. My entire knee looked red.
As I stared at the messy wound covered in sand, tears began to fall.
"Mooommy...!"
In both my past and present lives, I had no memories of a mother.
Yet, when pain and sorrow hit, I found myself crying out for Mommy just like any other kid, without realizing it.
Was it because my lips naturally formed the easy word while pouting?
I should have brought the nurse with me.
'I deliberately left her behind in case Dietrich fought with Mark again.'
Here I was, thinking I'd sort out my thoughts alone outside, only to end up hurt and bawling like a baby.
No matter how much I cried for Mommy, there was no one to comfort me.
In the growing sorrow and inexplicable fear, my childlike thoughts ballooned in an instant.
Ideas tangled messily.
"Baby, what's wrong? Did you get hurt?"
That's when Florian appeared.
Even through my tear-blurred, messy vision, his sparkling hair and eyes stood out crystal clear.
Florian tossed the few books he was holding onto the ground and ran straight to me.
Seeing the books scattered on the path only made me cry harder.
"Hwaaang, Fwo... I fell and it hurts. But Ditri too, ugh, snif, today... Erich said he hates me, waaah!"
"It's okay. I'll take you to the physician. Can you walk?"
I probably could walk.
But I shook my head vigorously.
Now that someone was comforting me, I couldn't stop being spoiled.
Florian brushed the sweat-dampened hair from my forehead, which was soaked from all the crying, then turned around.
"Then I'll carry you. You can hold on, right?"
Florian was still young, but he was growing taller every day.
He easily hoisted me up on his back—me, who had only lived half as long as he had.
He didn't even show a hint of strain.
I... casually wiped my snot on such a Florian's shoulder.
I'd regret it later when my adult mind returned, and honestly, I already did, but I couldn't resist the disaster-like impulses of a four-year-old.
After wiping my nose, my crying eased a bit.
Maybe it was the floating sensation in the air that felt good.
"I heard someone calling for Mommy and came to check, but I was shocked. I didn't expect the baby to be crying."
With our bodies pressed together, his words reached me through touch before sound.
Florian's voice seeped into my skin first.
The tears I'd barely stopped started pouring again.
Talking about Mom in this situation was foul play.
I hugged Florian's neck tighter and sniffled loudly.
"I wanna see Mommy..."
If they were going to give me a family this time, unlike my past life, they should have included a mom too.
She was the one family member I wanted most.
As I unwittingly whimpered, Florian gently rocked me.
A four-year-old's body amazingly improved its mood from crying just by being jiggled up and down, over and over.
"Baby, actually, my mother passed away early too."
Ever since I learned the current Empress was trying to kill Florian, I'd been curious but never dared to ask. That story slowly spilled from his lips now.
Why of all times, now?
This was the moment my heart was most fragile.
The deepest secret Florian shared sank straight into my heart.
"My mother... was framed and executed."
I stopped crying without realizing it and focused on his story.
"My mother was the first Empress, from the Eastern Duke family."
The Eastern Duke family—one of the empire's four great ducal houses?
According to Grandpa, they were busy watching the Southern Dukes, but objectively, it was still an impressive lineage.
But for someone with such a noble-born mother, Florian's initial circumstances had been utterly wretched.
Was it related to the frame-up he just mentioned?
"Right after I was born, she was accused of trying to poison the Emperor to make me the next in line."
Florian's words, starting like that, carried immense weight.
Yet they also felt terribly light.
He spoke as if he might vanish any moment, weightless. To hide my unease, I hugged his neck a little tighter.
"The nurse who raised me said it was all lies fabricated by the Southern Duke family. That my mother loved the Emperor deeply."
"Southern Duke family?"
"Yeah. The current Empress and her father. They lied to steal the Empress position, pushed it through with Southern influence until my mother was executed..."
Florian, who had been speaking as smoothly as flowing water, couldn't continue at that point.
Silence fell between us for a moment.
This was probably the first time Florian had ever voiced such a story himself.
I had that instinctual feeling.
"Father tried everything to protect Mother, but he couldn't overcome the South."
"Couldn't the Eastern Duke family help?"
They were her family; they should have.
Hearing my question, Florian gritted his teeth. I could see his jaw clench from behind.
"They couldn't. Because at that time... my maternal grandmother, the family head, and my three maternal uncles were all executed alongside her."
I couldn't find words to reply.
Only then did I piece together why the Southern Peterzen Duke and the current Empress had bothered framing Florian's mother for treason.
To wipe out the direct line of Florian's maternal Eastern Duke family entirely.
They couldn't leave even the smallest faction that might protect him.
"The current Eastern Duke family is in the hands of collaterals. They're all trembling in fear of falling out of favor with the Empress and Peterzen Duke because of me."
Florian, having poured out the heavy story he'd carried alone his whole life, muttered as if vowing to himself.
"It's okay. I'll survive on my own."
The words he'd probably repeated alone his entire life flowed out with a chilling tone.
"You're not alone."
Florian glanced back at me upon hearing my words.
"Dad's here, and I'm here, and Ditri... um. Ditri's just Ditri, but anyway, I'm on Fwo's side."
"...Sometimes you feel more like my little sister than the Second Prince."
I sometimes felt Florian was a sturdier big brother than even Dietrich.
Thinking the same thing was funny, so I started to grin, then forced my lips down.