Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Grandfather Snatches Me Away
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The person who snatched me up was Grandfather.
Of course it was.
In truth, unless it was Grandfather, there was virtually no one else who could grab me like this right in front of Father.
"Leave Mariella behind."
Suddenly?
Grandfather clutched me tightly, as if he had no intention of letting Father take me away no matter what.
Father bared his teeth fiercely at Grandfather.
...Didn't these two have a heartfelt talk just recently and make up?
"She's my daughter."
"She's my granddaughter too. A child needs to grow up in a stable environment."
"Where could be more stable than by her own father's side?"
"Only by her paternal grandfather's side, who holds all the power and glory."
"Then go ahead and look after all that power and glory instead of my daughter."
Why are you two doing this?
I was so embarrassed in front of the guests that I tried covering my face with both hands at least.
Of course, it wasn't much use.
"Put her down. You're scaring the child."
"How am I supposed to live without this one—you're saying take her away—?!"
"Well?"
Grandfather's face turned beet red at Father's shameless remark.
Of course, Father looked ready to explode himself.
I was like a shrimp caught between two whales, but I spotted a familiar face in the crowd and hopped down from Grandfather's arms.
Grandfather and Father both startled and looked at me, but a drop from this height was nothing.
I landed safely on the ground and waved cheerily at the two adults still locked in their childish battle of wills.
"I'm gonna go say hi to my friend, Marie!"
"Wait...!"
"Ella...!"
If you want to fight, do it without me.
I ignored the two adults and scampered over to Florian.
He stood alone in the crowd, apart from everyone else, and looked surprised when I grabbed his arm.
Then he deliberately turned his head away, trying not to show how sulky he was.
"You bummed I'm heading down to the territory?"
"No way."
Liar. He looked super bummed.
Florian wouldn't even properly look at my face.
This was so unlike him—the guy who usually stared at my face so obsessively it made me worry about his future.
"I'll come visit lots. And write letters all the time."
I was a bit worried about leaving Florian alone in a house with his uncle, but there was no helping it.
Father would be swamped managing the new territory for a while.
If he wanted to learn things quickly, staying by Grandfather's side was the best option.
There's no one who can teach imperial studies as well as Grandfather, after all.
There were things you could only learn from someone who'd ruled the North for so long as a lord.
No matter how great a professor you brought in, they couldn't match Grandfather's competence.
Even the current Emperor was leagues behind Grandfather in experience—how much more so for others?
Florian was a smart kid. He surely understood all that.
And yet, he seemed so upset that he didn't even reply to me.
This was the first time I'd seen Florian—who I'd thought was used to giving up what he wanted—show his emotions so clearly.
His downcast lashes trembled faintly over his expressionless face every now and then.
"Miss, the carriage is about to leave!"
The nurse called out to me urgently due to the tight schedule.
The moment I instinctively turned toward her voice, Florian—who hadn't properly looked at me the whole time—grabbed my sleeve.
His grip was more desperate than ever.
And yet, all he grabs is my sleeve, not even my hand...
I softened my voice as much as possible, feeling sorry for him being left alone.
"Whenever you miss me, come visit our territory anytime."
"...Really?"
"Yup! We're friends!"
Only then did Florian let go of my sleeve, his face showing faint relief.
"Have a safe trip."
Florian drank in my face with his jewel-like eyes, barely blinking, just like always.
And only then did a gentle farewell come.
Hey, Florian. I made it to Count Rommel's territory. Right away, I found out the steward had embezzled funds for wall repairs, so there was a huge fuss, but I think we sorted it out? Maybe?
The first letter arrived exactly one month after Mariella headed to the territory.
Next to the neatly printed words, she'd drawn a picture letter of the beautiful river surrounding Count Rommel's lands and the majestic castle, done in her crooked but earnest style.
She seemed good at everything, but her drawing was surprisingly bad.
Florian stared at what might have been a castle or a pile of rocks and laughed for a good while.
He decided to keep that laughter to himself.
Fairy, you doing okay? Things aren't great here. Dietrich was training Divine Grace with Father and accidentally froze the chapel solid. In the dead of winter, of all times...
The second letter arrived right on New Year's.
It was just like the accident-prone Dietrich.
With the already freezing winter and no hot water coming out, the servants had grumbled all season about hauling water from the river.
At the end was a single line of excuse in Dietrich's handwriting.
Wasn't on purpose or anything!
A short excuse, just like Dietrich.
After that line came a fierce vow not to lose to him in a duel next time they met.
Of course, Florian had no intention of going easy either.
Getting along okay with our nurse? I was worried you didn't have any reliable servants around, but she's staying in Kalena after marrying Oliver, so that's a relief.
The letter was written in a fairly mature tone for her age, but Mariella had bawled her eyes out with tears and snot the year the nurse married Oliver.
Dietrich had been the same, of course.
Pretending not to cry at first, but in the end, the siblings had clung to each other sobbing.
Florian, who remembered that vividly, laughed again after receiving this somewhat grown-up letter from the seven-year-old.
That was their secret too.
Like that, the letters piled up steadily, each with different contents.
But the closing was always the same.
I miss you. Stay healthy until we meet again, Florian. Keep up the workouts!
>-Your friend, Mariella-
If that's what Mariella wanted, he'd have to do it.
She was the first person to save him since birth, and like a little sister.
With that thought, Florian channeled the blood-red power of Divine Grace into his hand gripping the assassin's head.
As the heat surged, the assassin writhed and screamed even with his face buried deep in the bedding.
"Mmph... ugh...!"
But the noises soon died down.
The only sounds left in the room were the occasional pops of embers as the quilt's edges smoldered.
Fourth one.
The Duke had been gone less than a month inspecting the Tree Sea region, and this was already the fourth assassin.
With neither Leopoldt—Florian's breakwater—nor the Duke in the ducal residence, it was under Dominique and his wife's control.
Come morning, Dominique would check on Florian's survival again and furrow his brow.
Sweeping his serpentine, cold eyes over the wrecked room.
The beautiful prince, now fifteen and standing at the end of boyhood, expressionlessly shook the blood from his fingertip, lightly cut by the assassin's attack.
No point telling the kid—she'd just worry.
He'd only seen her once a year as she grew, but in his memory, Mariella was still the three-year-old baby from their first meeting.
Some things, even kids like Mariella didn't need to know.
Soon, the nurse who'd heard the commotion burst through the door.
The caring woman who'd settled in Kalena upon marriage and started looking after Florian in Mariella's place.
"Your Highness, are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"Fine? This is what, the fourth time? Heavens, look at the blood on that finger!"
Amusingly, at that moment, Florian thought of Mariella's face as he saw the nurse's eyes widen in shock.
Many of Mariella's expressions resembled the nurse's, probably because she'd raised her.
Facing that face made him miss Mariella a little, too.