Chapter 46 — An Unlikely Truce
Chapter 46 — An Unlikely Truce
Translation: Godtl
The Duke looked back and forth between Karius and Lelia, who sat across from him with dessert crumbs all around her mouth.
He seemed curious about what on earth had happened for such a situation to occur.
Lelia, flustered by that gaze, involuntarily exclaimed.
"I-I didn't do it! I didn't do that!"
"Hahaha… haha!"
But strangely, at those words, Karius now began to laugh with haha sounds.
When he fought bickering with his sister in childhood and their father came in, his sister would always say 'I didn't do it! Karius just cried on his own!'
Even so, fearing punishment, she would quickly approach Karius and hug him, whispering 'Sister is sorry, so please smile!'
"……."
Lelia looked at Karius with a strange expression, as if seeing a crazy person.
The Duke of Superion, and Becky the maid who was watching, also had similar expressions.
Having returned to her room with Becky, Lelia lay on the bed with an unsettled heart.
Becky had brought plenty of desserts including maclia to comfort the startled Lelia, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to touch them.
'I wonder if he's sick somewhere?'
Remembering Karius, who had suddenly cried and then laughed like a madman, made her feel uneasy.
He was someone who disliked her, but he was also her mother's closest sibling.
'And from what Grandma said, the two of them seemed to be even closer and more intimate than I had known....'
To Lelia, her grandparents were kinder than anyone else, but apparently they had been extremely strict parents to their children when they were young.
Perhaps because of that, her mind kept dwelling on it.
At first, whenever he looked at her with those sharp eyes, she thought, 'He's a fully grown adult, why does he act like that?'
But in a way, those eyes also resembled someone desperately trying to protect something.
'Just like an immature adult....'
Lelia rolled around hugging her doll with a serious expression, then got up from the bed again.
'Oh right! I almost forgot. I need to do what needs to be done.'
Lelia's gaze fell on the basket containing stamina recovery potions.
'I need to earn money quickly and charge the crystal.'
Just as she sprang up and was about to pick up the basket and leave—
Knock knock.
A knocking sound was heard, and thinking it was Becky, she found that it was Karius who opened the door and entered.
Lelia narrowed her eyes and looked at him.
His eyes were bright red, as if he had been crying, then laughing, then crying again.
"Sit down for a moment."
Karius spoke bluntly and went to sit on the sofa. After hesitating, Lelia walked across from him and took a seat.
"What is it?"
"...I have something to say."
"......"
"Before, that is, in the Imperial City...."
"Yes."
"I apologize. I'm sorry for losing my temper without any reason."
"......"
Lelia looked at him suspiciously, wondering if he really had damaged his head.
"And... now I believe your words. No, actually I might have known from the start but just didn't want to admit it."
"......"
"I'm sorry for being such a petty uncle, Lelia."
Uncle?
Lelia's eyes grew wide.
Wondering what he was talking about, it seemed he now truly believed she was her mother's daughter.
Lelia couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from rising and smiled small.
Karius also gave a small smile.
"When I was as young as you."
"...Yes."
"Your father may seem like a very kind grandfather to you right now, but actually he was very strict."
"......"
"He was a very frightening father. He always compared us siblings to the children of the retainals, wanting us to be superior."
"I see...."
"Both my father and mother were always strict and scary, so I was afraid."
"......"
"Whenever I got scolded by my father or my masters and cried, it seems I was in great pain. I even wondered if I was an unnecessary person."
Lelia quietly listened to his sudden confession.
Karius, whose eyes had turned red again at some point, continued speaking calmly.
"But whenever that happened, my sister would come find me, hug me, and comfort me."
"......"
In Lelia's mind, the young Karius and Elizabeth were pictured. Encouraging each other after being hurt by their strict parents.
That was how precious her mother must have been to Karius.
Lelia spoke carefully.
"I'm not defending Grandfather, but he said he always regrets it. That he should have been a kinder father...."
At those words, Karius gave a small smile and looked at Lelia.
"Yes, Father changed a lot after my sister died."
"Still... he must have been very sad."
Saying it out loud, she realized she seemed to be taking Grandfather's side too much, so Lelia murmured quietly.
Thinking of a child her age who would have been severely scolded by strict parents and frightened, her heart ached.
That was similar to the wounds her most precious friends had received.
'I don't have parents so I can't know perfectly... but I think I understand.'
At Lelia's words empathizing with his childhood wounds, Karius couldn't say anything.
Lelia looked at the desserts placed on the table.
These were what Becky had brought earlier.
"Please have this."
Lelia carefully held out the maclia plate.
After pondering for a moment, Karius spoke.
"...Is it not ridiculous that I, having become an adult, am talking about being scolded by my mom and dad when I was young?"
"...Not at all."
Lelia answered with a shrug of her shoulders.
Often people dismiss wounds received in childhood as trivial.
When a wound is inflicted on the skin, it must be disinfected, ointment applied, a scab formed, the itching endured, and that process survived for new flesh to grow.
Wounds of the heart also needed such a process.
'Especially for wounds received in childhood.'
Without going through that process and becoming an adult, even if one looks like a decent adult on the outside, that wound remaining in the heart festers for a lifetime.
'Wounds received in childhood... remain even after death and becoming a corpse.'
Lelia also had many wounds from childhood before going to the neutral zone, but she had somewhat healed those wounds through her friends.
So she knew.
An immature adult is just as fragile-hearted as a young child.
"...If Father knew I told you such stories, he would be dumbfounded. He'd say I'm not acting like an adult, doing all sorts of things."
"If you asked Grandfather to tell his childhood wounds too, he'd probably hesitate at first but then tell you everything smoothly?"
At Lelia's words, Karius snickered. Somehow those words sounded like they had deeper meaning.
Karius apologized again with overwhelming guilt.
"I'm sorry once again. For hurting you."
"It's okay."
Honestly, compared to all the wounds Lelia had received until now, the wound Karius gave her wasn't even a wound.
Knowing this as well, Karius asked in a much gentler tone.
"...Did you run away because Cedric and Damian tormented you a lot while staying in the Imperial City?"
"That's part of it...."
Actually, to be precise, it was in order not to die.
To somehow survive.
'But if I tell the truth, they'll be heartbroken.'
That's why she hadn't been able to tell Grandfather either. At least to those who knew her mother, Lelia's misfortune would be a great wound.
"...You can tell me. You can tell me everything. Because I will be your uncle, not Cedric or Damian."
"......"
At those words, Lelia hesitated for a moment.
Honestly, how could she not want to confide in someone?
But she still didn't have the courage to speak.
'I keep acting like a child.'
In her previous life too, she had died at an age when she wasn't yet fully grown.
After reincarnating, she had memories of her previous life, but perhaps because her brain wasn't fully developed yet, there were times when she acted like a real child of Lelia's age.
It was the same now. Like a truly ten-year-old child, she felt the impulse to tattle about everything she had suffered until now.
"......"