Chapter 95 — Back to Superion
Chapter 95 — Back to Superion
Translation: Godtl
'I forgot I was disguised as a man.'
She had momentarily forgotten while only urging Oscar not to call her 'Leo.'
How to explain to her family once inside the castle. And how to make excuses to Oscar—thinking about it made her mind go blank.
Meanwhile, when she showed the seal her grandfather had given her, the gatekeeper immediately bowed and opened the gate.
Lelia drove her horse to the main castle building while tense.
Upon reaching the main castle entrance, Oscar dismounted first and reached out his hand to Lelia.
Lelia hesitated briefly before taking his hand and dismounting. A servant took the horse toward the stables, and before long, the main castle's doors opened wide.
"My child!"
"Grandfather!"
The first to welcome Lelia was her grandfather.
Perhaps because they didn't hear the news when she passed the territory border and only heard it when she reached the castle gate.
Duke Superion's hastily emerged appearance was unmistakable.
Thinking of her grandfather who must have rushed out in a daze upon hearing the news, Lelia immediately ran up the low steps, taking several at a time.
"Grandfather..."
"Yes, our Lelia. My child... you've come, you've really come. It's really you. Yes...!"
Duke Superion grabbed Lelia's cheeks and contorted his face.
At her grandfather's even warmer welcome than expected, Lelia choked up.
Her grandfather's attitude was surprised and welcoming, as if someone who was never expected to return had come back.
The tears pooling in Lelia's eyes flowed down.
"Of course I came. It took too long, didn't it?"
"No, it's fine. It's fine. As long as you came, that's enough..."
When she asked with a tearful voice, the duke said no and embraced his granddaughter, stroking her hair.
Hot tears spread across his wrinkled cheeks.
It was then. Over the duke's shoulder, someone came running out making a strange sound.
"Lelia!"
Lelia slipped out of her grandfather's embrace and turned her head, bursting into tears.
"Uncle...!"
"......"
Uncle Karius, whom she met after 6 years, was still handsome. Perhaps having lost some weight, his cheeks were thinner.
His expression as he looked at Lelia was a mess.
He contorted his face trying to hold back tears, but they pushed past his eyes and flowed down regardless.
Lelia ran to her uncle who had both arms extended and sobbed in his embrace. Crying sounds came out like a ten-year-old child wailing.
It had been that way since she was young. Lelia always acted more mature in front of her grandfather and grandmother.
But in front of her uncle, childlike behavior appropriate to her age would often emerge.
Lelia didn't know that Karius and Duke Superion, who knew this fact, had been even more heartbroken by it.
"Let's see our niece's face. When did you grow up so much to become an adult! You used to be so tiny!"
"......"
Lelia forced a smile.
Karius looked at Lelia who had grown so much and smiled as if proud. However, a pain like being burned by fire rushed through his heart.
Lelia, whom he met after 6 years, looked exactly like his dead sister.
'Even when she was young, I thought she was becoming more similar as she grew, but to think she would grow up looking this alike.'
Because he still couldn't forget his dead sister, his heart tore even more.
'My sister should have lived to see this child's appearance...'
Karius bit his lip while stroking Lelia's cheek. He had endured the hellish battlefield and returned to meet this child again.
To protect this child safely and happily for a lifetime in place of his dead sister.
But something was strange. Lelia's appearance, whom he met again after 6 years, was surprisingly similar to Elizabeth, but her attire was so different from before that he wouldn't have recognized her if they passed by outside. What on earth are these clothes?
After wiping the tears that wet his cheeks, Karius blinked and asked.
"But why do you look like this?"
"......"
Duke Superion, who had been wiping tears, also examined Lelia's attire only then.
As Karius said, it was an appearance that naturally made one ask why she looked this way.
Lelia's long hair that used to come down to her back had become very short. It was short hair that knights might have.
"What..."
Karius and Duke Superion simultaneously lowered their gaze to look at Lelia's outfit.
The similar faces of the father and son frowned similarly.
Lelia looked neat, but she was clearly wearing male noble clothing.
"Well... that is..."
It was when Lelia, who had also stopped crying, was flustered and trying to make an excuse.
Step by step.
The sound of low footsteps came, belatedly following the stairs Lelia had climbed.
Oscar, who had been watching their reunion for a while, was coming up the stairs with a cold expression.
His eyes seemed to be forcibly suppressing something.
Duke Superion's eyes narrowed upon discovering Oscar.
On the other hand, Karius's pupils grew as large as bells.
"You, you are!"
Karius, recognizing Oscar, couldn't finish his sentence and pointed with his index finger, flustered.
Lelia approached Oscar who was coming to her side as if making an excuse and grabbed his arm.
She intended to introduce Oscar to her grandfather and uncle. As a 'friend.'
Before coming here, she had also urged Oscar that she would introduce him that way.
However, the sight of Lelia grabbing Oscar's arm was enough for Karius and Duke Superion to misunderstand.
The duke immediately grabbed the back of his neck.
At the same time, Karius screamed "Aaak!" as if he had seen a ghost.
"Grandfather, Uncle... why, why are you..."
"N, no. Lelia! Bringing a man! You're still too young for engagement or marriage! No!"
"Lelia! That guy won't do! That lunatic won't do! Uncle is opposed!"
At the two men's fierce opposition, born entirely of misunderstanding, Oscar's eyebrows twitched.
Lelia waved her hands in fluster.
"N, no! It's not like that! He's my friend. Just a friend!"
"...Friend?"
Duke Superion's expression immediately became gentle.
But Karius wasn't. He still shouted with an angry expression.
"That doesn't make sense!! Why would you be friends with a guy like that?!"
"......"
Lelia glanced at Oscar.
Even though there should be many questions, Oscar didn't have a puzzled expression at all.
By the way, she had expected that he might know her uncle...
'Oscar is a lunatic?'
Of course... it could feel that way. In fact, Lelia herself had thought similarly many times while coming here.
But Oscar in his childhood was truly an angel.
Her uncle must have also met Oscar when he was young, but no matter what, the word 'lunatic' seemed too harsh.
Lelia calmed her uncle down, suggesting they go inside and talk first.
"Miss!"
Upon entering the castle, Becky, who had hurried down the stairs, came running while sobbing.
"Becky!"
Lelia shared a reunion embrace with Becky as well.
Startled by the word 'Miss,' she tried to check Oscar's expression, but couldn't because Becky was hugging her tightly.
After crying her heart out, Becky pulled away from the embrace and immediately asked.
"By the way, Miss. What's with this outfit? It's so cool! You really look like a noble man!"
"Becky... that's..."
She tried to calm Becky while sneaking a glance at Oscar, but he had a composed expression.
As if he wasn't surprised at all.
Rather, it was Lelia who was surprised and asking with her eyes' how did this happen?'
Lelia blinked as she looked at him, but Oscar said nothing.
Then, Becky urged with her question.
"But why exactly are you dressed like this, Miss?"
Karius and Duke Superion also looked at Lelia as if curious about the answer.
"...Just... I thought this attire would be comfortable while coming to the territory."
Lelia made an excuse in passing, then asked something more important.
"Where is Grandmother?"
"Ah..."
At the mention of Grandmother, a shadow fell over the Duke's expression. Lelia felt her heart drop and asked in alarm.
"Where is she? Surely she hasn't gotten worse?"
"...She's currently at the villa in the Teren region with Atias."
Teren was a small village within the Superion territory, considered a resort area.
'If she's been moved to a resort, has her condition deteriorated significantly?'
Grabbing her grandfather's arm and pressing for an answer, the Duke hesitated before responding.
"Not much, just a little worse. Don't worry too much. Since you've come, I should contact Atias to bring her back to the castle immediately."
Lelia held her grandfather's hand tightly as he spoke.
"I've brought the ingredients for Grandmother's medicine."
"Is that true?"
Duke Superion asked with an expectant gaze, though he had his doubts.
In truth, his wife's condition was serious. After Lelia left for the capital, her condition deteriorated rapidly.
Now there were many times she couldn't even recognize her own husband's face.
That was why he had sent her to the resort with Atias, and now Lelia said she had obtained a cure.
Though he was half-doubtful, he wanted to believe Lelia's words.
But even if the medicine proved useless, he had no intention of blaming Lelia.
He had to accept it as fate.
"Don't worry."
Lelia gripped his hand tightly, as if she noticed the Duke's anxious heart.
When had she grown enough to know how to reassure her grandfather?
Duke Superion's eyes grew moist once again.
"What about Uncle?"
Lelia asked anxiously and thought.
'Surely the battle hasn't already started?'
In the original work, her uncle Zenon lost his life in battle against an army created by heretics after the Mad Dragon died.
At this point, shortly after the Mad Dragon's death, she hadn't heard news of heretics appearing yet.
The battle shouldn't have happened yet, but she was anxious nonetheless.
"The Temple sent an official document to the territory, so he's at the Temple. He'll return tomorrow."
At her grandfather's words, Lelia breathed a sigh of relief.
After that, in the reception room, she held her uncle and grandfather's hands tightly and shared a few more stories.
After some time passed, her grandfather said, 'Look at my state of mind,' and spoke to Lelia.
"You must be tired from coming all this way. Go rest now. You should relieve your fatigue until dinner is ready."
"Yes, Grandfather."
Wanting to wash with warm water desperately, Lelia nodded without refusing.
Duke Superion also instructed to give a guest room to Oscar, who had been silent the whole time.
After the two left the reception room, Duke Superion narrowed his eyes and asked his son.
"Who is that fellow?"
Karius scrunched up his face and said.
"He's the Crown Prince of the Hraesvelg Empire. And he's a broken one."
Saying that, Karius tapped his own head with his fingertip to emphasize.
"His head? Why?"
"He's incomprehensibly cruel. Recently, news came that the Emperor of the Hraesvelg Empire was left half-crippled. That's definitely his doing."
"What?"
When Duke Superion asked back in surprise, Karius continued in a low voice.
"He's a complete lunatic and an unfilial son! We absolutely can't let him get close to our Lelia!"
"But we don't know what circumstances lie behind it... Not all parents are the same, you know..."
"Still, he's someone who crippled his own parents! Even if my father was trash, I wouldn't do that!!"
This kid...
Duke Superion looked at him with narrowed eyes and asked.
"Then if Lelia crippled that Perseus fellow, would you call her unfilial?"
"No, I'd praise her."
"......"
"That and this case are clearly different, Father."