Chapter 26
Chapter 26
He must have been on his way back from the lavatory, because he was alone, without any servants.
"Oh, it's nothing, really."
My cheeks flushed, embarrassed that I'd made a fuss over nothing.
"That bird over there....... Oh, there it goes again!"
Still, watching a bird catch and eat a fish was fascinating.
Leopold's gaze followed my finger.
"......Ah."
The boy tilted his head and asked.
"Was it because you felt sorry for the fish being eaten?"
"Pardon?"
I had pointed out the truth because I felt sorry for the bird being falsely accused.
"There was fish in our lunch just now, wasn't there?"
Leopold stared at me, then blinked twice.
"Ah, the young lady is still so young...... I thought you might simply pity anything that became prey."
"Young...... did you say?"
That struck a nerve with the seven-year-old.
I composed myself and retorted.
"I am not young."
"But you are seven years old."
"I believe you are nine yourself. Is that not similar?"
"Ah."
Leopold's brow furrowed slightly. The nine-year-old had been struck as well.
"Seven and nine being similar....... That is quite an interesting claim."
That meant, "You are talking nonsense."
Having understood that western manner of speech, I lifted my chin and said.
"I have already read all of the Academy's required reading. My mental age and conversational level should be similar."
At that, Leopold narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.
"That seems like a rather radical statement......."
That meant, "That is something I simply cannot accept."
As a mature noble, he was maintaining his refinement and dignity, but in his own way he was rejecting my opinion as firmly as he could.
The seven-year-old, already sensitive about age, bristled.
"Honestly, there's no real difference between being seven and being nine."
The precocious nine-year-old boy crumbled at that.
"Ha...... How could seven and nine possibly be the same?"
In this world, the ones most obsessed with age were children.
Since a nine-year-old was also a child, before we knew it, we had both lost our composure.
"When you were learning to walk, I was already reading books on my own."
"That's the difference between one and three. Right now it's seven and nine. Don't you know numbers?"
"The difference is the same. Don't you know subtraction?"
"As you get older, that difference becomes less and less meaningful. Don't you know ratios?"
That was when it happened.
A voice rang out from far away.
"Now, everyone, please gather on the deck!"
It seemed the prize drawing had begun.
"Ah. I should go......."
Leopold came to his senses first and murmured.
He turned to my mother, who was staring blankly at the lake, and asked gently.
"Madam, shall we head over together?"
It was proper etiquette. Of the three of us, my mother was the eldest, so he was asking her wishes.
'Wait.'
Only then did I come to my senses.
'Mother has been quiet this whole time?'
While I had been waging a life-or-death age argument with Leopold, my mother had not said a word.
'That can't be.'
In an instant, my vision seemed to go white with dread.
The moment I slowly turned to look at my mother with a frightened face, a whimpering sound escaped her lips.
"Set off? We're setting off now?"
My heart dropped.
It was the "other voice" my mother used every night.
"I don't want to go......."
My mother looked at Leopold with vacant eyes and said.
"I don't want to go, Masa."
Masa was a maid my mother had brought with her. She was a kitchen maid, so she had not accompanied us this time.
My mother whispered desperately toward Leopold.
"I don't want to go. I won't go to the Empire. I'd rather die in Liente."
Her faint voice was laced with tears.
"I don't want to get married....... What would I do, surviving alone in a foreign country with no one? They say that man has already been married once......."
My mind went blank. I couldn't breathe.
"She must keep going back to that night when she left on the ship."
The night was a problem, but so was the ship.
Until now, there had been no occasion to board a ship in the Marquisate, so I hadn't known.
My hands shook helplessly.
"M-Mother."
Of all times, of all times...... of all times, now.......
"Mother...... Mother. Stop...... please stop."
I murmured, my lips quivering. My heart pounded and my body froze.
"No, Mother...... not now...... not now, please."
What do I do?
What in the world am I supposed to do?
Father was in the cabin, and the maids didn't know what was happening. They were only watching us from a distance.
And on top of that, Leopold was right here.......
'I messed up. This is all my fault.'
Tears welled up from anxiety and regret.
'I...... I lost my composure over being called young and acted like a seven-year-old.......'
I wasn't just seven years old. I couldn't act like a child.
I should have just sent him on his way without a long conversation.
I couldn't let him find out. This was my engagement—my responsibility.
'Wh-what do I do.......'
Now Leopold would back away with an awkward expression, fear, disgust, and a little curiosity on his face.
I knew that expression very well. The butler at the Sears Marquis Residence had always worn it.
In the terrible silence, only my mother's whimpering continued.
"Masa, please...... I won't go. Okay?"
My mother's eyes had already lost focus.
"The Kingdom of Liente will be fine....... There's no way it'll fall like this, not when we......."
That was when it happened.
"Do that, then."
Leopold spoke calmly.
"You don't have to go to the Empire, Princess."
I whipped around to look at Leopold.
No one in the Empire called my mother "Princess."
"So please calm down. Let's go back."
"Really, Masa?"
My mother blinked as she looked at Leopold.
"Really? I don't have to go to the Empire? I don't have to get married?"
Joy seeped into my mother's words.
Leopold nodded.
"Yes, Princess. Everything will go as you wish."
At that, my mother gasped with excitement.
"Really?"
She grabbed Leopold's hand and opened her eyes wide, asking again.
"Will Father allow it? He will, won't he? He cherishes me more than anything."
"Of course."
Leopold smiled gently, as if soothing her, and patted her hand.
"However, it is too late now, so it would be best to sleep tonight and ask His Highness the King tomorrow morning."
Then he took a bottle of medicine from his pocket.
"If you feel seasick, tell me. I brought sleeping medicine. There's no better remedy for seasickness than sleep."
It was the same sleeping medicine my mother had shown me earlier.
"Take it. It will help you sleep deeply."
"Hm?"
"You must fall asleep quickly so tomorrow comes sooner. Anxious nights are too long."
"You're right, Masa. Thank you."
My mother promptly took the medicine from Leopold and opened the bottle.
"Without sleeping medicine, I don't think I could sleep tonight."
My mother murmured, trembling.
"To have to marry such an old man and bear his child...... just imagining it is horrifying. Yes, Father would never make my life like that."
Right in front of me—the child born from that very marriage—my mother swallowed the medicine in one gulp and slumped down.
Leopold hastily caught her by the shoulders and arms.
Seeing that, the maids who had been watching from afar came running.
"Madam!"
"Good heavens, Princess!"
The maids caught my mother as she crumpled like a sheet of paper.
Leopold said quietly.
"Her seasickness was severe, so she took a sleeping pill and fell asleep. Her condition is poor, so once the ship docks, take the Warp straight back."
The maids answered immediately.
"Yes, understood!"
"Thank you, Your Highness the Young Grand Duke!"
Then they took my mother to the cabin.
Only Leopold and I remained at the railing.
Silence hung for a moment. From far away, the calling of raffle numbers drifted over like a dream.
After taking a couple of breaths, I finally felt like color was returning to the world.
"Th-thank...... ah, this is...... this is my, my responsibility......."
Several things came out all jumbled together.
I was ashamed that it was my responsibility, yet I hadn't been able to handle it and had fallen into panic.
"Sorry...... sorry. I, I, I couldn't do anything......."
At that, Leopold smiled softly.
"You're young. You don't have to do anything."
Now I couldn't argue with the word "young."
But the feeling was strange. It was the first time I had ever heard the words "you don't have to do anything."
I had to try. I always had to work hard.
"Go to your mother."
Leopold told me what to do, right up to the end.
"Everything will be all right."
The reason I couldn't answer was that I felt like I was about to cry.
I nodded, then turned away. I could feel Leopold's gaze watching me from behind, but I didn't look back.