Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Father, My Father.
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“Uwaaaaa!”
Verdandi bounced around her room excitedly, shouting to her father.
“Awesome! The chair, the desk, the bed, the paintings, the mirror! And... what’s that? What? A vanity? I don’t know, I don’t need something like that!”
The father in his youth watched her with a pleased smile.
“If there’s anything else you need, please let me know.”
“Yeah! But am I really using this huge room all by myself?”
“Yes, as Verdandi requested, I’ve enrolled all the slaves in the Knight Academy.”
“Ooooh, great, great. Loyal knight Roys, you did an amazing job! I love it. I love every single thing from one to ten!”
“Is that so?”
Verdandi suddenly pulled her father into a tight hug and planted a kiss on his cheek. Then she grabbed both his hands and danced around playfully.
“But I don’t have anything to give you in return?”
“Just seeing Verdandi’s smile is more than enough for me.”
“Aww, come on, you liar!”
“Haha, anyway, is there truly nothing else you need?”
“Something I need...”
Verdandi rested her chin on her hand and pondered deeply for a long while before suddenly nodding vigorously while gazing out the window.
“Flowers.”
“Flowers?”
“Yeah, why doesn’t this castle have a garden? It’s so barren—just swords stabbed into the dirt.”
“Flowers... What kind do you like?”
“Anything. I’d love for the view outside the window to be completely filled with them.”
“Anything...”
“No! Forget-me-nots. Let’s plant forget-me-nots.”
“Forget-me-nots?”
“Yeah, I looooove forget-me-nots!”
Her father’s lips twitched upward.
“Then I’ll have a forget-me-not garden made.”
“Is that too much to ask?”
“No, it’s nothing at all.”
He wagged his index finger in the air, and Diberi came rushing over, bowing his head.
“Make flowers bloom throughout Strange Castle. Everywhere visible from the windows outside.”
“Yes, Family Head.”
Verdandi mimicked her father, wagging her finger in the air.
“Forget-me-nots everywhere! So full that they fill my eyes when I look down from my room!”
“Yes, Madam.”
She truly looked happy.
Of course, Strange Castle offered a life of civilization and high nobility utterly incomparable to someplace like Alfheim. How could it not be wonderful?
Her father’s subdued voice pierced my ears like a stab.
Shwaaaa—
Suddenly, mist spread before my eyes, then parted in the center to reveal a new scene.
Flutter, flutter.
Duchess Katarina fanned herself with a haughty expression.
“Verdandi, I don’t know how you got permission to stay in this castle. Even if he allowed it, I will not accept you.”
Verdandi, kneeling before her, bowed her head and replied.
“Yes, Duchess Katarina.”
“If you leave this castle now, I’ll give you enough money for a wench like you.”
“No, I don’t need money.”
“Then what? An elf wanting to become a noble?”
“No. I just... for Roys-nim’s sake, I—”
Splash!
Katarina threw the tea from her cup onto Verdandi’s face.
“You’re an eyesore—get out! From now on, stay where I can’t see you.”
“...I will.”
“Hah! Roys-nim really... why bring a wench like that all the way to the castle? If he’s just playing with her, he should finish outside.”
Their conversation didn’t last long.
Suddenly, time seemed to accelerate, the surroundings shifting to show the passage of years.
From that day on, Verdandi was confined to the castle’s top floor like a prison. Duchess Katarina only released her on the days Roys visited.
For Verdandi, who had lived freely in her elf village, it was a hellish existence.
A room barely five pyeong in size, able to see the outside only through a window.
And her only conversation partners were the occasional birds and insects that came to the window.
“I wish I could fly around like you.”
Verdandi stroked the bird’s head with her lake-calm eyes.
“Then I could stroll through that flower bed Roys made for me.”
In just a few short years, she had wasted away so much that only bones were visible on her wrists. Her unfocused eyes signaled mental strain as well.
“We greet the Family Head!”
Suddenly, shouts from the guardian knights echoed outside the castle gates.
“Hm?”
The startled bird flew away.
Verdandi strained her eyes toward the distant gates.
On days Roys returned, she was always released from this place. Why had Duchess Katarina sent no word today? Had the one called Family Head changed?
No, that couldn’t be—what was going on?
Her questions didn’t linger long.
Bam!
Shortly after the knights’ shouts, Roys arrived at the top-floor room.
“...Why are you here?”
Seeing Verdandi’s emaciated arms and legs, hidden by her dress until now, he couldn’t contain his rage and severed the neck of the knight guarding the door.
Crunch!
“Verdandi, I’ll ask again. Who did this to you?”
“Roys! Wh-what are you doing? That man did nothing wrong!”
“Verdandi, I’ll ask once more. Who locked you in here?”
“If I say... if I tell you who, you’ll kill them like that knight, right?”
Roys gave no reply.
Verdandi stared blankly into his eyes for a long moment before forcing a smile and gently stroking his cheek.
“You too...”
With those words, Verdandi lost consciousness and collapsed.
Probably because she’d gone days without eating, claiming no appetite.
“I’ll carry her!”
Guardian Knight Captain Bess rushed forward in one stride to piggyback her.
But Roys shoved him aside, pulled Verdandi into a tight embrace, lifted her like a child, and said to Bess,
“Bring everyone involved in this. I will never forgive them.”
I listened quietly to my father’s monologue.
“Th-the Duchess Katarina ordered it.”
“That filthy elf was staying in the castle, so...”
The two knights dragged in by Bess stammered nervously.
Roys heard the full truth from them, then waved his hand dismissively, ordering them out of the room.
“...My thinking was shortsighted.”
Duchess Katarina was no ordinary person.
She had surely done this to protect her own position. Though certain of it, he couldn’t issue punishment immediately.
For one simple reason.
Duchess Katarina was the bridge connecting Strange to the imperial family.
Knock knock knock.
Someone rapped on Roys’s door.
“It’s Verdandi.”
Roys shot up from his seat and opened the door himself to welcome her.
“How’s your body?”
“I’m fine. No, I’m okay. Lately my belly felt a bit plump, so I cut back on food...”
Bess slowly backed out of the room.
Not only him—all the guards at the door were withdrawn as well.
Verdandi walked unsteadily and sank onto the sofa like she was lying down.
Roys, feeling sorry for her, tucked a pillow behind her back and asked softly,
“Why did you endure it?”
She deliberately averted her gaze and changed the subject.
“The war’s ending soon, right?”
“Verdandi.”
“Then your continental conquest can wrap up quickly too, yeah?”
“Verdandi.”
“Wow... I hope that day comes soon—”
Thud.
Roys pulled Verdandi into an embrace.
“Please answer me. You’re a strong person. Why endure such treatment from Katarina? Why on earth?!”
“...Because that way, you can smile.”
“Wh-what?”
“I heard it from the knights here. Duchess Katarina is with the imperial family, and you need her to conquer the continent.”
“......”
“They said someone lowly like me shouldn’t even lift my face... that if I didn’t obey the Duchess’s orders, you couldn’t achieve your dream—”
Her following words shattered Roys’s heart.
“If I endure, many people can be happy, right?”
“......”
“The only thing I swore to the gods for when I came to this castle was... just your warm smile. And I’m grateful even today that I can see you.”
From that day, Roys halted the war with the Rothschilds for continental unification. He devoted his precious year of golden time entirely to staying by Verdandi’s side until she recovered.
And then that day arrived.
“Wah!”
A baby was born between them.
Its name: ‘Berddin de Strange.’
‘Ver,’ meaning ‘light’ in elven, and ‘din,’ meaning ‘valley’ in human tongue.
Light of the Valley—a name referring to Alfheim, where Verdandi was born.
‘So Verdandi is my mother...’
I fell silent.
No, I couldn’t say a word.
Too many emotions swirled in my head.
“Valentine, take good care of Berddin.”
The girl with a crow on her shoulder replied.
“Yes, Mother! I’ll take good care of this little dumpling.”
“Dumpling? It sounds like you’ll gobble him up.”
“Well... if I get hungry, maybe? Hahaha!”
“Valentine, you... but hearing you call me Mother fills my heart.”
“Verdandi is my mother now! Mother, Mother, my Mother!”
Verdandi, who had been smiling, suddenly wore a sad expression as she looked down at her.
“...Valentine.”
“Yes!”
“When Father comes, make sure to tell him this.”
“What?”
“That I, Verdandi, truly loved Roys.”
“Huh? Suddenly?”
“Yeah, you can do that, right?”
“Of course!”
With those words, the world suddenly crumbled, darkness descending.
‘Wh-what’s this?’
‘Why?’
‘What time?’
With those words, light flashed before my eyes.
When I opened my eyes, many people were staring at Berddin.
How long had I been unconscious? I had received the book from Katarina and my mind grew hazy right then, after which I witnessed my father’s past memories.
“Katarina.”
Berddin looked at her face, smudged with makeup from tears.
“Uh, y-yes? Berddin. Did you see everything? This book can only be read by those who received the family’s guardian deity—”
“Why did you do it?”
“...Do what? If you ask so suddenly—”
“Why did you do that to my mother who came to this castle?”
She bowed her head in confusion, then replied with a terrified face, her teeth chattering.
“Did you hear it? Or see it?”
“Just answer my question. What did my mother do so wrong to you that you subjected her to such humiliation and torment?”
“B-Berddin, you’re misunderstanding. It wasn’t because I hated Verdandi. I just wanted to teach her the castle’s rules and how nobles live—”
Berddin snatched the Judgment Sword from Valentine’s grasp.
Thud!
He drove it into Duchess Katarina’s side.
“Gaaack!”
She let out a shallow groan and toppled sideways.
Thud.
Fury boiling to the brim erupted like a volcano.
No one in the room could stop Berddin’s rampage.
They could only hope his uncontrollable emotions would subside on their own.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Judgment Sword in Berddin’s hand stabbed Katarina repeatedly.
So much blood soaked the floor that she couldn’t even groan. Berddin, breathing raggedly with bloodshot eyes, spoke toward her corpse.
“If it weren’t for you.”
Silence filled the room.
Berddin’s grip loosened, and he dropped the Judgment Sword to the floor.
Clink.
He unbuttoned his blood-soaked shirt one by one and said to Valentine,
“I’m sorry, Sister.”
Valentine shook her head as she looked at him.
“Did you see Mother?”
“Yes.”
“How far did you see?”
“Up to the day I was born.”
After that, no more conversation passed between those in the room.
Valentine handled the deceased Duchess Katarina’s body. Berddin ordered Guardian Knight Captain Bess to assemble the elite unit.
“From this moment, we begin rooting out rebels within Strange. Capture everyone even slightly connected to Duchess Katarina.”