Chapter 126: I Have a Younger Brother
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 126: I Have a Younger Brother
“Wow.”
It was my first time visiting the garden of the Princess’s Palace, and it was just as magnificent as any other palace garden.
No, if anything, it felt like even more care had been poured into it. There was even a section filled with purple flowers that perfectly matched the color of my eyes.
I marveled at the beautiful lavender. They looked so fresh and vibrant, clearly tended to with great devotion by the gardeners.
“They’re beautiful.”
“Your eyes are even more beautiful, Dia.”
“Hehe, yours too, Sister!”
Marianne and I pointed at each other’s eyes and giggled. Despite the long gap where we couldn't see each other, we felt more like real sisters now than ever before.
I intentionally avoided asking about Cedric or Gloria in front of Marianne. She did the same.
I had heard that Cedric was executed along with the Empress Dowager, and his wife, Gloria, had shared his fate.
It was quite absurd to think that the protagonists of the original novel were dead. However, since the situation had always been a choice between their deaths or the survival of myself and my loved ones, I didn't feel the slightest bit of regret.
The issue was Marianne. Even though she must have been deeply disappointed after learning Cedric’s true nature, they had still been good parents to her.
Cedric was dead, and Gloria had been executed simply for being his wife. I couldn't imagine how much pain Marianne, the sole survivor, must have endured.
“Did you know? In the language of flowers, lavender means ‘silence.’”
“Silence?”
“Yes.”
Marianne spoke after staring at the lavender for a long while. I tilted my head at the sudden remark.
“A lot of people whisper when they see our eyes. Her Majesty the Empress planted these because she wanted those people to be quiet.”
“I see.”
I thought she had planted them simply because they were pretty and purple, but I never imagined they carried such a meaning. My mother, who had become one with Veronica, certainly had a distinct personality.
“And I feel the exact same way as Her Majesty.”
“I-I see.”
I gave an awkward smile as I looked at the beaming Marianne.
Is it possible Marianne has been influenced by Mom? I wondered how much the kind-hearted Marianne had been affected by my former-villainess mother over the past ten years.
“Your Highness.”
“Abel!”
“Is it alright for you to be out like this?”
While I was touring the garden and chatting with Marianne, Abel strode toward us.
Ten years had passed, and Abel’s growth was startling. The young boy I remembered had become a gallant adult, much like Nathaniel.
I believe they were both eighteen now. In my previous life, both he and Marianne would still be minors, but here, one was considered an adult after turning seventeen.
Perhaps that was why Nathaniel was already being treated as the future Pope and was set to take the vacant position of High Priest soon. Having proven his competence once again by waking me up, it was a natural progression.
“Yeah, I’m perfectly fine now. Both of them confirmed it again today.”
I spoke cheerfully while gazing at Abel. His eyes, dark like the night sky, looked down at me intently.
With his navy hair and eyes, Abel looked incredibly sharp in his dark formal suit. I remembered him wearing similar clothes when he was young, but he looked even more dashing now that he was an adult.
I recalled thinking back then that his eyes looked like stars twinkling in the night sky.
While I didn't feel quite that poetic about it now, there was no denying that Abel had grown up to be a very handsome man.
“You shouldn't be out in the cold wind for too long.”
“Cold wind? It’s May.”
Abel was still overprotective. It was like looking at the Winston direct line.
By the time I opened my eyes, Duke Winston had already retired and handed the duchy over to his heir, Vincent.
Even so, he had rushed down from the North the moment he heard the news of my awakening. I heard that magic from the Magic Tower had been commercialized, allowing the use of Warp Portals from almost anywhere now.
My grandfather, the former Duke who had retired due to age, still had a remarkably youthful face.
Perhaps it was because he was a Sword Master. Even though he was over fifty—which was considered old age here—he looked exactly the same as he did ten years ago, which was surprising.
Since I have a lot of mana, would I be able to maintain my youth for a long time like Grandpa if I become a Great Mage?
I harbored that secret thought while smiling brightly at the worried Abel.
“I’m really okay. Their Majesties gave me permission to come out to the garden today.”
“Phew, very well then.”
However, Abel was also one of the people whose attitude toward me had changed the most.
As the heir to the House of Count Gideon, a loyal vassal family of Winston, Abel treated me with much more formality than before. Unlike Marianne or Nathaniel, he didn't call me ‘Dia’ even in private, strictly addressing me as ‘Your Highness.’
At first, I told him it was a bit much and asked him to call me by my name like before, but he refused point-blank, saying he couldn't do that anymore. Still, that rigidity was very much like him, so I didn't mind.
One can't stay like friends with their subordinates forever, after all. While I felt a bit sad about the ten years that had vanished in an instant, it couldn't be helped.
“Oh?”
As I was walking and chatting with my old friends, I spotted a round little head in the distance. I came to a dead stop.
“Oh my, he’s here again today.”
“Shh.”
I put my index finger to my lips, telling Marianne to be quiet as she whispered. Marianne smiled and nodded.
We continued walking, pretending not to notice. It was my first time out in the garden, but this had been a familiar pattern over the last few days.
“Ack!”
The figure hiding behind a tree flinched and scurried backward.
Hiding himself wasn't enough; a whole group of guards followed the small child as he moved. I bit my lip to keep from bursting into laughter.
How cute.
Golden hair that was a carbon copy of Dantalion’s and lovely pink eyes.
The identity of the small boy watching me warily from a distance was none other than my younger brother.
Kairen Jerome Sylvester.
My full brother, who had just turned five.
Yes, he was the child of Mom and Dantalion. They had conceived him while I was unconscious.
Well, it was a bit of a shock at first.
Ten years is a very long time.
The reason the newlywed Mom and Dantalion didn't have a child in their prime was likely entirely because of me. I heard Mom could barely eat for a while after I collapsed.
Then, Dantalion persistently comforted her and stayed by her side… and well, things happened. Since the child was five, it seemed that process hadn't been easy and had taken quite a while.
I felt a bit guilty, thinking I had unintentionally ruined Dantalion’s honeymoon phase. Once that feeling took hold, the sudden existence of a younger brother felt incredibly precious.
“The Prince thought Your Highness was a fairy sleeping in the palace.”
“A fairy?”
“Yes, isn't that adorable?”
The people around the young Kairen had told him that the sleeping girl was his older sister, but as a baby, he hadn't quite understood what that meant.
So, he would occasionally follow Mom to sneak a peek at me, apparently believing I was a fairy guarding the Imperial Palace.
Now that he finally realized I was his ‘sister,’ he was acting awkward and peeking at me from the shadows.
“How long are you going to pretend you don't see him, Dia?”
“I don't know.”
Marianne glanced at Kairen with an adorable look, just as I did.
To me, Kairen was a brother from the same mother, but that wasn't the case for Marianne. Still, since she had almost become an adopted princess, she seemed to feel as if Kairen were her own brother too.
“Won't he be startled if I suddenly act like I know him?”
“Hmm, maybe.”
Kairen had mistaken me for a sleeping fairy for a long time. Perhaps that was why he found it fascinating that I was alive and moving, yet he remained wary.
He came to the Princess’s Palace every day to loiter, but whenever I tried to approach and talk to him, he would get startled and run away.
Therefore, I had to be careful about how I approached him. I thought back to how I used to befriend stray cats in my previous life.
A stray cat living on the harsh streets remains wary even if you give it food. It only feels safe enough to eat after watching from a distance and seeing the human leave.
Kairen wasn't exactly a stray cat, but the need for a cautious approach was the same. After a moment of thought, I spoke up.
“Should I try to lure him with food after all?”
“Food?”
“Yeah, he must like sweet things.”
“He probably eats plenty of those normally.”
“Is that so?”
I suppose I was thinking too much like Nathaniel. I unconsciously glanced at Nathaniel’s expressionless face.
“The Prince likes fruit desserts.”
“Oh? Really?”
“Yes.”
Nathaniel nodded. I blinked in surprise at his blunt answer.