Chapter 126
“Aha. As expected, you’re smart because you take after me,” replied Charteron, who tilted her head as if wondering, then clapped her hands.
“I was born earlier than you.”
“
Hmph.
It’s only a few minutes. Lur, why are you acting so petty?”
Luensir, who was dumbfounded, stretched both sides of Charteron’s cheeks.
“Lur!”
“…Draw a magic circle quickly.”
Luensir pointed to the clock, showing that time was running out.
Charteron, with both arms raised, attempted to strike Luensir but then squatted down on her knees. Luensir, who realized that she had forgotten the spell, laughed.
“Shakamadia River Imeel. You saw it in a book yesterday.”
“…
Sniff.
”
Charteron sniffed once and finished drawing it. Then she memorized the spell Luensir had told her earlier.
“Shakamadia River Imeel!”
With a small light surrounding them, the children arrived at the wall on the side of the training ground.
“What… is this?”
“What do you mean? I made it.”
Luensir asked after seeing a hole in the fairly broken wall. Charteron, who didn’t see his shocked expression, puffed out her chest as if she was very proud. If Luensir had been there at the moment of breaking down the wall, he would never have done it.
The two of them usually slept in the same bedroom, but there was a time when they parted away. That was the time when Luensir learned archery and Charteron learned swordsmanship. Something that could have been done in the same training ground was done in a different space because Luensir hated swords to the extent that it was almost pathological. He couldn’t even touch a wooden sword and was reluctant to even look at it.
Since he was born into the imperial family, he should have the means to protect himself. When Charelize asked how about learning archery, he accepted without much hesitation.
It wasn’t that he disliked sharp things. If it became known to the public that he was afraid of the sword, it was clear that it would soon become his weakness. Even if that became a rumor, they could say everyone has different preferences. Luensir had to hold arrows, and Charteron had to hold swords. That was the reason why they learned ‘different things’ in ‘different places.’
“…How did you do this?”
“Just a little bit. I swung… with a sword. But no one knows yet!”
Anyway, they sent her to learn swordsmanship, but Charteron broke through the wall in the meantime.
“Let’s go…”
It was truly a sight to behold, but Luensir refrained from expressing his frustration and instead slipped out through the hole and went into the festival.
“Grilled chicken!”
“Charon. Don’t run. You will fall.”
“
Gasp
, what’s that cloud-like thing?”
Just as he was about to promise to meet her at the fountain if they parted ways due to his unknowing anxiety, Charteron, who smelled delicious scent, rushed out.
“Charon!”
Just in time, people rushed forward, and Luensir fell backward. So he missed Charteron and went to the fountain to look for her again, but no matter how long he waited, he couldn’t even see her shadow. Even so, he couldn’t go around and look for Charteron because she might come after he left, so he couldn’t do anything and stamped his feet.
When he lost his mind and didn’t know what to do, he met Arensis, sweat beading on his forehead. That made him suddenly explode with sadness, and tears came out. Fortunately, Charteron was back.
She wondered why her father didn’t come to dinner. Looking at her dark-faced, Luensir quietly handed over the cake. Nevertheless, her mood still didn’t improve. Thinking of changing the subject, he asked her about the brooch, and he took a deep breath at the unexpected reply that she had completely forgotten about it.
In that case, there was only one way. She had put it there as a last resort, and even though she didn’t want to take it out, she forgot to get the brooch, so she had no choice but to give her father the handkerchief.
“Without the brooch, Charon.”
“No… No… I’m telling you…”
“What do you mean no? I offered to help as the brooch was a better option. And now there’s no other way.”
“I… I’m hurt…”
“Stop pretending to cry and bring me a needle. I’m not going to fall for it anymore. Bring the light purple and blue thread too.”
Eventually, that night, next to Luensir, covered in a blanket and diligently embroidered flowers, Charteron had to diligently chant the magic spells that emitted light.
* * *
After concluding the meeting late at night, Charelize saw that Arensis wasn’t in the bedroom and looked for him.
“…Aren?”
Being alone on the balcony, he wrapped a blanket around his shoulders. The alcohol he drank from the bottle looked very strong, even at first glance. She vaguely heard from Luensir that something had happened with Charteron, so she approached cautiously.
Arensis, who thought for a moment when he saw Charelize’s arrival, brought up an old story. “Lize, do you remember that?”
“Huh?”
“When I found out you were pregnant with Lur and Charon. I said I didn’t know if I could be a good father.”
There was a good reason why Arensis said this. While returning to the imperial palace with Charteron, the figure of Charteron, who kept looking at his face and glancing at him, overlapped with someone else’s. It was like himself in the past, shrinking and looking at people when he heard he was no longer useful. It was a huge shock to Arensis to have made Charteron so scared.
Before their children were born, Arensis thought he would never be a good father. He wanted to be but didn’t know how to be like that. It was because he had never experienced it before. Even when facing his father’s death, he still tried not to become like him, but in the end, he became the same.
“…Why are you talking about it all of a sudden?”
“I still can’t say for sure, but at least. I thought I was better than my father.”
“…”
“I was looking for Charon today, and I got angry without realizing it… The child avoided my hand. Just like the old me. Why did I do that? I should have been patient.”
“Aren…”
“Lize. I thought Charon would be scared of me, just like me in the past… That’s so… scary…” Arensis poured out the tears he had held back.
“Aren, it’s okay. Charon was surprised for a second. It’s not like what you think.”
Knowing that Arensis’s guilt had reached its limit, Charelize hugged him tightly. Arensis sobbed loudly at the warm pat. He was like a child letting go of what he couldn’t let go of in the past.
“…If it had been me instead of you who found Charon today, I would have been just as angry right on the spot. Even though she would be sullen by it, she would be the first to chatter during dinner.”
“…”
“Who says she’s scared of you? You know how much Charon likes you, don’t you?”
Arensis kept his gaze down and shuddered.
No matter what she said, it didn’t seem to help him much. In the end, Charelize continued to hug him without saying anything.
* * *
It was already the day of Arensis’s birthday banquet. Arensis, who had been avoiding Charteron using various excuses, couldn’t bear to do so today and was very nervous. Even while celebrating, he kept his eyes on the door to see if the children would come.
“The shining stars of the Elioter Empire, His Royal Highness Luensir Lino Aster von Marsetta Elioter and Her Royal Highness Charteron Laressa Astra von Marsetta Elioter, are entering!”
Sure enough, a loud trumpet sound was heard shortly after, and the children were seen.
“I offer my greetings to the Prince and Princess.”
“May Goddess Resina’s blessing reach you two.”
The children politely accepted the greetings of the nobles around them and walked toward the podium. As their steps got closer, Arensis’s heartbeat became faster.
“Happy… birthday.”
“Father, happy birthday.”
When Charteron handed the box to Arensis without hesitation, Luensir also held out a letter. The ribbon was slightly crooked, probably because it had been packaged by hand, but it looked rather cute. The letter had a nice scent.
“…Open it.”
“…”
“It’s a handkerchief. The line and the thing next to it… Lur helped me… I embroidered the flowers myself.”
“This…”
Arensis was astonished to see the handkerchief sloppily embroidered with his birth flower, statice.
“…Baby.”
“I will never sneak out again. The handkerchief is so strange… so I sneaked out because I wanted to give a better gift, but I didn’t expect Father to be so surprised…”
Arensis slowly raised his head and made eye contact with Charteron. “Charon, didn’t you hate dad… for… getting… angry?”
“No…”
“…Why?”
“That’s because you’re my dad. To me, Dad is a person I can’t hate, even if you get angry for a moment. Because I like you very, very much.”
Arensis felt like he had been hit hard in the back by the answer that seemed to ask why he was asking something obvious.
“Happy birthday, Dad. Thank you for being born.” Charteron hugged Arensis and whispered in a small voice to his ear.
Arensis suddenly recalled memories of the past. There was an anniversary of the death of his mother and his maid around his birthday, so even though he had no choice but to attend his birthday banquet, he only showed his face for a moment and went back. Then, there was a day when Arensis felt happy for the first time on his birthday.
“Dad!”
“Father.”
“Yes?”
Arensis, who had been lost in thought alone in the banquet hall as Charelize was away for a moment, turned his head to the call of the children who had just started talking.
“Heppy. Birth…day.”
“Heppy. Birthday!”
At that time, Luensir was still young and couldn’t pronounce it well, and Charteron spoke in two words.
The next year, Charteron, sitting to his right, poked his shoulder and looked at him.
“Happy. Birthday. Thank you for being born.”
“Heppy birthday…”
Charteron stood up and bowed, and Luensir also carefully held his hand with a shy expression.
Thanks to the children, Arensis was able to spend his birthday smiling for the first time.
“
Because of Babies, I can spend my birthday with a smile.”
After a long flashback, Arensis slowly moved his lips.
“In the future, so that I can continue to be congratulated, I will… become a more hard-working father.”
“Dad, I love you!”
“I’ll congratulate you for the rest of my life. Have a nice day, Your Majesty Father.”
Just like the snow was melting, the awkward time disappeared in an instant.