Chapter 70

Her eyes, which had been trembling in shock, gradually blurred with sadness.

Hannah shook her head, covering her mouth with her hands to keep from making a sound.

Tears fell to the floor.

“Hannah, don’t cry.”

Astelle wrapped her arms around Hannah’s shoulders.

The tears continued to flow from Hannah’s cheeks until they touched Astelle’s shoulders.

“Lady Astelle……the fact that I wasn’t by your side when you needed me the most…… I’m so sorry……”

The two hugged each other and shared warmth in the quiet bedroom where the dawn light permeated.

Hannah did not ask who the father was.

Hannah had seen Astelle who passionately loved Kaizen up close.

She also saw her deposed and left after getting married and spent her first night.

After that, what happened to her?

She did not ask who the child’s father was and where he was now.

Astelle decided to just tell the truth.

She no longer had to lie to Hannah.

No, she didn’t want to lie to Hannah anymore.

“He is the emperor’s son.”

She whispered quietly into Hannah’s ear.

“Theor is His Majesty’s son. I changed his eye color with a potion. You have to hide his identity. If it is discovered that he is the prince, Theor will be in danger.”

We must hide this secret until we return home, until we are safe.

There was no need to elaborate further.

With Astelle’s brief explanation, Hannah will be able to understand what happened before and after.

Hannah stopped crying and lifted her head.

She swore to Astelle, wiping her damp cheeks.

“I will help you, even at the cost of my life.”

***

Fortunately, Theor was refreshed in the morning.

“Blynn!”

As Theor got up, a dog lying under the bed ran up to the boy and licked his cheek.

Theor grinned and hugged Blynn.

“Theor, are you okay now?”

“Yes!”

Theor patted Blynn’s fur and looked up at Astelle.

“I’m hungry.”

Astelle smiled relievedly.

Hannah, who was watching, also smiled.

Theor’s complexion has improved and he has regained his vitality.

The doctor who came early in the morning also examined Theor and gave a definite answer.

“You’ve recovered quickly. The young master appears to have been born with a very healthy constitution.”

Hannah brought a thinly fried potato pancake and hot soup for Theor.

After Theor had fully recovered, he emptied the food Hannah had brought.

Astelle walked out of the bedroom after watching Theor eat breakfast.

Astelle went into the study with her grandfather and said, “We must leave as soon as Theor recovers.”

After her maternal grandfather came to the bedroom to see the little Theor, he entered the study with Astelle.

“Is he all right?”

“We’ll have to see him recover, but I don’t think there will be any problems at this rate.”

Theor was originally healthy, so if there are no special problems, he will recover smoothly.

It was fortunate that Theor was unharmed, but Astelle was still uneasy.

‘We have to leave quickly before something unexpected happens again.’

Until yesterday, she thought she would be leaving the capital and going back to the Eastern countryside.

But, Theor fell sick one night and the schedule was postponed.

Luckily he’s better now.

We should leave quickly when the opportunity arises. Astelle thought.

This time, she was going to leave without telling Kaizen in advance.

‘I have already received permission, so I can just leave.’

I didn’t want to get caught in another unexpected accident.

Astelle spent the morning doing those calculations.

But towards the afternoon, a loud noise was heard from the front door.

She went downstairs and saw the attendant coming in with a large box.

After that, a man and a woman who looked like commoners followed with another box.

Astelle called for Hannah, who was standing by the front door.

“Hannah, what is this?”

“Lady Astelle……”

Before Hannah could explain, the maid carrying the box greeted Astelle.

“Lady Astelle, His Majesty the Emperor has sent a gift.”

The man and woman standing behind him also bowed deeply to Astelle.

“Who are these people? ”

“They are a couple who used to play puppet show at the market.”

“Puppet show?”

Astelle suddenly remembered the puppet show she saw at the fair last night.

It was a play in which a doll was hung by a string that moved in a box.

Theor couldn’t take his eyes off that puppet show.

The man and woman who received Astelle’s gaze came with a box and spoke quickly.

“I was ordered to entertain the young master.”

The servant took them to the bedroom where Theor was.

The box that the servant brought with him was full of toys.

Cotton dolls and balls, small human dolls, and elaborately made castles, carriages, and cannons.

As expected, Theor was very fond of it.

“Are they really doing a puppet show here?” (Theor)

“Yes, His Majesty has ordered it.”

Astelle answered as she suppressed her slightly complicated feelings.

Theor smiled brightly as he held a ball woven from a gold thread from the box.

“His Majesty is really kind.”

“……”

Meanwhile, the puppeteer man and woman laid out the play box in front of the bed and started the puppet show.

Theor looked at the stage as if possessed.

Astelle looked at Theor, who looked happy, with a bitter look.

***

Florin went to the bedroom of her mother, the Marchioness.

The boudoir attached to the bedroom was used as a private space by the Marchioness.

Inside the room were her mother and Naen, the youngest of her sisters.

While Florin was as pretty as a doll, Naen’s plump, round face didn’t have many pretty corners.

Naen wore a drab gray wool dress with her dark brown hair roughly tied up.

Because of her outfit, she looked more like a nun than a lady of a noble family.

There was a frameset on the table.

‘Come to think of it, it’s time for embroidery.’

The noblewomen chatted over the afternoon when there was nothing to do.

However, the Marchioness did not even think about it because she was busy complaining to her youngest daughter.

She said, “I’m so pissed off……”

‘She has said it a million times.’

Florin sat down feeling fed up.

“Mother, don’t cry.”

Poor Naen was busy trying to comfort her mother.

She had no special talents. With her ugly appearance, her main role was to be a puppeteer and consolation to her mother, the Marchioness.

“I get pissed off when I think about what she did to me and I can’t sleep.”

The Marchioness who was wearing a green damask dress was twirling her beautiful blonde hair.

She had three daughters, but she always looked younger than her age.

“His Majesty doesn’t even care about any women, but he brought that woman to the capital, gave her a mansion, and visited her often.”

“She was the wife of His Majesty, Mother.”

Florin said bluntly, inserting the embroidery needle.

“It is not unusual for His Majesty to visit her. She made it easy for him to finish the southern estate work.”

The Marchioness opened her eyes.

She looked like she wanted to yell at Florin, but she just kept her mouth shut.

“Mother……don’t be too mad. Lady Astelle is leaving soon.” (Naen)

“They said she should have left earlier, but she didn’t. When the day comes to leave, I’m sure she won’t leave again for other reasons.” (The Marchioness)

“There was no choice this time. Her nephew was sick.” (Naen)

“Was he sick?” (Florin)

Florin raised her head at those words.

The Marchioness, ignoring her second daughter, shouted angrily again.

“I mean, that little boy got sick from eating some kind of fruit. Is it Lintail fruit? Why did he get sick from eating a common thing.”

She clicked her tongue.

“It must be because that brat is so weak, surely he won’t live long,” the Marchioness continued.

Florin lost her words at the sight of her mother pouring a curse to a five-year-old, then she framed the embroidery again.

Florin, lost in her thoughts while embroidering, stopped and asked her mother, “What did he eat?”

“It’s called Lintail. It’s just a common fruit,” the Marchioness replied with a sneer.

She had bribed a maid to spy on Astelle’s mansion.

So she knew perfectly well what was going on inside.

Again, the bad words about Astelle continued.

But Florin had other ideas.

She had seen Astelle separating the Lintail fruit on a cake at the tea party she had previously attended with her mother.

***

The two days passed smoothly.

Theor seemed to have fully recovered now.

He rolled over on the blanket of the bed, playing with the teddy bear, and as soon as he saw Astelle, he ran into her arms.

Theor clung to Astelle’s arms as she patted his face.

“I want to go out and play!”

Astelle hugged him tenderly and patted him on the back.

“Not yet. The doctor told you to stay in the bedroom for five days.”

“Ugh……”