***
It was when she was worried that her friends might get hurt and wondering when they would come back that the others arrived at the main castle.
It was her grandmother, aunt and uncle.
“Grandma!”
Lelia rushed to the old woman who came in with her aunt’s help.
Her face looked pale as she was sicker than before Lelia had left.
“Baby…? My daughter, Elizabeth…”
The Duchess could not recognize Lelia at all, and murmured only her daughter’s name.
Lelia wept at the sight.
“Why is my daughter crying? Huh? Who bothered you…”
The old woman lowered her voice and stroked Lelia’s cheek. Lelia wiped her tears hiding that she cried, thinking, ‘Oh, my God.’
“I won’t cry.”
“Yes, my heart breaks when my daughter cries…”
Lelia forced a smile and nodded.
“I’ll show you to your room for now.”
At her aunt’s words, Lelia immediately grabbed her grandmother’s arm and headed for the room.
Perhaps tired from returning to her home, the Duchess slept soundly as soon as she lay down on the bed.
Lelia shared the joy of reuniting with her uncle and aunt after.
Atias hugged her and kissed her forehead, full of affection.
“Princess, I’m glad you’re back safe.”
Lelia felt at ease with her aunt’s gentle hand.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Unlike Atias, who is kind, Zenon asks curtly. However, the questions were not as simple to answer.
“Yes,” when Lelia nodded, Zenon patted her head.
“How have you been?”
Lelia nodded in response to her aunt’s question.
[I’m sorry, but what I told my grandfather and Uncle Carius needs to be a secret for a while.]
Neither of them asked Lelia any other questions.
As if it were enough for Lelia to return safely.
Their feelings were conveyed completely, and Lelia felt a corner of her empty chest filled.
***
It was not until late at night that her friends came home.
Lelia waited impatiently for them and greeted them.
She looked carefully for injuries, but everyone looked fine.
“Did you get hurt somewhere?”
When Lelia asked, Griffith and Oscar hurried away without a reply.
Lelia looked at their backs as they rushed away..
Romeo whispered, putting his hand on Lelia’s shoulder, “The pagan problem was solved right away without any problems… There was a problem that they were about to fight.”
“Why fight?”
Lelia asked suspiciously. She can’t believe it. The two of them have been on bad terms since yesterday.
Why on earth is that so?
The two of them in her memory were so close.
Romeo looked at her and said, “I’m afraid they don’t get along. It’s a fact that the general doesn’t know, so you probably didn’t know.”
“……”
“Don’t worry too much. Anyways, the servants look busy.”
“Oh, that’s… My grandmother went to the resort and arrived home today.”
“Oh, the mother of former Empress Elizabeth?”
“……”
Lelia’s expression hardened at Romeo’s words, which pointed to the most important thing.
Come to think of it, she couldn’t explain the situation to her friends.
Why did Lelia stay here, and why did Elizabeth’s family treat her like a real granddaughter?
“That’s…”
It was time for Lelia to make excuses. Romeo’s cold index finger touched her lips.
[T/N: Romeo… xD}
“You don’t have to tell me,”
“……”
“Now…”
Lelia stared blankly at him as she stood still, while Romeo grinned.
His cold finger pressed against her lips fell very slowly, as if regretfully.
The finger went straight to his own lips.
“……?”
Romeo rubbed his lips with the same finger that was on Lelia’s, and laughed mischievously.
“Good night,”
“……”
After giving her a strange smile, Romeo turned his back and walked away lightly.
Lelia stood still for some time after Romeo left the room.
Suddenly someone laid a big hand on Lelia’s right shoulder.
Surprised, Lelia turned away, saying, “Oh!”
Something muscular and big struck her right cheek.
Kalix put his hand on her shoulder and smiled, pressing his index finger against her cheek.
“What are you doing here?”
“……”
Lelia sighed as she removed Kalix’s heavy hands on her shoulder.
[This is really…]
More than once or twice when she was a child, Kalix played this prank. Lelia put up with a strange feeling in her stomach.
She turned around and looked at Kalix up and down.
She was trying to find out if he was injured or if his eyes were getting worse.
“What are you staring at? Up and down…”
However, Kalix’s reaction was strange.
He took a step back as if she was playing a prank.
He was wary of Lelia.
Moreover, he positioned his arms into an X-shape to protect himself.
What was he doing? Lelia felt ashamed.
“……”
Lelia squinted, wondering why Kalix behaved like that.
Kalix turned away when he met her eyes. Lelia asked suspiciously and mischievously.
“Why are you so late when you said it would be over in ten minutes?”
“… You…! Why are you nagging me?”
“What?”
However, Kalix’s response was a little sensitive. Kalix gasped as he blushed.
“Don’t act like a wife waiting for me at home!
‘You have that thing just like me…! Why are you pretending to be a wife?’
Kalix swayed past Relia in anger.
[T/N: Kalix only imagines that thing whenever he sees Lelia, I swear xD]
[No, why… What’s wrong?]
She immediately heard Kalix close the door.
Lelia stood still then left.
Entering his room, Kalix leaned his back against the door and held his breath against his beating heart.
‘Oh, my heart is out of order…’
Why? Did one of his eyes close and damage his heart? Does that have anything to do with it?
Kalix closed his eyes and sank to the ground.
It’s all his fault.
That man dressed up as a woman!
Kalix inwardly condemned and admonished Lelia.
Yesterday welled up in his mind.
The moment Lelia suddenly grabbed his cheek and put his face in front of him…
It turned out that if he wasn’t so surprised yesterday, his body would have hardened.
His heart was still pounding. Why on earth did he do that…?
He thought his lips would be taken away. He never told anyone but…
‘Are you going to steal my first time?’
Of course it wasn’t taken away, but it was so close… No, what’s too close?!
Kalix himself felt strangely chagrined and grabbed his thick hair.
Why, why was he disappointed? Why on earth was he disappointed that he couldn’t kiss a man when he has the same thing?
“Ah!”
Kalix lay down on the floor crying in pain.
That’s disgusting! How on earth did he know my eye condition?
Anyway, he’s a suspicious guy.
He was moved when he left a lot of painkillers and sedatives for him.
He felt strange when he checked his eye condition.
‘I was sure no one would notice. I really didn’t show it to you, yet…’
But unconsciously, he seemed to want someone to notice him.
[T/N: T_T]
‘Damn it, I can’t believe I still feel so weak…’
“You’re a fool,” Kalix bit his lips. For no reason, his heart was burning.
He felt uncomfortable because it seemed he had revealed his true feelings. On the other hand, however, he felt refreshed.
He had a feeling that Lelia was special.
‘… Special is tough.’
It’s all because he’s suddenly dressed as a woman.
When he first met him, he was dressed like a woman, but he wasn’t wearing a voluminous and pretty dress like he is now.
The Lelia who came here, and he met again, was very strange.
To be honest… he looked so pretty. So he felt unfamiliar.
Why was Lelia dressing up as a woman so natural? He almost fell for it.
Then he suddenly remembered what Oscar said.
“I don’t care if it’s a man or a woman.”
At that time, he even felt nauseous while cursing in his heart, thinking, “He’s crazy.”
For some reason, however, he felt he could understand those words now.
‘Yes, Lelia, I really don’t think it matters…’
Kalix sprang to his feet and shook his head.
“No, it doesn’t matter!”
‘His is as good as my arm!’
‘… But what does it matter? It’s smaller than mine anyway.’
[PR/N: lol he’s just like a kid.]
His brain was pounding back and forth.
Kalix stopped his thoughts and nervously threw off his clothes and headed for the bathroom.
He seemed to be able to clear his mind only by washing with cold water.
***
Early morning the next day.
Romeo, who started the day earlier than anyone else, leisurely drank tea and immersed himself in his thoughts.
He woke up early in the morning an hour earlier and took a walk in the garden behind the castle. He felt refreshed by the fresh morning air. Then he just happened to see the Duke and Duchess of Superion while he was walking.
The Duchess was in poor health.
At a glance, she seemed to have suffered from a disease the temple had classified as incurable.
The Duke greeted Romeo and suggested that they go for a walk together.
“Hmm…”
Recalling a few words of conversation with the Duke, Romeo organized his thoughts.
The details are unknown, but the rough puzzle has all been put together.
Secret records of the shrine show that former Empress Elizabeth died as soon as she gave birth to her child.
The child in that record is Lelia.
That’s why she’s here, and the Duke and his family all know the truth.
He could tell if he recalled the conversation with the duke. His love for Lelia was oozing out of every word he spoke. Deep affection for his granddaughter.
But why the hell is Lelia hiding all the facts? He couldn’t figure out why.
Why is she hiding the fact that she is ‘Leo’ so much?
Things flashed in his mind about the dead ex-emperor of Auraria.
A violent emperor, and a former Crown Prince of bad behaviour… A temple at the time that summoned the real Leo, the children of the imperial family and aristocrats…
Romeo rubbed his forehead, put down his teacup, and walked to the window.
Just then, he saw several wagons passing through the gates and approaching the castle.
A woman in a fancy dress disembarked from the first carriage. As soon as she got off her wagon, she instructed the servants who came with her this and that.
The servants, according to orders, unloaded the luggage in perfect order, and what appeared were gorgeous dresses hung on hangers.
‘Is this a dress for an upcoming banquet?’
Those dresses seemed to be reserved for Lelia.
After that, a young man got off the wagon that had arrived far away.
The man glanced up, as was his nature, as if he had made a big decision, but somehow he gave a bad impression.
Romeo left the room humming at the thought of choosing Lelia’s dress.
‘The early bird gets the worm.’
***
***
It was when she was worried that her friends might get hurt and wondering when they would come back that the others arrived at the main castle.
It was her grandmother, aunt and uncle.
“Grandma!”
Lelia rushed to the old woman who came in with her aunt’s help.
Her face looked pale as she was sicker than before Lelia had left.
“Baby…? My daughter, Elizabeth…”
The Duchess could not recognize Lelia at all, and murmured only her daughter’s name.
Lelia wept at the sight.
“Why is my daughter crying? Huh? Who bothered you…”
The old woman lowered her voice and stroked Lelia’s cheek. Lelia wiped her tears hiding that she cried, thinking, ‘Oh, my God.’
“I won’t cry.”
“Yes, my heart breaks when my daughter cries…”
Lelia forced a smile and nodded.
“I’ll show you to your room for now.”
At her aunt’s words, Lelia immediately grabbed her grandmother’s arm and headed for the room.
Perhaps tired from returning to her home, the Duchess slept soundly as soon as she lay down on the bed.
Lelia shared the joy of reuniting with her uncle and aunt after.
Atias hugged her and kissed her forehead, full of affection.
“Princess, I’m glad you’re back safe.”
Lelia felt at ease with her aunt’s gentle hand.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Unlike Atias, who is kind, Zenon asks curtly. However, the questions were not as simple to answer.
“Yes,” when Lelia nodded, Zenon patted her head.
“How have you been?”
Lelia nodded in response to her aunt’s question.
[I’m sorry, but what I told my grandfather and Uncle Carius needs to be a secret for a while.]
Neither of them asked Lelia any other questions.
As if it were enough for Lelia to return safely.
Their feelings were conveyed completely, and Lelia felt a corner of her empty chest filled.
***
It was not until late at night that her friends came home.
Lelia waited impatiently for them and greeted them.
She looked carefully for injuries, but everyone looked fine.
“Did you get hurt somewhere?”
When Lelia asked, Griffith and Oscar hurried away without a reply.
Lelia looked at their backs as they rushed away..
Romeo whispered, putting his hand on Lelia’s shoulder, “The pagan problem was solved right away without any problems… There was a problem that they were about to fight.”
“Why fight?”
Lelia asked suspiciously. She can’t believe it. The two of them have been on bad terms since yesterday.
Why on earth is that so?
The two of them in her memory were so close.
Romeo looked at her and said, “I’m afraid they don’t get along. It’s a fact that the general doesn’t know, so you probably didn’t know.”
“……”
“Don’t worry too much. Anyways, the servants look busy.”
“Oh, that’s… My grandmother went to the resort and arrived home today.”
“Oh, the mother of former Empress Elizabeth?”
“……”
Lelia’s expression hardened at Romeo’s words, which pointed to the most important thing.
Come to think of it, she couldn’t explain the situation to her friends.
Why did Lelia stay here, and why did Elizabeth’s family treat her like a real granddaughter?
“That’s…”
It was time for Lelia to make excuses. Romeo’s cold index finger touched her lips.
[T/N: Romeo… xD}
“You don’t have to tell me,”
“……”
“Now…”
Lelia stared blankly at him as she stood still, while Romeo grinned.
His cold finger pressed against her lips fell very slowly, as if regretfully.
The finger went straight to his own lips.
“……?”
Romeo rubbed his lips with the same finger that was on Lelia’s, and laughed mischievously.
“Good night,”
“……”
After giving her a strange smile, Romeo turned his back and walked away lightly.
Lelia stood still for some time after Romeo left the room.
Suddenly someone laid a big hand on Lelia’s right shoulder.
Surprised, Lelia turned away, saying, “Oh!”
Something muscular and big struck her right cheek.
Kalix put his hand on her shoulder and smiled, pressing his index finger against her cheek.
“What are you doing here?”
“……”
Lelia sighed as she removed Kalix’s heavy hands on her shoulder.
[This is really…]
More than once or twice when she was a child, Kalix played this prank. Lelia put up with a strange feeling in her stomach.
She turned around and looked at Kalix up and down.
She was trying to find out if he was injured or if his eyes were getting worse.
“What are you staring at? Up and down…”
However, Kalix’s reaction was strange.
He took a step back as if she was playing a prank.
He was wary of Lelia.
Moreover, he positioned his arms into an X-shape to protect himself.
What was he doing? Lelia felt ashamed.
“……”
Lelia squinted, wondering why Kalix behaved like that.
Kalix turned away when he met her eyes. Lelia asked suspiciously and mischievously.
“Why are you so late when you said it would be over in ten minutes?”
“… You…! Why are you nagging me?”
“What?”
However, Kalix’s response was a little sensitive. Kalix gasped as he blushed.
“Don’t act like a wife waiting for me at home!
‘You have that thing just like me…! Why are you pretending to be a wife?’
Kalix swayed past Relia in anger.
[T/N: Kalix only imagines that thing whenever he sees Lelia, I swear xD]
[No, why… What’s wrong?]
She immediately heard Kalix close the door.
Lelia stood still then left.
Entering his room, Kalix leaned his back against the door and held his breath against his beating heart.
‘Oh, my heart is out of order…’
Why? Did one of his eyes close and damage his heart? Does that have anything to do with it?
Kalix closed his eyes and sank to the ground.
It’s all his fault.
That man dressed up as a woman!
Kalix inwardly condemned and admonished Lelia.
Yesterday welled up in his mind.
The moment Lelia suddenly grabbed his cheek and put his face in front of him…
It turned out that if he wasn’t so surprised yesterday, his body would have hardened.
His heart was still pounding. Why on earth did he do that…?
He thought his lips would be taken away. He never told anyone but…
‘Are you going to steal my first time?’
Of course it wasn’t taken away, but it was so close… No, what’s too close?!
Kalix himself felt strangely chagrined and grabbed his thick hair.
Why, why was he disappointed? Why on earth was he disappointed that he couldn’t kiss a man when he has the same thing?
“Ah!”
Kalix lay down on the floor crying in pain.
That’s disgusting! How on earth did he know my eye condition?
Anyway, he’s a suspicious guy.
He was moved when he left a lot of painkillers and sedatives for him.
He felt strange when he checked his eye condition.
‘I was sure no one would notice. I really didn’t show it to you, yet…’
But unconsciously, he seemed to want someone to notice him.
[T/N: T_T]
‘Damn it, I can’t believe I still feel so weak…’
“You’re a fool,” Kalix bit his lips. For no reason, his heart was burning.
He felt uncomfortable because it seemed he had revealed his true feelings. On the other hand, however, he felt refreshed.
He had a feeling that Lelia was special.
‘… Special is tough.’
It’s all because he’s suddenly dressed as a woman.
When he first met him, he was dressed like a woman, but he wasn’t wearing a voluminous and pretty dress like he is now.
The Lelia who came here, and he met again, was very strange.
To be honest… he looked so pretty. So he felt unfamiliar.
Why was Lelia dressing up as a woman so natural? He almost fell for it.
Then he suddenly remembered what Oscar said.
“I don’t care if it’s a man or a woman.”
At that time, he even felt nauseous while cursing in his heart, thinking, “He’s crazy.”
For some reason, however, he felt he could understand those words now.
‘Yes, Lelia, I really don’t think it matters…’
Kalix sprang to his feet and shook his head.
“No, it doesn’t matter!”
‘His is as good as my arm!’
‘… But what does it matter? It’s smaller than mine anyway.’
[PR/N: lol he’s just like a kid.]
His brain was pounding back and forth.
Kalix stopped his thoughts and nervously threw off his clothes and headed for the bathroom.
He seemed to be able to clear his mind only by washing with cold water.
***
Early morning the next day.
Romeo, who started the day earlier than anyone else, leisurely drank tea and immersed himself in his thoughts.
He woke up early in the morning an hour earlier and took a walk in the garden behind the castle. He felt refreshed by the fresh morning air. Then he just happened to see the Duke and Duchess of Superion while he was walking.
The Duchess was in poor health.
At a glance, she seemed to have suffered from a disease the temple had classified as incurable.
The Duke greeted Romeo and suggested that they go for a walk together.
“Hmm…”
Recalling a few words of conversation with the Duke, Romeo organized his thoughts.
The details are unknown, but the rough puzzle has all been put together.
Secret records of the shrine show that former Empress Elizabeth died as soon as she gave birth to her child.
The child in that record is Lelia.
That’s why she’s here, and the Duke and his family all know the truth.
He could tell if he recalled the conversation with the duke. His love for Lelia was oozing out of every word he spoke. Deep affection for his granddaughter.
But why the hell is Lelia hiding all the facts? He couldn’t figure out why.
Why is she hiding the fact that she is ‘Leo’ so much?
Things flashed in his mind about the dead ex-emperor of Auraria.
A violent emperor, and a former Crown Prince of bad behaviour… A temple at the time that summoned the real Leo, the children of the imperial family and aristocrats…
Romeo rubbed his forehead, put down his teacup, and walked to the window.
Just then, he saw several wagons passing through the gates and approaching the castle.
A woman in a fancy dress disembarked from the first carriage. As soon as she got off her wagon, she instructed the servants who came with her this and that.
The servants, according to orders, unloaded the luggage in perfect order, and what appeared were gorgeous dresses hung on hangers.
‘Is this a dress for an upcoming banquet?’
Those dresses seemed to be reserved for Lelia.
After that, a young man got off the wagon that had arrived far away.
The man glanced up, as was his nature, as if he had made a big decision, but somehow he gave a bad impression.
Romeo left the room humming at the thought of choosing Lelia’s dress.
‘The early bird gets the worm.’
***
