Chapter 88

“How… long have you been here, Father?”

At his unexpected appearance, Rosetta struggled to move her lips and utter these words.

The vague expression on her face and her voice were both calm, but that was not at all the case internally.

‘Starting from which part did you see? Ever since I was testing out the whip sword?’

Rosetta was, in essence, nothing special.

If there’s anything about her that stood out, it was her beauty.

Anyone would be surprised to see her suddenly wielding a longsword freely.

‘People will think it’s strange, of course. The original Rosetta was…’

Any time of doubts being formed was exactly the thing that she feared and loathed the most.

Unlike Rosetta, who was agonizing inwardly, the duke just continued to stare at her without a word.

The longer the silence went on, the greater Rosetta’s anxiety grew.

She needed to know from which part he started watching so that she could think of a proper excuse.

However, contrary to her concerns, it fortunately hadn’t been long since the duke arrived.

It was shortly after Rosetta had cut the grass with her fan.

By the time the duke arrived at this place, he came to a halt at the edge of the clearing and hid his presence. He couldn’t help but admire Rosetta’s display of martial arts.

Of course, this also meant that he saw how Rosetta cut down the branch, how she scattered the petals, and how she imbued her fan with inner strength and sent it flying.

Luckily however, the duke right now was completely out of sorts.

His mind was preoccupied with remembering Lillian again after he saw Rosetta moving lithely as though she was dancing.

While she was still alive, Lillian used to come here and dance as well. Just like this, even without a song.

If anything, what served as a music box was the occasional sound of nature coming from the surrounding forest.

And here, the unrestrained smile that was on her face as she danced freely was ever so beautiful.

It was so beautiful that he watched with rapt attention.

Here, the martial arts displayed before him was entirely far removed from the way that an aristocrat should move, but the only people here were the two of them, and so there was nothing to worry about.

Old, rigid rules. The manner in which an aristocrat must act. Etcetera, etcetera.

Everything that was tirelessly drilled and forced upon them served no use in a place like this where there were no rules.

As Lillian’s image overlapped with Rosetta once more, the duke was stunned.

Again. Again.

That child reminded him of Lillian again. As though he was reminiscing about the past from a child who resembled her parents.

The duke lowered his gaze and stared at the fan in his hand.

“…You can perform unusual martial arts with a fan, I see.”

The duke finally spoke, but he was still focused on the fan as he was trying to erase Lillian’s memory.

It was a thoughtless comment uttered to avoid revealing his innermost thoughts, but hearing this made Rosetta deeply relieved.

‘Since you’re not talking about the sword right away, I guess you didn’t see the whip sword.’

If he saw her wielding it earlier, that would have been the first question he asked.

People wouldn’t normally question the fan first.

‘I mean, I did this and that with my fan…’

She cut a branch, scattered petals and shot the fan through the air like a boomerang.

Still, rather than having seen her swordsmanship in earnest, this was more bearable.

Wasn’t this at least better than the worst-case scenario?

Feeling more relieved now, Rosetta smiled softly.

“You saw that, Father? That’s a bit embarrassing. I was just practicing what I learned from Maxwell. He taught me how to use that fan so I can protect myself.”

“That guy?”

“Yes. Maxwell also gave me that fan.”

In response to what she said, the duke’s gaze gravitated back to the fan.

At first glance, it looked like an ordinary fan used when going to high society events, but it was quite heavy and hard to the touch. It seemed like it was inlaid with metal.

The edge of the fan also looked dull, but it was in fact sharp. If it was wielded with force, it’s possible to cut something with this.

As he examined the fan further, Rosetta naturally added another excuse.

“It’s a self-defense fan. I guess it’s something popular among commoners.”

From time to time, what’s popular among commoners would appear amidst the nobles. Once they’d hear from where it became popular, they would kick up a fuss

While commenting on how undignified it was for a noble to use something of a peasant’s.

However, Rosetta knew that the duke wasn’t that kind of person, so she brought it up without worrying.

The Duke Valentine that she knew was someone who didn’t care about such things. As long as it’s practical, it didn’t matter whether it was a commoner’s possession or a noble’s valuable.

The duke did not answer.

Even when he tried to focus only on the fan, Lillian kept coming to his mind.

Once again, his tangled thoughts began to slip through.

‘Seems like he’s kind of out of it.’

The duke’s gold eyes were as cold as they always were, but his gaze felt hollow.

‘Well, I don’t know why you’re out of it right now, but…’

This was good for Rosetta.

It’s easy to trick someone who’s absent-minded.

The duke soon opened his lips to speak.

“The energy imbued into the fan is unusual. It doesn’t feel like aura, but did that guy teach you this as well?”

Contrary to Rosetta’s thoughts however, the supposedly absent-minded duke asked a very astute question.

Even so, Rosetta shook her head. Not a sign of agitation could be gleaned from her countenance.

Her wide, round eyes looked innocent, as though she really knew nothing.

Blinking her widened eyes, she asked carefully.

“Unusual energy? What kind of energy?”

As Rosetta asked back and feigned ignorance, the duke stared at her.

Even at the end of that gaze, Rosetta did not break character.

“What kind of energy is coming from me? Or, I guess maybe the fan is just special…”

If she said she didn’t know, what more could she be asked?

The duke did not ask any further questions. Wordlessly, he walked into the garden.

Once he stepped into this place that was full of memories, nostalgia of the past enveloped him completely.

With an apathetic expression, the duke held out the fan.

Rosetta took the fan and bowed her head to him.

They acted so awkwardly that it’s impossible to view as having a father-daughter relationship.

“Truthfully, I think I put in too much energy that the fan flew away like that. I didn’t know where it went and I got a bit flustered, but it turns out that it went straight to you, Father… I’m so sorry.”

Rosetta fiddled with the fan as she apologized, but in turn, the duke just shook his head.

“There’s nothing for you to apologize for. I’m the one who didn’t make my presence known.”

“Thank you very much for understanding.”

Rosetta smiled faintly and bowed her head again.

Then, silence.

There was nothing more for them to talk about, so silence naturally took precedence.

All Rosetta wanted was to leave as soon as she could, but she didn’t quite know how she should excuse herself.

The two of them really had nothing more to say to each other, but they were just standing there as though they wanted to say something.

Meanwhile, as Rosetta remained in front of him, the duke’s eyes wandered elsewhere.

Towards the viridescent expanse.

Where flowers bloomed here and there.

And with blossoms surrounding it, there lay a pond that seemed to contain the blue sky within it.

Suddenly, he realized one strange thing.

Everything here looked well-maintained.

The grass was cut and the pond was clean.

After Lillian passed away, Daymond did not dare come to this place.

A place that was too precious to one’s heart would sometimes become poisonous.

Still, he didn’t want to leave it to someone else to maintain it.

This was a place reserved only for Lillian and Daymond, and as such, only the two of them had managed it before.

They were planning to tell their children about this place once they grew up.

Still, for him to leave this place to someone else’s hands in the meantime?

That’s absurd.

It might be nothing but foolish selfishness on his part, but he wanted to preserve this place in memory of the time that he and Lillian spent together.

In the end, it was neglected.

He had no courage to come back here, and neither was he willing to leave someone else in charge of it.

It was laughable.

Supposedly to protect his memories of this place, he instead chose to neglect it.

Even so, he thought that this was the best option that he could take.

Without Lillian, it was no longer a meaningful place anyway.

It would hurt less to let it stay buried as a beautiful, distant memory.

His reluctance to come back to this place had already faded years before.

He did not actively look for this place again because he didn’t want to see it ruined by many years of neglect.

However, when he was wracked with disquiet recently, he eventually sought out this place.

He had to muster some determination before coming here.

Anything that’s been neglected for such a long time would obviously be in such disarray.

That’s definitely what he thought so as he walked along the faded trail.

However, when he arrived, the garden looked the same as ever from his memories.

It was far from a mess.

It looked as if someone had been taking good care of it all this time.

He looked around in a daze, then he turned back to the person standing before him—towards Rosetta.

Towards the trespasser, who he believed brought life back to this place.

“Have you been taking care of this place?”

Rosetta hesitated, but she soon nodded in response to the duke’s question.

Rather than telling a vague lie, this was better.

“Ah, yes. I found this place by chance and I came to like it, so I wished to come here often.”

But Father, how did you find this place…

The following question was timidly added.

It was evidently an abandoned place, and there was no sign of anyone ever coming by here…

That’s why the last thing she could have imagined was for the duke to come to such a place.

The duke’s gaze faintly observed Rosetta.

The gold eyes that resembled his suddenly caught his attention.

Those eyes meant that she was a Valentine both in name and in truth.

Those eyes were his, and her nose looked like Lillian’s…

No. It can’t be.

He couldn’t understand why he was trying to look for features that might resemble Lillian in her.

This child was not his.

This child…

This child had the blood of the sinner who killed Lillian.

Trying to push down the chaos surging within him, he answered belatedly.

“While she was still alive, this was Lillian’s favorite place.”

And his voice was as cold as the expression upon his face.

“…Ah.”

Rosetta bowed, letting out a small sigh under her breath.

On the outside, her demeanor could be interpreted as her being apologetic about a wrongdoing that she had committed. However, inwardly, she had only one thought in mind.

Ha. No wonder it felt like everything’s going too smoothly today.