Chapter 80
It was only after answering several tis that he truly felt fine to move, despite his still pale face, that Aquila was finally allowed to leave his room.
As always, Shen and Yujelia trailed behind him.
The two watched him with anxious vigilance, as though it were only natural for him to collapse mid-step.
Erzet did not accompany them.
Judging by the awkward way he responded when Aquila ntioned going to see the twins, it did not seem that he was particularly close with them.
It was not that he hated them for being Celsia’s children. Rather, he appeared uncertain how to treat them.
In any case, after thoroughly checking Aquila’s condition following his late al, Erzet parted ways with a request that Aquila visit his laboratory later.
“What kind of research is Lord Erzet conducting?”
“Hmm, I am not sure? I have never taken much interest in the details….”
Shen scratched the back of his head as he tried to recall.
“Sothing about manipulating mana within the body to increase… sothing? He speaks so quickly that there are hardly any words I can catch.”
Even as he wracked his brain, Shen shook his head with an expression of long-suffering.
It was hardly the attitude expected of an attendant, yet no one here seed to mind.
“They say many brilliant minds enter Landizel Academy, do they not? I wonder what the academic city looks like.”
“I heard the academy buildings are shaped strangely, as though asured with a ruler. And that it is filled entirely with eccentrics… is that not odd? If one says such a thing, that ans he himself is an eccentric.”
Shen shrugged as though he truly could not understand it.
There are certainly many peculiar ones there. Though there were plenty of interesting ones as well.
Aquila nodded inwardly as he continued walking.
It had all occurred early in his tiline, and the mory had long since faded into the depths of his mind, leaving only an impression behind.
Conversing idly, they crossed the corridor and stepped out the main entrance.
The sunlight remained bright, and the breeze was warm.
The Grand Garden stretched before them, still too vast to take in at once.
“They said they were in the garden?”
“Ah, yes! When I asked earlier, I was told they were near where the greenhouse used to stand. I am not sure if they are still there.”
The trees, neatly trimd from pruning, and the lush green shrubs remained vibrant.
It had already been over a month since the greenhouse beyond them had burst apart.
That cannot be a place of good mories for the twins. Why would they be there?
After nodding faintly, Aquila headed toward where the greenhouse had once stood.
But the twins were not there.
Last ti, they had hidden sowhere among the shrubs, so Shen rose onto his toes and scanned the area widely.
“Hmm. It seems they have moved elsewhere. I cannot even hear the sound of soone hiding nearby.”
Even Shen’s keen ears detected no breath or presence.
“It is possible they heard I was coming and moved. Let us search.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“Then I shall check over there, Young Master.”
The three of them split up to search in different directions.
Aquila did not expect to find them first.
After all, before he left Portplum, the twins had fled the mont they saw him.
He had assud that if they encountered him again, they would run at the sight of his face.
But he was wrong.
It did not take long for Aquila to find them.
They were not far from the greenhouse site.
At the center of the Grand Garden, beyond a cluster of trees and shrubs—
the very place where Celsia Reschenhardt, transford into a monster after consuming the mud of the Black Swamp, had died as a mass of blackened matter—
there sat Ershan and i.
The twins were seated directly upon the soft grass, seemingly unconcerned if their clothes beca soiled.
“They say they are going to rebuild the greenhouse. Brother, have you… heard?”
Ershan was the first to lift his head.
His slightly dark yet unmistakably red hair was tied tightly back as usual, the short tail swaying.
His eyes, shaped like Celsia’s, were the sa dark blue.
Yet his face itself was clear and gentle, bearing little resemblance.
Aquila stared at them briefly, then approached without greeting and sat down beside them on the grass as though it were nothing.
The twins simply looked at him.
They did not move away.
It seed they had decided not to hide anymore.
“No. This is the first I have heard of it.”
“……That makes sense. The decision was made after you left for Portplum.”
Ershan nodded solemnly.
As before, despite being only nine or ten years old, his expressions and manner of speech were remarkably mature.
In contrast, i sat with a faintly sulky expression, hugging her knees, indifferent to her wrinkled dress.
“They say it will be completely different from before. Larger and more splendid.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. The gardener said it would be nice to fill it with beautiful flowers. He said he would teach i and how to plant them. Do you think it is all right for us to learn such things?”
Both pairs of clear, large eyes turned to Aquila.
He nodded lightly.
“Yes. It sounds good.”
“But Mother said… it was all right to touch clean evening primroses, but not to touch soil. She said our hands must not beco dirty.”
Ershan chattered quietly in a childlike tone.
The content, however, was far from pleasant.
What on earth had she taught them?
Though he sensed the familiar presence of Shen and Yujelia approaching from behind, Aquila did not look away from the twins.
“Yet you seem to be sitting here just fine.”
“……Yes. While you were away, i and I tried everything Mother told us not to do. We touched the soil as well.”
As Aquila brushed his palm across the grass, one corner of his mouth lifted faintly.
“It must not have been anything remarkable, was it?”
After a mont’s thought, Ershan nodded.
The soil had dirtied his hands a little, but it washed off with water.
The water in the fountain had been pleasantly cool.
Conversations with servants other than those close to Celsia had been normal, and they had not reacted sensitively toward the twins as expected.
Bread eaten by hand had tasted like ordinary bread.
On leisurely days, they had lain outside and taken naps.
As Ershan shared these small details, i occasionally chid in.
Then, after hesitating briefly, Ershan curled in on himself.
“But… what if Father casts us out?”
Aquila’s brow lifted sharply.
“Why? Did he… tell you that?”
Ershan’s eyes widened as he shook his head.
“No, he did not. It is just….”
“We overheard it! The person who used to care for us—dead, dead, dead!”
i burst out in place of the hesitating Ershan.
There had been commotion when Lexenbert returned and dealt with matters. It seed they had heard of it.
Aquila’s expression hardened subtly.
Behind him, Shen and Yujelia, who had been sitting as though rely listening, also froze.
But the twins did not appear afraid of what Lexenbert had done.
“……We know that if soone does sothing bad, it is natural for them to be punished. Then… then should we not be punished as well? Right?”
Ershan lowered his head, speaking gloomily.
“So as punishnt, Father might also….”
“Wh-What are you saying? Lord Lexenbert would never do such a thing!”
Shen hurriedly shook his head.
He tried to explain that Lexenbert would never harm them, that those who had knowingly participated in wrongdoing were at fault, and that the twins had known nothing.
Yet the more he spoke, the darker their expressions beca.
The reason burst forth in the next instant.
“We did know! We knew what Mother was doing to Brother! We knew she was planning sothing bad. But we could not say anything…!”
Ershan’s voice broke as he burst into tears.
He had seen Celsia muttering to a strange potted plant in her room.
He had known sothing terrible was about to happen.
He had been afraid—yet he could not betray his mother.
i began crying as well, and soon the area was filled with sobbing.
“I am sorry, Brother…!”
“I am sorry, Elder Brother…!”
Aquila was at a loss.
So that was why they had avoided him—not rely because he had defeated Celsia, but because they had remained silent.
Adults truly have no restraint when children are listening.
There was no denying that the recent events had shocked both adults and children alike.
Lexenbert had only just returned; he, too, must have been in disarray.
Still, was it acceptable to leave children this unstable unattended?
Faintly furrowing his brow, Aquila softened his voice.
“……Nothing will happen. Father will never cast you out. But if such a thing were to occur, I will tell him not to.”
“R-Really…?”
“B-But, Brother… do you not hate us…?”
He almost replied, If anyone is to be hated, it would be Stepmother.
But he hesitated.
He had repeated countless regressions, yet he had never played the role of a dependable adult.
He was not good at it.
So, as always, he chose honesty.
Taking out a handkerchief, he gently wiped the twins’ tear-streaked faces.
“No. I never have. I likely never did before either.”
It was not a reckless guess.
If he had hated them, he would not have spoken with them.
Though he intended only to wipe their faces, patting their heads or embracing them excessively, the twins suddenly threw themselves into his arms.
He stiffened before awkwardly patting their trembling backs.
I truly have no talent for soothing children….
This ti, he turned his head to seek help from Shen and Yujelia.
Yet even under his gaze, they did nothing.
They rely watched the three red-haired siblings huddled together, smiling gently.
Thus Aquila could only wait until the twins’ sobbing ceased, even as his clothes beca soaked with tears.
After the storm of tears passed—
the sun slipped beyond the horizon, and blue dusk spread across the sky.
As planned, Yujelia asked whether they wished to release a Fairywind.
The twins, their eyes red, looked at each other and nodded.
“We know Mother was wrong. But… we just want to send her off. So just one….”
Neither Aquila nor Yujelia nor Shen objected.
If it eased the children’s hearts even slightly, that was enough.
And so, that evening—
in the Grand Garden of House Reschenhardt, a single Fairywind imbued with Yujelia’s Divine Power rose high into the sky.
Like a white butterfly.
Softly fluttering.
All within the estate watched the white blossom drift away upon the wind.
But no one offered a prayer for her.
And the lone, softly glowing flower was eventually swallowed whole by the dark.
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