Chapter 95: Future
Three months later.
“Well, we have to work briskly today too! Let’s go, Alberto!”
With her small son, Alberto, securely strapped to a baby carrier, Diana headed towards the mountain cabin.
In the expanded summer fields that extended to the border, colorful flowers bloomed vibrantly.
Women who had returned from the urban area of Latgip were busy picking flowers among them.
“Good morning, everyone.”
While greeting the women, Diana encountered Leon, who was weeding around the fields.
“Oh? Diana, where are you taking Alberto?”
“I’m going to the mountain cabin. Daniel said there are guests who want to see the king’s hideaway.”
“Sigh, again.”
The mountain cabin that was once the king’s hideaway had somehow become a tourist attraction.
“It’s hot, so come back soon.”
“Yes. Well then, see you later, Otou-sama.”
Saying so, Diana turned Alberto towards Leon.
Leon stood up and gently kissed his son’s chubby cheeks.
In front of the mountain cabin, Daniel waved his hands, waiting. Behind him, a group of tourists crowded, eagerly awaiting Diana’s appearance.
“Hello, everyone. I am Diana, the manager of this mountain cabin.”
The tourists buzzed upon hearing her name.
“Are you that Diana-san?!”
“Yes!”
“Oh, you’re…! Well, the militiamen in Latgip used to say that there was no other woman as strong-willed as you!”
Diana chuckled.
“Fufu. I won’t deny it.”
“They say you didn’t hesitate to help the militiamen search for the king and even provided them with meals when they were hungry.”
“Well, that also happened.”
“Taking in the king and hiding him required courage. You’re an amazing woman, as the rumors say.”
After touring the mountain cabin, they would stay at Daniel’s inn.
Diana would sell the flowers she picked to Daniel and Gustav’s inn, as well as various restaurants.
The tourism resources of Pabst village were entrusted to this remote area and Diana.
Edible flowers became a specialty of the village, and inns in the border area started offering flower-based meals. Restaurants focusing on edible flowers were also established in the central part of the village.
This remote village, adorned with flowers, had come to be called a 〝paradise.〟
As more details about the king’s escape became known, rumors spread, and people gathered in the border area to catch a glimpse of the king’s life in seclusion. Perhaps because of that, Gustav and Daniel’s inn seemed to be fully booked until winter.
Furthermore, among the citizens of the countries involved in the war, there was a trend of returning to rural areas. The cities had been burned, and they realized that the countryside had an abundance of food. Along with the tourists who came from the cities, young women who had experienced hardship in Latgip also began returning to this village in search of work.
As young women started to venture out in the rural areas, Pabst village suddenly became lively.
Hans, the tailor, also hired more employees. Women who returned from the city would come daily to buy clothes, creating a bustling atmosphere.
With the increasing population in the village, Leon’s brothers’ farms also hired more workers.
The border area, which had been quiet during the war, was now experiencing further development.
Although no more noble ladies visited Diana’s kitchen, young women from the city started working there instead. Diana hired employees and entrusted them with the fieldwork. They would harvest cut flowers, pluck and gather colorful flowers, and sprinkle them on warm and fragrant dishes.
Only on sunny days, Diana would open a small restaurant on the mountaintop.
A small restaurant for day-trippers.
But today, the restaurant was closed――
It was the hundredth day since Alberto was born, a sunny day.
The female employees diligently set up tables under the blue sky. They covered them with white tablecloths and prepared the tableware.
Diana watched from the second-floor window.
From a distance, George’s horse carrying Laura approached. And Hans’s carriage with Thomas and Fritz as passengers also arrived.
Ilsa and Gustav, dressed up from the inn, also came out.
While dressing her son in a small handmade tuxedo on the bed, Diana whispered in a soft voice.
“Today is your hundredth day since you were born.”
Diana lifted Alberto, who was drooling, and kissed his forehead.
“This is to celebrate. Your Uncle and Aunt will also be coming. Sophia, Klaus, and Daniel are all busy, but they gathered for you.”
He felt his mother’s warmth and let out a giggling sound.
They heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
“Diana, it looks like everything is ready.”
Diana adjusted the child in her arms and walked towards Leon. When Leon saw his child dressed up, he chuckled as if tickled.
“Oh wow, it looks splendid!”
“Isn’t he cute? I consulted with Hans and had it made.”
“It’s incredibly adorable! Let me hold him too.”
Leon lifted his son and playfully raised him high. Alberto had been laughing a lot lately. Leon gazed at his expression intently before bringing him close to his chest.
“…I wonder if my mother felt the same way.”
Diana nodded.
She had heard it from George after giving birth.
Leon’s mother didn’t die immediately after giving birth to Leon; her uterus didn’t return to normal, and she passed away a month later.
She had spent that month with Leon.
When she left, how much regret must she have felt――
Diana imagined that and gently wiped her eyes before speaking to Leon.
“…Yes, I think she must have felt the same way as you.”
“It must have been tough to leave behind such a cute creature and die.”
“…Leon.”
“We’ll love and cherish your grandmother as well.”
Leon no longer became sentimental when looking at children and their mothers.
He must have felt and understood various things in his own way.
Outside the window was a flower garden.
The two gently kissed, with the baby between them.
A peaceful, warm, ordinary kiss.
“…Today, too, is peaceful.”
“Yes.”
“This peace was brought by Diana.”
“I won’t deny that.”
They walked out into the bright light.
Outside, everyone was gathered around the table.
Next to Diana’s seat was a small seat for the baby, resembling a basket with legs.
The table was already filled with meals prepared by the employees, crowded together.
Flower salad, flower quiche, wild strawberry vinegar drink, roast veal, smoked ayu paste…
With the return of supplies, the dining table had become abundantly rich.
When Diana and the others appeared from the house, everyone took their seats for a toast.
Thomas brought white wine for everyone, and a small dinner party began.
Daniel was holding Sofia’s daughter, Leah.
“It seems like Daniel-san has taken a liking to this child. Normally, she cries when someone other than her mother holds her…”
“Heh. I’m used to handling women, you see.”
“Hey now, don’t lay a hand on my daughter.”
When Klaus interjected, Daniel snorted.
“Hmph. I don’t want to hear that from you, who has an Oku-sama much younger than his daughter…”
Leah liked sitting on Daniel’s lap and clung to him, giggling and playing.
“I heard that Hans has been approached by two women at the same time recently?”
Fritz said enviously, and Hans blushed.
“Yeah, but… I ended up turning them down.”
“Huh. Why?”
“Well, I already made a promise to marry someone else.”
“What?! You should have said that sooner! I see, next is Hans, huh.”
Gustav handed an invitation to Ilsa and Diana.
“Oh, you. What’s this?”
“It’s an invitation to the Eisenstadt Palace. His Majesty personally wants to express his gratitude to Diana.”
“Really?!”
“Yes. His Majesty wants to establish a hunting castle in the so-called ‘paradise’ on the border. There seem to be various intentions, but it’s not a bad story for Pabst village, right?”
George wrote something on paper.
〝When should we bring it up?〟
Laura chuckled.
〝When Alberto gets a cousin.〟
“Maybe it’s better to bring it up on the way back. Today’s main character is Alberto, after all…”
Little Alberto, held by Leon, gazed at the border and its people with his eyes.
Blooming flowers, blue sky, abundant meals, brand new buildings, and sprawling green fields that stretch endlessly.
In those small eyes, the unfortunate flames of war and history will never be reflected again――
“Alberto.”
Diana speaks.
“Take a good look. Those memories of happiness will surely make you stronger.”
Beyond the flower field, little Alberto squints his eyes.
There, an unfamiliar man with a black beard waves his hand and quietly fades away into the wind.
・・・
『”𝒜𝓌𝑒𝒷𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓈.𝒸𝑜𝓂” – 𝒟𝒾𝓈𝒸𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒶 𝒸𝒶𝓅𝓉𝒾𝓋𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒, 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒶𝒹𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓊𝓁𝑔𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝒶 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓃𝓈𝓁𝒶𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓃𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 “𝒹𝒶𝒾𝓁𝓎 𝓊𝓅𝒹𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓈” 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑒𝓍𝒸𝓁𝓊𝓈𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝒶𝒸𝒸𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝓉𝑜 “𝒶𝒹𝓋𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈”.』
・・・
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