Chapter 99: The Current State of Duke McGallen’s Household (Part 3) ― Extra edition
The next morning, Leah visited the white hotel with her parents, and inside the urban-like interior, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
As expected, the walls of the hotel were all uniformly white, adorned with numerous paintings and artworks.
Finally, something that moistened her eyes appeared. Leah was drawn to a landscape painting right next to the entrance of the hotel.
“Wow… it’s beautiful.”
12-year-old Leah had a keen eye for beautiful things. She had an extraordinary passion not only for adorning herself with accessories but also for interior design and furniture.
She thought there was nothing in the countryside, but there was something after all.
As Leah was captivated by the landscape painting…
“We apologize for the wait.”
With that voice, a man descended from the second floor of the hotel.
Leah turned her gaze away from the painting and looked at the source of the voice.
There stood a young man.
With black hair cascading down to his cheeks, he exuded a certain enchanting charm.
Leah was shocked. She had never seen such a beautiful man even in the city.
(I wonder who he is…)
As if answering Leah’s question, Sophia stepped forward and spoke to him.
“Daniel-san, long time no see.”
Time seemed to stop within Leah.
(Huh? Wait? This person is Daniel-san?)
No matter how you looked at him, he didn’t look like a middle-aged man five years older than her mother.
It was as if time had stopped, and Leah was shocked for the second time by Daniel’s appearance.
Suddenly, Leah’s eyes met Daniel’s.
Leah felt embarrassed by her own flustered state and blushed, averting her gaze.
“…Leah-san, long time no see.”
When Daniel called out to her, the girl hurriedly looked up.
“Ah, long time no see…”
Although she said that, she had no memory of meeting him before. He seemed to have seen through Leah’s confusion.
“We met before, twelve years ago. You were still a baby back then.”
Daniel chuckled.
It seemed like he was teasing her… Leah realized that.
“…Ojii-sama!”
“I held you in my arms. You were such a smart little girl to remember that moment.”
“Come on, stop it!”
Duke McGallen and his wife also laughed at the scene.
『”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”.』
“Give her a hunting rifle?”
Daniel asked somewhat hesitantly. Klaus answered with a smile.
“We don’t need her to go as far as hunting. Just practicing shooting at targets is enough.”
“During summer, the animals aren’t well-fed either.”
“I don’t want to disturb the villagers’ winter catch. It’s just… I want this child to experience 〝life.〟”
Daniel looked a bit solemn.
“There are many women in the city who seem to be ‘alive’ but aren’t really.”
Daniel nodded repeatedly at Klaus’ words.
“Well, there are too many entanglements… Can’t be helped.”
“Leah, you need to increase what you can do on your own.”
Leah realized that the adults were trying to entrust something to her.
What did they mean by “seeming ‘alive’ but not really” for noblewomen?
๏
Leah shot the hunting rifle at the target.
With the sound of the shot, the recoil almost blew her body backward.
“Next.”
Klaus pushed her daughter back. Just the weight of the rifle she held for the first time was enough to make her feel discouraged.
She was still missing the target.
(What’s the meaning of this…?)
Leah pondered.
The future of noblewomen was only prepared for marriage and childbirth.
She looked at her mother, Sofia. Her mother seemed perfectly happy with just that.
She shot again. The bullet marks gathered around the target.
(What’s the meaning of this?)
“You’ve gotten better. Let’s take a break.”
As Klaus raised his voice, a hotel employee appeared with tea and sweets.
Stretching her stiff shoulders, Leah let out a sigh of relief.
Then, Daniel arrived. Seeing him, Leah straightened her previously relaxed posture.
Leah stared intently at the head of the Belz Trading Company. The tingling sensation throughout her body from holding the rifle made her somewhat audacious.
“…What is it?”
When Daniel called out to her, Leah shook her head as if trying to give up on something.
“…Nothing.”
In a corner of the garden, a table was set up. Suddenly, Leah’s eyes were drawn to the gentle slope below the hill.
She saw herds of sheep and cows scattered across the green fields. Flower fields covered the surface, dividing the greenery. In the distance, she could see mountains and small scattered towns.
Leah realized that it was the same scenery she had seen in the landscape painting at the hotel entrance.
As soon as they sat at the table, Sophia asked this question.
“What about Daniel-sama?… Has he gotten married or anything?”
Normally, Sophia would ask in a roundabout way, typical of the nobility, but today, being in the countryside, her way of speaking was more casual. Daniel answered with a wry smile.
“No, I haven’t.”
“…Not even once?”
“Hey,” Klaus reprimanded. As Leah sat down on the chair pulled by a servant, she leaned in to listen.
Her father spoke.
“He had his relationship with the princess torn apart since then. It’s not a topic to delve into just because you don’t know.”
Leah was taken aback.
There was a difference in status between the head of the trading company and the royal family. Previously, he had his relationship torn apart by a great power, and that seemed to have cast a big shadow over Daniel’s life.
Daniel smiled sadly and muttered.
“That’s in the past.”
Leah observed him and gently stroked her tired arm from hunting.
She knew that she would never be able to have a free love and would have to walk a predetermined path, just like many noble women.
Without feeling anything, she would cling to her husband in order to live the life she had to.
(I wonder if I’ll become like that someday)
With that thought, Leah became suddenly interested in the head of the trading company in front of her. It was partly because the forbidden love sounded sweet to her, but she also felt that unraveling his life might contain some important hints for her own life.
Perhaps due to the liberating feeling of the countryside, Leah couldn’t help but ask.
“Ojii-sama, about your love with the princess…”
As Klaus shot a bitter gaze at his daughter, Daniel spoke.
“It was a wonderful memory. It’s something immature ladies like you still can’t talk about.”
Leah blushed and sighed at the lingering feeling that only adults who have tasted both sweetness and bitterness can exude. And unintentionally, she said,
“…How lovely.”
Sophia was surprised by her daughter’s reaction, and Klaus waved his hand sideways, making a gesture of “stop, stop.”
Leah struggled to find a way to get Daniel to talk about his love story with the princess.
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