Side Story.1 – The Age of Light 

Maia’s daily routine was simple.  

She opened her eyes in the morning and faced the familiar ceiling.  

Pulling the soft quilt up to her head, she lazed about for a bit before tidying her tousled hair and getting up.  

After hearing Hailey’s nagging about becoming too lazy, she entered the bathroom, washed up, did a simple grooming, and left her room.  

“Are you awake?”  

“Yes, Mother.”  

Then she went down to the dining room and had breakfast with her mother.  

Even though it had been well over half a year since she started living this way, sometimes an unreal sense would suddenly surge and make her stop whatever she was doing.  

The shocking secrets and revealed truths surrounding her marriage and divorce with Lucas Western.  

Her father’s death, the Emperor’s final moments before her eyes……  

“I want to return to my hometown after such a long time.”  

Had her mother completely moved on from the past?  

Maia looked at Ravina, who murmured quietly as she gazed out the window, and wondered.  

But she would not be the first to voice this question.  

It was an unspoken rule.  

Do not dig up the past.  

Maia had talked plenty about her father’s name, his homeland, and her mother’s stories, but they still couldn’t easily discuss anything after those happy days.  

Perhaps more time was needed.  

Who knew how long that would take.  

“What are you thinking so deeply about?”  

Suddenly, a ticklish sensation touched one side of her face.  

The deep scent at her nose, the familiar voice.  

“Hyperion?”  

Maia blinked and turned around.  

Hyperion, who had appeared without her noticing, gently shook a bouquet of yellow flowers near Maia’s cheek, offering them to her.  

On the ring finger of his left hand shimmered the jewel from the ring Maia had given him.  

“You brought them again today. Thank you.”  

Maia took the bouquet naturally and expressed her thanks.  

Hyperion’s previously calm expression visibly brightened.  

He bent down and lightly kissed Maia’s cheek before sitting opposite her.  

“You still haven’t answered. Do you have something else on your mind?”  

“On my mind? Not really.”  

Really, there was nothing she could hide.  

Maia smiled awkwardly and confessed.  

“It’s just… this peaceful life still feels so unfamiliar.”  

Hyperion leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at Maia.  

“Maybe it’s because you’ve been staying home too much.”  

“Then do you want to go to the Mage Tower? The last time we visited was for the ritual.”  

Should she?  

Maia took a sip of the bittersweet tea and thought.  

……But didn’t she make a huge fool of herself the last time she visited the Mage Tower?  

“No, maybe a little later……”  

Even with Hyperion’s close aides, Hael Terzen and Rihail Earith, present, she’d been swept up by her emotions and said all sorts of things.  

Now, to introduce herself as someone considering marriage with Hyperion in front of them…  

It felt too shameless.  

At least another year…… Well, even after time passed, she wasn’t sure she’d feel any less embarrassed.  

“If there’s anywhere you want to go, just say so. The Master of the Mage Tower’s lover isn’t here just to be neglected.”  

Hyperion’s answer, a bit dissatisfied with her refusal to visit the Mage Tower, was visibly sulky.  

The Duke of Western—  

No, should she now call him the current Emperor?  

Anyway, after divorcing the Duke of Western, Maia officially lost her noble title, so all those bothersome social gatherings she never wanted to attend disappeared.  

It might be nice to travel to famous resorts.  

“Then shall we travel together?”  

“Sounds good. Where to?”  

“Hmm, I’ll think it over and send a letter.”  

Maia tapped the head of a figurine on the table as she answered.  

After that, they chatted for a long time, and Hyperion left with a promise to return tomorrow.  

“The sun is already setting……”  

Maia gazed at the deepening twilight outside the window, swept by an indescribable feeling.  

Twilight was truly a poignant and wistful phenomenon.  

To see the sun, which had climbed to the highest point of the blue sky, blazing with unmatched brilliance, set so majestically.  

Yet, how enviable it was that, after the night passes, it rises again and shines once more.  

“Miss Maia.”  

“Hailey.”  

Maia, who had been watching the sky until it turned from crimson to violet, snapped back to herself at the sound of someone entering the room.  

Hailey bowed her head as she spoke.  

“I’m sorry for coming in suddenly. But… there’s an amazing guest visiting right now.”  

“……A guest?”  

These days, her mother had stepped away from managing the merchant group and left everything to deputy lord Amica.  

So, in the past few months, no guests had visited the mansion.  

And an ‘amazing’ guest? Who could it be?  

“Don’t tell me, Enoch?”  

Of the regular visitors, only he held high status.  

“Oh, if it were Young Master Enoch, I wouldn’t be this surprised. Listen, it’s Grand Duke Aeterna who’s here!”  

What?  

“Grand Duke Aeterna……?”  

Suddenly, memories from last year flashed through Maia’s mind.  

Her ill-fated relationship with the Duke of Western, and yet, the Imperial Family’s young rake who had shown her inexplicable favor.  

He had helped her when she was headed to the Mage Tower for the ritual……  

He was also the one who revealed the dark side of the Master of the Mage Tower.  

So many shocking events had followed that she hadn’t had a chance to meet him again.  

“Why here……?”  

Was her mother preparing something else?  

If not, what reason could there be for such a noble to visit the home of a mere middle-class woman who divorced before the current Emperor’s enthronement?  

“Madam said you should come downstairs too. So, Miss, let me change your dress and… your jewelry. Even if you’re divorced, this is Grand Duke Aeterna. You must show proper manners.”  

Maia, still puzzled, let Hailey dress her up.

* * *

“Ah, it’s been a long time. Have you been well, Lady Hansberg?”  

“……I greet His Grace Grand Duke Aeterna. And I am now just a merchant’s daughter, so please don’t address me formally.”  

Grand Duke Aeterna still boasted a dazzling appearance, standing as if he were the protagonist of the world.  

He responded to Maia’s cautious greeting with a hearty smile.  

“I told you last time, I use formal speech because I want to.”  

“……It’s an honor.”  

Ah, this was uncomfortable.  

Maia glanced at Ravina standing beside her, conveying her feelings.  

Ravina, sensing her daughter’s reluctance toward the young Grand Duke, stepped forward to lead the conversation.  

“What brings you to our humble home, Grand Duke Aeterna?”  

“Ah, you’re asking my business.”  

The Grand Duke replied with a crooked smile.  

“I’ll be direct. I came to see your daughter.”  

Silence fell.  

Maia, and even Ravina, were too shocked to respond.  

“Hahaha! No need to look at me like that. I mean it literally—no personal feelings, just something I truly wanted to discuss with your daughter. No need for special hospitality.”  

“……Your Grace. Forgive me……”  

“Don’t use ‘forgive me.’”  

Ravina’s voice, about to offer a polite refusal, was cut off.  

The young man who had been smiling broadly and using formal speech with those of much lower status was gone.  

Only the arrogant Imperial Family member remained, casting a cold gaze as if looking down on a bothersome obstacle.  

She had seen those eyes before.  

Ravina recalled old memories and pressed her lips together.  

He had been the catalyst for her tragic first love……  

‘The path you chose. Does that mean, even if regret follows that choice?’  

She worried, hoping her true identity wouldn’t be discovered, as she answered the mysterious man’s casual question.  

‘……I’ll have to endure it.’  

He had smiled with satisfaction at her distracted reply.  

‘Bold, aren’t you. You’ll become a big player in this business.’  

The middle-aged nobleman, dignified with the traces of time.  

“I understand. I’ll step aside, so please talk comfortably.”  

A man who had lost his cherished friend, whom he loved and pitied, and gone mad.  

The young Grand Duke standing before her was his grandson.  

Suppressing the strange emotions swirling inside, Ravina answered slowly.  

“Mother……”  

“But do not forget that my daughter is favored by Lord Earith.”  

Technically, it was the Master of the Mage Tower, but at Maia’s strong request to avoid further gossip, Hyperion Luar still used his subordinate’s name in public.  

“Haha, how many times must I reassure you? I have no personal feelings for your daughter. Even if I tried anything, His Majesty the Emperor would never overlook it.”  

Grand Duke Aeterna smiled deeply, making remarks that unsettled mother and daughter.