Epilogue 2. To You in Your Childhood

Aristie dreamed.

In her dream, she was a little child about five or six years old.

While adults chatted in the distance, Aristie crouched in the grass picking flowers.

She wanted to try making a flower crown with her own hands, like the one her mother had made for her recently.

[Ugh, this isn’t working……]

While she struggled to weave the flowers together, almost crushing them in the process, suddenly a shadow fell over her head.

She looked up to see Khalid gazing down at her with sparkling golden eyes.

Then,

[I’ll give you this!]

With these words and a smile, he suddenly thrust out a bouquet of flowers he had been hiding behind his back. In truth, it looked just as messy as the flowers Aristie had picked.

Apparently, he had seen her trying to make a flower crown and wanted to help, so he had picked whatever flowers he could find.

[Thank you……]

Aristie mumbled with her childish pronunciation and accepted the bunch of flowers. Though she said thank you, her expression didn’t look particularly grateful.

Seeing her lukewarm response, Khalid asked with a dejected face.

[Don’t you like it?]

[No, I like it.]

[Then why don’t you show it?]

[I did…… show it?]

[……]

Khalid stood there with his lips pressed tightly together, then suddenly plopped down beside Aristie. He spoke with frustration.

[I can’t understand your feelings. Even when you say it, I can’t really feel it. Can’t you just show me like you do with your sister?]

[What, what do you mean?]

[Your feelings. If you showed me even a little of your feelings, I would show you all of mine. Much, much bigger! This—much!]

Khalid spread his arms in the air, making the biggest circle he could, then flopped backward onto the grass.

Lying there, taking in the fluffy clouds hanging in the sky, he lazily murmured.

[Nice day.]

“Pfft……”

Finding his posture somehow funny, laughter burst from Aristie’s lips.

Then she woke up to the sound of her own laughter.

‘Was that a dream……’

After briefly immersing herself in the lingering feeling of the past, Aristie slightly turned her head to check beside her. Khalid remained sound asleep, holding her tightly as usual.

Disheveled black hair. Neatly draped long eyelashes. Where in this man, who could appear so cold, did such tremendous passion hide?

She loved his warmth, which felt almost hot. Khalid had always been that way.

Now, and when they were young. Consistently, even during the long years when their relationship was awkward.

“Mmm, Aristie……”

Unconsciously sensing Aristie’s awareness, Khalid rubbed his cheek with his eyes still closed. She felt the urge to wake him and receive a more intense embrace, but Aristie decided to resist.

Today would be another busy day like yesterday. For him, and for her.

‘I wish I could continue that dream.’

Aristie closed her eyes, recalling the young prince lying sprawled on the grass. If she could meet that child again, she wanted to tell him.

That a day would surely come when she would show him all her feelings, so please don’t give up and wait. Please love her.

Hoping she could convey this message, she drifted back into deep sleep.

* * *

Right after finishing breakfast, Aristie gathered with her ladies-in-waiting. They needed to discuss the items each would contribute to the charity auction commemorating the upcoming swordsmanship tournament.

“Let’s allocate items by category so we don’t have too many duplicates.”

“What kinds of things would be good? Jewelry and dresses, and……”

“Oh! I have a pair of shoes I’ve never worn. The size was measured incorrectly.”

“Should we think about accessories we have at home? Paintings or sculptures would be nice too.”

When ‘paintings’ were mentioned, the ladies-in-waiting inadvertently recalled the painting Aristie had drawn before. The Emperor’s portrait that had sparked debate over whether it depicted a gorilla or a monster, resembling an abstract painting.

What if that painting were put up for auction?

Whew…… Someone took a deep breath, trying to hold back laughter.

She wasn’t alone. Each lady-in-waiting had to bite her lip or clench her fist to suppress her laughter.

“What items are Your Majesty the Empress considering?”

Vivian, who had barely composed herself, asked Aristie.

“I have many things to offer. Jewelry and accessories, and……”

Aristie replied while giving a slight smile to Countess Beriant.

“I’m thinking of putting up one of the wedding dresses His Majesty the Emperor gifted me.”

“Wow! Really?”

“Oh my goodness!”

The ladies-in-waiting screamed in unison.

Aristie had received a total of three wedding dresses from Khalid when they married, and she decided to offer one she hadn’t worn.

It was Countess Beriant’s idea. A very rare item, and moreover, a wedding dress personally selected by the Emperor for the Empress. Just owning it would be incredibly valuable!

Without doubt, it would be the most popular item among all the charity auction goods. Khalid had gladly agreed, so there would be no problem.

“I’m even more excited about the auction now!”

“And the swordsmanship tournament too. I wonder what wonderful scenes we’ll see, hehe.”

The ladies-in-waiting immersed themselves in the meeting, laughing like young girls. While Aristie laughed along, she secretly felt fatigued.

‘Is it because I woke up during the night? It’s not even lunchtime yet, and I’m already this tired……’

Stifling a yawn, Aristie casually raised the corners of her mouth when her eyes met Countess Beriant’s. It wouldn’t do to worry those around her before a major event.

Moreover, she had a meeting scheduled with Madam Kellerwin, who would manage the event, in the afternoon.

‘Pull yourself together, Aristie.’

Aristie encouraged herself while fighting off the drowsiness that washed over her. She wanted to ensure the success of the charity auction, which served as the eve of the swordsmanship tournament her brother would participate in.

‘I’ll be fine if I take a short nap after lunch. If I can just hold on a little longer……’

With that thought, she resolutely continued the meeting.

* * *

“What an exciting auction it was!”

“Indeed. There were many items too precious to auction off, but everyone made big decisions, hoho.”

“The highlight was definitely the Empress’s wedding dress, right?”

“No need to even ask. Truly, if I had enough funds, I would have loved to buy it!”

Thanks to everyone’s efforts, the charity auction concluded successfully. The premium item that captured all participants’ attention was, of course, the wedding dress contributed by the Empress.

Even setting aside the history of being personally selected by the Emperor, the dress itself was extraordinarily splendid and beautiful, making it well worth collecting. The price soared endlessly, to the point of embarrassing even the organizers.

After fierce competition, the winner of the bid was surprisingly Meriela of the Delaroa Duchy.

‘I heard she came to the capital to prepare for her wedding…… Surely she doesn’t intend to wear that wedding dress for her ceremony?’

Aristie wondered about Meriela’s intentions, but this wasn’t the occasion to ask.

Even if she bid on it because it was chosen by Khalid, that was entirely Meriela’s business. Even if she truly intended to wear that dress for her wedding.

Aristie simply felt satisfied that the auction event hosted by the imperial family had received positive reviews and decided to enjoy the swordsmanship tournament comfortably.

And the next day, the swordsmanship tournament in which Aiden would participate finally began.

* * *

In the Ferzen Empire, two types of tournaments are held annually: the ‘Professional Martial Tournament’ for knights and the ‘Friendly Swordsmanship Tournament’ for general nobility.

Today’s event was the latter, the swordsmanship tournament. Being a friendly competition, the atmosphere among spectators was lighter and more boisterous compared to the martial tournament.

Of course, everyone watched with bated breath once the matches began.

Aristie sat in the honored seat with an excited heart, watching the participants’ sword fights. The format involved sixteen competitors who had passed the private preliminaries facing off in pairs to determine the final winner.

“Nervous?”

Aristie shrugged at Khalid’s question.

“A little. But not in a bad way.”

“You believe in Aiden’s victory?”

“Of course. He said he would show us, didn’t he?”

“Your confidence makes me look forward to it too.”

Khalid turned his gaze forward with a pleased smile. Since their childhood days of wooden sword practice, he hadn’t had a chance to confirm Aiden’s skills.

He had only heard through Zephyros that Aiden had defeated several shadow guards.

If even the Emperor felt this way, how much more curious must the ordinary nobles be? He heard that few people had bet on Aiden in the gambling houses set up for entertainment. This was because Aiden had lived in seclusion for so long, and recently he had gone abroad, cutting off all contact.

‘I wonder if he’ll show skills impressive enough to entertain me?’

When the previous match concluded and the next participants appeared, Aristie whispered softly.

“It’s my brother.”

The nobles’ attention shifted sharply to Aiden’s appearance.

Most people still thought of Aiden as a stutterer who avoided social circles.

“The stuttering young duke has arrived.”

“Remember when the young duke stood up during the imperial wedding? Mumbling something or other. Heh heh.”

“I remember the scene, but I don’t know what he said. He stammered so much it was impossible to understand, haha.”

While some nobles mocked Aiden’s speech pattern as usual,

“Did you know the Young Duke of Yentrice could handle a sword?”

“I heard he showed divine skill at Count Chelbon’s party recently?”

“Divine skill at rolling around, perhaps? Hahaha.”

Others belittled his skills and hoped to see him humiliated.

Genuine goodwill toward Aiden remained almost invisible, obscured by hostility, mockery, dismissal, and pity.

Except for one shout.

“Lord Aiden, fighting!”

Systea, sitting in the audience, shouted at the top of her lungs, undeterred by the surrounding sneers. She showed complete disregard for others’ surprise.

“……”

Whether he heard her or not, Aiden turned toward where Systea sat. With a slight smile, he returned his head to its original position and let his sword hang down in a detached posture.

Shortly after, the match began with a signal. And soon ended.

There was nothing more to explain.

Literally, the match ended the moment it began.

“……What just happened?”

“Wh-what! It’s already over?”

“No way. Is it really over?”

The audience, who had only blinked, belatedly murmured with dumbfounded expressions. Aiden’s body seemed to shoot forward, and suddenly his opponent lay sprawled on the ground, having dropped his sword.