Side Story 7

……What kind of situation is this?

While she stood there bewildered, her father smiled brightly at her.

He looked exactly like the father she had missed. Reibella took a step toward him as if entranced.

As her father’s smile deepened…

‘Dad!’

There was a little child rushing past her.

A girl with hair exactly like her father’s—Reibella Felicity—it was her.

Her younger self approached her father with a bright expression and nestled into his broad embrace. Her father lifted her up with a delighted face and looked at her with eyes dripping with honey.

‘My daughter. My beloved daughter. You’re still chubby today.’

‘Dad, being chubby isn’t cute.’

‘……Who says that?’

‘Levi does.’

At his young daughter’s words, her father, Uriah, was struggling to find an excuse when a familiar voice reached her ears.

‘Darling, you should stop using words our daughter hates.’

It was her mother, Diana.

Diana approached with an elegant smile, kissed Uriah on the cheek, and showered the same affection on her daughter’s cheek.

‘Rel. Others might not understand, but Dad says those things because I find you cute. Your father is a daughter-obsessed fool who brags about his daughter even in front of His Highness the crown prince.’

‘So Levi is wrong?’

‘Well……’

‘He’s wrong.’

Uriah interrupted Diana’s answer with a grin.

The scene of Diana looking incredulous, Uriah being shameless, and the little girl tilting her head in confusion was visibly harmonious.

It was so lovely that her eyes reddened.

If possible, she wanted to stay in this scene forever.

But she knew that wasn’t possible.

She was well aware that this place was merely a fragment of memory created by the spirit.

‘I love you, my daughter. You know Dad’s heart, right?’

At the affectionate voice, tears welled up uncontrollably.

Back then, she believed that love and affection would last forever, so she didn’t realize how special and precious time with family was.

Because she thought her father and mother would always be by her side, she often ignored their words and sometimes even resented them.

……She shouldn’t have done that.

She should have realized that everything in the world has an end, that after meeting comes parting, and cherished every word deeply.

Why is it that we only realize how precious the present is after it has passed?

‘I want to become a wonderful lord like Dad and scold Levi.’

‘Our daughter will be able to become an even more wonderful lord than Dad.’

“……Can I really do well?”

Hearing her father’s voice without a trace of doubt, Reibella lowered her head and murmured quietly.

That’s when it happened.

‘Certainly, you can.’

As if answering her voice, her father’s voice reached her.

Surprised, she raised her head, and her father was smiling brightly at her.

‘Dad is always by your side.’

And at that moment, the world collapsed as if shattering. Reibella urgently reached out to touch her father, but the scattering light slipped through her fingers. The light that escaped through the gaps in her hands burst into beautiful colors and disappeared without a trace.

When she looked up, the scene that had been visible just moments ago had completely vanished, and the ruins left scarred by the fire filled her eyes.

“……”

Overwhelmed by a sudden feeling of emptiness, Reibella collapsed to the ground.

The breeze that had felt refreshing just moments ago now felt bitingly cold against her skin. The world that had seemed peaceful in its quietness now felt frighteningly silent.

At that moment.

A familiar scent drifted to her nose on the wind. The moment she recognized him, a large coat was draped over her shoulders.

As she was about to look up at the shoes that appeared before her, the owner of the coat lowered himself to meet her gaze.

It was her lover, with eyes more beautiful than the finest red diamonds.

Upon seeing him, Reibella immediately rushed into his embrace.

And in his warm embrace, she cried for a long time.

Until her tears dried up and would flow no more, for a very long time.

* * *

“Miss, it’s morning.”

When she opened her eyes to Charlotte’s kind yet firm voice, the light pouring through the curtains greeted her first.

As Reibella squirmed with her eyes half-closed against the *ssault of the morning sunlight, Charlotte continued firmly.

“Breakfast and a walk, Miss.”

“Just a little longer……”

No, wait, before that.

“Where’s Calyx?”

“His Grace the Grand Duke returned before dawn.”

“I see.”

The note Charlotte handed her contained a brief greeting from Calyx.

Calyx, who had appeared suddenly last night, said he had stopped by briefly out of concern for her being alone in the territory.

Even though it wasn’t an easy distance to travel, even with a warp gate.

In her emotional state after seeing the vision of her parents, she hadn’t properly thanked him or said goodbye.

‘Next time, I should visit him.’

Since it would be a while before she had the leisure to do so, she thought she should at least write him a letter, but Charlotte’s busy hands were quicker.

Reibella was instantly groomed to a neat appearance.

“I’ll eat in the office. Something simple……”

“Ah, no. Today it would be better if you ate in the dining room.”

“……Huh?”

“The chef has made extensive preparations. I would really like you to eat in the dining room, Miss.”

Faced with Charlotte’s determined expression and wide eyes—something she couldn’t recall seeing before—Reibella found herself nodding and agreeing.

For someone who could catch a flying bee with the edge of her hand, I should naturally listen to her.

Smiling slightly, she left the bedroom and saw servants busily maintaining the castle, just like yesterday. Realizing that the scenery she had seen yesterday was merely an illusion, Reibella took a deep breath and tried to hide her bitter feelings.

And when she entered the dining room…

“Rel!”

With a loud voice, Royan embraced her tightly.

Royan was as usual… Wait?

……Royan?

“Brother?”

They had definitely parted ways in the capital yesterday, so how was he here?

Looking at him with a puzzled expression, Royan smiled as brightly as sunshine.

“Of course I came because I missed my sister! I told you, didn’t I? That I’d commute from here.”

“No, that doesn’t make any sense……”

“Even if not every day, let’s all gather for a meal at least once a week.”

Raising her head at the reassuring voice that followed, this time she saw Cassius. Both of them seemed to have come out of concern for her.

It had only been one day, but why was everyone being so excessive?

But she too was an excessive Vicheravali. Even though less than a day had passed, she missed her family as much as if they had been separated for 10 years.

Reibella embraced both Royan and Cassius.

“……I was lonely.”

She had tried not to sound weak, but the words naturally slipped out. Cassius patted her head comfortingly.

“I know.”

“See? Isn’t it better to have your brother around?”

“……That’s not it.”

“How decisive, my sister.”

“You have your own work to do, brother.”

“So if I didn’t have work, you’d want me here?”

“Well…… of course.”

Royan chuckled at Reibella’s honest answer. Cassius also smiled as he looked down at her and continued.

“So from now on, let’s set a time to meet. Living so far apart, we might forget each other’s faces.”

“I’d like that, Father.”

Royan nodded enthusiastically at Cassius’s words. Then Reibella answered as well.

“I’d like that. But next time, I’ll come to you.”

“Then next time, we’ll see you at Vicheravali Castle. Everyone is waiting for you to come.”

Thinking of her home where she had spent her days from morning until night until recently, she felt warmth in her heart.

At the same time, Reibella made a resolution.

To make this place like that too.

To make it a place overflowing with happiness, as it was when her father and mother were here, and to bring joy to everyone who visits.

Now she felt confident that she could do it well.

‘Certainly, you can.’

Because her father had told her so.

Today, tomorrow, and in the future, she would be able to stay strong.

* * *

In the grand cathedral filled with countless people, at the end of the long red royal road, the new sun that the empire’s people had been waiting for finally rose.