I was curious, but she didn’t seem inclined to answer. I watched Lady Eleanor leisurely turning pages and fidgeted with my lips under the blanket for no reason.

‘Is this what it would feel like to have a mother?’

I don’t really know, but maybe she would treat me like this. Singing lullabies and staying by my side until I fell asleep.

‘It’s a strange feeling.’

At the temple, nobody cared whether I slept or not. The people at the imperial palace seem to take an interest in me as a person, so at times like this I don’t know what expression I should make.

After fidgeting for a while, I suddenly remembered that Lady Eleanor also had a child and opened my mouth.

“But who’s watching your son?”

“……When are you going to sleep?”

“I’ll sleep if you answer. If you answer.”

Lady Eleanor looked at me with the expression of someone watching a troublemaker. A troublemaker! This is the first time in my life I’ve gotten such an evaluation!

I pulled the blanket up to my nose and peeked out with just my eyes to gauge Lady Eleanor’s mood, and she let out a deep sigh. Then she closed her book and answered.

“A nanny is watching the child. Since I often work nights due to my job, he’s gotten used to it by now.”

“That’s a bit sad.”

A child who takes it for granted that his mother isn’t by his side.

‘I never had a mother to begin with, but that’s not the case for Lady Eleanor.’

I felt like I had stolen her nagging and warmth. After hesitating for a moment, I said to Lady Eleanor.

“Couldn’t you bring your child to the imperial palace too?”

“Pardon?”

Lady Eleanor’s eyes widened as though she had heard something truly unexpected. It was an impulsive remark, but after saying it, it sounded even more reasonable.

“If he’s Lady Eleanor’s son, he’ll probably end up working at the imperial palace later anyway. It wouldn’t be bad for him to spend time at the imperial palace early on, thinking of it like career exploration. Especially on days like today, he could get scolded along with me.”

“You thought of it as scolding?”

“Hehe.”

Honestly, it was scolding, wasn’t it?

I felt like I might get smacked if I said the wrong thing, so I just smiled. Lady Eleanor, who had been staring at me quietly, asked in a gentle tone.

“Do you like children, Lady Cioranne?”

Young children. I answered honestly.

“I don’t really know.”

Of course there were children at the temple too. Many people thought that if they abandoned children at the temple, things would somehow work out. Generally twice the expected number of children were abandoned each year and made the temple their home.

But among them, the number who found their parents or could remain at the temple to become clergy was really small……

[Holy Maiden, there are people waiting for you over there.]

While I could heal physical wounds with holy power, I couldn’t fill the emptiness in their hearts, so there was nothing I could do for those children. The temple also wanted me to meet believers directly rather than deal with those children.

But looking back now, I wonder if there really was nothing I could have done for them.

‘Just watching over them until they fell asleep and reading fairy tales by their side would have made the children happy enough.’

But I couldn’t do that because I too had grown up lonely without receiving such attention. Literally because I didn’t know what this kind of affection was.

“I was full of things I didn’t know. I didn’t even know I liked cats until I met Kyle. I didn’t know freshly baked bread was so delicious. I didn’t know there was no need to try hard to be good at things I couldn’t do.”

Of course, I might be clumsy at caring for children. The children might dislike me.

But those are all things I don’t know, right?

“So if I experience children too, wouldn’t I discover that I like them?”

Lady Eleanor, who had been listening quietly to my words without responding, reddened her eyes again and said.

“……Lady Cioranne, you’re truly a good person.”

“Well, Lady Eleanor looks like a better person to me.”

Isn’t this person who sees me as such a good person the one who’s warmer and better?

After talking to that point, I waved my hand gently to see her off.

“I’m going to sleep. Don’t worry and go home quickly. And make sure to bring your son.”

Even after I said that, Lady Eleanor stubbornly stayed by my side until I fell asleep.

That day, I had a dream. It was a dream of a mother whose face I didn’t know holding me. That feeling was exactly the feeling I had always imagined. Warm, affectionate, and cozy.

I was thoughtlessly burrowing deep into that embrace when I suddenly felt puzzled.

‘Huh, this warm body temperature is familiar. This soft texture too……’

The feeling of someone I already knew holding me.

‘Kyle……?’

Having that thought, I dozed off briefly and then fell into deep sleep again.

It seemed like lips touched my eyes and then pulled away.

* * *

The next day, I was in very good condition. Except for the languid feeling, like I had slept hugging a hot water bottle filled with warm water.

[The ‘Dragon Trampler’ mutters that he won’t say anything.]

“What?”

[……]

No, if you’re going to speak, do it to the end. Why cut off so ambiguously?

Feeling frustrated, I shrugged my shoulders. Since I had rested all day yesterday, I had a lot to do today.

After eating, I surveyed the school site with Lady Eleanor in the morning. We compared the budget and various situations between creating a completely new school and adding to an existing royal school.

Then I had lunch, visited the temple, and had a fitting for my wedding dress.

After returning to the imperial palace, I sat around a desk with Noel, other advisors, and Lady Eleanor.

The topic was the public’s reaction to the emperor receiving baptism.

“How’s the reaction?”

From the moment Noel walked in with light, swaying steps, I was actually confident that things had gone well. He was the type of man who would cry and throw a tantrum if something had gone wrong.

Sure enough, hearing the advisors’ reports, the reaction was much more positive than expected.

“Of course there are people saying bad things. Some are rebelling against the very fact that the emperor is beast-folk.”

“Among beast-folk too, there are those cursing that he sold his pride for love.”

“But overall it seems like a good reaction. There are responses saying the love between the Holy Maiden and the emperor is romantic.”

I almost burst out laughing at the last comment. I just touched the tips of my ears awkwardly.

‘Romantic. I thought that was an adjective that would never be attached to me.’

The words that were always attached to me were things like this:

Noble, pure, innocent, good.

‘Not bad.’

I’m having an image makeover too.

Since Emperor Kailas had such a strong tyrant image in public, when he got involved with a gentle Holy Maiden, it seemed like a passionate love story was instantly created.

In other words, the story of a devoted woman who embraces a bad man with love?

‘Anyway, I don’t need to worry too much. If things go well, beast-folk living together with humans and marrying them might be accepted without resistance.’

Of course, there were concerning aspects too.

“Since beast-folk are so strong and agile, there will be fields where humans get pushed out, and the backlash will be fierce.”

“That’s……”

Even if we created schools, most beast-folk would probably flock to fields advantageous to them like swordsmanship, construction, and civil engineering. Naturally, humans pushed out of those fields would rebel.

‘Just look at Lucas. Humans simply can’t keep up with him.’

Even though individual prowess and tactics are different things, in situations where military recruitment focuses on prowess rather than tactics, it’s not easy to stand out.

After pondering for a moment, I sighed and answered.

“Problems that arise will have to be adjusted as they come. There’s no other way.”

Coming to the imperial palace, I realized something. I’m not God, so I can’t do everything.

‘So I’ll do what I can step by step. Asking for help when I need it.’

When I organized my thoughts and looked up, everyone was staring at me with wide eyes. Did I say something wrong? As I tilted my head and looked around, Lady Eleanor said in a tone of wonder.

“……Lady Cioranne, you’ve definitely changed. You would never have said that before.”

“Really?”

“I don’t mean it in a bad way. Before, you seemed excessively perfectionist. You look much more comfortable now.”

If I had changed, there was only one reason. I shrugged and smiled.

“I guess Kyle rubbed off on me.”