Chapter 19

“Speaking of which, I don’t like you just showing up at my house like this. I’ll gratefully accept child support, but don’t do anything more.”  

Lyle quietly swallowed a heavy sigh. Ethea sensed it. He barely managed to speak in a strained voice.  

“I…”  

“……?”  

“I had something I wanted to say to Gin, too.”  

He seemed a bit wronged. She was the one who should feel wronged, but she didn’t understand why he was like this. Still, Ethea decided to let him speak.  

“Just like Gin sent me a letter, I had things I wanted to tell him too. To thank him for accepting the gift, to say I’ll buy him more toys, that I want to take him somewhere fun and play together, and that I’ll give him a wonderful invisibility cloak soon.”

Invisibility cloak? That was random. Well, with Lyle’s best friend being a top mage, he could easily give such gifts.  

Come to think of it, did he use the cloak to secretly watch Ethea and Gin? Is that how he knew she intercepted the letter?  

Ethea eyed him suspiciously, but Lyle kept talking about what he wanted to say to Gin.  

“And… since you might have a hard time, wait until he’s grown up to do experiments.”  

The word “experiment” triggered a vivid memory for Ethea. Gin once secretly gathered alchemy materials and nearly set the house on fire.  

He must have written all sorts of things in his thank-you letter to the Emperor for the bracelet.  

“I’d like to invite him to the palace someday, too…”  

When Lyle got that far, Ethea shook her head, not wanting to hear more.  

“Stop.”  

“……”  

“I’ll pass on what you want to say to Gin, so please leave now.”  

But he didn’t budge, just stared at Ethea.  

She started to get angry. She’d already been angry, but now even more so.  

“…Lyle?”  

Oddly, Lyle looked even angrier than she was, his expression stiff.  

What was he thinking? Suddenly, he boldly stepped into the house.  

“Right. Come to think of it, there’s no need to relay my words to Gin through you, Etty.”  

“What? Where are you going?”  

“Since we’re talking about it, I’ll write it here and leave. The letter for Gin, I mean.”  

“Lyle!”  

Even though Ethea protested, he was unmoved. He looked around the house as if he’d made up his mind, found a paper and pen set. The pen set was a gift from Solei for Gin, bought along with Lily’s, and Gin hadn’t even opened it yet.  

Lyle shamelessly placed the paper and pen set on the table and sat down. He started writing the letter in earnest.  

“You really are…”

“Don’t try to stop me. It won’t work.”  

“My opinion doesn’t matter to you at all, huh?”  

“You ignored Gin’s opinion and intercepted his letter, too.”  

“Sigh.”  

Sometimes, seeing his stubbornness, it was hard to believe he was the Emperor.  

“Aren’t you busy? There must be a lot to do at the palace.”  

“I’m busy.”  

“You sure don’t look it.”  

“Even if I’m busy, I have to make time to come here.”  

“I’m not happy to see you at all…”  

“Stop talking to me. I want to focus on writing my reply.”  

When Lyle spoke seriously, Ethea felt embarrassed.  

‘Hmph.’  

Ethea pursed her lips and decided to turn away from him. It wasn’t as if she’d enjoyed talking to him until now. She had her own things to do.  

But something caught her eye and stopped her.  

“Hm?”  

The pen Lyle chose was red. On the continent, people had always disliked writing in red ink, believing it brought bad luck. Writing letters or names in red was taboo. Ethea was bothered by this, so she stopped Lyle as soon as he opened the pen’s metal cap. Lyle sighed.  

“Sigh, what now?”  

“That’s not right.”  

“What isn’t?”  

“Why write with red?”  

At her remark, Lyle looked at the pen in his hand and gave an awkward smile.  

“Oh. You’re right. Haha.”  

He put the pen back and picked another. This time, it was scarlet.  

‘Scarlet. Somehow even worse than red. Is he doing this on purpose? Is he teasing me?’  

Unable to stand it, Ethea handed him a navy pen.  

“Use this.”  

“Why?”  

“It’s Gin’s favorite color.”  

“Gin’s favorite color…”  

“Yes.”  

Lyle fiddled with the navy pen and said wistfully,  

“You’re lucky.”  

“What is?”  

“You must know so much about what Gin likes.”  

That’s because I raised him for years in your absence. If you’re upset, you shouldn’t have disappeared. 

Ethea wanted to retort.  

Lyle began writing the letter with a much more relaxed expression than before. The scratching sound of his writing was oddly addictive, and Ethea kept glancing at the paper.  

But as she watched, she noticed another problem. Lyle’s handwriting was much worse than Gin’s. His long, beautiful hands—objectively pretty and elegant—produced handwriting worse than a lightning-struck worm. Compared to his penmanship, Gin’s was masterful.  

Usually, Imperial Family children received basic education, including learning to write properly.  

‘Well, it’s pointless to think about. He was lazy no matter what he learned as a child.’  

Suddenly, Lyle stopped writing and looked up at Ethea. Golden eyes. The same gold as when he was young, but now they pierced her with a completely different feeling.  

‘Why is he smiling?’  

“My hands are pretty, but…”  

“What are you talking about?”  

“If you keep looking at me like that, my heart trembles.”  

“…!”  

“It’s been trembling since before, actually.”  

“What are you saying?”  

Ethea ignored Lyle’s strange words and turned away. Come to think of it, she’d been organizing the new furniture before Lyle arrived.  

‘Let’s finish that.’  

While cleaning, she felt Lyle’s gaze on her back. Was it just her imagination? The scratching of his pen often stopped, and whenever it did, he seemed to be watching her.  

‘I don’t like it. Ignore him. Just ignore him.’  

Ethea turned on the music box to drown out the pencil sounds and cleaned. She deliberately didn’t look at Lyle, and eventually, to avoid paying attention, she cleaned the bathroom.  

When Ethea finished cleaning and came out of the bathroom, Lyle was gone. Only the letter he’d written remained on the table. She considered opening it, but decided not to.  

For some reason, her throat felt dry. She drank water—a lot of it. After gulping it down, she put her hand to her chest and found her heart pounding wildly.  

***

It was well after dinner when Solei returned to Ethea’s house with the children. As soon as they entered, the kids started excitedly playing and talking about the new furniture.  

“Whew, those energetic kids.”  

Solei, tired from looking after the children, took the lukewarm tea Ethea offered and settled comfortably on the sofa.  

Ethea asked Solei,  

“Why are the kids so lively?”  

“They ate dinner early and slept in the carriage, both of them. By the way, the furniture looks great. The moving service must’ve been expensive. Was it moved with magic?”  

“Yes.”  

“You must’ve spent quite a bit.”  

Ethea drank the same tea as Solei and sat with her on the sofa.  

“By the way, how’s your mother?”  

“She’s fine. My brother’s joining the army this winter. He says there’s no hope for being a theater actor anymore. Mom’s really angry about it.”  

Ethea could understand why Solei’s mother was upset. Solei’s husband, Lijeil, went to the army and ended up that way, so it must have affected her.  

“I actually supported my brother. Then Mom got mad at me, saying he should get married instead of joining the army. But you need a partner to get married, right? Isn’t that true?”  

Ethea thought Solei was amazing. Losing her husband like that, sending her brother to the army wouldn’t be easy. Of course, it’s each person’s life and choice, so supporting him as a sibling was best.  

Suddenly, Solei changed the subject, as if remembering something.  

“Oh, something funny happened while Mom and I were talking about my brother’s marriage.”  

“Something funny?”  

“Yes. Lily suddenly went up to Gin and said she wants to marry him when she grows up.”  

The kids were so cute she couldn’t stand it. If it was a sweet child like Lily, Ethea would be delighted.  

Solei continued,  

“And do you know what Gin said?”  

“What did he say?”  

“He awkwardly smiled and hugged Lily tight.”  

“Ah, my son is so gentle.”  

“That’s not all.”  

“What else?”  

“As he hugged her, he said he was really sorry.”  

“Sorry? For what?”  

“He likes Lily a lot, but unfortunately, he plans to marry alchemy. So next time, she should come before alchemy and propose to him.”  

“Pfft!”  

Ethea almost spit out her tea.  

“Your son is so peculiar. Mom, my brother, and I all burst out laughing when we heard it.”  

“Hah, he really is the grandson of an alchemist.”  

“Right. Poor Lily, rejected for a proposal.”  

After talking and laughing with Solei, Ethea suddenly felt chilled.  

This wasn’t just cute. Gin’s love for alchemy should remain a childhood interest. If it went further, he might learn about his own origins.  

‘I really don’t want that.’  

Gin had to grow up normally.  

He’d already lived in poverty with his mom, without a father. If he was shocked to learn he was born differently from others—if that shock healed with warmth and care, fine, but Gin wasn’t the type to stop there. If he dug deeper into alchemy to reveal his existence, and a failed experiment made him disappear…  

It was terrifying. She’d always vaguely worried about it, but hearing Gin say that today made her scared as a mother.