Let’s Just Make a Child, Your Grace - Chapter 8 Part 4

“I can’t force you to come with me if you don’t want to.”

Cedric wavered. Arne didn’t miss that opening.

“Won’t you help me? I won’t cause any more trouble in the future. Although I never wanted to cause trouble in the first place.”

“You want to go that badly?”

“Yes!”

Arne’s eyes sparkled. Her clear gaze, full of desire, didn’t leave Cedric, desperately hoping he would nod.

Aside from the engagement, Arne had never asked for anything so earnestly. And considering she said she would go alone to that dangerous mountain if he didn’t go, Cedric let out a deep sigh. This woman was more than capable of doing just that.

“Let’s go.”

“Thank you! Should I go buy boots now?”

Arne’s face immediately brightened. Seeing that, Cedric could only chuckle.

“No. Come here.”

Cedric took Arne’s hand and headed towards a less crowded place.

“Is this the right way?”

“No.”

Arne was at a loss for words at his brazen and confident answer.

“I’m going to carry you and run from now on. Hold on tight.”

“Didn’t you say it was a rugged mountain earlier? You’re going to carry me?”

“I’ve run every day carrying heavier military gear than you, so don’t worry.”

Arne’s face was filled with shock. Just as she was thinking that a knight couldn’t possibly do this, Cedric leaped up. As aura gathered at his fingertips, his speed increased rather than decreased even while carrying Arne.

As Arne squirmed due to her arms getting numb from being held in the same position, Cedric slowed down and chuckled.

“Tired?”

Cedric was the one running, so Arne couldn’t say she was tired just from being carried. Moreover, unlike Cedric whose breathing hadn’t even changed, Arne was out of breath from being so tense.

And as it rapidly darkened after sunset, her vision narrowed, leaving her with nothing to rely on but holding tightly onto Cedric.

The corners of Cedric’s mouth slid upwards.

“You’re weak.”

“Weak? Most people would be weak compared to you! I’m the normal one here!”

As Arne protested indignantly, Cedric gazed at her intently and kissed her forehead. Elemental mana swirled around. Suddenly, white light of mana flared up in the night sky that had already darkened.

“Feel better?”

The low voice resonating right above her head tickled her forehead again. With a faint laugh, his footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

“We’re here.”

At his words, Arne turned her head and couldn’t close her mouth. The stream cutting through the pitch-black night sparkled in the moonlight. Countless green lights rose, embroidering the silver waves.

Fireflies, waiting all year to become adults, fly around emitting light for only about ten days to find a mate. After laying eggs, they die in a few days, and since the Great Demonic Beast War, perhaps due to the land being contaminated with demonic energy, it’s now a rare sight.

That’s why people in the Empire say that if you make a wish while watching fireflies, your wish will come true.

On the other hand, in other countries, they believed that if you pray while watching the light of fireflies, the fireflies that have completed their life cycle will convey messages to the deceased.

So memorial services to comfort the souls of the deceased were often held together. It was a ritual of floating lanterns called yeonra lanterns on water.

‘I managed to get them with difficulty last night.’

Arne, who had thoroughly searched historical books the previous night, discovered something interesting. Many of Renigrad’s heirs or companions met their deaths around the full moon.

‘The full moon, the next day is Judith’s death anniversary, and a few days later is the day Ramona died.’

Arne slowly took out a yeonra lantern from her bag. Cedric’s pupils shook as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

“It’s today, right?”

“How did you… Do you know what that is?”

“It’s a yeonra lantern. It’s used in memorial services in Cresebat, the country of Dark Elves. To comfort the souls of the deceased.”

“Didn’t you come to make a wish?”

“I’ll make a wish too. Because I’m greedy.”

Arne held out the yeonra lantern to Cedric.

“The Duke and Duchess treat me like an unwanted child, and I’ve never met the person who gave birth to me, but sometimes I miss those people I don’t even know the faces of. Since she was someone who blessed your forehead before bed, I thought you might miss her even more.”

“……”

Arne took out another yeonra lantern from her bag.

“I have one for myself too.”

Her voice was slightly trembling and moist. Cedric thought it might be for her parents. Since Arne was a war orphan, it wouldn’t be strange if her parents had died during the war.

“The inside of the yeonra lantern is coated with elemental powder, so when elemental mana flows in, it burns with light. I practiced all night yesterday and succeeded with one, but it’s not working well now.”

Arne closed her eyes, holding the yeonra lantern. She concentrated and tried to flow mana, but it still didn’t light up. Watching this intently, Cedric embraced her from behind and overlapped his hands on top of hers. In an instant, mana rose and light appeared. Cedric’s breath brushed Arne’s nape. His low voice resonated.

“When I was young, I couldn’t do it well either, so my mother helped me like this. To light a yeonra lantern, you need to raise a lot of mana at once.”

His low voice resonating in her ear got even lower. Arne slowly exhaled.

‘So Princess Ramona really was his mother.’

Princess Ramona, who had suddenly disappeared during the war, was caught by the Imperial people before leaving the Renigrad territory and was stoned to death.

It was around the time when Cedric came to live in the Grand Duke’s castle at about 10 years old. Probably around the time when Serina and Ramona’s Arin disease worsened.

Ramona, who was stoned to death, was strangely different from her original appearance, with snow-white silver hair, red eyes, and skin as cold and transparent as snow.

Grandma Theresa once said that because only the herbs in the Grand Duke’s herb garden had a slight effect on Serina’s condition, Cedric had no choice but to follow the Grand Duke’s words.

‘Isn’t it too heavy a burden for a 10-year-old child to bear not only his mother’s death but also the life of his sick younger sister?’

10 years old. If Vivian’s regression is true, it would be around her age. Arne’s lips pressed tightly.

Cedric, who had been fiddling with Arne’s yeonra lantern, let go of her hand. Arne slowly floated the lantern on the stream.

Watching the floating lantern, she closed her eyes and clasped her hands. It hadn’t even been a year since her daughter died. When she closed her eyes, that day at the grand ducal castle was still vivid, causing her to toss and turn in bed for several nights.

‘I’m sorry. I should have protected you.’

Arne’s eyes turned red. She deliberately looked up at the night sky. She felt that if she cried now, she would sink into the overflowing emotions and never be able to escape. There was no luxury to cry yet.

She barely managed to lift her trembling lips. She intentionally thought of good things. Clear sky, refreshing wind, chipmunks and rabbits.

「Mom’s eyes are red. Like a snow rabbit.」

Arne’s lips dropped. A trembling breath escaped through her tightly closed lips. Arne frowned and squeezed her eyes shut.

After taking a deep breath like that, Arne turned to Cedric and smiled brightly.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to float the lantern.”

“……”

Cedric, who had been staring at Arne, lit the yeonra lantern in his hand in one breath. The lantern emitting white light floated away over the shimmering waves, through the green haze.

It was the first time he had floated one since his mother passed away. At a time when the war had not ended, it was impossible to reveal that the princess of the enemy country was his mother, let alone float such a lantern for such a princess.

“Did you see her last moments?”

“I did.”

Arne’s eyes trembled.

‘You saw Princess Ramona die from the stones thrown by the Imperial people?’

Cedric gazed at the lantern floating endlessly away. His gaze was distant.

“Fortunately, Serena didn’t see it. Just me and father.”

Arne’s lips quivered. She wanted to find words of comfort but didn’t know what would be appropriate.

“If she could see you now, Lord Cedric, she would probably be proud.”

“You think so?”

“Maybe she would say something like this: Thank you for growing up well.”

“……”

“I love you, Cedric.”

Cedric’s brow furrowed. As if his time had stopped at that moment, when he was 10 years old, in the hot sunlight of this time of year.

Cedric’s expression crumbled. Arne thought his face looked so sad that she unconsciously reached out. As she hugged his waist, his upper body collapsed. Cedric’s fingertips clenched into a fist just before touching Arne’s back.