Side Story 3. First Meeting (2)

Aster looked bewildered by the sudden offer.

“Huh?”

He stammered, giving a confused response. Camilla confidently straightened her shoulders and said,

“Whenever you have nowhere to go, let’s meet here. But you have to go back before sunset. How about that?”

Aster bit his lower lip at her bright and cheerful suggestion. Looking back, he was closer to being abandoned.

Around that time, Paris had lured him outside the castle and left him.

A strange place. Strange people.

At that time, Aster must have been terrified of becoming an orphan. Although his life was almost like that of an orphan, still.

The fear of having no one to rely on must have been close to terror for a child. There was little a child could do alone.

So Aster had no choice but to wait. Sitting in a visible corner, hoping an adult would come to take him back, it was fortunate that she found him.

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

Stay with me until sunset.

Thinking that, Aster accepted Camilla’s offer.

* * *

“What’s the fun story you’re telling?”

Just then, Aster, who had returned from work, took off his hat and kissed Camilla’s cheek. It seemed he had come straight to where they were after work.

He then lifted Raphael, who was clinging to her neck, and kissed his cheek.

“Dad! Welcome back!”

Raphael laughed and kissed his father’s cheek in return. Seeing the usual affectionate scene, Camilla continued,

“I was telling Raphael about our childhood.”

“Suddenly?”

“He heard from the people at the Magic Tower about our political marriage.”

“They should watch their mouths.”

Aster frowned slightly but quickly composed himself before Raphael could see. Raphael said,

“Dad, Mom said she fell in love with you at first sight.”

“Raphie!”

Camilla raised her voice in surprise, causing Aster’s eyes to sparkle.

“Really?”

“Yes! She said she fell in love with you at first sight because you were as cute as a snow rabbit.”

“Is that so.”

Aster’s eyes gleamed curiously, just like Raphael’s when he was curious.

Feeling embarrassed, Camilla fanned herself with her hand and said,

“Well, anyway, I was trying to tell you that Mom and Dad knew each other before the political marriage.”

“Then, did you and Dad know each other’s families and were okay with it? I heard the two families were really, really bad with each other.”

Raphael’s question made Camilla curious as well. She didn’t know exactly when Aster found out about her identity.

It must have been around a month after they got to know each other.

She did badmouth Blanche a lot in front of him. She assumed he must have figured it out then.

Thinking back, Aster had been hiding the fact that he was from Blanche from her. He even left out his last name when introducing himself.

Realizing the oddity, Camilla blinked.

“By the way, Aster, when did you find out I was from Francis?”

At her question, Aster, who was wiping Raphael’s drool, flinched.

After a moment, he said,

“Actually, that wasn’t the first time we met.”

“It wasn’t?”

Camilla looked bewildered, hearing this for the first time. Raphael also blinked in surprise.

With everyone’s attention on him, Aster spoke.

“I first met you at the Blanche castle a long time ago.”

* * *

Ten years ago. After finishing mopping the floor, Aster was warming his cold hands with his breath. Since entering the Blanche castle, he hadn’t had a single day of peace.

His biological father, the Duke of Blanche, treated him like he didn’t exist. So, it was only natural that even the maids subtly tormented and used him.

There was no one to rely on in the Blanche castle.

The Duchess of Blanche always had a disapproving look on her face. Paris, who hid behind his mother’s skirt and tried to suppress him. And even Helen, who was kind only when she felt like it and hysterical when she didn’t.

There wasn’t a single decent person in this house. Knowing this, he couldn’t run away because he had nowhere to go.

At just 14 years old, surviving in the harsh world alone was nearly impossible. So he had to endure until he was 19 and could enlist in the army.

At this time, Aster was like a young lion forced into a survival fight.

Just after barely warming his hands, he heard a conversation.

“The Duke and Duchess of Francis and their daughter are coming, right?”

“His Majesty ordered it. That’s why the mistress is so obsessed with cleaning. She probably wants to show off to Francis.”

“Only the innocent servants will suffer. Ugh!”

Francis?

Aster tilted his head at the familiar family name and then suddenly remembered.

The family that the Duke of Blanche always cursed was Francis.

In fact, most of the Blanche family members often cursed Francis. Even the servants hated Francis because of it.

But Aster was closer to hating the Blanche family. So, the enemy of his enemy was practically his ally.

The Duke of Blanche secretly envied the Duke of Francis. Because of this, Helen was always compared to the young lady of Francis and scolded.

The ally he thought he’d never meet in his life was coming to the Blanche castle.

Aster became curious about the existence of Francis, who made the Blanche family so insecure.

So, he decided to sneak into their banquet.

* * *

Aster hid in a cabinet. At the time, he was so underfed that his small frame fit easily.

Peeking through a small gap, he waited for them to arrive.

A man with sharp features and black hair and blue eyes entered the banquet hall with a woman with pink hair and their daughter.

Aster’s breath caught when he saw Camilla Francis, the girl he had always silently cheered for.

She was a beautiful girl with pink hair like her mother and blue eyes like her father. Her confident expression and radiant smile, obviously loved, were warmer than the spring sun.

The three of them were very harmonious. Unlike the Blanche couple, who were full of pretense, the Francis family genuinely cared for each other. Aster felt a pang in his chest.

The only person who had ever loved him—his mother, was gone. Now, there was no one left in his life who would love him.

Instead, there were only a stepmother and her children who hated and wanted to get rid of him, and an indifferent father.

Perhaps that’s why he was so envious of the Francis family. The gap between them and him was so vast that Aster regretted sneaking in that day.

It was the first time he truly understood what it meant to feel shabby.

* * *

Not long after, something happened to Aster.

“Hey, get up. There’s somewhere you need to go.”

Paris suddenly showed up and shoved him into a carriage. Not knowing where he was being taken, Aster found himself in an unfamiliar street.

His heart sank. Although he had always been cautious for such situations, facing it in reality was heavy.

“Wait here quietly. You can run away if you want.”

Paris sneered and disappeared with the carriage.

That’s when Aster realized he had been abandoned. He didn’t know who ordered it.

It could have been his stepmother or Paris himself. What he was sure of was that if he couldn’t find his way back to the Blanche castle, he would become an orphan.

The Duke of Blanche wouldn’t notice his absence immediately. Even if he did, it would be too late.

So Aster had to protect himself. But he couldn’t bring himself to leave.

It wasn’t because he didn’t know the way. He just wasn’t sure he wouldn’t be abandoned again if he returned.

Should I just leave?

If I leave, where to?

* * *