My Former Lover Didn't Die And Came Back - Chapter 48

Blair left the store in time for when daycare ended. Her increased income allowed her to hire staff and leave the store.

As she waited in front of the daycare, her child came toddling out, holding the teacher’s hand. Blair called out loudly to her child.

“Alvin!”

Since Blair and her child were the only people in her family, she named her son ‘Alvin’, with the hope that he would be ‘loved’ and ‘have many friends.’

Hearing her voice, Alvin’s blue eyes sparkled as he hurried over.

“Mommy!”

Since he was short, it took him a while to run over, despite his best effort. Blair waited for him to come running before bending down to embrace him.

“My baby, did you have fun today?”

Blair stroked her son’s head while holding him in her arms. The child grew noticeably every day, making her son feel slightly unfamiliar after just a few hours of being apart. It seemed like he had grown again in the short time they were apart.

Blair looked silently at her child for a moment.

The child grew increasingly similar to his father. Except for the blue eyes that he inherited from Blair, everything else – hair color, thick eyebrows, distinct nose, and eyes – resembled his father.

“……”

What could she do? He was the only man she had ever loved.

“Shall we go home, baby?”

Blair asked, holding her young son’s hand.

“Yes!”

The child responded with a big smile.

They walked together down a pine path as the crimson sunset began to descend. Everything was different from the capital, where square stone paths were everywhere. The dirt paths through grass fields were soft enough that even if the child occasionally fell, he wouldn’t be seriously hurt, which eased her mind.

“Do you really don’t want to be carried?”

“Yes! Mommy’s hand hurts!”

The child answered bravely.

When Blair began visiting a physician due to wrist pain, the child stopped asking to be carried. Of course, there were exceptions like when he fussed at bedtime. But for the most part, the child tried his best to walk on his own.

Toddle toddle toddle.

His short legs worked hard to walk down the path, and Blair found her son’s steps endearing. She had to walk slower than when she was alone to keep pace with him.

How could a child be so mature? He’s at an age where it’s understandable even if he throws tantrums and whines all day. That’s what children are like.

But Alvin had something about him that wasn’t quite childlike – perhaps it was Cedric’s influence?

Seeing her son’s mature demeanor always pained Blair’s heart.

…Because he has no father. Because I’m raising him without a father. Maybe he became this way without even realizing it himself. Maybe he thinks he shouldn’t trouble his mom.

A while ago, she overheard the store employees telling Alvin,

「Our Alvin is the only man in the house now, so you have to grow up fast and protect Mom!」

Then Alvin, uncharacteristic for a three-year-old, looked determined and loudly replied, “Yes! I will!” as he nodded vigorously.

…How shocked she was. She had grown close friends with her employees like sisters, and she scolded them not to say such things to him again.

When she was pregnant, she sometimes felt resentment. Of course, she felt a sense of responsibility, since the child was not conceived by choice.

But when she lost her only blood relatives, her parents, and had to settle in an unfamiliar city after leaving the beloved capital, it was true that the child made her feel less lonely. The villagers, who were initially wary of the strange woman who suddenly bought a store in the city center, began to treat her well as her belly grew.

Blair looked at the back of her son walking with a toddle and thought,

‘…I wonder if the young Cedric was also a mature child.’

“…….”

Blair briefly reminisced about the time when she and he had just started dating. When you’re in love, you want to know everything about the other person. Blair wanted to know all about his past. But he did not like to talk about his childhood.

「……There’s not much to say. It was always cold and I was always hungry.」

It made sense. Cedric was an orphan, and even a brief mention of his childhood suggested it was filled with poverty and loneliness. All he had was a body twice as large as others and extraordinary strength.

He naturally became a village mercenary and occasionally repaired roofs as a side job, which was how he became involved with her.

「Do you know why I like you?」

She asked him one day,

「……Because you’re the person who has loved me the most in my life.」

He replied, his cheeks turning apple-red as he spoke.

“…….”

As Blair walked, lost in her memories, the corners of her mouth slowly turned down. Thinking of Cedric always led to the same conclusion.

“…Why didn’t he respond to my letter?”

Three years ago, Blair gave birth to Alvin after going through a difficult labor. Weakened and facing death, she endured the pain and wrote a letter. The letter contained her request for him to take care of the child if she died.

After barely giving birth to Alvin, she couldn’t leave her bed for quite some time due to her postpartum recovery. Naturally, she thought Cedric would reply in the meantime. Actually, she believed Cedric himself would knock on her door since the envelope had her home address on it.

When she finally got out of bed and saw the empty mailbox, she was shocked. A month had passed since she gave birth. The letter should have reached Cedric in the capital by then, so his lack of any contact led her to one conclusion.

…That he had abandoned her. Either he had found someone new or he had forgotten about her.

At that moment, it felt like her heart dropped to the floor. Blair was shocked by her own feelings.

She was the one who had rejected Cedric’s proposal; she had rejected him. Why did she feel this way when he didn’t respond to her letter?

Why did she think he would come to her as fast as lightning once he received her letter? Why did she take that for granted?

“Mom! Hurry up!”

Blair snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her child’s call and waved her hand. Looking up, Alvin was already far ahead of her.

“Okay, okay. Mom’s coming!”

When Blair quickly reached her son’s side, he extended his clenched hand.

“Hold my hand.”

“Ah, Alvin.”

She couldn’t help but smile with affection.

Blair walked to the store with her son’s hand in hers.

“Alvin, what do you want for dinner?”

“I like anything Mom makes.”

…That wasn’t very childlike of him.

Blair lowered her eyebrows in resignation.

“I’ll make you whatever you want to eat.”

“…Then Mr. Charles’s sausage.”

Alvin replied after a moment of thought.

“We shouldn’t eat that too often. But okay for today.”

“Wow!”

“But you have to eat vegetables too.”

The little head nodded reluctantly. Blair asked with excitement bubbling inside,

“Alvin, are you happy?”

“Yes! Alvin is happy.”

His voice returned without a moment’s delay, filled with joy. She pulled up the corners of her mouth into a smile.

She was the kind of person who found happiness in this feeling, in this moment. And she liked it when the other person didn’t hide their joy because of her.

…How pure.

Kids are amazing. How can they become so happy over just a dinner menu? How can they express happiness with their whole face, their whole body? Maybe the reason kids are so adorable is that they have no secrets? Perhaps because she was tired of men with dark insides, the adorable aspects of children struck her more profoundly?

Alvin’s lips curled up, his smile reaching his ears, his shoulders raised high, his short arms and legs fluttering… everything about him was so adorable she wanted to bite him.

“Alvin, Mommy will give you lots of love. Do you know that?”

She was satisfied with her current life. She couldn’t help but think of a man whenever she looked at her child’s face, but it had been 3 years since they last saw each other. He must have forgotten about her. Out of sight, out of mind is human nature. He must have started a new family with another woman by now.

She finally felt content with the peace she had found.

As the mother and son entered the store, the employees greeted them with smiles.

* * *

Blair originally wanted to go to South Newston, a neutral country. But Evelyn opposed it.

「South Newston is a neutral country but,」

「But what?」

「There are many people from Litunia there. It’s geographically close. There are likely many families with overlapping ancestors. Your accent makes it too obvious that you’re from Blue Port… You might face hostility.」

Evelyn recommended Little Port, one of Eleanor’s port cities near the border. That place was almost as good as being in another country from the capital Blue Port.

「As you wish, it’s far from the capital,」

「……」

「It’s still within the Eleanor Empire, so it will be less difficult for a woman alone to adapt.」

Eventually, Blair chose Little Port. It wasn’t another country but still within her homeland of Eleanor. Although it was quite far from the capital, it was practically like hiding right under its nose.

Three years had passed, but no one came looking for her. She had told the employees to pretend they didn’t know her if someone from another region came asking for her.

Her employees, Kay and Anna, were both twenty years old, so Blair treated them as her younger siblings. Both were affectionate girls. Being a single mother also made her close with other single mothers in the village. The villagers were generally warm-hearted, and she liked her life here very much.

* * *

Theodore Bresburne shielded his eyes from the glaring sun as he disembarked from the warship, the long voyage from the dark vessel being the cause.

“Where are we?”

Theo asked the colleague following him.

“Little Port. Just like the name suggests, a small village. It really hits you that we’ve come all the way in Eleanor.”

Unlike the reticent Theo, his colleague was the type to add an extra word. As they walked, Theo ruffled his short hair.

His return to the military was a recent affair, as it was for many noble scions. The reason was that the war with Litunia, which had been precariously ceased, had resumed.