The High Priests who had come to Faradel withdrew without carrying out her sentence, and the Grand Temple rescinded Luise Ideana’s damnation.

The Imperial Court, unable to withstand political pressure, substituted her supposed treason with the merit of defeating both Dietrich and Gelevan.

However, the name of House Ideana was not restored.

Yet the people still called her ‘Lady Luise Ideana’, despite her lack of noble rank or estate. It was the newspapers that had given her that title, and it stuck.

And then—

“Mommy!”

A week after she had awakened, the one presence that made her world most complete returned to Faradel.

“Eve!”

Luise gathered the child running to her under the sunlight into her arms.

In just three months, the little body in her embrace felt as though it had grown. Yet the fragrance, warm and sweet enough to melt her heart, was unchanged.

Luise breathed it in deeply.

“Mommy, I missed you so much!”

Eve nuzzled her face against Luise’s shoulder with a childish pout.

Then, staring intently at her mother, she reached up to touch her hair.

“Mommy, your hair’s a different color!”

The dye had faded, returning to its original golden hue.

Eve played with the strands, fascinated, then held them up against her own hair.

“It’s the same as mine!”

Delighted that her hair now matched her mother’s, Eve rubbed them together until their locks intertwined, indistinguishable in color.

After counting strand by strand, Eve suddenly lifted her head with a thought.

“Oh, right, Mommy! I counted all the way to one hundred!”

She spread her ten fingers proudly.

Indeed, the hundred days they had promised had already passed.

“Really? You can count to one hundred?”

“Mm-hm! Daddy taught me! Watch! One, two, three…”

Eve began to count before her.

She stumbled here and there, and once or twice forgot a number until Luise gently prompted her. But in the end, Eve could truly count all the way to one hundred on her own.

“It’s true!”

Luise laughed, amazed at her clever little girl.

“Our Eve looks taller, too.”

“Uh-huh! I ate all my food without leaving anything behind!”

“Really? Should Mommy see how much our Eve has grown?”

Luise lifted Eve high into the blue sky.

Though her body was still weak from months of lying in bed, holding Eve was no burden at all.

Eve burst into peals of laughter as she rose skyward, and that laughter filled Luise’s chest to overflowing.

“But Mommy, you didn’t eat well, did you?”

“Hm? Why?”

“Mommy, you got all skinny!”

Eve pouted, staring at her mother’s thinner wrist and face.

“Were you sick, Mommy?”

Her voice was worried, and Luise smiled, shaking her head, not wanting to burden her daughter with concern.

“No. I just didn’t have an appetite because you weren’t here. I must have missed you too much.”

She pressed a kiss to her daughter’s soft cheek.

Eve’s lips curved up into a smug little grin.

“See! You don’t like it without me either!”

Scolding with the certainty of someone who already knew, Eve made Luise laugh aloud.

“Yes. From now on, Mommy will stay right by Eve’s side.”

“Mommy, you can’t get sick, okay?”

Still troubled by her mother’s thinness, Eve furrowed her brow, shook her head, and pressed again.

“No, if you do get sick, you must tell me. I’ll make you better!”

Her tiny hand balled into a determined fist.

Eve fully believed she could heal her mother with holy power. She had even learned to use it a little more in those months.

Luise smiled at the flood of love directed her way.

“All right. If Mommy gets sick, I’ll tell you. Thank you, Eve.”

That round little fist, curled tight like a chestnut, was achingly precious.

🌺⟡───⟡🌺 🌺⟡───⟡🌺

While Luise was receiving a brief examination from the physician that afternoon, Eve was playing in the garden, where the first flower buds had just begun to bloom.

Skipping from corner to corner, she spotted a pretty dandelion pushing its way up between the stones. She carefully plucked it and held it close, humming as she admired its yellow hue, as bright as the lemons her mother loved.

Suddenly, Eve caught sight of a tall man standing a little way off.

“Bad Uncle!”

Overjoyed at the familiar face, Eve clutched the dandelion and ran straight toward him.

Shed stiffened in surprise at the child rushing toward him.

He had only meant to watch from afar, never expecting her to come running like this.

Eve stopped short right in front of him, her eyes sparkling.

“Hello, Bad Uncle!”

Unaware of his bewilderment, the little girl looked up at him and greeted him earnestly.

Sunlight spilled over her radiant smile.

She gazed down at Eve, who greeted him so cheerfully despite his long absence.

She seemed a little taller than before, but was still small. Her eyes still shone with the same bright curiosity.

So very much alike.

The face he loved.

“…It’s been a while, Eve.”

The syllables of her name felt strangely unfamiliar as he said them today.

Daughter. The child born to him and Luise. The child who carried his blood.

“It’s been a while for Bad Uncle too!”

Bad. Was he still that to her? Still the man she called an bad uncle?

Was she afraid of him? Afraid to come too close?

Lost in thought, Shed finally spoke.

“…Do you really have to call me Bad Uncle?”

“Then what should I call you?”

“……”

‘Daddy.’

That word existed—between you and me.

He pictured those two syllables leaving her small mouth.

“Doesn’t “bad” sound like a negative word?”

He could not yet bring himself to ask her to call him ‘Daddy’. But at the very least, not ‘bad uncle’.

“But I know you’re a good uncle. You protected my mommy, didn’t you?”

Eve tilted her chin up, gazing at him with serious eyes.

Protected?

“People said so. That when Mommy was sick, you were there for her.”

At her words, Shed’s brow furrowed.

‘She knows Luise collapsed?’

Luise had never wanted her daughter to know she had been ill.

Eclace would never have gossiped about such things to a child—if anything, he would have hidden it carefully.

Yet Eve already knew.

‘Then perhaps… she overheard the servants talking?’

Not realizing how sharp the child’s ears were, someone must have let something slip. With rumors about him and Luise spreading, tongues had grown loose.

‘I’ll have to remind them again.’

Just then, Eve bent low, so far her forehead nearly brushed the ground.

“Thank you for protecting my mommy, Uncle!”

Her small body folded neatly in half was so endearing that Shed’s lips curved in a faint smile.

“There’s no need to thank me. I only did what I had to.”

“Of course?”

“Yes. I always will.”

Shed ruffled Eve’s soft golden hair with a brief touch.

The girl studied the faint smile at the corner of his lips.

“Do you like my mommy too, Uncle?”

“…What?”

A question he had never expected.

“Do you want to be Mommy’s daddy too?”

The innocent barrage was one of the most disarming attacks he had ever faced.

He had no idea why she would ask something like that, but the truth was…

“Eve.”

Then, a gentle voice cut between them.

The child turned her head toward the garden gate.

“Daddy!”

A bright smile lit the face so like Luise’s.

Following Eve’s gaze, Shed’s eyes shifted as well.

There, as always impeccably dressed, stood a man.

Unable to answer the child’s question, Shed closed his mouth.

Eve, forgetting her earlier words in her excitement, ran to Eclace.

Her small body wrapped tightly around his leg.

The sight pierced Shed like a thorn, sharp and stinging.

Eclace welcomed her with a warm smile before lifting his gaze to Shed.

“It has been a while, Duke Lester.”

He straightened his attire with precise elegance as he spoke.

Shed’s eyes dropped briefly to the small hand clutching Eclace’s leg before pulling away.

“…You’re late.”

“Many came to see me as soon as I arrived in Faradel. As you know, I have been rather busy lately.”

Eclace’s eyes curved with practiced warmth.

Shed thought of the articles in the papers.

No doubt Eclace had been meeting with Vitel’s birds in Faradel. And there would have been business matters too—rebuilding after the dragon’s attack, work that could not be managed while bringing a child along.

He had likely sent Eve to the estate first and gone alone.

“You’ve done much these past days.”

Shed still did not like him.

Yet for the matter of Luise’s articles, he was grateful.

If Eclace had not stepped forward so boldly, he might truly have raised his sword against both Crown and Temple to protect her.

“I should be the one thanking you.”

Eclace, for his part, did not like Shed either.

But he understood.

‘So, you openly fed the Vitel birds.’

From the streams of intelligence brought by the birds he had placed in Faradel, the detailed reports had been clear.

Shed Lester had deliberately let information slip.

It had given Eclace the leverage to dominate the battle of public opinion, though he could not help a faint irritation at the fact.

After all, Shed seemed to know nearly everything about the Vitel birds.

‘So he has been letting them fly free all this time…’

He had thought the wolf careless in such matters, but he was more insidious than expected.

“I’ve instructed my men already. Rest as long as you need.”

With those curt words of welcome to a guest in his estate, Shed turned his eyes away from Eve and Eclace.

The young Viscount stood silently, watching Shed’s retreating back.