Extra 05. New Family

It still felt like I was dreaming.

Perhaps because I was suddenly meeting a face I’d thought I’d have to wait years to see again, it felt unfamiliar. But that was all that felt unfamiliar.

Despite the passage of time, Freya hadn’t changed. Every small habit, action, and expression I knew remained the same.

“This place really is exactly the same.”

Throughout our walk down the corridor, Freya slowly looked around. Her escort continued to accompany us beside her.

“It’s just as I remember.”

Then she pointed out what had been in the positions she remembered, and that they were still there now.

“I can’t say everything is the same—one place changed. I’ll show you.”

I told Chloe to bring tea to my room first, then told Freya to follow me.

Then I led her to a place full of paintings containing images of the ducal family members. There hung portraits of the family head and paintings with family members, and a new painting hung at the far right end.

“Your whole family is here.”

Freya slowly appreciated the paintings, then stopped before the painting where our entire family was gathered.

“Dylan got married.”

“Yes. They suit each other well, don’t they? We all gathered when we had time and had this painted.”

The painting in the large frame included the three father and sons, as well as Dahlia and me.

It was painted about a year ago, and though it was difficult standing still, whenever I see the result, my heart feels warm.

“I think a new painting will be added next to this one soon.”

Freya’s gaze moved from the space where another painting could be hung to me.

“We’re getting another one painted next year.”

Even though I’d told Freya directly, those words about a new family still didn’t feel real. In fact, I still couldn’t quite believe that next year I’d be living with a new family member.

It still felt distant.

“Another one?”

Freya made a puzzled expression.

“……Actually, there’s something I’ve been keeping secret because I wanted to tell you in person when we met.”

Thinking there was no longer any need to hide it, I confessed honestly.

“Theo and I have a new family member. So they’re due to be born when winter comes.”

Freya’s gaze went to my belly, then back to my face.

“Oh my, then……!”

With those words, Freya approached me with a bright expression and hugged me tightly.

“Congratulations, Isabel!”

“Thank you, Freya.”

Those words that had been joyful no matter how many times I heard them were good to hear once more.

We finished our embrace and returned to my room. There, tea for us was waiting.

“Come here and sit with us.”

I’d deliberately requested three cups of tea, and it bothered me to have him keep standing there, so I suggested he join us.

‘When I first saw him, I felt it then too, but he really is tall.’

As the man gave a small nod and walked from the door toward where we were already seated, the closer he got, the more I realized he was slightly taller than Theodore.

“I think I told you who he was before, but since this is still the first time you’re meeting directly, I’ll introduce you, Isabel.”

Freya kindly explained once the tall man took his seat.

“This is Isabel, a precious friend I’ve known since before I left on my travels, and this is……”

Freya’s gaze turned toward the man as her words trailed off.

“His name is ‘Noah.’ I gave it to him.”

That was something I hadn’t heard about in her letters.

“At first, I felt traveling alone as a woman was dangerous and that I needed an escort. Even when we met by chance, I only intended to ask him to be my guard.”

Since she was speaking entirely in past tense, I wondered if things were different now.

“Now I don’t think of him as simply an escort. To me, he’s like family now.”

She added that she didn’t feel about him the way she did about friends.

I sensed their relationship might be something other than family, but I didn’t ask. I figured someday when their relationship became clear, they’d tell me then.

“You said your name is Noah? Please take care of me from now on.”

Once the introductions ended, thinking we might meet often going forward, I greeted him first.

“Please take care of me as well.”

A pleasant, beautiful voice answered back.

“Freya, how have you been all this time?”

I took a sip of tea that had cooled to a pleasant temperature and asked her to tell me what had happened besides what she’d written in her letters.

“Many things happened. I met many people, I traveled between many countries.”

Freya answered my question without hesitation.

“Don’t be so vague—tell me in more detail. I can’t travel because of this, you know.”

After glancing once at my somewhat swollen belly, Freya slowly began to tell her stories.

She told me trivial stories—about people who had traveled to the same country at the same time, about encountering a sandstorm when she went to the desert, things like that.

“……So now that my travels are over, I’m planning to settle down in the Empire with Noah from now on.”

Since the purpose of this journey had been to travel freely before seeing the family collapse, she must have achieved that goal.

“There are still countries I haven’t visited, but I’m satisfied with this much. If a time comes when I feel it’s not enough, I can just travel again then, so there’s no problem.”

Freya’s face showed no regret or disappointment.

“Have you decided where to live?”

She said she was settling in the Empire, but I didn’t know if she had a place to return to right away.

“We’re actually on our way back from looking at a new place to live. I’m not planning to live in the capital—I want to live quietly in a small village.”

She said she’d separately disposed of the personal villa she’d owned before.

‘That place wouldn’t hold only good memories for her.’

I could vaguely understand.

The personal villa Freya mentioned was also the place where we’d all been tormented by the evil god, so even returning to the Empire after so long, she probably wouldn’t want to stop by there.

“Are you done with questions?”

“Yeah. I’m happy you came back safely.”

“Then what about you, Isabel? How have you been?”

This time Freya poured out questions.

I listened to them all and told her everything one by one in order.

※※※

Freya stayed at the residence for a week after that before leaving.

And then I heard from Chloe exactly which country the prophecy was known in, and sent it in a letter.

<You said you might travel again someday, right? You may have already been to that country, but just in case it’s a country you haven’t visited, I wanted to tell you. They say an old prophecy has been passed down in that country.>

Since Freya had come to care for Noah, I sent the letter hoping he wouldn’t get hurt. Since who knows what might happen to him in that country.

<You could face absurd misunderstandings just for having similar conditions because of that old prophecy. It’s better to prevent it if you can. I think it’s better if such things don’t happen.>

I sent the letter with those feelings pressed firmly into it.

<Thank you for telling me, Isabel. Are you taking good care of yourself? I’m doing well here. I’ll visit again sometime after your child is born.>

In her reply, Freya honestly revealed that she had never visited that country and had no plans to visit in the future.

<P.S.: You might feel it’s smaller than your residence, but you’re welcome to visit my house anytime. I’ll be waiting.>

At the end, she invited me to her house.

With my belly quite swollen, I acted coquettishly toward Theo in every way possible and was able to visit in autumn.

※※※

Time passed, and on a certain winter day, along with pure white snow, a new life was born.

Both the child and I were healthy.

“So small.”

After the child was born, the last person to visit the room was Dylan, and those were his only words.

Dylan quickly shifted his gaze, staring blankly at the baby who had just barely opened their eyes.

“You washed your hands on the way, right?”

Watching this, Theodore approached as if to stop Dylan before he could get closer to me.

“I washed. From head to toe, so clean there’s not a speck of dust.”

I watched the scene with a smile while holding the baby on the bed.

“The eyes resemble yours, sis. Everything else takes after my brother.”

Only after Theodore’s confirmation did Dylan approach my side and look at the small baby.

Then he said the eyes, the features, the hair color—everything resembled Theodore.

“He looks too much like my son.”

For reference, Dylan’s reaction could be said to be exactly like Duke Everett’s.

“Did you decide on a name?”

Theodore was the first to respond to Dylan’s question.

“If it was a girl, I thought names like ‘Giselle’ or ‘Floriya’ would suit her well, but I still felt ‘Liliana’ would be better and decided on that.”

“But that name became useless now. Since it’s not a girl but a boy, the name we set just in case became more helpful.”

I smiled softly and turned my head toward Dylan again.

“The child’s name is Johannes. The nickname is Johan.”

A child with blue eyes resembling me and silver hair resembling Theodore—a child who resembled Theodore more than me—would be called by that name and loved by everyone.

‘Even though he’s the child I bore, he’s a child I can’t help but love.’

I tamed the strongest male lead’s older brother too well, fell in love with Theodore, and bore a child between us—there’s no way I could hate him.

I’ll love him overflowingly for a lifetime and live together with him.

For a long, long time. Forever.

<What Happens When You Tame the Strongest Male Lead’s Brother Too Well Side Story THE END>