Chapter 34

Erhan then left on a large civilian ship with the Duke of Casseus flag. I still feel anxious even though there were countless attendants, knights, and high-quality items from all different empires.

I only raised him for less than half a year, but there was an affection that was already attached to Erhan, so when the ship left, I didn’t realize that tears would pop up in my eyes.

‘19 years old… He will come back only after he reaches adulthood.’

I sighed looking at the little back. Now we won’t be able to see each other until then.

‘I’ll try to grow much taller than you and make my body stronger, and since I’m in the middle of puberty, my voice will most probably become cool just like you want…’

He didn’t have to do everything I wanted, but he promised to try to grow according to my preference as much as possible, and it somehow made me feel sad.

Still, his body is going to recover, he will be way better than the sickly 19-year-old man that I saw before my regression, I tried hard to fix my mind while saying those words in my head.

‘Even if you come back weak, it’s alright as long as you’re alive.’

Anyway, the important thing was not to let Frederick take over this state. I strongly insisted that the servants and knights that should be sent together with him should only consist of people who have stayed in the Duke’s Castle for more than 10 years.

It was to block Baron Ishid’s poison, just in case.

There was nothing that could be done if one or two of them were mixed in, but at least we had to make some effort.

“Lise.”

Diel shook his head when he saw the Duchess leaving me the list of servants and knights without any question. It was almost like giving unconditional trust.

“No matter how I think about it, it seems like you’re  the most influential person in the Duke’s Castle.”

“Well, in terms of intelligence, it’s not very surprising.”

I held a note to Diel and shrugged my shoulders.

After sending Erhan off, I immediately set to work. Because I had to figure out the ingredients of the damned snack.

Erhan will definitely get better, but there could be more mysterious symptoms. In addition, the snack could have caused him to have a disease that he didn’t have to suffer.

“Get me the reagent written here.”

“…As a friend, right?”

“Yes, it’s absolutely not an order.”

It’s all the same in the end anyway, but it’s better to let him hear it. Diel nodded his head.

“They’re all rare.”

I couldn’t figure it out with the reagents I had, so I wrote down all kinds of reagents I know.

“You can get them, right?”

“I think so… No, of course, I can! Just give me some time.”

Mixing the cookies with poison was quite a tricky task. It was not easy to analyze because it was mixed with all kinds of ingredients and even preservatives.

‘Even if we determinedly analyze the snack, we can only prove that Frederick gave this snack five years later.’

Even if I didn’t know it, Erhan probably wouldn’t have told anyone. No matter how much the Duchess believed in me, Frederick was her biological nephew.

In addition, I was a commoner and he was a noble. It was nonsense for the common people to accuse the aristocrats. Even if I try to talk to Viscount Perelman… He considers Baron Ishid as his benefactor just because he helped his daughter and wife.

In the end, I was the only one who could figure it out.

‘I can do it, you know. Because I’m smart.’

I thought, staring at some of the cookies in the lab equipment.

‘Speaking of it… They must be quite annoyed now that they can’t even use their hands directly on Erhan.’

As for the Duchess, I’m analyzing her diet, snack menu, and sleeping time with my eyes wide open every day, so it will not be easy for them to aim again. Furthermore, there were only a very few outsiders in and out of the city now.

The Duchess’ vigilance has been heightened.

‘If they can’t target the Duchess directly because of me, they will start working in earnest when Erhan returns. Because the rebellion started to sprout more around that time.’

I knew this assistant’s seat I was stuck in was where they used to be.

It’s useless now so they’ll just leave me alone, but when it’s time for them to start their schemes again, I’ll definitely be the first one they’ll try to get rid of.

‘You’ll see.’

I raised my chin and bit my lips tightly. And I started writing a long letter to Erhan, who should have arrived by now.

Anyway, it was a child who was separated from everyone because of the treatment I made. It was obvious that the correspondence would be cut off in a few months. I had to send as much as I could now.

I nagged about some of the ‘must be healthy’, ‘moving hard’, ‘studying steadily,’ and ‘always be wary.’

The letter kept getting longer because I thought I couldn’t see him for five years.

Lastly, I emphasized he should not get gaslighted by a strange guy there, and wrote many times that he should grow up steadily.

 

***

 

Time has passed with great momentum for five years. As expected, shortly after Erhan had gone to Irvia, pirates stormed and blocked the sea route.

It was natural not to be able to go see Erhan, and even any way to write to each other was blocked. It was at the level of barely passing on pigeons that could only send and receive short letters.

[How is your health?]

[I’m healthy.]

It took several months to send and receive such a short note, but it never stopped.

[Nothing special?]

[I’m tall.]

Once, a magical item was miraculously connected and I heard a voice.

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“Master Erhan! Are you sure it’s connected? Are you well?”

“…..Always…. Think about…… me….”

The connection was not good, but Erhan, who was sixteen at the time, had a clearly different voice as if to show us he had already been hit with puberty.

[What are you doing?]

[Thinking of you.]

[Why?]

Of course, there was a limit to the communication that could only be sent with a note.

[I miss you.]

He was lonely there, and I felt a little silly.

[You.]

The colorless short messages that we shared all night long like the days were short.

[Always.]

Still, I didn’t doubt my decision, believing it was the right choice.

‘Because, if Erhan dies, everything will be futile.’

The Knights also went with a huge number of people, so having a peaceful growth period in Irvia and returning, was one way to change the future in many ways.

For five years, the people of the Duchy all lived similarly.

It was really good news that the visit of Frederick and Baron Ishid, who had no excuse to come because of the absence of Erhan, noticeably lessened.

He will be much safer in Irvia, where they can’t reach him at all.

Of course, I paid great attention so that their influence in the Casseus Castle was weakened as well. After the assassination attempt, the Duchess greatly strengthened the security in the castle.

As I recommended, we did not receive any new staff, and I also checked the Duchess’ health and diet on a daily basis. As a result of thorough preparations to prevent anyone from doing anything wrong, nothing special happened in the city for five years.

And sadly, nothing also happened to Viscount Perelman. He wandered around the continent looking for his daughter, but he had not found her in those five years.

“Are we sure she has green eyes or is blonde?”

Diel had secretly raised this question to me.

“Because it’s a newborn child, we could not be sure at first glance. The baby was born with short hair after all.”

“Well, without that premise, you have to search all girls across the country.” I shrugged and replied insignificantly.

To be honest, I felt sorry for the Viscount, but it was the man’s ultimate mission anyway. I wasn’t able to find my family either. Some people came and went from time to time, but I was eventually unable to find them.

When Viscount Perelman went on a long journey and returned exhausted, or when my parents’ candidates, who had come to the castle, returned to their home, we would have dinner together without a word.

“We’re still developing drugs that can speed up the paternity tests, so we can try on looking for them even until we die.”

In fact, I had a lot of time now because I didn’t have Erhan. I only used to study the damned drugs in the cookies or study other drugs for paternity testing.

Of course, neither was easy.

“Lise, what about your coming of age?”

“Yes, it should be this summer.”

“Do you know when your birthday is?”

“No, it’s just the day I arrived at the daycare. The day the daycare teacher got me out of the river.”

“…My child was born in June, too.”

Perelman sighed and took off his glasses.

“There were so many things I wanted to do. I wanted to take care of her more than anyone else and raise her more abundantly than anyone else.”

He muttered, sweeping his rough face.

“I was so happy to know I was going to have a daughter. Zion was getting full day after day, and she used to talk about things she wanted to do with the baby every day.”

That was a fact that I could tell just by looking at the room I was using. I spoke softly with consolation to him.

“Haa… I even won’t be able to see her grow up.”

“Life is long. I’m looking for my parents with that in mind.”

“I couldn’t find her this year either… I wish I could find her before she reaches adulthood, but I guess it’s not that easy.”

“There’s a lot of things you can do for your grown-up daughter. You can collect all the things you’ve missed so far. You have a lot of money.”

“…Should I just do that?”

“Because she’s of age now, so she can even marry, right? There are so many things you can do for her then.”

I said thoughtfully.

“For example, you can find a really nice bridegroom…”

“What are you talking about.”

The Viscount’s eyes, which were faint and sad, suddenly flashed. I almost hiccuped with the sudden change in his expression. As if the thoughts of what I said were terrible, Viscount Perelman honed his teeth.

“My daughter will never marry.”

“W-What?”

“I don’t want to waste my daughter on others.”

I unknowingly covered my mouth with my hand.

My goodness, his daughter will be pitiful…