“Welcome, My Lord.”
All the servants stood in a line with the senior butler, Northman, at the head of it. They all bowed respectfully as Alphord walked inside his home. In reality Alphord didn’t really like this kind of grand welcome, but Elena had also prepared this for her father in her previous life. After his long absence few new employees were aware of his face, and Elena had thought of this as a way to give such a grand welcome in her father’s honor.
And it was the same today. At the end of the long line, Elena, Mirabelle and Derek stood waiting for him. Elena cheeks were flushed with joy at the thought of seeing her father for the first time in a long time.
“It’s strange. No matter how often Father comes home, I feel like I haven’t seen him in years.”
Elena smiled at Mirabelle’s astute words. From Elena’s point of view her sister wasn’t completely wrong. When Elena began to see her father’s approaching shadow, she hurried to tidy her clothes.
“Mirabelle, do I look okay?”
“Yes, you look pretty. How many times have you asked me that today?”
“Oh, have I?”
Mirabelle tilted her head at her sister’s unusually nervous demeanor. When Mirabelle had heard that Elena became sick during her trip she tried to make her rest all day, but Elena finally stood up and said, “I can’t lie down anymore with Father coming.”
Elena had been acting very strange since. She wasn’t usually fashion-conscious, but she had changed her dress several times and kept asking what looked good on her. Everyone envied Elena’s beautiful appearance. And the envy of others was Mirabelle’s pride. She had never seen a prettier woman in the world than her sister.
Despite Elena’s natural beauty, however, she was not very interested in taking care of herself. It was the first time for her to pay attention to her appearance, which she had always been so embarrassed about. If the occasion had been meeting another man, then Mirabelle would have thought Elena had fallen for someone…
Mirabelle could never have imagined that the man she was seeing was their father, whom they hadn’t seen for a few weeks. Mirabelle stared up at Elena with a look of curiosity, but could not discern her thinking.
The sounds of Alphord’s foosteps became closer when finally he appeared. Though middle-aged, her father still retained his handsome features. He stood tall and had dark green eyes like Mirabelle. Thanks to his long career as a knight he had a strong physique, but at the moment looked like a gentleman with his coat instead of his armor. He had the same stoic expression as Derek, but his stubborn jawline bore a curious resemblance to Elena.
Elena became overwhelmed with emotion as she looked at her father The last image she remembered was his cold body hanging on the wall alongside her brother. The day Blaise Castle was invaded her father was still not in the castle, so she wasn’t sure how exactly how he ended up there. She was hiding in the place where Derek had told her to, and was told there would be a letter from her father but she never received it. Finally, after finding the bodies of the family members on the wall, Elena had to flee far away. She couldn’t stay in Ruford Empire. She was curious about the contents of that last letter, but now she would never know.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter now what it is about. They’re all alive and with me now.’
She secretly swallowed a happy smile looked up with clear eyes at Mirabelle and Derek standing next to her. This will do. She won’t be greedy.
At Alphord’s appearance Derek gave a short bow and Mirabelle lifted her skirt to curtsy like a grown-up. Elena spoke with affection thick in her voice.
“Welcome home, Father.”