At Mulliman’s absurd suggestion, Noel was puzzled.
“What is this all of a sudden? What’s with that weird request?”
“Do you not like it? If you don’t like it, it cannot be helped. Just in time, I am feeling tired and feel the need for a short vacation….”
“I-I will do it.”
As Mulliman was about to get up, Noel quickly grabbed him. Mulliman looked at Noel with a cunning look on his face, and Noel stuttered, face reddened.
“Gra-grand…”
As a child, Noel used to regard Mulliman as his grandfather in place of the Great Kristen. He followed him around, calling him his grandfather. However, as time passed, it was no longer possible to call him that as comfortably as before. Having been twenty years since he last uttered the word, Noel stuttered with his face blushed. He then lowered his head and spoke.
“Grandpa…”
To his faint voice, a satisfied smile hung on Mulliman’s mouth as he responded.
“All right, little one.”
Noel’s face flushed even more at the nickname he had not heard in years. That was why he did not want to call the old man Grandpa. He knew he was going to treat him like a kid.
♔♔♔
Meanwhile, not long after Noel left, Irene got up.
I’m sorry, Noel.
It seemed that she deceived Noel by pretending to sleep. She was reluctant to do it, but Irene still felt guilty. Yet, she could not help it as she was curious about her background. Irene hurriedly got out of bed and headed for the drawer.
She then took the diary out and stared at it for a moment in silence.
As she turned to the first page, the portrait, she had seen before appeared. Irene took out the portrait, put it on her desk, and started flipping to the page where she had left. The diary continued.
[Her Majesty, who revealed her real name to me, told an even more staggering story afterwards. She was pregnant with the Emperor’s child. But the Empress was more afraid of that fact leaking out than anyone else. It was because she was convinced that Duke Windress would never leave her alone if he found out about it.
Her Majesty told me to keep this only between us, so I kept it a secret. And on behalf of the Empress, who did not take one step out of her room to hide the fact about her pregnancy, I began to examine the movements of Duke Windress.]
When the record was over, Irene flipped to the back page. But nothing was on the next page. When she turned to the next chapter, no date was written before the memoirs. The trembling distorted letters seemed to prove the feelings of this note’s owner at the time.
[It was all my fault. I should have been more watchful over the Duke. If I had, I would not have lost my one and only friend.]
The beginning was a retrospective.
Irene took a deep breath, fully expected of the following occurrence. And with that, she quickly scanned through the rest.
[Eventually, Duke Windress rebelled. His Majesty died of the sudden rebellion. Soon, the soldiers came to capture the Empress. Fortunately, she was staying in a tiny private palace that could not be reached easily, so she was able to avoid the search temporarily. Her Majesty gave birth safely. She was a lovely princess.
The Empress, who put the newborn child in my arms, ordered me to take her child and run away. She wanted me to hide and protect the child from her brother’s hands so that she would not get hurt or die. She then urged me to run away alone because she would only attract attention.
I resisted, saying no, but I could not disobey Her Majesty’s last command. Leaving the exhausted Empress right after giving birth, I travelled to the viscounty my husband left behind.
I heard that Duke Windress became the new Emperor after beheading the royal family on my way to the viscounty.
Upon hearing the story that Her Majesty’s neck was displayed at the castle gate, I hugged the small child and wept. There was a name that the Empress gave to this child before she parted this world...
Rene Lou Weilian.
The last royalty I am going to serve.]