CH 12

Episode 12

Heint, who returned to Nazret, had a meal with Stella.

Stella, who is usually quiet, showed interest in him today for some reason.

“I heard you went to the Flotina Palace.”

Until just now, Heint was worried about how to approach Stella regarding her status, so he awkwardly reacted, not knowing how to treat her.

“I just went to see a friend. Ha ha…”

He soon felt uneasy and rubbed his neck.

“You seem to have been there a few days ago, did something happen to your close friend?”

“What happened?”

Heint was curious about Stella’s interest, but didn’t ask.

“Ah, Persis had a child. She is the daughter who was raised unknowingly…”

Then, I remembered that May had come to live as a son, and I corrected it right away.

“Not a daughter, but a son.”

Heint cut a piece of steak and put it in his mouth.

After swallowing, he looked at Stella, who was frozen with a surprised look on her face.

“Why do you look like that?”

Were you surprised by the fact that she was also raised without knowing it? Heint nodded his head in understanding.

Stella’s frozen lips finally moved.

“A son…?”

“Yeah. A son. I was also surprised when I heard it… There are so many unexpected things in this world.”

He focused on cutting the steak again.

Thanks to that, he didn’t notice what expression Stella was making or what she was thinking.

‘Persis Flotina has a son?’ she thought.

Stella’s eyebrows twitched.

‘…That can’t be true, can it?’

Stella also picked up her knife and fork and began cutting into the steak on her plate, pretending nothing was out of the ordinary.

“… So, Persis Flotina has a son,” she said with a smile that was hard to read.

“I want to get to know him.”

***

Soon, it was a sunny spring day, and summer was approaching.

Since meeting Floa, I started serious swordsmanship training. Sometimes I felt self-conscious of the knights’ gazes when I went to the Duke’s practice yard for training, but I soon got used to it.

“Let’s start with warm-up exercises. Follow me to stretch your body.”

“Yes!”

The warm-up exercises were nothing special. We rotated our hands and feet, turned our necks, and twisted our waists… As I passionately twisted my waist, it seemed like Floa was smiling lightly.

“Are you laughing at me, Floa?”

Upon hearing this, Floa immediately frowned.

“I wasn’t laughing.”

But he was.

“However, unlike before, your expression is much brighter now.”

“You’re mistaken. Now that you’ve stretched, you’ll run five laps around the training grounds.”

Hearing this, I was surprised and my eyes widened.

“Five laps?”

Until yesterday, I only ran two laps.

“We’ll gradually increase the number of laps. That’s the only way to gain enough strength to wield a sword properly.”

I felt embarrassed at the thought of running five laps in the large training ground, but I couldn’t argue with his words.

“Yes…”

As I ran around the training ground, every time my speed slowed down, Floa teleported next to me and urged me to run faster.

“I can’t tell if you’re walking or running. Run faster.”

“I’m already running…!”

Despite feeling resentful towards him, all I wanted at that moment was to finish quickly and take a break.

“Haa, haa…five laps, done!”

Gasping for breath, I collapsed into a seat, trying to calm my heaving chest. After taking dozens of deep breaths, I finally felt like I could breathe normally again.

“From now on, you’ll have to run like this every training session. The ultimate goal is ten laps, he said.

“Ten laps?!” I exclaimed, my heart sinking.

Seemingly aware of my despair, Floa smiled gently and said, 

“Since it seems difficult for you now, take a ten-minute break.”

After Floa sat down on a bench at the edge of the training ground, I patted my hands and stood up to sit next to him.

Floa glanced at me as if asking why I was sitting next to him, then looked ahead again.

“You’ll probably regret it by now.”

I turned my head to look at him, not knowing what he was talking about.

“What do you mean?”

“About wanting to live as Persis’s son.”

“Ah…”

Although it was undoubtedly hard enough to worry about getting sick after suddenly running five laps when I had only run two before, I didn’t regret it.

‘This is the only way to survive right now.’

“I won’t regret it.”

Perhaps I spoke with too much conviction, but Floa didn’t immediately believe me.

“Are you sure? It’s going to be hard. How can you not regret it?”

“Because it’s something I absolutely have to do for my goal.”

Flora seemed taken aback, as if she had some memory related to goals.

“What goal are you talking about?”

“My goal is to not be kicked out of this house until I become an adult. To do that, I can’t be bad at running around in the training ground.”

Flora was silent.

“…”

Floa looked down at me. His deep gray eyes looked sad for some reason, as if he had been rejected by someone and needed warmth.

“Floa, do you have any goals?”

“… I don’t make things like that.”

“Why don’t you make one now? A goal to become a good teacher for me, hehe.”

This was my little trick to get him to open up more.

“You’re shameless.”

“Well, I’ll be a good student too.”

As I babbled, Floa smiled again. I pointed at him.

“See? Your expression brightened up. Honestly, tell me. You’re not bored training in swordsmanship with me these days, right?”

Floa looked surprised that he had smiled, but he replied calmly with his big eyes.

“Indeed, I am not bored.”

“Then since you’ve seen my skills, let’s just do three laps from now on “

“That won’t do.”

Damn. I tried to bargain, but unfortunately, Floa was not someone who could be easily persuaded with such shallow tactics.

“Since you seem to be in good shape, I guess we need to train more.”

“But there are still three minutes left…”

“I’ll finish 3 minutes early. Let’s go.”

When Floa got up, I followed him again with a sigh.

***

While May was practicing hitting a training straw doll with her wooden sword, Floa watched her from a bench under a tree.

As he was focused on the girl hitting the straw doll randomly, Persis arrived at the training ground with his guards.

He glanced at his daughter briefly and sat down on the bench where Floa was sitting. He leaned against the wall of the bench and crossed his legs.

“If May slacks off on her training, report it to me anytime. It’s easy to kick her out.”

But it’s just empty words. Now, it’s unclear whether he can actually kick out that child.”

Floa’s quiet eyes still focused on May.

“I don’t think she’s the type to slack off during training.”

In fact, I’m worried she might be trying too hard.

“… … I expected her to be somewhat bold enough to offer a deal to the family head, but…”

“Looks like you got a shot at May.”

Persis’s mouth twitched upwards as if amused, then returned to its original position.

“… Yes.”

He had expected the child to cry and plead with Persis to let her live, or even offer to go to an orphanage by herself. It was only natural for a young child to feel fear in the face of death.

But instead, the child looked at me with a face filled with sunshine, and said, “I’ll do my best from now on.”

Persis probably realized that the child had seen through the fact that he couldn’t bring herself to kill her.

I watched as the wind blew and brushed the child’s cheeks, wiping the glass beads of sweat.

What an unusual child.

In some ways, foolish.

However, it wasn’t as unpleasant as it was strange. Rather…

My gaze kept being drawn to the child.

And it seemed the same for Persis.

Before he knew it, Persis’s gaze also fell on May. As usual, he seemed displeased with something his daughter did.

“Are ten-year-olds this small these days?”

“Well, there are still many years ahead to grow.”

“That’s strange. I don’t remember being that small when I was ten. That woman was also on the tall side.”

He tried to push away the image of Viche he had tried so hard to forget, but unlike before, his feelings toward her were now shallow.

Then, the space between their eyes narrowed.

“Oh, I forgot that your real father may not be me. Did Viche meet some groundless man?”

It was a sarcastic tone, an unexpected mischievousness.

Yohan, who was standing beside him, informed him without realizing it.

“Originally, a 10-year-old girl is the same, Master.”

Only then did his eyes and tone relax.

“I see.”

“That’s right. 

He was an easy man.

That easy man observed May carefully.

Really, that child is…

“Small.”

She was so small that he wondered if she could be as tall as Viche. And also…

“Insignificant.”

“… How about using the term ‘cute’?”

“Noisy.”

Although Yohan tried to persuade him kindly, Persis couldn’t bring himself to say such a thing.

At that moment, the sound of May’s swordplay was heard.

“Hat! Hat! Yap! Yap! Hap!”

Every time she swung her wooden sword, it made a cute “hat hat” sound. Yohan almost burst out laughing but managed to hold it in. Floa’s lips also twitched slightly.

Only one person remained serious – Persis.