Chapter 23
Kalaudin was incredibly busy in his office, barely having a moment to breathe.
He wasn’t merely governing his duchy—he was trying to shift the political balance of the entire Empire.
He still lacked enough power for now, but if he continued steadily expanding his influence, then within five years there would be no noble who could dare stand in his way.
The problem, as always, was the imperial family.
Aside from marriage, he could not think of any other way to gain leverage over them.
That’s because Princess Elani is the center of the imperial court.
The Emperor was still young, so she wasn’t standing fully at the forefront yet, but everyone could easily predict that she would grow into the true power behind the throne.
Just then, a knock sounded.
“Father, it’s Laria.”
“Come in.”
The door opened slightly, and Laria hurried inside.
“I received your gift so well, Father.”
She smiled brightly and bowed politely.
“I wore the dress, the hair ornament, and the necklace you gave me!”
Kalaudin didn’t really have much sense for women’s clothing, so he only nodded stiffly. To his eyes, it didn’t look much different from what she had worn yesterday.
Laria looked harmless and cute no matter what she wore. The way she darted her eyes around and moved in little quick steps was almost like a squirrel.
Maybe because she’s truly sick… she seems smaller than other children her age.
Even compared to Evan, who was only a year older, she was nearly a full head shorter. Even if Evan was tall for his age, the difference in build was obvious.
“So I was thinking about how I could properly express my thanks…”
At Laria’s words, Kalaudin smirked slightly.
“That’s enough. If you want to say you’re thankful for persimmons, you should tell the chef, not me.”
“…Pardon?”
“You said ‘thanks’—gam-sa.”
“Aah!”
Laria’s face lit up with realization, and she burst into laughter.
“Hahahahahaha! Father, you’re so funny! Hahahaha!”
After laughing for quite a while, she handed him a piece of paper.
“It’s not much, but… this is my little token of gratitude.”
Laria held out the paper while he sat lost in thought. At first glance he hadn’t recognized it, but now he could.
Beneath the words ‘Father, thank you very much,’ there was a drawing of three people… not resembling them at all, but clearly meant to.
“…Is this me?”
“…No, that’s Evan.”
“Then is this me?”
“Ah… you got them all wrong in the end.”
Laria drooped her shoulders.
“But I drew it because I thought you might like it.”
When he first saw her, she seemed like a frail, insignificant girl with no power or usefulness, which had suited his purposes.
Yet strangely… she was cute.
Come to think of it, because of Laria, he had gone on an outing with Evan for the first time. Until then, he and Evan hadn’t even exchanged proper conversation.
Evan was a complicated existence—one he didn’t want to think about too deeply.
At first, after losing Matilda, he hadn’t been in a state to care properly for his son. Then, before he realized it, his son had grown up, and suddenly it felt awkward to try to become close.
That didn’t mean Evan wasn’t precious to him. Evan was naturally part of the reason Kalaudin was working so hard behind the scenes now—to make up for everything.
Still, after Matilda left, he had never once thought about having a warm, harmonious family.
He believed such a bright household was impossible without her.
And yet, unexpectedly—truly unexpectedly—the daughter-in-law he had brought in simply to use…
“Father.”
Laria’s eyes widened.
“You know… I realized something. I don’t think the three of us have been together since the horse racing event.”
“…Originally, I don’t really spend time with Evan.”
“But we’re family.”
As if that single word solved everything, Laria tilted her head.
“We should get along.”
“We spend too much time separately to even feel the need to.”
“But even if we’re apart, we can still cheer each other on. That would be nice!”
As if she’d just had a brilliant idea, Laria clapped her hands once.
“Evan seems to be practicing swordsmanship really hard. Would you like to come watch together?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
Kalaudin cut her off immediately.
He knew Evan trained with the knights, but he hadn’t paid much attention. Kalaudin himself had liked swords as a child, so he assumed Evan was simply going through the same process.
He’d even heard Evan had taken first place in some competition, but he hadn’t bothered praising him. Wasn’t that only natural for his son?
Evan was a child who resembled him in many ways.
“But I really want to see…”
Laria fidgeted, her voice growing small.
“Ever since Evan met the knight commander, he comes home at dawn and leaves again at dawn. I can barely even see his face…”
“Then you go alone. I’m busy. I don’t have time to watch a brat swing a sword around.”
“But Evan isn’t a brat!”
“At thirteen, everyone is a brat.”
“Of course… but still…”
Laria muttered sadly, playing with the drawing.
“We’re family… the three of us…”
“….”
“When I was at the Rostrí estate, my family relationships were terrible. But here, I really want us to get along… to make lots of happy memories…”
“….”
“And even at the last tea time, Evan wasn’t there, so I was so sad… cough, cough—COUGH!”
Her weakening voice was swallowed by violent coughing.
Laria pressed a handkerchief over her mouth and coughed uncontrollably.
“Lisa said… cough! She couldn’t even see Evan at the knight order… cough! They just told her not to look for him… cough cough! So I can’t even go alone…”
The way she quickly hid the handkerchief inside her dress hem made it look as though she had coughed up blood again.
“I’m sick… I spend most of my time lying down… cough… so when I can move, I want to make good memories…”
Kalaudin snatched the drawing from her hands.
Placing it on his desk, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
Laria was nearly collapsing as she continued coughing violently.
And Kalaudin remembered the moment he had decided to take her in as his daughter-in-law.
—
“Matilda… I came because my heart hurts so much.”
At Matilda’s grave, a woman had arrived before him, sobbing.
It was Countess Rostrí.
“My husband is busy cheating, my son who defied him was driven to the Eastern Continent… and you, my dear friend, died so early…”
Kalaudin had long known she and Matilda were close.
“And now my daughter Laria has a fatal illness. Garbason lung disease, with all kinds of complications. They say she won’t live past her early twenties…”
He remained silent, waiting for her to finish.
“What am I supposed to do about my Laria…? Every time she coughs up blood, my heart breaks…”
Not long after, the Countess and her husband died suddenly in a carriage accident.
When Kalaudin heard the news, he immediately brought Laria in and married her to Evan.
She had nowhere else to go, and he believed it was better than letting her wander among relatives until she died miserably.
Evan was at the academy, so there was no proper wedding—only paperwork.
At first, Kalaudin had thought:
She can serve as a convenient cover, and when the time comes, she can die appropriately.
But…
“…Fine. Let’s go.”
She was a child destined to die young. He couldn’t ignore even such a small request.
Laria’s coughing stopped as if it had been a lie.
Kalaudin muttered, as if speaking to himself:
“It’s not because I want to grant your wish.”
His plan was meant to be completed through Princess Elani. Without the imperial family’s cooperation, his secret ambition could never be fulfilled.
He couldn’t afford to soften now.
And yet…
“Yes, Father! Let’s go quickly!”
With her tiny height barely reaching his waist, Laria excitedly tugged his arm.
Pretending he couldn’t resist, he allowed himself to be pulled along—only for her to lead him in a strange direction.
“Laria? That’s not the way.”
He frowned, intending to head toward the training grounds, but Laria shook her head.
“No. The knights said Evan receives private lessons. From Commander Ludva!”
“…This way?”
“Yes. They said it’s behind the rose garden.”
Laria smiled innocently.
Kalaudin had no choice but to follow her reluctant steps.
I haven’t been to the rose garden since Matilda died…
Just seeing the roses abandoned without their owner’s care was painful.
And Ludva…
That man had always looked at Matilda with eyes Kalaudin disliked.
Once, when Matilda went into town, Kalaudin had assigned three escorts—yet two of them withdrew at the last moment.
That left only Ludva with her.
Kalaudin had hated it.
He’d suspected Ludva had arranged it intentionally, because his gaze never left Matilda.
If Matilda hadn’t stopped him, Kalaudin would have expelled Ludva based on suspicion alone.
People whispered it wasn’t Ludva’s fault, but rather Kalaudin’s obsession…
And they weren’t wrong.
After Matilda’s death, Kalaudin lost all interest in Ludva.
He’d even approved Ludva as the next knight commander without much thought.
Since then, Ludva had caused no trouble.
But hearing that he was personally training Evan… that was new.
The household knew Kalaudin had little interest in Evan, so they spoke of him only minimally.
Kalaudin had far more pressing matters.
Still… private lessons with Ludva left a bad feeling.
Just as he was thinking he should have asked more questions—
“Father,” Laria whispered.
“Let’s not let them know we’re here. Let’s watch secretly. I want to see how good Evan really is. If he notices us, it might distract him.”
Kalaudin nodded indifferently.
Sure enough, in the distance, Ludva and Evan could be seen swinging their swords.
They approached slowly, footsteps silent.
Behind them, Lisa and Serena—who had been bickering as they followed from outside the office—noticed the situation and fell quiet.
