IMYL 26

Chapter: 26

He seemed to have just stepped out of the restroom, and he was alone, without any attendants.

“Ah, it’s nothing important.”

My cheeks flushed hotly, realizing I had made such a fuss over nothing.

“Um, that bird… ah, again!”

Still, watching a bird catch and eat a fish was fascinating.

Leopoldt’s gaze followed the direction of my pointing finger.

“…Ah.”

Tilting his head slightly, the boy asked,

“Were you feeling sorry because the fish was being eaten?”

“Huh?”

I felt sorry for the bird being wrongly blamed, so I pointed out the truth.

“There was fish on our lunch menu just now, wasn’t there?”

Leopoldt stared at me blankly, then blinked twice.

“Ah, since you’re still very young, milady… I thought you would find all prey pitiful.”

“V-very young?”

Being called seven years old hit a nerve.

I protested seriously.

“I’m not young.”

“But you’re seven.”

“And I heard you’re nine. Aren’t we about the same?”

“…Ah.”

Leopoldt’s brow furrowed slightly. Being nine must have hit a nerve too.

“Seven and nine are the same… That’s quite an interesting claim.”

Which really meant, That makes no sense.

Understanding that uniquely Western way of speaking, I lifted my chin.

“I’ve already read all the Academy’s required reading list. Our mental age and conversation level should be similar.”

Leopoldt narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.

“That sounds a bit too radical…”

Which meant, That’s completely unacceptable.

Maintaining his refinement and dignity as a mature noble, he was nevertheless firmly denying my argument in his own way.

Already sensitive about my age, seven-year-old me snapped.

“Actually, seven and nine aren’t that different.”

The precocious nine-year-old finally cracked.

“Ha… How can seven and nine be the same?”

In this world, the ones most obsessed with age were children.

Since nine-year-olds were children too, we both gradually lost our composure.

“When you were just learning to walk, I was already reading on my own.”

“That’s a difference between one and three. Now it’s seven and nine. Don’t you know numbers?”

“The difference is the same. Can’t you subtract?”

“As you grow older, that difference becomes more and more meaningless. Don’t you understand ratios?”

Just then—

A voice rang out from far away.

“Everyone, please gather on the deck!”

It seemed the prize raffle was about to begin.

“Ah. We should go…”

Leopoldt regained his senses first and murmured.

He gently asked Mother, who had been blankly staring at the lake,

“Madam, shall we go together?”

It was only proper etiquette. Of the three of us, Mother was the eldest.

Wait.

Only then did I realize something was wrong.

Mother’s been quiet this whole time?

While I was locked in a life-or-death argument about age with Leopoldt, Mother hadn’t said a single word.

That can’t be right.

A sudden sense of dread washed over me, turning my vision white.

When I slowly looked at her with fear, a whimper slipped from Mother’s lips.

“Leave? We’re leaving now?”

My heart dropped.

It was that other voice she used at night.

“I don’t want to go…”

Staring blankly at Leopoldt, Mother said,

“I don’t want to go, Masa.”

Masa was the maid Mother had brought along, but since she was a kitchen maid, she wasn’t accompanying us this time.

Mother whispered desperately toward Leopoldt.

“I don’t want to go. I won’t go to the Empire. I’d rather die in Liente.”

Her thin voice trembled with tears.

“I don’t want to get married… What would I even do, surviving alone in a foreign country? That man was already married once…”

My mind went blank. I couldn’t breathe.

“She keeps returning to the night she boarded that ship.”

Night was a problem, but ships were also a problem.

Until now, we had never needed to ride a ship in the Marquisate, so I hadn’t known.

My hands trembled violently.

“M-Mother…”

Of all times—of all times—why now?

“Mother… Mother. Please… stop…”

My lips trembled as I whispered. My heart pounded and my body stiffened.

“No, Mother… not now… Please, not now.”

What should I do?

What was I supposed to do?

Father was in the cabin, and the maids didn’t yet understand the situation. They were only watching us from afar.

And Leopoldt was right here…

It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.

Tears welled up from anxiety and regret.

Because I lost my composure when he called me young and acted like a seven-year-old…

I wasn’t just seven. I couldn’t afford to act like a child.

I should have ended the conversation quickly and sent him away.

He couldn’t find out. This was my engagement—my responsibility.

What… what do I do…

Now Leopoldt would surely step back, wearing that troubled expression filled with fear, disgust, and a bit of curiosity.

I knew that look all too well. The butler at the Marquis’s estate always wore it.

In the dreadful silence, only Mother’s pleading voice continued.

“Masa, please… I won’t go. Okay?”

Her eyes had already lost focus.

“The Kingdom of Liente will be fine… It won’t collapse like this, will it… we…”

Then—

“Do that.”

Leopoldt spoke calmly.

“You don’t have to go to the Empire, Princess.”

I whipped my head around to look at him.

Among the Imperials, no one ever called my mother Princess.

“So please calm down. Let’s go back.”

“Really, Masa?”

Mother blinked as she stared at Leopoldt.

“Really, I don’t have to go to the Empire? I don’t have to marry?”

Hope flickered in her voice.

Leopoldt nodded.

“Yes, Princess. Everything will go as you wish.”

Mother gasped excitedly.

“Really?”

She grabbed Leopoldt’s hand and asked again with wide eyes.

“Will Father allow it? He will, right? He treasures me more than anything.”

“Of course.”

Leopoldt smiled gently, soothing her, and patted her hand.

“But it’s very late now, so it would be better for you to sleep tonight and ask His Majesty tomorrow morning.”

Then he pulled a small bottle from his pocket.

“If you start to feel seasick, tell me. I brought sleeping medicine. Nothing helps seasickness better than sleep.”

It was the same sleeping medicine Mother had shown earlier.

“Please take it. It will help you rest well.”

“Hm?”

“The sooner you sleep, the sooner tomorrow will come. An anxious night feels far too long.”

“You’re right, Masa. Thank you.”

Mother quickly took the medicine, opened the lid, and swallowed it.

“I don’t think I could sleep tonight without this.”

She shuddered as she murmured,

“Marrying such an old man and having his child… Just imagining it is terrifying. Yes, Father would never let my life become like that.”

Right in front of me—the child she bore—Mother swallowed the medicine in one gulp and collapsed.

Leopoldt hurriedly caught her by the shoulders and arms.

Seeing this, the distant maids rushed over.

“Madam!”

“Oh heavens, Princess!”

They supported Mother’s limp body.

Leopoldt spoke quietly.

“She had severe seasickness and took sleeping medicine. Since her condition isn’t good, once the ship docks, have her return immediately via warp.”

“Yes, understood!”

“Thank you, Your Highness, Grand Duke!”

They carried Mother into the cabin.

Only Leopoldt and I remained by the railing.

Silence settled between us. From far away, the voices calling out raffle numbers sounded dreamlike.

After breathing a few times, color finally seemed to return to the world.

“Th-thank you… Ah, but… this… this was m-my responsibility…”

My words tangled together.

I was ashamed that I had panicked and failed to handle what was my own matter.

“I’m sorry… sorry. I d-didn’t do anything…”

Leopoldt smiled gently.

“You’re young. You can stay still.”

For once, I couldn’t argue against being called young.

Yet it felt strange. It was the first time anyone had told me it was okay to stay still.

I was always supposed to try. Always supposed to do my best.

“Go to your mother.”

Leopoldt told me what to do until the very end.

“Everything will be fine.”

I couldn’t reply, because it felt like I was about to cry.

I nodded and turned away. I could feel Leopoldt’s gaze following me, but I didn’t look back.