Chapter 13
Even on the carriage ride back home, silence filled the inside of the carriage.
The trip to the nearby village and countryside estate didn’t take long, but to Neya, it felt like an eternity.
Only after they finally arrived home did she feel like she could breathe again. When they went inside, Gerry was already there.
Gerry, who had been sprawled on the sofa as if it were his own house, noticed them and sat up.
“Wow, I was surprised when no one was home. Why did you go out today?”
“……”
Gerry asked Azure, but there was no reply. Without realizing it, Neya glanced between Shane and Azure, reading the mood.
Gerry, having grasped the situation immediately, spoke.
“What, did you two fight again?”
“Call me when dinner’s ready.”
Leaving only those words behind, Azure went straight into her room without offering any further explanation. Watching this, Gerry shot Shane a sideways look.
Having watched the two of them for a long time, Gerry could tell at a glance how they had ended up in another cold war. Their fights always followed the same pattern.
On the surface, it looked like the argument would start with Azure snapping first, but in reality, the one who picked a fight and set things in motion was always Shane.
“Don’t you think you should tone it down a bit? What’s the point of deliberately getting on her nerves?”
“Well. I guess it’s just a way of venting my anger.”
Shane let out a dry chuckle. Gerry stared at him as if he couldn’t understand him at all.
“If you hate it that much, you shouldn’t have come along in the first place. Why are you living like this, going out of your way to protect Azure?”
At that, Shane laughed softly.
“I just couldn’t stand the thought of watching that woman die.”
“……”
An uncomfortable look crossed Gerry’s face.
Leaving Gerry behind, Shane turned to Neya.
“I need to sort out the food supplies, so Neya, why don’t you play with Mr. Gerry?”
“O-okay……”
Neya, who had been quietly watching the situation, nodded.
As soon as Shane headed into the kitchen, Neya walked over to Gerry.
“Lord of the Mage Tower…”
“Oh dear, Neya, that must’ve scared you.”
Gerry picked Neya up and settled her on his lap.
“This is probably the first time you’ve seen those two fight like that, huh? You’ll get used to it soon.”
“I don’t want to get used to it……”
For Gerry, it was something he could just brush off with a simple ‘There they go again.’
But for young Neya, it seemed to weigh heavily on her. With a worried expression, Gerry gently patted her.
Held tightly in his arms, Neya suddenly lifted her head and looked up at him.
“What on earth happened between Mom and Shane?”
“Hmm……”
At Neya’s question, Gerry fell into thought.
What had happened between them…
Shane and Azure were tangled together in a way that made it hard to explain.
“Well, it’s a long story……”
It was around the time Azure’s misdeeds had just begun to become known throughout the Empire.
The Heartless family already had a terrible reputation, so the high-ranking nobles seized the opportunity to drag her name even further into the mud.
The situation worsened to the point where the decision regarding Azure’s punishment began to tilt toward something extreme.
Even the imperial family had already come to thoroughly dislike her, so in that atmosphere, no one dared to speak up in opposition.
“I object.”
Except for one person.
Shane always maintained a passive stance in all matters. At gatherings like this, he was the last person who would ever voice an opinion first.
That was why his refusal to follow the decided course and his open objection shocked even the count and his older brothers.
Shane’s family, the Rox Count’s House, was powerful enough to rank among the top five families in the Empire in terms of wealth and prestige.
And Count Rox supported Shane’s decision.
In the end, Azure’s execution was quietly shelved, and her punishment was reduced to exile. Shane volunteered to go down to the countryside with her.
That was also why Azure couldn’t treat Shane too carelessly.
With everyone else having turned their backs on her, the moment Shane abandoned her as well, her fate would have been sealed.
Backed by the power of the Rox family, Shane was the only one who protected Azure—whom even her own biological father had given up on.
Why Shane made such a choice, no one knew.
Not even Shane himself ever explained why he had gone so far as to protect Azure.
To anyone.
“……”
Those things had happened, but…
Gerry couldn’t bring himself to tell Neya the truth as it was. If he told her everything, it might shock her.
So Gerry chose to put it off.
“Why don’t you ask Shane directly?”
Gerry didn’t want to get involved between Shane and Azure in any way. He didn’t have the passion for it, and even imagining it was exhausting.
Neya’s face fell in disappointment.
In the end, Gerry soon returned to the Mage Tower, and until it was time for Neya to go to sleep, the mansion remained steeped in cold silence. Shane and Azure hadn’t exchanged a single word, not even during dinner.
“Neya.”
When it was time for her to sleep, Shane, as always, came to Neya’s room and read her a fairy tale until she fell asleep. Tonight was no exception.
Shane sat down beside her with practiced ease.
“Have you chosen the book for tonight?”
“Shane……”
Neya called his name weakly. He looked at her, puzzled.
Pulling the blanket up to the tip of her nose, Neya spoke in a muffled voice.
“You know, Shane, you’re a really, really kind person.”
“……?”
At the sudden compliment, suspicion crossed Shane’s face.
In a small voice, Neya continued.
“I like you a lot, Shane. I’m sure Mom does too.”
Ah.
Only then did Shane realize why Neya was saying this.
He let out a soft laugh and replied,
“I don’t think that’s the case.”
“…….”
At his firm response, Neya pouted.
Shane pulled his chair closer to her and gently brushed her hair.
“Neya. Don’t you dislike the young lady?”
Shane had always wondered about that. Azure was never affectionate—if anything, she was consistently distant. And yet, Neya never hated her and instead always tried to approach her.
After hesitating for a moment, Neya spoke.
“To be honest, she’s not the kind of parent I imagined. There’s no big mansion, no gentle mom… It’s really different from the family I pictured.”
This place was the complete opposite of what Neya had expected.
But she wasn’t dissatisfied.
“Still… I was just happy that I had a mom at all.”
What Neya had longed for so desperately, she already had.
At first, she had been disappointed by the small house and Azure’s cold reactions, but now she loved this little mansion and the adults by her side.
“And you keep taking care of Mom even while saying you don’t like her. Don’t you actually like her?”
At the sharp observation, Shane flinched.
In truth, everyone had questioned Shane’s attitude.
He had worked by Azure’s side for a long time, but the two of them had never been particularly close.
And since Shane didn’t seem to harbor any special affection for Azure, even his family had looked at his choice with doubt.
“The young lady is an extremely selfish person. She’s been that way since she was little.”
Shane had grown up alongside Azure since childhood, so he had witnessed her actions up close.
In his eyes, Azure was truly the worst kind of person. Countless people had suffered because of her, and one had even come close to death. Shane had watched it all happen right beside her.
Of course, Shane himself had gone along with those misdeeds at the time. He had had no choice but to follow her orders.
Honestly, that’s just an excuse.
Back then and even now, Shane could have quit anytime he wanted.
Perhaps constantly bringing up the past and deliberately provoking Azure’s temper was, in its own way, a form of venting.
Because of you, I became a bad person too.
It was little more than shifting the blame.
And yet, despite hating her this much, the reason he continued to look after her even now—
A bitter smile formed on Shane’s lips.
“…Still, she was someone who had her own kind of humanity.”
He had been closer to Azure than anyone else, and because of that, he knew her better than anyone.
“Ever since the issue with her fiancé came up—”
“Fiancé?”
“……”
At Neya’s innocent question, Shane stopped mid-sentence.
“That’s not something you need to know yet, Neya.”
It was far too complicated and pitiful an incident to tell a child. He hoped, at least, that Neya would remain unaware of such things.
“Neya. There’s just one thing I can say for certain.”
Shane spoke firmly.
“Azure is the worst kind of person.”
