Chapter 02
When Elisia was 17 years old, her father, who had gone out to subjugate monsters, died.
The first time she saw Yulias Mei Demint was at her father’s funeral.
“Thank you for coming, Your Grace.”
“Your husband was a knight who always put his comrades first. I could not protect him… and that is on me.”
Black hair that resembled a crow. He looked like an adult at a glance, but there was still a hint of youth left on his face.
However, the men lined up behind him made it obvious enough.
That man was the duke.
Elisia, dressed in a black dress for the funeral, wore a hat to hide her red hair.
His head, which had been turned toward her mother in conversation, shifted, and their eyes met.
Amid the sea of black clothing, his eyes stood out even more.
Deep orange, like the glow of a setting sun.
Elisia, who had been staring blankly at him, flinched when she felt a tug on her skirt and looked away.
“Big sister! I’m hungry!”
“We’re going to eat after this is over. Can you wait a little longer?”
Her younger brother, Joshua, was seven years old. He rubbed his stomach, complaining of hunger.
“How much longer do we have to wait?!”
“Hmm, how about you slowly count to 100 inside your head? Very, very slowly.”
Elisia, who had grown up loved dearly by her parents, cherished Joshua more than anything.
“They’re being so loud at their father’s funeral…”
But others did not see it the same way.
People frowned at Joshua’s loud voice.
Elisia, who had been gently patting her brother’s head, turned toward the gaze she felt.
“They seem close.”
“Your Grace.”
Before she knew it, Elisia and Yulias were close enough to face each other directly.
As she hurried to properly greet him, he gestured as if telling her not to bother.
Joshua, sensing the heavy atmosphere after his playful mood, hid behind Elisia’s back.
“I apologize for the noise. My younger brother’s hearing isn’t very good.”
“If I had known there was a breach in the fortress earlier, things might have been different. Your father reduced the damage thanks to his efforts.”
“…My brother also respects our father.”
“I see. That child should learn from him.”
So young, and already married?
Elisia knew he was exactly twenty years old.
He had followed his father since childhood, fought on battlefields, and even graduated early from the academy.
That was all Elisia knew about him.
“Excuse me.”
Yulias stepped away first. Only then did Joshua peek out and mutter.
“That older brother! He looks super scary!”
Elisia quickly covered Joshua’s mouth, afraid he might have been heard. But Yulias did not look back and simply walked away.
Three years passed after that.
Even after her father’s death, life had to go on, but her mother, who had come from another region, could not avoid discrimination.
“If you’re going to your hometown, we’ll go too.”
“Elisia.”
After putting Joshua to bed, their mother called Elisia aside and spoke calmly.
“I want you to stay here with Joshua.”
“But Joshua will look for you. I will too…”
As she showed a lack of confidence, her mother held her hand tightly.
“I loved your father very much, so I left my hometown and came here.”
“…”
“I can endure going alone. But I’m afraid of what my family might do to you two. That worries me more.”
Still, it would be better to go together.
Elisia swallowed the words she wanted to say and listened.
“Mother.”
“Your father was a knight of the ducal guard, so we had no trouble surviving until now. But my family is different. There are many of them, and…”
She trailed off, as if there was more to say, then fell silent.
Before Joshua was born, Elisia had grown up with love and affection, and she wanted to understand her.
“Two years at most. After that, we’ll go to my hometown and live together.”
“…”
“I’ll send money every month. Can you trust me and wait just a little?”
Elisia looked at her mother’s hand as it patted hers. Her skin was dry, cracked, and covered in unfamiliar wounds.
Rather than staying where she was treated as an outsider and barely paid for hard labor…
Maybe her mother’s hometown would be better.
“Yes. I’ll take good care of things here. I’ll write letters often.”
“I’ll write often too. I love you, Elisia.”
Elisia broke down in tears in her mother’s embrace, something she had not done even when her father died.
After crying for a long time in her arms, they slept together in the same bed for the first time in a while.
Three days later, while Joshua was deeply asleep, their mother quietly left.
She said she would take a ship at dawn because Joshua would cry and refuse to let her go during the day.
“It looks like it might rain. Are you sure about this? It might be better to delay the departure.”
“…I’ll be back.”
Even though she knew it was not a permanent farewell, Elisia could not help wanting to stop her.
Her mother, who had packed only a small bag, kissed Elisia’s forehead after hugging her one last time.
“Mother…”
As she grew farther from the house, she kept turning back and waving.
Elisia waved back while letting her falling tears stay, afraid she would be seen crying if she wiped her face.
Soon after, the rain began to fall harder and turned into a downpour.
That night, news spread quickly that the ship departing at dawn had capsized, killing or leaving most passengers missing.
“Mom!”
It took a long time for Elisia to calm Joshua, who cried and called for their mother, and convince him they would see her again.
Elisia never received a letter from her mother, but she did not believe she was dead.
Missing, that must be it.
That would be better. That would be easier.
She held back her reddening eyes as she believed it.
From then on, she alone had to take responsibility for her younger brother.
Even though she was only twenty, reality was merciless.
“It’s okay…”
She pulled the blanket over Joshua and gently patted him, whispering.
It was a message to her brother, but also to herself.
“It’s okay.”
She repeated it over and over, but in the end, tears overflowed from her strained eyes.
“Why don’t you try going to the ducal estate?”
“The ducal estate?”
“You mean the Demint ducal house.”
Elisia confided her worries to a neighbor, Mrs. Denmins, about her uncertain future.
She had known the neighbor since Elisia was born.
Mrs. Denmins suggested that Elisia ask to work as a maid at the ducal estate, using her father’s long service in the knight order as a reference.
However, working as a maid in a noble household usually required recommendations or a certain rank.
Elisia was twenty, with neither.
“Mrs. Denmins, could you watch Joshua for just one day? I’ll go to the ducal estate.”
Grateful for her kindness, Elisia wanted to repay her in some way.
But at this moment, Elisia had no idea at all.
“Elisia, I need you.”
That her simple intention of wanting to work at the ducal estate would become the beginning of something dreamlike, entangled with the duke.
