TPR 06

Chapter 06

Hildegard couldn’t believe her ears.
Who had sold ten mines because of whom?

“My great-aunt went missing in the Lankert family’s territory, where the final battle took place. Instead of claiming all that land, she handed over more than ten mines.”

Even hearing Mikhail’s explanation directly, it was hard to believe.
The princess Hildegard, who disappeared without leaving a single will.
The story that Duke Leonhardt had spent the family fortune trying to find her body.
Up to that point, it was touching enough… but…

“That’s impossible! That’s half the mines we had!”

It wasn’t just a little spending—he’d thrown away a fortune.
“Why spend so much just to recover a body?!”
“That was the deal.”

Before she knew it, Hildegard realized her jaw had dropped in shock.
He would risk so much for land that might or might not contain my body?
“Are you sane? This is madness!”

“You mustn’t say things like that.”

At that moment, Mikhail, who had been gentle all along, suddenly hardened.
“Hilde, even if you think it, you mustn’t say it out loud.”

“It’s absurd! Who sells that many mines for just a body! No sane person….”
No sane person would do that. If they were sane, they wouldn’t…

‘Then… come back safely, alright?’

“….”

Hildegard quietly closed her mouth.
Mikhail’s expression, like an adult’s stern gaze, bore into her.
“Hilde, I used to think the same way when I was your age. But if I were in a similar situation, I’d do what your great-grandfather did too.”

“…What do you mean?”

“If someone offered to let you or Redis live happily with gemstone mines, but told you to leave your parents’ bodies anywhere… I couldn’t do it either.”

“….”

“They’re the only family in the world.”

Hildegard couldn’t say anything.
It felt like cold ice had been poured into her chest.
Only after a long moment did she manage to speak.
“What happened to the remaining mines?”

“Except for the iron mines, everything else was torn apart in inheritance disputes. They were auctioned off…”

“….”

“It’s all in the past now.”

A warm hand brushed Hildegard’s cheek.
“Hilde, let’s not live blaming others. It only makes us unhappier.”

“….”

For Mikhail, who was only sixteen, to speak with such a gentle voice, when did he become so adult-like?
Hildegard realized he had grown up far too early.
“It’s not their fault.”
‘But it’s not yours either.’
Hildegard almost spoke the words to her nephew.

So… Leon sold the mines all because of me.
Not just one, but ten.
Of course, backlash against him must have been intense.
The rest was obvious.
Those who couldn’t leave the duchy’s fortune in his hands came forward, and there were court disputes over business rights and property.
A continuous stream of trials every day.
He must have known that…
‘Why did you do it?’

That night, Leon appeared in my dream—looking very young.

“Hildegard.”

For a brief time, I had really disliked Leon.
Whenever he came to our house, he not only interfered with my training but scolded me for doing it.

“Hilde, put the sword down.”
“Don’t interfere with me.”

His high-handed tone and the way he tried to take my wooden sword away—I hated it back then. I was obsessed with training.
When did that Leon become part of my family?
Was it the year my mother abandoned me, or the following year?
I was very small at the time.
That day, he took the wooden sword from my hands.

“Stop training. Your hands are all blistered.”
“None of your business. Give it back.”
“I said stop.”
“Give it back!”
“Listen to me. Let’s stop for today and go back…”
“I said give it back! My wooden sword! You fool! Deaf? Idiot? Don’t you understand? Give it back!”

I ran at Leon in anger.
Normally, he would have just raised the sword and taken it from me, but that time, he was genuinely angry.

“Stop it! You’ll get hurt! Let me see your hands!”
“What does that matter!”

I struggled harder to take the sword from him.
But given the difference in size, I was no match.
In the end, I sobbed and said in frustration,
“Give it back. I need to train. I can’t just sit idle.”

“Hildegard!”
“But if I don’t, Mom won’t come back… Dad still won’t come home!”

Leon’s face twisted.
What must he have thought then?
Maybe he wanted to say, “No matter how hard you try, your parents won’t come back,” but stopped himself.
He was smart.

My mother had grown up free on the vast plains, a wandering magician.
My father, the second son of a rigid noble house, meticulous and precise.
A man from a noble family and a woman who grew up practicing magic freely—so different, yet they married quickly.
I was born.
When I was a baby, our home was happy, I was told.
But year by year, my mother grew weary of court life.
The Empire subtly discriminated against elves’ descendants like her.
My father’s meticulous nature only added to her exhaustion.

‘You’re leaving?’
‘Just for a moment. Let me leave the capital and return home…’
‘Absolutely not!’
‘……’

Finally, as their passionate but vastly different love cooled, and my father’s obsession turned into jealousy, my mother couldn’t endure it any longer and truly left.
My father, desperate to find her, ran off to the plains, leaving me alone in the mansion.

‘When will you come back this time?’

A wealthy environment.
Yet a lonely child in an empty house.

‘Dad, don’t go! Dad!’
‘…….’
‘I’ll do everything right. Don’t leave me alone.’

They left without a promise to return.
I told myself I wasn’t lonely or abandoned.
But the only person who occasionally came by the quiet mansion was Leon.
Even then, I found him bothersome.
So I grabbed the wooden sword and whacked him while crying.

“Mom said when I grow up I’d understand… I’d know why she left.”
“…….”
“So I need to grow up fast. I need to become a beautiful and strong princess. Only then, the person who abandoned me will look back.”

“Don’t say such foolish things.”

Yet in my dream, Leon looked truly angry, just as I remembered.
“Don’t force yourself to understand adults who ignore you with excuses. You don’t need to grow up fast because of them!”

The first time I saw him genuinely angry.
“Children should act like children. Chase huge soap bubbles, step in cow dung or horse droppings, cry! Being an adult can come later!”

I broke down.
“But… then Mom won’t come back…”
“…….”
“No one is home! I’m all alone!”

I twisted my face in sorrow, unable to hold back tears.

Probably from then on, Leon began visiting every week.
Even though he was busy with heir training, he never showed it.

“Here, a giant soap bubble!”
“Enough, go away.”
“Then… here, some cow dung.”
“No need!”
“Then hardened dung.”
“Where do you even get this? It’s disgusting!”

Those days were short-lived.
Soon after, the newspapers reported that my mother, fleeing my father, had died in an accident, and my father followed shortly after in a scandalous end.
I was completely alone.
But there was someone who reached out.

“Hilde, would you like to tidy up your uncle’s mansion and come to live with us?”
“….”
“Your father wants to formally adopt you. I want that too.”
“….”
“Do you mind if I become your brother?”

Stony as a rock, I was startled and shook my head.
After the funeral, I was formally registered in my older uncle’s household.
I became an adopted child.
Suddenly gaining a family, a home, and a brother—but I wasn’t lost.
Because Leon had let me stay a child.

“Hilde, you don’t have to grow up too fast.”

Strict yet kind.
Someone who truly cared for me.
“You will become a beautiful and strong princess.”

I had to come back safely—for him, who willingly gave everything for me.
“Because it’s my sibling.”
Brother… I’m sorry.
I’m truly sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.

‘Then… come back safely, alright?’

I wanted to come back too.
I did…

All night, rain drizzled, and the early morning sky looked like a navy curtain washed of color.
Hildegard, waking in the middle of the night, stopped in the second-floor corridor.
It was the place where portraits were hung.
There were personal and family portraits of past dukes.
Even her own image from life.

“You were so small.”

The adopted princess Hildegard stared nervously outside the frame.
There was also Leonhardt’s personal portrait.
The 13th Duke, Leonhardt, stood with his hand on a cane, wearing a stern expression.

“Ah… those wrinkles between the eyebrows never smoothed out.”

Was he like that when he handed over ten mines? When the dukedom began to fall?

“Why… were you like that? So foolish.”

Hildegard reached for Leonhardt’s portrait, pressing the wrinkled brow.
“Ten mines are too many, you know? Duke, that’s not right…”

Her chest ached.
No amount of cold water could calm the turmoil in her heart.

‘If you let them live with gemstone mines but leave your parents’ bodies anywhere… I couldn’t do it.’

Mikhail had been right.
Hildegard looked at the portrait with a troubled face.
Even if she reclaimed the mines and restored the family, the past wouldn’t return.
As great as happiness isn’t, misfortune isn’t either.

Hildegard knew better than anyone that if a child couldn’t be a child, it was misfortune.
She had felt it in her childhood.
Her misfortune had been driven away by Leonhardt. But who would chase away the shadows over Mikhail and Redis?

Hildegard didn’t place much meaning on her reincarnation.
Not until now.

“Brother.”

She spoke to the one who protected her childhood.
“Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.”

Hildegard vowed to chase away the adult shadows that loomed over Mikhail and Redis.
She would raise them boldly, restore everything to how it was.
She would reclaim the glory of the family.

“No one gets to destroy our family while I’m here. Not a chance!”

Hildegard smiled confidently at the portrait.
“Watch over me, brother. You know I don’t break promises, right?”

After the storm comes a rainbow.
The rain gradually lessened, and a brilliant rainbow stretched across the sky.

“Trust me. I’ll protect our family.”

This time, it was a vow she made to the portrait of her brother.