Chapter: 19
“Mom… what did Dad look like?”
One day, Dorothy asked her mother that.
“Are you curious about what your father looked like?”
“Yeah. I look like you.”
Her softly pink hair.
Her blue eyes.
Everything she had came from her mother.
As a child, Dorothy wanted to find even a trace of her father in her own face.
“Your eyes.”
“My eyes?”
“Your father looked like a sweet, affectionate cat. Even his personality was like that.”
Her mother gently stroked Dorothy’s hair.
“Sometimes he’d lie with his head in my lap, looking up at me… his eyes sparkling so brightly. It was adorable.”
Her mother had sharp, striking features.
So did that mean her father had gentle, soft eyes instead?
Dorothy imagined a kind-faced, timid-looking man.
And then, suddenly, another question came to her.
Why had Mother left Father?
✦ ✦ ✦
Maybe because she’d been thinking about her parents so much lately,
Dorothy had been dreaming of her childhood often.
“Oh no—I’m late!”
It was already past noon.
After quickly changing, Dorothy hurried next door.
Knock, knock.
“Hello! Sorry I’m so late today—”
The door opened, and someone immediately pulled her into a hug.
She didn’t even need to look to know who it was.
“Thank you.”
It was Rose, taller than Dorothy, deliberately bending down to bury her face against Dorothy’s shoulder.
“Thanks to you, I made up with Brandon. If it weren’t for you, we never would have reconciled.”
“….”
“You know, now that we’ve made up, my heart feels so much lighter.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Thank you, Dorothy.”
Rose whispered it.
“Really, thank you.”
“Oh, I barely did anything. You were the one who had the courage to make up with him.”
Dorothy patted Rose’s back warmly.
Just then—
“By the way!”
“W–Whoa!”
The tender moment was shattered when Rose grabbed Dorothy’s shoulders.
“I’m warning you—you really have to be careful from now on. Do you hear me?”
“Huh?”
“About Brandon!”
“What? Be careful about what?”
Last time, Rose had said the Duke was strange.
Now she was telling her to be careful?
Dorothy blinked in confusion.
“Big sis, I forgot to mention this earlier…”
Brandon’s voice drifted in from the living room. He didn’t seem to realize Dorothy had arrived.
“Tomorrow a delivery should come. Could you accept it for me? It’s a custom-made suit.”
“Hey! Why did you send your stuff to my house?!”
“I forgot to change the address to the capital. And I come here all the time anyway.”
“Who comes all the time?! It’s not ‘anyway’!”
This was completely normal Brandon.
Smooth-talking, driving Rose crazy as usual.
So what exactly was she supposed to be careful about?
“Helping each other out is good for you too, right?”
Brandon finally walked toward the entrance.
“Next time, I’ll help you too—”
And then his gaze met Dorothy’s.
It was their first time seeing each other since she had comforted him before.
Oh—I should greet him!
Dorothy bowed quickly.
“Good morning, Duke. It’s a lovely day.”
“…Ah.”
“I’m late today. I overslept.”
She smiled brightly.
“Good morning, Dorothy.”
Brandon replied warmly.
“You overslept? Still, it’s good that you got proper rest.”
But something was strange.
His lips were trembling slightly.
Was it just her imagination?
Dorothy took out the basket she had brought—food Mrs. Horton had prepared for her.
“So, have you had lunch yet? If not, maybe we could eat together—”
“Yes! That’s fine. A good idea. I mean, I haven’t eaten yet. Let’s eat together. I’ll prepare tea and a place to sit—”
The words spilled out of him before she even finished.
“So… thank you?”
His intense reaction left Dorothy dazed.
Something really was different.
Brandon was usually relaxed and composed.
Now he looked… flustered.
Was he really strange?
Did she really need to be careful?
Lost in thought, Dorothy ended up staring at him.
“Ah…”
After enduring her gaze for a while, Brandon finally turned away.
“I’ll go ask Hill to prepare the meal… and get something to drink afterward.”
He hurried off.
Only then did Dorothy realize.
“Oh no… I stared too much!”
“Rose, what should I do?” she wailed.
“I think I made him uncomfortable!”
“…I see now. The one who needs to be careful is you, Dorothy.”
Rose sighed, covering her face.
“What?! Me?”
“Hahaha! Yes! Brandon should be the one watching out! Did you see him run away?”
Rose burst out laughing.
“Hill’s going to do all the prep anyway. What was he even rushing off for?”
“What does that mean…?”
“Oh my stomach—I’m dying!”
Rose laughed so hard she couldn’t explain.
✦ ✦ ✦
The Black Lion of the Western Plains had finally begun to move after a long silence.
Neither the Imperial Council nor the Emperor commanded him—
yet everyone watched the movements of Count Allot.
The Empire’s greatest swordsman.
The pinnacle of knights.
The Sleeping Lion.
“Welcome back to the capital, Commander.”
A guard at the city gate greeted him nervously.
“I discarded that title long ago.”
The middle-aged man replied from inside the carriage.
His voice was low, like it came from a dark cave.
His black hair was more like a mane—long, tangled, and wild in the wind.
“Still, thank you for the welcome.”
“N–No, sir! It’s an honor!”
As the carriage departed, another guard approached.
“So, he finally returned? What was he like? An old lion, just like the rumors?”
“Don’t even joke. My legs almost gave out…”
“He was like a hunting lion itself.”
“What? You just checked him at the gate!”
“I don’t know—his eyes… they felt like that.”
“Just from talking to him?”
The other guard clicked his tongue.
Meanwhile, inside the carriage, Count Allot coughed nonstop.
“My lord,” his adjutant said carefully.
“Please see a physician. I’m worried this could be serious.”
“It’s just a cold.”
“You’ve had that ‘cold’ for three months!”
“Have I?”
The adjutant was desperate.
“The Allot family line is already on the brink! If you pass away like this, it’ll be over! At least take in an heir—forget marriage if you want!”
“Why are there so many newspapers here?”
“Are you even listening?!”
A pile of newspapers sat beside him.
Count Allot grabbed a handful to pass the time until they reached his estate.
“I’ve been in the provinces too long. I should at least keep up with society through these.”
“Even if you won’t marry, I still have to!”
They were filled with gossip and scandals.
Count Allot found them dull.
Just as he was about to return them—
“…Alexia?”
The face of a woman in a portrait on the front page caught his eye.
But his interest faded quickly.
“That can’t be.”
“It’s been twenty years.”
With a hollow laugh, he dropped the magazine.
