Chapter 72
As the sun began to set—
“Thank you both for coming today. It’s getting dark soon, so you should be heading home now.”
“Just a little longer, please. I want to stay here with you.”
My sister lingered, reluctant to part with Mother.
I felt the same. I still wanted to be with her, too.
We had arrived around noon, and now it was already evening.
Time seemed to pass faster than usual today.
“Your father and brother will start worrying, you know. The trip back home is long—if you don’t leave soon, it’ll be night before you arrive.”
“All right. But we’ll come visit again very soon!”
“Good girls.”
My sister swallowed her desire to stay and accepted Mother’s words quietly.
Mother offered to see us off all the way to the carriage, so we stayed together until the very end.
“When you want to see us again, please write to us right away, Mother,” Tiana said, her gaze lowered.
“Thank you, Tiana.”
“Next time, we’ll bring everyone!” Ellie added brightly, promising that the whole family would come together.
“Hehe, thank you, both of you. I’ll be looking forward to it. Take care on your way home.”
Ellie stepped into the carriage first, and Tiana followed after her.
When the door closed and she settled into her seat, Tiana’s fingertips brushed against a piece of white paper sticking out of her bag.
“Ah—”
It was the picture she had drawn of their whole family.
Clutching it tightly, Tiana threw open the carriage door and jumped out.
“Mother!”
Her voice rang out through the evening air as she ran and threw her arms around the duchess.
“Next time, I promise we’ll all come see you together! Please—wait for us until then!”
Within those words—“wait for us”—was a deeper plea: Please, don’t die.
“I couldn’t draw it very well, but I added Father and my brothers too, so you won’t feel lonely when you look at it.”
“Tiana… thank you for such a lovely picture. It makes me so happy. When I start missing you all and feel lonely, I’ll look at this drawing—and it will give me strength.”
“Yes!”
The duchess hugged Tiana tightly, and Tiana returned the embrace just as hard.
Bathed in the golden glow of the setting sun, the two looked like a picture of pure love between mother and daughter—beautiful, fragile, and heartbreaking to behold.
Tiana had promised herself she wouldn’t cry in front of her mother.
Even so, her eyes brimmed with tears she could barely hold back.
Like Ellie, she didn’t want to leave, but at last, she climbed back into the carriage.
Ellie hadn’t stepped down earlier—out of quiet consideration for her little sister and their mother’s moment together.
“Goodbye, Mother. See you soon!”
From the carriage window, Tiana and Ellie waved and called out their farewells.
As they did, Dino, Nicholas, and the other knights formed a protective escort around them.
Then the carriage carrying the four of them began its journey back toward the duke’s estate.
