Chapter 25
After finishing his words, Grandpa looked at me with a slightly expectant gaze.
As if he were waiting for me to say, “Okay, I’ll stay here.”
Did Dad already know this would happen?
“If you live here, you can eat delicious, expensive food every day, wear pretty dresses like a princess every day…”
Is that why he asked me that question?
But my answer is the same now as it was then.
No—after hearing Grandpa’s words, I was even more certain.
“Why… why would you say that…?”
“…Hm?”
“Why do you say things like that? Your Grace, do you know how hard it is for a man to raise a daughter all by himself?”
I spoke cautiously, my expression showing a bit of hurt.
“Your Grace, my dad works all night long just to raise me.”
“Ive…!”
Dad looked at me with wide, startled eyes. But I had no intention of stopping.
“If there’s any work available in the village, he takes it. And even then, he’s always worried I’ll get teased for not having a mom, so he pays attention to things like tying my hair.”
It’s true.
Even when Dad’s glasses broke, he just fixed them up roughly and kept wearing them. But when it comes to my hair ties, he always goes to the market and buys different colors so he can use a new one every day.
“If there’s any work besides sword-making that pays, he takes it. Even when he doesn’t eat, he tries to make sure I can eat. And every year on my birthday, he buys me a pretty dress.”
“…Ive.”
The Duke called my name in a slightly flustered voice. But I shook my head and kept going.
“Grandpa only met me after I’d grown up, but Dad’s been raising me since I was a baby. There’s no way it was easy, but he raised me with all he had—even without Mom.”
“…”
“While you didn’t even know whether I was alive or dead, Dad was doing his best to raise me. So why would you say something like that to him…?”
Only then did Grandpa’s expression change. Looking very flustered, he put down his napkin and reached a hand out to me.
“Ive, dear, I didn’t mean it that way…”
“I’m tired of hearing that… Why does everyone here say the same thing?”
“…Everyone says the same thing?”
[Now’s your chance, Ive—say it, say it!]
“A little while ago, a man named Sylvester came up to me. He said I was a half-blood with commoner blood. That I didn’t look anything like my mom. That he even doubted I had Ferdinand blood in me… And then he said he didn’t mean it like that. That I misunderstood.”
“He said you didn’t look like your mother…! He actually said that to you?”
“Yes. Even the maids whispered behind my back, saying I didn’t resemble her. But Grandpa, even if they say they didn’t mean it like that, that doesn’t make the hurt go away…”
“Ive…”
“That’s how I feel right now. My heart hasn’t healed. I don’t want to stay here. I want to go home…”
“Dear, I’m sorry. I made a mistake. Ive…”
“The most important person in the world to me isn’t myself, and it’s not Grandpa either. It’s my dad.”
I spoke firmly, as if driving in a nail.
“And I don’t want to stay even a second longer in a place where people look down on my dad.”
I stood up from my seat. I could feel both Dad and Grandpa staring at me in shock.
Maybe getting up before the meal was over was considered rude by noble standards.
But right now, I was just a little peasant girl from the countryside.
I didn’t know those rules, and I didn’t want to know.
What I did know was this—Grandpa looked down on me and my dad.
And I will never forgive anyone who looks down on my dad.
I had been so scared of “noble lords,” but right now, I wasn’t afraid of even someone as powerful as my grandpa.
Maybe it was because I instinctively knew he wouldn’t hurt me.
I stood up and looked at my dad.
“Let’s go, Dad. Let’s return to the palace. His Majesty might be waiting for us.”
“Ive, wait… just a moment!”
“I want to go. I really do. I don’t want to be here at all…”
I turned and walked out of the dining room, leaving Dad behind.
I could hear Grandpa calling out to me in a flustered voice, but I didn’t look back.
Even if he was my grandfather, I couldn’t forgive him for dismissing the time my dad and I had spent together.
Grandpa only saw me as a grown child, so of course it looked easy.
He didn’t consider how hard it must have been for my dad to raise me.
Since Dad didn’t immediately follow me out, he was probably still talking with Grandpa.
Just then—
“Oh my, Lady Ive?”
Charlotte was approaching from the direction of the dining room and smiled softly when she spotted me.
She knelt down to meet my gaze and asked gently,
“Did you enjoy your meal?”
“Yes, it was delicious. But Charlotte, where’s my dress?”
“Your dress? Another attendant put it away safely earlier…”
“Could I have it back now, please?”
“…Why did you say that?”
Neil muttered bitterly. But Theobald had no answer.
“That’s how I feel right now. My heart hasn’t healed. I don’t want to stay here. I want to go home…”
Those words, murmured in a near-tearful voice by his granddaughter, echoed endlessly in his ears and mind.
‘What have I done to that child?’
Ive had looked so hurt as she said she didn’t want to stay any longer.
Then she stormed out of the dining room. He couldn’t even guess where that tiny girl had gone.
Where did it all go wrong?
Theobald stared blankly at the chair where Ive had been sitting just moments before.
He had never been a good father.
When his daughter, Astrid, was Ive’s age, he had been too busy to be a good parent.
And after Astrid ran away with Neil in the night, he hadn’t been able to be a good father even if he wanted to.
He was the one who had cut ties with them first.
It was his own foolish self in the past who had sworn to never see his daughter, her husband, or their child again…
He regretted it more than he could say.
He had regretted that day endlessly.
He had spent every day wishing he could turn back time and become a better father this time around.
But Astrid hadn’t wanted Theobald to meet Ive. She had asked Neil to keep Ive’s existence hidden from him.
If it weren’t for the occasional letters Neil sent, Theobald would never have known his granddaughter even existed.
On the day Astrid died and Ive was born, Neil had sent a single letter to House Ferdinand.
It was a death notice for his daughter—
And a birth announcement for his granddaughter.
Though the handwriting was composed, the letter bore stains of dried tears throughout. Theobald could tell how Neil must have felt when writing it.
And why he had sent it to Theobald, despite everything.
Astrid must have begged Neil to never tell Theobald about Ive.
Even about her death. That’s just how cold his daughter had become.
