Chapter 10
‘Ae’r must have been waiting for a long time.’
Each tick of the second hand seemed slower than ever.
After about ten minutes, someone suddenly burst into the reception room.
“Guildmaster!”
It was Peter, his face pale as paper.
“S-someone came from the kindergarten…”
“Came?”
A sense of unease crept over Estelle.
“Master Ae’r! He disappeared from the kindergarten!”
“What?”
Her foreboding proved entirely accurate.
‘Please, don’t tell me this has anything to do with the Duke or the Emperor.’
It had happened immediately after Zeon’s visit. Naturally, Estelle imagined the worst-case scenarios.
‘No!’
Her body wavered as if all the blood had drained from her. But there was no time to hesitate—she had to reach the kindergarten immediately and search for clues.
“Quickly! Prepare the horses!”
“Yes!”
There was no time to wait elegantly for a carriage. Estelle discarded her mask and wig, swiftly mounting her horse.
“Go!”
She urged the horse forward with fierce determination.
“Master, why are you so cheerful?”
On the carriage ride back to the inn after the meeting with the Erme Guildmaster.
Greg, a member of Rodalan’s guild, could no longer contain his curiosity and asked Zeon. For the first time in over three years of following him—thanks to Zeon having saved his life—he was seeing the rare sight of a warm smile on his master’s face.
‘Come to think of it, Master has been acting strangely over the past few weeks.’
Zeon’s odd behavior had begun on the fourth day after traveling to Aren, following news that the Erme Guild sought the Rodalan Guild.
The guild had long operated in secrecy; most members didn’t even know the guildmaster’s name, recognizing each other only by the ‘Moonflower’ symbol.
Yet now a guildmaster from outside was seeking them by name. Naturally, curiosity and suspicion arose.
‘If confidential information had leaked, he must have come to Aren to eliminate the risk.’
Greg had no idea what Zeon had witnessed while tailing the guildmaster. Until recently, Zeon’s usually somber expression had taken on an unexpected liveliness.
‘Then today he even ordered me to tail a young member of the Erme Guild.’
Though the reasoning was unclear, Greg followed the boy as instructed. When he subtly revealed that he belonged to the Rodalan Guild, the situation naturally led to a private meeting between Estelle and Zeon.
‘What is he thinking? Could this be some trap? How can he remain so calm!’
Zeon was an enigma, impossible to read.
“Simply… I was called by a name I’ve longed to hear,” he said.
It was hard to describe, but he looked like a dog that had finally found its lost master. The fierce, sensitive predator from before had disappeared.
Whether or not he realized it, Zeon peered out the window with eyes curved in contentment.
In the distance, at the harbor, a young man disembarked and was joyfully reunited with what appeared to be his wife and child.
Though usually indifferent to others’ affairs, Zeon was uncharacteristically tender today.
‘I knew you were alive, Estelle.’
Four years ago, Zeon could not accept Estelle’s seemingly meaningless death.
He had discovered that the body found at the Astoria estate was fake. The one who disguised the corpse under the Duke’s orders was his own father, Count Tenneb.
No one in the Astoria family suspected her death—not even the Duke who had ordered the fake body prepared.
Yet Zeon refused to believe it.
Protecting Astoria had been his duty since birth. But he had chosen Estelle over the young Duke Regulus.
For the first time, he had chosen a lord of his own will. Estelle was the most significant person in his life.
On the day of her memorial, Zeon lost his purpose. He abandoned all honor as a knight and his title as the youngest Count Tenneb, wandering the continent in search of her.
The purpose of founding a secret guild, Rodalan, symbolized by a night-blooming flower, was solely to find Estelle—to wait for the night when his star would reappear.
‘When I arrived in Aren, I had almost given up.’
After wandering four years, he could not forget the moment he saw her again at the continent’s edge. More precisely, while secretly observing the Erme Guildmaster, he discovered Estelle emerging from the guild and shivered all over.
Though her hair, eyes, and name were different, he recognized her instantly.
From then on, he watched over her in secret—intimidating aging barons who treated her lightly, breaking the legs of unsavory men tailing her at night, including the second son of the local lord, Baron Bernes.
During that time, he uncovered a shocking truth.
‘She has a young son… likely the Emperor’s child.’
Though reluctant to acknowledge it, the boy bore an uncanny resemblance to the Emperor.
Observing the Erme Guild’s extraordinary management, he also deduced that the masked guildmaster was Estelle herself.
‘Estelle… to have you seek me out is an honor beyond words.’
Thus, he appeared before her under the name Rodalan, ready to serve her once more.
And one more thing: today revealed a new truth.
‘Estelle wishes to live as a commoner.’
She did not wish to be called a lady and desired to hide her identity. Zeon respected this wish—indeed, he preferred it.
He remembered the emptiness in the eyes of Empress Estelle.
The Estelle he knew as a child had been a girl shining with grand dreams. But the Empress Estelle, yearning for the love of an absent Emperor, had withered like a flower losing its petals.
Now, however, things were different.
In today’s private meeting, her eyes reflected unwavering determination toward her goals. She was the Estelle of his memories, sparkling like a star.
‘Now she’s back to the Estelle I knew.’
He still did not know her full intentions. But he would not let her be confined to the palace again. He wanted to help her freely pursue her will here.
And most importantly:
‘Here, there is no Astoria-Tenneb hierarchy constraining my life, nor an Emperor who would only bring harm to the Empress.’
Long-suppressed desires began to stir.
‘If these feelings are no longer disloyal…’
This was a chance from heaven. This time, he would never let go of his star.
“Ae’r!”
“Mom!”
From a distance, Estelle spotted Ae’r standing at the kindergarten gate. He had returned safely. What a relief.
Still, her concern for any injuries spurred her forward.
Closing the distance in an instant, she leapt from her horse as if flying—landing perfectly like a skilled and courageous knight.
“Mommaaa!”
Ae’r ran straight into her arms. Thanks to repeated safety lessons, he had never approached a horse recklessly.
The child’s small body pressed against her, radiating warmth, yet Estelle’s heart refused to calm. She anxiously checked over her son.
“Ae’r, are you hurt anywhere? What happened?”
“I’m so sorry, Mom… a beautiful bird kept chasing me—”
Unaware of his mother’s worry, the boy recounted his forest adventure, cheeks flushed and voice chattering.
“Ae’r’s mother! I deeply apologize. We should have been more careful… we failed to notice a gap in the backyard fence that the children could pass through.”
Following behind, Ae’r’s teacher, Ms. Anne, spoke with a trembling voice, bowing repeatedly.
Her hair was disheveled, her skirt stained with dirt, and dried tears marked her flushed cheeks. The small, innocent teacher bore the visible weight of guilt and worry.
Throughout the ride, Estelle’s mind had been filled with the fear that Ae’r had been abducted.
Yet according to Ae’r’s excited chatter and Ms. Anne’s explanation, he had simply wandered off during afternoon play.
Certainly, some responsibility lay with the poorly maintained old facility, but it was also a time to teach the child to exercise personal caution.
