TPOVF 10

Chapter 10

Caelus vividly remembered the day he was abandoned at the Valerio Ducal Residence.

April 12th.

That day was unseasonably hot for spring.

Throughout dinner, his mother’s expression had been very troubled. Well, his mother had cried almost every day because Lillian was sick, so it wasn’t that unusual.

What was different was the nanny.

After dinner, the nanny gave Caelus warm hot chocolate. She would never let him have it normally, saying it would ruin his teeth.

Even when he said he didn’t want to drink it because it was too hot, the nanny forced the steaming beverage on him.

She said he had to drink it to fall asleep early.

*’If you keep being difficult, I’ll tell your mother!’*

The threat of the nanny tattling to his mother scared him enough that he forced down the hot chocolate he didn’t even want to drink.

And he fell into a deep sleep.

When he came to his senses, he was here at the ducal residence. His eyelids were too heavy to open.

But even without opening his eyes, he could tell it was the Valerio Ducal Residence.

His own home didn’t have a bed this big.

—

*’Please take good care of Cael, Ches.’*

—

In his drowsy state, he briefly heard his mother sobbing. She had always cried quietly in secret before.

Had something happened to Lillian?

Caelus was too scared to open his eyes. Then, he heard his mother whispering to someone.

—

*’If only I had been a little stronger. Hic, then I could have taken care of Cael too…’*

*’How can that be your fault, sister-in-law? Don’t say that. This is a decision for everyone’s sake. Cael must not meet Lilli. At least… until…’*

—

It was his uncle.

Realizing who his mother was speaking to, Caelus became certain that this was the ducal residence.

*’But what are they talking about?’*

Caelus’s eyes twitched. The adults were having some important conversation.

He was curious.

But he couldn’t hear any more.

Because sleep washed over him like a wave.

He really shouldn’t have drunk that hot chocolate.

The next morning. When Caelus woke up, he was left alone at the ducal residence.

When Caelus got up, his uncle came and said gruffly:

His mother and Lillian had gone to the Imperial Palace. And Caelus would have to stay here for a while.

Caelus couldn’t ask his uncle any more questions. Because he, too, wore the same pained expression as his mother.

So the only person Caelus could get information from was the nanny. But every word she said was like a sharp thorn.

—

*’Why did they leave only you here, you ask? Why else, young master? Because you’re a bad child. They must have abandoned you here because you were too much to handle. If you listen to me well, they’ll come get you then. Do you understand?’*

—

Really?

Am I really that hopeless?

No, that’s not true.

I… I behaved well. I’m not so terrible that Mother would abandon me.

Caelus was shocked by the nanny’s words, but he tried to behave well.

Even if he was upset and wronged, even if the reality of being abandoned made him want to sob—he didn’t cry or whine like a spoiled child. He tried to listen to the nanny and do as he was told.

Because then, soon, he would be able to live with his mother and Lillian again.

But.

A day passed, then two days, a week. And then a fortnight, a month passed.

Even as the seasons changed.

Mother and Lillian never came back for Caelus.

Even his uncle didn’t try to see Caelus. He left Caelus in a large, dark room and turned away.

*’I’m lonely.’*

For the first time, Caelus fully understood the meaning of the word “lonely.”

Lonely. I’m lonely.

No matter how much he cried out, no one came running to him. There was no one to hold him and pat his back.

The boy curled his small, thin body in the large room and cried silently.

When he was even growing tired of shedding tears—

A stern-looking man came to see him. He was apparently someone important, the head of some association, and he became Caelus’s first private tutor.

—

*’Young Master Caelus is quieter than his peers. Uncooperative. A difficult child to handle.’*

—

Who the hell are you to say that to me?

I know I’m a bad child, that I’m so hopeless that Mother abandoned me.

But why do you have to dig at my wounds?

I don’t need a tutor like you.

Get lost.

Caelus unleashed all sorts of magic in anger, and eventually the man fled in disgrace.

The same thing happened afterward.

The tutors all took the nanny’s side and wouldn’t listen to Caelus.

They all said the same things.

That the young master was a troublemaker. A problem child.

That he required too much attention and was difficult to handle.

Caelus was angry.

At first, he was angry at his mother, at Lillian, at his uncle. But now, he was angry at himself.

Maybe the nanny had been telling the truth after all.

Hadn’t his mother and uncle done the same? Saying he must not meet Lillian.

Wasn’t it because he was a bad child that he had to be separated from his sister?

Because he was a terrible, bad child.

So… everyone…

“Everyone hates me.”

“No, they don’t!”

A bright, clear voice pierced the ears of Caelus, who had been muttering with his head bowed low. At the same time, a warm embrace enveloped him.

“It’s not your fault, Young Master!”

Caelus blankly looked up at the other person.

“Really…?”

In the boy’s vision appeared a woman with bright beige hair and clear skin. She nodded with a fresh smile.

“Of course!”

The boy’s green eyes, as he looked at the woman—at Eurenia—grew wet.

For the first time.

Someone who took his side before even meeting him.

Marlenda had once again escorted the new tutor while badmouthing him.

But this person reacted differently from all the previous teachers.

—

*’Marlenda. Please don’t say things like that. What if the Young Master hears and gets hurt?’*

—

Teacher Eurenia didn’t echo Marlenda’s words.

Of course, his wariness didn’t disappear just because of that. The child’s heart was already too twisted.

So Caelus threw milk at her and even shouted loudly.

Yet Teacher Eurenia didn’t get angry. Rather, she reassured Caelus.

—

*’You don’t have to trust me. But I mean it. Even if you got me fired right now, Duke Chester wouldn’t know about what happened today. So don’t worry.’*

—

He was dumbfounded. He had thought everyone—all adults—hated him.

—

*’It’s not your fault, Young Master. So you don’t have to apologize to me.’*

—

Teacher Eurenia was different. Teacher Eurenia was…

*’Like an angel.’*

Like the angels he’d seen in the cathedral murals. Beautiful angels leading baby cherubs.

Caelus quietly pulled Eurenia into an embrace. And buried his face in her neck.

He loved the feeling of her hand regularly patting his thin back.

“…Teacher.”

“Yes, Young Master Cael?”

“What if you get sick because of me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Lilli got sick all because of me. So maybe you could get sick because of me too…”

“What?”

“Who said that?”

Just as Caelus curled his back and whispered softly, the slightly ajar door swung wide open.

And a man with a heavily contorted face—Duke Chester—appeared.

“Who the hell said such nonsense!”

Chester shouted in disbelief. His unexpected appearance made the child in Eurenia’s arms flinch.

“Who was it? Who said that to you?”

Flames seemed to flicker in Chester’s eyes. He bent his knees to meet the gaze of the child burrowing into Eurenia’s embrace.

“Answer me, Caelus!”

“…”

“Caelus Valerio!”

At Chester’s shout, the child’s body trembled pitifully. Caelus used Eurenia as a shield, desperately avoiding his uncle.

“Cael, say something!”

When the child only avoided him, Chester shouted in frustration.

But his threatening demeanor only frightened Caelus more. As the front of her clothes grew wet from the child in her arms, Eurenia wore a resolute expression.

*’This can’t go on.’*

First, she tightly embraced the child with one hand. Then she raised her remaining hand and extended it toward Duke Chester.