Chapter 107
Chapter 107: The Vanished First Love
Simon let out a small laugh and hesitated briefly before roughly ruffling Elena’s hair.
“We’ll… meet again next time, right?”
“Then we absolutely must meet next time!”
When Elena shyly held up her pinky finger, Simon nodded slightly and linked his pinky with hers.
“Yes, I promise.”
Only after hearing her friend’s confirmation did Elena feel reassured.
Yet wondering if it might be time to reveal her identity, she slowly opened her mouth.
“Hey, Simon.”
“Hmm?”
The boy raised his straight eyebrows.
As embarrassment suddenly overwhelmed her, Elena shook her head vigorously.
“Ah, it’s nothing!”
Simon showed a puzzled look before giving a small nod.
Looking at her friend, Elena swallowed the words she couldn’t bring herself to say.
‘Next time we meet, I’ll definitely tell you my name!’
Since she couldn’t keep hiding it forever, she was determined to tell him at their next meeting.
Elena Rohenbach – her real name.
However, making such a resolution proved futile as Elena couldn’t meet him for a long time.
As the new year dawned and the boy attended his Crown Prince lessons, Elena’s maternal grandmother, Baroness Friedrich, was fighting for her life.
Following their grandmother’s wish to see her grandchildren, the Rohenbach siblings frequently visited the Friedrich territory with their mother.
Less than half a year after the Baroness passed away, the Baron, who had been devoted to his wife, also departed to join her after a lingering illness.
After Baron Friedrich’s funeral, Elena’s maternal uncle inherited the title.
Amid these changing circumstances, six seasons had passed without Elena meeting Simon.
During that time, Crown Prince Simon assisted the Emperor with state affairs and made a name for himself as the prestigious future Sun.
Elena felt proud and happy hearing news of her friend through the newspapers.
She could also hear through her father about how cute and lovely the healthily born Princess was.
Though Marquess Rohenbach carefully asked if she wanted to enter the palace together, Elena shook her head, saying it was fine.
She had resolved not to meet Simon, who had once been her friend.
Now that more time had passed than they had spent building their friendship, she knew there would be a gap between them.
Their surrounding environment and circumstances had already changed significantly.
As Elena matured, she became more aware of how high the position of Crown Prince was, and how casually she had treated him simply because they were friends.
Therefore, it felt even more careful and difficult to contact Simon first.
She was reluctant to visit the palace just because she missed her friend, worried it might look like she was trying to approach him for his power.
‘Still, I’m glad he seems to be doing well.’
Seeing him fully established as Crown Prince, Elena felt happy as if it were her own achievement, yet couldn’t hide an underlying sense of disappointment.
If Simon ever looked for his old friend Rosie, she was willing to meet him anytime.
But since he didn’t look for her, he must have either forgotten about her or considered her unimportant.
‘By now, Simon must have forgotten about me…’
Moreover, even if he hadn’t forgotten her, it was uncertain whether he would still treat her as a friend after she disappeared without a word.
Feeling that either possibility would only hurt, Elena decided to just support him from afar.
However, not long after another year changed, something terrible happened in the Imperial Family.
Simon, having lost almost everything, had to flee to the distant North with his sister.
Elena wanted to protect her friend. But she was too young to protect him.
Unable to meet that boy for so long, Elena experienced regret for the first time.
Regret for not visiting her friend, and for not being able to comfort him when he must have been suffering greatly.
* * *
Lupeon and the Devonshire knights returned to the Grand Duke’s mansion earlier than expected after completing the monster subjugation.
After briefly commending the knights who must have been physically and mentally exhausted, Lupeon quietly ordered them to disperse.
Not wanting to show his monster blood-covered appearance to his young sister, he headed straight to his room.
By the time he finished bathing, the dim night had fallen.
He visited the child’s room holding a storybook.
Knock knock—
“Anasha, it’s me.”
The sound of hurried footsteps grew closer, and Anasha greeted him with a bright smile.
“Big brother!”
Perhaps relieved by the child’s bright appearance, a faint smile spread across Lupeon’s face.
“Yes, have you been well?”
“Yes, I played dolls with new sister and had lots of fun!”
He thought of Elena, who must have worked hard, while looking at his sister’s satisfied expression.
‘I should visit her right after putting Anasha to bed.’
Just as Lupeon, momentarily lost in thought, was tucking the child into bed with a warm blanket.
Anasha’s lips twitched and her eyes sparkled brightly.
‘What’s wrong…?’
That was clearly the signal Anasha gave when she had something to say.
The child thought deeply, shook her head, then squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again.
Chuckling at this, Lupeon carefully asked her.
“Anasha, was there nothing unusual at the mansion?”
“No, nothing happened.”
Yet Anasha’s hands fidgeted unnaturally under the blanket. As if deliberately trying to hide something.
Wondering if she had hidden something precious, Lupeon casually glanced toward her hands.
Then Anasha, noticeably agitated, quickly hid a blue object she had taken from under the blanket behind her back.
Finding this suspicious, Lupeon narrowed his eyes and asked in a low voice.
“Anasha, I already saw it, so why don’t you show me?”
“Eh? R-really?”
Though he didn’t know exactly what his sister had hidden, he nodded slightly since he had glimpsed the blue object.
Then Anasha, wearing a troubled expression, awkwardly showed what had been behind her back.
“…!”
At that moment, Lupeon’s eyes widened. He slightly furrowed his brow, wondering if he was seeing things.
But soon discovering the embroidery behind the blue velvet ribbon, his expression hardened. Because the imperial family’s crest was engraved behind the ribbon.
His heart seemed to drop as if receiving a great shock.
Though he felt like something was tumbling down, he forced himself to swallow and asked.
“Anasha, where did you get this?”
“Ah, well, that’s…”
The child’s blue eyes trembled slightly, then she added in a gloomy voice.
“New sister said it was a secret.”
“A secret…?”
“Yes, it’s a gift new sister gave me.”
“…”
Lupeon couldn’t say anything and just stared at the blue velvet ribbon in his hand.
‘Elena gave this to Anasha.’
Perhaps what he had been guessing all along was getting closer to the truth.
After all, the blue velvet ribbon was what he had given to Rosie long ago.
‘This is too much to be just a coincidence…’
Lupeon’s expression grew increasingly rigid, and his mouth went dry.
Still being in front of the child, he maintained a deliberately calm expression and asked in a composed voice.
“Anasha, did Elena really give this to you?”
“Yes, but me telling you is a secret, okay?”
“…I understand.”
As he answered in a small mutter, Anasha let out a short exclamation as if remembering something.
“Ah! But new sister said something strange.”
“Something strange?”
The child, gently fingering the blue velvet ribbon, tilted her head and added.
“She said this was originally mine.”
“…!”
At Anasha’s confident answer, Lupeon looked at the ribbon again.
For some reason, his throat felt hot and his eyes stung.
He had no choice but to finally realize who his vanished first love had been.
