Side Story Part 6 (END)
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The two days we planned to stay passed in the blink of an eye. With each meal prepared so lavishly the table could barely support it, we spent our time mostly just eating.
“Granpa, bye-bye.”
“Heilo, come again next time.”
“Yes!”
Heilo, energetically waving her hand out the window on behalf of Hyle and me, kept her eyes fixed on the receding family home for quite some time.
“Do you feel sad about leaving Grandfather?”
When I asked, Heilo nodded as if she’d been waiting for the question. A faint melancholy settled over her sparkling green eyes.
“Heilo, we can come whenever you want. So there’s no need to be sad.”
Hyle began patting her back as he held her in his arms.
Since learning that Heilo would fall asleep if her back was gently patted, Hyle often employed this method.
Sure enough, Heilo soon began to nod off before closing her eyes. She was so adorable, sleeping well and eating well.
They say three-year-olds cause all sorts of trouble, but Heilo was quite well-behaved.
Well, occasionally she’d cry her heart out after pricking her finger on a thorn while trying to pick roses in the garden… but that hardly counts as trouble.
“Maybe Heilo is well-behaved because she takes after me.”
“I’m not so sure… this calm temperament seems more like me.”
Hyle seemed to reminisce about what little he knew of my childhood, then shook his head and let out a small laugh.
“Father told me everything. I heard that as a child, you thought the holy water at the Grand Temple was regular water and poured it all over the flower beds? And if that wasn’t enough, you destroyed the laboratory while claiming to make a cure for an epidemic…”
That doesn’t sound very calm to me?
With my past already exposed, there was no way I could make a believable rebuttal.
When I laughed and protested, Hyle closed his eyes and rubbed his face as if recalling something dreadful.
“Rosiel, please don’t mention those stories outside…”
“What’s wrong with things done as a child? All children are like that.”
“You haven’t forgotten that I’m the head of House Feros, have you?”
It was quite amusing to see Hyle glaring at me, saying he had an image to maintain.
When I burst into a small laugh, Hyle laid the sleeping Heilo on a blanket and stealthily came to sit beside me.
“This is unfair. I’m curious about your childhood too.”
“Hmm… we may not have met often, but you saw me a few times, didn’t you? What you saw is all there was. I never caused trouble like someone I know.”
As I answered with a chuckle, Hyle’s eyes filled with disbelief.
He clearly hadn’t considered for even a moment that I might have been a well-behaved child.
Laughing lightly with me, Hyle brought his lips close to my ear with a low voice.
“I think our next destination should be the Laté mansion.”
What?! Why make such an intimidating statement about meeting Fergio…?
“You might need some courage to go alone. No matter how much the darkness has been purified, Laté is still Laté.”
“Alone? Of course we’ll go together. You coming with me to your family home this time was all to improve the relationship between you and your father.”
“W-what? You knew that?!”
I thought he believed we’d come to his family home solely because of my stubbornness, but he knew the truth all along.
“As I’ve said before… your face reveals everything.”
“What are you talking about? No one in high society manages their expressions better than I do.”
“There’s no one in high society who loves you as much as I do.”
Hyle’s face, despite his sweet words, looked fierce. He seemed ready to immediately eliminate anyone else who might love me.
“Only I can read your expressions. This is a husband’s privilege.”
Hyle, proudly declaring his love with a proud face, was simply adorable.
The quiet carriage, the familiar scenery passing by the window—everything blended together to create a perfectly peaceful afternoon.
It was exactly the moment I had once desperately wished for.
Kiss.
After briefly kissing Hyle’s cheek, I faced him with a gentle smile.
“And kissing the cheek of the Empire’s finest Marquis Feros is my privilege.”
“…Rosiel, if you do this so casually at any random moment—”
Trailing off, Hyle slowly tilted his head with a suddenly intense gaze. Then he quickly pressed himself against me.
“…If you do this?”
“I love it, so much.”
Soon his warmth enveloped me. His body heat, mixed with profound affection, approached hotly.
As our lips parted, Hyle’s languid eyes quietly held me within them.
“Before, in the future, and this very moment. I will always love you, Rosiel.”
With a gentle smile, his quiet voice moistened my ear like honey flowing down.
His breath so close made my mind completely hazy.
Without a word, I buried my face in his embrace, and Hyle wrapped his arms around me with a familiar touch.
“And I, too…”
Whether he heard my mumbled response or not, Hyle’s laughter broke pleasantly. The wish I had when I first possessed this body had already come true.
‘To live peacefully, happily, and for a very long time.’
There could be no more perfect ending than this.
The End
