Chapter 27: A Family Member I Didn't Know About
He pointed first to the mug of cocoa and the golden scones on the table.
“Please, have some, Fay.”
“Wow, thank you so much!”
Since returning to the capital, Kassel had found cocoa to be the most perplexing drink. Its thick, murky color and nauseatingly sweet aroma made it hard to tell what it contained.
Though he didn’t particularly enjoy it, he’d heard that it had become popular among young noblewomen since it was introduced to the capital, so he hadn’t hesitated to prepare it.
Without even asking what it was, Fay, who was probably seeing it for the first time, sipped it calmly. Some young ladies reportedly burst into tears upon seeing the drink for the first time, finding it unsettling due to its opaque color. But she drank it all, bravely.
Kassel’s mood relaxed as he watched her enjoy her drink.
When Fay had finally finished her cocoa and snacks, she looked at the empty mug and blushed.
“Oh, I ate too much by myself. How have you been, Sir Leon? It’s nice to see you again.”
Kassel moved to stand in a spot where the light shone warmly, then asked, “Miss Fay, can you tell what symbol is on my uniform?”
As he drew closer, Fay tilted her head.
“Uh… I’m not sure. It doesn’t look like an eagle or a lion… Is it a rose?”
“Correct. This is a blue rose, crafted with tiny sapphires. This insignia represents the Blue Rose Knights. They used to guard the capital but were recently assigned to the Rozia border region, so not many people know of this symbol anymore.”
“Blue… Rose…?”
The words sparked something in Fay’s memory.
The Blue Rose Knights, the Rozia border—then, that place…!
“The Blue Rose Knights have been reassigned to the capital. After the restructuring, I have been appointed as the new commander.”
As he spoke calmly, memories Fay had buried long ago began to resurface. She sensed that Kassel was about to say something astonishing.
“Sir Leon…?”
“This is no simple matter of a knight order moving from one place to another. This is… very significant.”
She held her breath, fully focused on his next words.
“The reason you were employed by His Highness the Crown Prince for ‘that task’ was to push for the Blue Rose Knights’ return. It wasn’t the sole reason, but it was undoubtedly a major objective.”
“…Pardon?!”
Kassel’s red eyes flickered with intense emotion.
“My name isn’t just the ‘Leon’ you know.”
“Then…?”
Her lips, which she parted to ask his real name, trembled unconsciously.
“My full name is Kassel Deuplione Klein. I was the vice-commander of the Blue Rose Knights until recently. When you attended the Harvest Festival, I was there as well, deeply concerned about how things were progressing.”
“K…Kassel… Deup…lione… Klein….”
Fay’s mind went blank as she repeated his name slowly.
Sir Leon? The knight Leon…was Kassel Deuplione Klein, the Duke’s heir? The one I knew only by name…?
The same person the Duchess Klein household always complained about wanting to see, the one Maurice refused to speak of… The one person from the Klein family I hadn’t met.
The last mystery of the Klein Ducal family, that one person…!
And he was…my…
My…!!!
Her throat tightened, leaving her unable to speak. How could she even begin to explain what he meant to her, or what sort of bond they shared…? This would have to remain an eternal secret.
Still, Fay took a deep breath, clutching her racing heart in an effort to steady herself. She didn’t want to dwell on the bond she had once severed with her own hands. Even if Kassel had concealed his identity, it wasn’t wrong.
If he had declared himself as the Duke’s heir at the moment when the carriage wheel broke, would she have even accepted his words and climbed onto his horse? Would she have spoken freely about her plans with him? Would they have watched the festival together so cheerfully the second time they met at the ice storage? Would she have accepted his gift of a mirror or allowed today’s meeting to proceed without a second thought?
No… She wouldn’t have.
If she had known, she would have agonized over avoiding him, perhaps even fleeing to the Mage Tower or somewhere farther away.
Neither Leon—no, Kassel—nor I did anything wrong. We were only doing our best under the circumstances.
She mentally drew a line between herself and Kassel, determined to protect the boundaries of their connection.
“Miss Fay?”
Kassel noticed how deeply his revelation had unsettled her. This was not what he had intended. He stood abruptly and knelt before her, looking directly into her eyes. The courteous gesture, befitting a knight, made Fay’s heart skip.
It felt strange. To be so overwhelmed with emotions before someone she considered almost like family—what could this mean?
I don’t feel even a hint of resentment toward him. It’s just… it’s just…
She forced a smile.
“I had no idea. I never guessed. I did hear some other knight call you ‘vice-commander’ on the way to the Mage Tower once, though.”
“Our identities are generally kept secret due to spies constantly lurking near the border, but as we are now officially assigned to guard the capital, we no longer need such restrictions.”
“I see….”
“Once I learned that you had been employed by His Highness the Crown Prince and heard the full story, I knew I had to meet you. Even if this truth makes you feel uncomfortable, please remember that I never intended to deceive you.”
Kassel’s red eyes were filled with a quiet sorrow.
“Huh?”
“If the Blue Rose Knights had stayed in the capital, I would have introduced myself to you properly from the beginning.”
His sincerity rang true.
This was not the arrogance of a typical high-ranking noble. Fay was deeply moved by his honesty and his character, even recalling the kindness of the coachman. She shook her head in response.
“I wasn’t disappointed or anything like that. I was just…surprised to learn you were the Duke’s heir.”
It’s natural for anyone to be surprised upon finding out. Fay, of course, had her own unique reasons to feel even more shaken.
After all, she had spent her life avoiding even the mere mention of the Klein family name.
“Miss Fay.”
“So, this means you’ll be staying in the capital instead of returning to the border. Congratulations, truly. Sir Leon—the knight I met—was the finest knight I’ve ever known. This is wonderful news for everyone in the capital, including me….”
She stammered out her congratulations, and afterward, Fay couldn’t quite recall how they parted ways.
— — —
That evening, in her chamber at the Mage Tower, Fay collapsed onto her bed and wept freely.
The tears wouldn’t stop. Even as her tears soaked her pillow, making it cool and damp, her sorrow refused to ebb.
Her quiet sobs, punctuated by muffled gasps, made her nose stuffy, and Momo, twitched his ears in his sleep before settling back down. If Lucius had been by her side, she wouldn’t have dared to break down like this.
If Lucius knew, he would be enraged, probably hurling spells and suspending the lazy drakan at the top of the Mage Tower as punishment.
“Hnnng…”
She wept and wept.
After months of resilience, the mage Fay finally gave way to the vulnerable, pitiful girl she had once been—Morgana.
Kassel, my dearest brother.
If you had stayed at the Klein Ducal family…
If you had been there, alongside the exacting Duke and Duchess, along with Maurice and Dott as before…
Would my life, so full of hardships, have been different?
Would the old me, wounded daily and weary of endless studies and cold, detached interactions, have smiled a little more?
Perhaps… if I hadn’t been ignorant and died miserably in the end, I might have seen another path, some other way.
I truly believe you would have found a way to make things better, even if we had spent our entire lives unaware of our blood relation.
Holding her pillow as if it were Kassel’s broad back, she clung to it and cried herself to sleep.
The tears that wouldn’t stop revealed the scars of Morgana’s painful past, exposing her old wounds.
Kassel… I feel certain you would have been different from all the others. I feel it deep inside.
If only I had known who you were when I returned to the past, I would have longed to meet you again, even after vowing never to let them back into my life.
And that’s why this feels like madness…
With swollen eyes stinging from the bitterness of her tears, Fay finally fell asleep, exhausted.
As dawn’s faint light crept in, she drifted into a deep, tear-streaked slumber.
* * *
‘How annoying.’
That was the single word that captured Dott’s feelings at the moment.
Although it seemed like just the beginning of winter, the bitter cold had already set in. With the new year fast approaching, she was still in the Klein Ducal residence, lingering as an ‘Eina candidate’—a truly miserable position.
Being stuck here, without making any progress, was endlessly frustrating.
Unlike the good old days when she had enjoyed Klein’s favor, Dott now found herself under subtle pressure, even though it wasn’t quite as bad as what Morgana had endured.
‘If I hadn’t managed to get rid of Pochette, things would have gotten even more difficult.’
Even now, it was hard enough to keep going alone, but she could feel that the situation in the capital was shifting dramatically from what it used to be.
Why is it that just because she didn’t come to the duchy with Morgana, the circumstances from the past keep changing?
Kassel, the Young Lord who was so blatantly hostile toward her, not only had remained in the capital rather than returning to the borderlands but had also been promoted to commander of the knights.
It seemed the explosion during the Harvest Festival had shifted some policy.
‘What’s wrong with the world these days? And I can’t stand seeing Barbara Gachell, who’s practically at death’s door, still hanging around.’
During the incident, Dott had been with the Duchess Klein, far away from those engaged in the mock battles. By then, the Klein family’s tournament had just ended, and they had moved farther back.
Because of this, she had only heard a faint sound of the explosion. Later, she heard rumors that the Queen and the Prince had fled and that the two families were accusing each other of orchestrating the incident.
If the past and the unfolding events are going to diverge, then I’ll just have to adapt somehow.
Dottricia Karris was a fundamentally different creature from Morgana, who would suffer through things she despised.
‘That’s it!’
Dott leaped to her feet.
Now that neither the Duke nor Maurice, aside from the Duchess, particularly favored her, she needed an intangible foothold engraved with someone’s name—whether for long-term use or just as a temporary step. To achieve that, she’d need to fabricate a social excuse based on the current circumstances.
……
T/N: If I was Fay, I would also cry after knowing that I still have an older brother who must have been different from the rest of the family after all that I’ve been through 😿)
