Chapter 129
The Duke of Bolshevik hadn’t believed in his daughter’s “misfortune” at all before the regression, but after losing her once, he came to believe.
Or rather, he believed that if his daughter believed in it, then as her father, he should believe the same.
And he couldn’t count how many times he had to swallow back tears that welled up, moved by the innermost feelings his daughter had never once revealed before, now melted throughout her story.
But one thing.
Just one thing that was very, extremely irritating!
His daughter didn’t seem to notice, but her expression changed distinctly whenever she mentioned a certain person.
Her fair cheeks flushed slightly, the tips of her ears twitched subtly, her eyes curved into crescents, and a smile spread across her lips.
He knew the meaning of that expression very well.
His wife used to make that expression whenever she looked at him.
And perhaps he had done the same.
He knew that objectively speaking, the Second Prince was quite a good man.
Though his lack of motivation in most matters and his capriciousness were concerning, for some reason, since becoming engaged to his daughter, he seemed to focus all his attention and devotion on her alone, so even that point didn’t need much criticism.
Besides his talent, which was rumored throughout the continent as unprecedented in imperial history, the fact that he frequented the imperial palace and mingled with countless people without ever being involved in a scandal suggested that he was either meticulous or had a good character, or perhaps both.
Moreover, in terms of military prowess, the general in charge of national defense had gone on for hours about the Second Prince’s excellence, talking until his mouth went dry.
But apart from all that, since this was the person his daughter had set her heart on, how could a father possibly like him?
No father in the world would like a thief trying to take away his precious daughter!
That was the very simple but clear reason why he disliked Einar, who appeared in almost every part of his daughter’s story.
The Duke leaned forward on the sofa, gripping his teacup as if about to break it, and asked:
“So in the end, you’re saying the Second Prince is the cause?”
Perhaps it was his mood, but his father’s face looked incredibly rigid as he said this, and when he pronounced “Second Prince,” it seemed like the sound of grinding teeth could be heard.
Even the word choice—”cause”—seemed somewhat odd, but Riina nodded compliantly.
“Ca…use? Yes, I suppose you could say that.”
Riina, with a smile as soft as a baby’s cheek once again on her lips at the mention of Einar, held her empty teacup, inhaling the remaining fragrance and warmth.
Sensing the peaceful air flowing around his daughter, the Duke had so much he wanted to say but held back.
Isn’t it true that forbidding something only makes it burn more fiercely?
Though he didn’t like it, he couldn’t deny that the person who had the greatest influence on his daughter’s change was the Second Prince.
Besides, from what he could see, while the Second Prince was clearly pining, his daughter was still…
“Father.”
“Hmm.”
“I told you I would leave the family.”
“You did.”
“May I withdraw that statement?”
“You’re stating the obvious. Do as you wish. Whatever that may be.”
The Duke didn’t ask whether she would never leave the family in the future.
If she were to respond that she wasn’t sure, or that she wished to leave someday, he wouldn’t be able to bear that fact.
After the regression, when the child had said she would leave the family, he had had to silently watch her diminishing back, unable to ask why or stop her.
At that time, he had thought that if it meant not losing her, that alone would be enough.
Just by choosing a different path from before the regression, he could somewhat escape the despair he had fallen into after losing his daughter.
But now…
‘Darling, look. This child will be your present, your future, your happiness, and your hope.’
Like the words of his wife, who continued to teach him even after leaving this world, his daughter had become hope.
His daughter had always been his hope, but now, in a slightly different sense, his daughter’s future looked like hope itself.
Carefully wrapping up his swelling emotions and sending them to his departed wife, the Duke asked as if he had just remembered:
“By the way, what was your reason for coming to the imperial palace? You said it wasn’t because of the materials you received. You said you had something to say to your father.”
Riina, facing the Duke who was only now asking about her original reason for seeking him out, asked very freshly without any particular hesitation:
“Am I not of Bolshevik blood?”
“You are Bolshevik.”
At his affirmation, which was as self-evident as the sun rising in the east, Riina nodded and asked another question.
Again, it was infinitely direct, without any sign of anguish or deliberation.
“Am I fake, and is Jane—that is, the shadow—the real Bolshevik?”
“Bolshevik is Bolshevik. There’s no real or fake. You are Bolshevik, and there is no bloodline to inherit Bolshevik besides you.”
It was an extremely strange question with many puzzling aspects, but the Duke gave an unequivocal answer without hesitation.
His response confirmed that Jane’s delusion was truly just that—a delusion—and completely eliminated the possibility that Jane and she might be half-sisters, which Riina had considered.
“Did you come all the way to the imperial palace just to ask that?”
To the Duke, who was openly perplexed, Riina exhaled a short sigh.
“Jane believes I am fake and that she is the real Bolshevik—that is, your daughter.”
Upon hearing this, the Duke made the exact same expression as Riina had when she first heard it from Lione—the face of someone who had just heard something utterly bizarre.
He stiffened his face as if at a loss for words for a while, and after enough time had passed to finish a cup of tea, he finally spoke:
“What do you intend to do with the shadow?”
“A shadow is a shadow. A shadow that cannot maintain its proper place is unnecessary.”
Riina answered calmly but firmly, and there was no trace of the terrible obsession she had shown toward Jane before the regression.
Then, as if she had just remembered, Riina asked:
“May I know why you brought in my shadow?”
“I brought her in hoping she would be of help to you.”
At this most ordinary yet sincere answer, Riina asked something else.
“Why Jane specifically?”
“Her mother was a servant who attended your mother before she came to the Duke’s residence. It was my mistake not to know she was the kind of woman who would say such nonsens… rubbish.”
“It was such bizarre nonsens… rubbish that no one could have predicted she would say such things.”
The Duke’s lips moved as if he had more to say, but as though blocked by something, he promptly closed them and didn’t open them again.
And so he couldn’t tell her.
That while he had brought in Jane for that reason before the regression, after the regression, he had wanted to find and kill her in exactly the same way she had caused his daughter to suffer, but as the “price” of the “deal” for the “regression,” he couldn’t change the situation and had no choice but to bring her to his daughter’s side.
Thus, father and daughter didn’t reveal all their secrets, didn’t pour out all their emotions, and didn’t unravel all past events.
Because of this, they didn’t dramatically shed tears or embrace each other.
Nevertheless, the stale emotions that had been eating away at their relationship faded, and they felt a sense of stability, as if an unbreakable, indestructible bridge had been placed over what had seemed an irreversible chasm.
For the first time since losing her mother—for the first time across both before and after the regression—Riina didn’t flee from the Duke’s office.
Rather, tapping her empty teacup lightly, she asked quietly, as if a little embarrassed:
“May I stay a bit longer?”
“Of course.”
The Duke didn’t hide his willingness and responded with a warm smile that he showed only to his daughter.
That day, father and daughter conversed for a very long time, truly after a very long while, with the undying fire in the office as their companion.
They both knew, without having to say it aloud, that such times would occur more often in the future.
“Would you come with me? No, please come with me.”
On an afternoon of an exceptionally sunny day with not a cloud in the clear sky.
Einar, who had knocked on the office door without a prior appointment, extended his hand to Riina with a bright smile.
Even up to the moment he made such a proposal, Riina’s hand hadn’t stopped scrawling her signature on the last page of a document.
She had been almost frantically completing task after task.
Since her document processing speed had increased by nearly twofold (with some exaggeration), not only her aide but also Jane couldn’t keep up properly and had to focus solely on processing the flood of documents without any time for other thoughts.
Of course, Riina had always been handling work meticulously without mistakes, reviewing things several times, but becoming more motivated after learning that the family’s endeavors were succeeding was an inevitable human reaction.
However, at this moment, Riina nodded without hesitation and set down her pen.
“You’re going because of the epidemic investigation, right?”
“Oh dear, have you already heard from the Duke?”
“You started this matter, Your Highness. You should see it through to the end.”
“You always make it impossible for me to find a counterargument. But rather than making it sound stiffly like it’s for work…”
Einar gently pressed his lips to the back of Riina’s hand, which had taken his, and whispered:
“I’d like to call it a date.”
