"Wow, that's really amazing. There really is something here. But how did you know? Did you actually hear something?"
“... ”
"Michael?"
Chris lightly shook Michael, but Michael didn’t move at all.
As if possessed by something, the boy couldn’t take his eyes off one spot.
"Michael!"
"Uh? Huh? Did you call me?"
"What is it? Why are you staring at it so intently?"
"Well, it’s just…."
Trailing off at the end of his sentence, Michael turned his gaze back to the road.
The figure that had first looked like a black dot had come significantly closer.
"They're riding a horse? Who could it be? Doesn't seem like your uncle."
Horses were expensive, so they couldn't be seen easily in the village.
Only James, who visited occasionally, would come riding one.
"Should we tell the village chief? The adults said so, didn’t they? That we should report it when a stranger comes."
“...”
"Michael!"
“...”
"Hey, Michael!"
Chris shook Michael once more.
Only then did Michael snap back to his senses and shake his head roughly.
"You know, you’re acting really strange today?"
"Sorry. First, let’s go to the village chief. Once we get there—"
The children’s steps came to a halt right in front of the obstacle blocking their way.
Simultaneously, the children looked up at the obstacle before them with their eyes wide open.
With the sun behind him casting his face into shadow, the man’s strange, narrow pupils stood out — clear and sharp, like those of a beast.
"They seem to be children from the village. What’s suspicious is…"
The brown-haired man who followed locked eyes with Michael and then trailed off.
"...You, how old are you?"
A low voice rang out.
Chris, looking ready to cry, hid behind Michael.
Michael unconsciously clenched his fists and looked up at the man with golden eyes.
"Why do you ask?"
"…Because you look a lot like someone I know."
Even as he said that, the man couldn’t take his eyes off Michael.
Michael swallowed hard.
The gaze that meticulously scanned him from head to toe was relentless, and he didn’t dare even think about running away.
Gripped by the instinctive fear that he mustn't turn his back, his heart pounded violently.
"I'm looking for someone."
"You’re looking for someone? Who is it?"
He tried to puff out his chest confidently, but couldn’t stop his body from trembling.
Even though the man’s face showed little expression, he was simply terrifying.
It felt as if only the air around the man with golden eyes was chillingly cold.
"They’re children. Speaking so threateningly like that is…"
"What’s so threatening about it?"
"...Never mind."
The brown-haired man smiled awkwardly and dismounted.
He was the biggest man Michael had ever met — no, more precisely, he was, until just a moment ago.
The golden-eyed man who dismounted after the brown-haired one was so much bigger that it made one instinctively gape in awe.
"Sorry to startle you, but if you don’t mind, could you help us? We’ll make sure you’re well rewarded."
"What kind of reward?"
"Well, about that…"
While the brown-haired man frowned, the golden-eyed man strode forward.
With that, the faces of the two children turned pale.
The closer he came, the larger and more intimidating the golden-eyed man appeared.
“If you help us find the person we’re looking for, I’ll give you this.”
The man with golden eyes detached an ornament from his clothing and held it out.
Michael stared at the object in the man’s hand and swallowed hard.
Under the sun, the sparkling jewelled brooch was beautiful.
It looked like it would suit his mum perfectly if he pinned it to her chest.
“If you find the person I’m looking for, I’ll give you a few more.”
Noticing the child’s interest, the golden-eyed man quickly added.
Michael pretended not to notice Chris tugging at his clothes and carefully picked up the brooch.
"Alright. But if we find the person you’re looking for, you have to give me everything you’re wearing — got it, Mister?"
“...”
“Kid, this man isn’t just some mister—”
"Forget the titles."
The golden-eyed man shook his head indifferently.
Michael kept sneaking cautious glances around, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the man.
Maybe it was because of the brooch in his hand, but somehow, the man didn’t seem as frightening as before.
・・・・・
“Mister, do you really know my mum? How do you know her?”
“...”
“Why do you keep ignoring me? Can’t you hear what I’m saying?”
“...”
"Tch…"
No matter how much he talked, an answer never returned, so it was no fun at all.
Michael eventually gave up the struggle, lifted his head, and stared intently at the man with golden eyes.
Since they were riding the horse together, he had no choice but to lean on the man, but that didn’t feel as bad as he thought.
To be honest, he was glad to have someone firmly supporting him from behind.
“We’re here. That place you see over there is my house.”
Michael grinned bashfully, pointing at the worn-down cabin with his index finger.
Instead of answering, the man with golden eyes dismounted from the horse.
And at that moment, a small, delicate hand tightly grasped the sleeve of the man as he moved forward.
"…What are you doing?"
“You have to let me down, too.”
“...”
The man with golden eyes clenched his teeth for a moment, then lifted Michael and set him down on the ground.
As soon as Michael’s feet touched the ground, he ran off without looking back.
"Mum!"
At the child’s shout, a reddish-brown head peeked out from between the fluttering laundry.
The golden-eyed man, Cabelenus, stood rooted to the spot, silently watching the scene.
Following the strands of hair fluttering in the breeze, his gaze landed on the face he had always dreamed of.
“You came home early today, my son.”
The woman was smiling, and it was a smile full of pure happiness.
Cabelenus clenched his teeth tightly, unable to hold back the burning heat rising in his throat.
Every time he followed the woman’s gaze, her touch, her expression toward the child, it felt like the air caught in his lungs.
Only now could he finally see her choice.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t come back.
She simply didn’t return.
Because she chose the child, not him.
For the past eight years, the woman had been in every moment of the man’s life, but in her time, there was no place for him.
That fact made his heart sink.
The time he had endured so fiercely until now felt like it was crumbling all at once.
"Mum, look what I got today!"
“What could it be? Did you pick a pretty flower for Mum…? What is this? Michael, where did you get something like this…?”
“That mister gave it to me.”
"Mister?"
Their eyes met.
The moment Alicia realised it, she reflexively opened her arms and pulled the child into her embrace.
Thump, thump.
She couldn’t tell if the rapid heartbeat she felt was her own or the child’s, who had just come running.
Perhaps there was a part of her that didn’t want to know.
Alicia’s arms tightened around the child she held.
“He really is your child after all.”
The voice, like a death sentence, made Alicia’s vision spin for a moment.
The cold sweat trickling down her spine sent a chill through her, making her body recoil repeatedly.
If only she could, she wanted to run away recklessly, no matter what.
But there was a child in her arms.
"Well, it doesn’t matter."
Cabelenus walked towards Alicia with long, resolute strides.
Though Alicia knew it was futile, she clumsily hid the child’s face with her hand to keep it from Cabelenus’s sight.
Despite having inherited reddish-brown hair and ash-grey eyes, the child bore a stronger resemblance to someone else rather than her.
She was afraid the man would notice.
He had tried to kill the child, Michael, even before he was born.
Nothing would be different, even if it were now.
"Alicia."
He had only called her name, yet Alicia’s cheeks flushed hot as if aflame. She bowed her head low.
In the past, Alicia liked it when the man called her name like that.
She knew that whenever he did that, a faint smile would flicker across his otherwise indifferent face.
But now, even if he called her name, he wouldn’t smile at her.
“I told you not to bow your head before me.”
A firm hand lifted Alicia’s chin.
The warmth of his touch against her skin made Alicia nervously bite down on her lower lip.
Her eyes stung, and if she didn’t keep them firmly open, tears would burst out at any moment.
Even though he was accustomed to giving orders, his touch — both then and now — remained as gentle as ever.
That fact alone made her throat tighten with emotion.
“You’re in front of a child.”
By now, she should have forgotten, but his familiar touch so easily revived memories of the past.
Alicia forced herself to push his hand away.
“What did I even do?”
He still hadn’t done what he truly wanted to do.
Cabelenus’s lips twisted ever so slightly.
“Go back. Nothing will change now.”
Alicia avoided Cabelenus's gaze.
Knowing that his eyes had been fixed on one spot from start to finish only made her throat feel even drier.
"Nothing will change?"
Cabelenus laughed.
“Ha, yes. That’s right. Nothing will change.”
His hands clamped down tightly on Alicia’s shoulders.
Alicia swallowed dryly.
The gaze that bore down on her was unbearably relentless.
“If only you would come back.”
Cabelenus’s lips brushed against the back of Alicia’s hand as she attempted to push him away.
Alicia tried to turn her head, her face on the verge of tears, but it was no use.
Even now, she couldn’t forget the warmth those lips had once given her.
“Come back with me, Alicia.”
The man’s hand caressed Alicia’s cheek.
His hand, calloused and shaped by years of gripping a sword’s hilt, was rough, unbefitting of his noble status.
And faintly, it still smelled of iron.
"…I have a child."
“If I cared about a child like that, I wouldn’t have come looking for you.”
Cabelenus’s gaze shifted to Michael.
His sharp, piercing stare made Alicia instinctively pull the child closer to her.
“It’s not something you can say so easily. I don’t want to be a mother my child would be ashamed of. Your Highness must already have a wife…”
"A wife?"
Before Alicia could finish, the man ground his teeth and brought his face close.
It was so close that their noses nearly touched.
At the breath brushing against her lips, Alicia instinctively swallowed.
The man’s breath, sweeping over her lips, felt unusually hot.
“Ha! Yes. I’m supposed to get a wife today.”
The man’s lips twisted as he glared at Alicia.
"Gazeff."
"Yes, Your Highness.”
“Take the child away.”
Before Alicia could even grasp the meaning of Cabelenus’s words, he raised a hand first.
"Mum!"
"Michael!"
Instinctively sensing danger, the child whimpered, reaching out with both hands toward his mother.
Alicia tried to chase after Michael as he was taken away, but was quickly blocked by a strong arm.
“What are you doing?! Give him back! He’s my child! He’s my son!”
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill him. From now on, no one can treat that child, who will have a noble bloodline, carelessly.”
"Cabelenus!"
“…It seems I can only hear my name from your lips in situations like this.”
The man let out a hollow laugh, tilting his head askew in mockery.
Alicia bit her lips tightly, her eyes trembling with emotion.
“I don’t go back on my decisions. If you want the child back, become my wife. That’s the only way you can reclaim him from me.”
“...Do you even know who that child is?”
“If that mattered, I wouldn’t have come all this way.”
"Cabelenus."
Alicia grasped the man’s arm, her eyes brimming with tears.
His cold gaze was unfamiliar, but for the sake of her child, she couldn’t look away.
“I don’t care whose child he is. Even if there’s no blood relation, even if he’s the child of a traitor, I’ll raise him as my own.”
“You’re going to raise a child whose father is unknown as Your Highness’s own?”
"Yes."
It was a reply without the slightest hesitation.
Alicia froze, her breath caught in her throat as she stared silently at the man before her.
Even now, his golden eyes, still as dazzling as the sun, held her completely captive.
Just like in the past, when she had been blinded by their brilliance.
“Don’t even think about using that child as an excuse to run away anymore.”
The man gripped Alicia’s shoulders tightly and growled like a starving beast.
“Even now, I’m barely holding back the urge to crush that tiny life form that stole you from me.”
Alicia gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill.
The skin beneath his large, calloused hands felt searing hot as if scorched by his grip.
“If you even touch a single hair on my child’s head, no matter who you are, I will never forgive you.”
“I told you. I won’t hurt him. I said I’d raise the child as my own.”
Cabelenus tried to smile, but in the end, he couldn’t hold back his emotions and grimaced.
Even though it was a reunion after eight years, instead of joy, they exchanged sharp, cutting words filled with resentment. Despite how terrible that was, he couldn’t stop speaking.
Though he only caught a brief glimpse, he recognised it instantly.
It was impossible not to notice Alicia’s affection for the child, evident in her tone, actions, and everything about her.
Alicia’s entire world was not about him, but that small child.
No matter what he did, he could never win against that tiny life.
Whether it was eight years ago or even now. Always.
That truth was utterly heartbreaking.
Translator's Corner:
Alicia and Cabel have finally reunited!! (And we've reached the c1 part yayy) 🎉
I'll post more chapters tomorrow! (Just feeling a bit tired today ;-; so I only managed to translate and edit a few, my apologies! 🥺🙏🙇).
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