#12

“Of course, appearance matters too.”

Leonia cared quite a lot about looks. It was unavoidable, considering she was surrounded by beauty and muscles. Still, she knew well there was something even more important.

“It’s personality.”

At those words, Ferio’s eyebrow twitched, and Leonia snorted through her nose.

“My personality’s not that bad, right?”

Before Ferio could even finish his rebuttal, both his wife and daughter narrowed their eyes.

“Your conscience is as barren as the Northern Mountains.”

“Pitiful, our little pervert.”

“What exactly gives you the confidence to praise yourself like that?”

“I raised you.”

Just raising someone like Leonia—the embodiment of materialism and deviance—was enough, Ferio believed, to count as a great deed left to the world.

“Ooh.”

Varia nodded along before she even realized it.

“So annoying...”

Leonia muttered.

Ferio’s arrogance was infuriating, and the sad thing was—there was nothing to refute.

“But you’re the type to corner people and pressure them with threats all the time.”

So the unfilial daughter clung to her father, claiming she turned out this way because she took after him.

“...Your mother likes it though?”

“What are you saying in front of the kids?!”

Varia, face bright red, flung one of the cushions she’d been using to prop herself up. Naturally, Ferio dodged with irritating ease—and even caught it effortlessly with one hand.

Then he calmly placed it back behind her.

“I didn’t say anything particularly odd.”

Ferio even pulled over a blanket nearby and spread it over Varia’s knees.

“Leo is smart, you know. She understands everything!”

Just as Varia said, Leonia’s eyes had gone dry—parched like salt scraped from the flats. Once again, she had learned something utterly useless and unpleasant about her parents’ bedroom affairs.

Scandia pretended not to hear and returned to reading his letter.

“In any case, how can someone survive in this world just by being nice?”

Ferio argued that people who were too nice ended up being exploited pushovers.

“My lady.”

Scandia turned to Leonia.

“Is the Duke perhaps worried because I’m too kind?”

He already felt guilty enough for confessing to the treasured daughter of the household and living under their roof. Now to be looked after out of concern for being too nice—he felt ashamed but grateful.

“......”

“......”

Ferio and Varia were left speechless.

For the first time, Varia silently marveled, ‘Ah, that one isn’t normal either.’

As for the daughter who had recognized and fallen in love with such a person so quickly...

“Of course!”

Leonia looked at Scandia with eyes full of helpless adoration. With just her gaze, she was practically licking and nibbling and slathering affection on him.

“My Boom-Boom is so nice and handsome and muscular and cute!”

Despite claiming that was exactly why she was worried, Leonia gently patted the space between Scandia’s back and waist with her hand. It was the slow, odd kind of touch one would use to soothe a baby.

“Let’s hurry and grow up, okay?”

“You just need to grow up, my lady.”

“It’s fine. I’ve been an adult on the inside for a long time.”

You trust your noona, right?

Leonia gave a crooked grin.

Varia glanced sideways at her husband.

Ferio let out a heavy sigh, fists clenched, trembling violently.

***

The letter from the Marquis of Hesperi and the Emperor, though full of yearning for family, also included a few points they wanted Ferio to be aware of.

One of them was the opening of the Northern Gate.

Back when the Marquis of Hesperi had still been Empress, she and Ferio made an agreement—to open the Northern Gate in exchange for creating a tourist zone connecting the North and West.

This was, in fact, currently under active discussion. Plans were being developed to build forest trails and seasonal festivals in the region that linked the two areas.

The Emperor also expressed his intent to follow his mother’s will and repeal the law banning use of the Northern Gate. For now, mail and supplies were occasionally being transported between the capital and the North through the gate.

The long-standing rift between the capital and the North seemed to be slowly thawing.

The second matter in the letter concerned the succession of the House of Hesperi.

Originally, Scandia should have been the next Marquis. But due to his complicated position, he couldn’t easily step forward.

Besides, Scandia was in love with Leonia.

Leonia had been raised as the future heir to House Voreoti from a young age. Even with a second child on the way, nothing had changed. So, if the two were to marry, Scandia would naturally enter the Voreoti household.

But—perhaps fortunately—the current Marquis was pregnant.

So the Marquis wrote to Ferio: since the second son will likely marry into Voreoti, the youngest will probably inherit the West.

“...First son is the Emperor, second son Voreoti, third son Hesperi.”

Late at night, sitting on his bed, Ferio muttered in a completely flat voice while reading the letter.

“What a successful batch of children.”

A reaction so dry it might as well have crumbled into dust.

“Ferio.”

Poke, poke. Varia lightly tapped his back with her fingers. She was quite far away, just as far as her outstretched arm would reach—because of her heavily swollen belly.

Ferio set Scandia’s letter aside on the nightstand. Then he gently helped adjust Varia’s posture, making sure she wasn’t uncomfortable. She smiled softly and shifted her body with his touch.

Now lying on her side, Varia raised the corners of her lips as she felt the warmth of him curling behind her.

“You’re going to approve it, right?”

Ferio didn’t respond.

But even without looking, it was obvious his lips were pressed in disgruntled silence.

“You like him.”

Varia placed her hand over Ferio’s as he rested it on her belly.

“When you like someone, you always torment them.”

Like how he always teased Leo. Or how he tormented her at night.

Their large and small hands intertwined.

“I do not like him.”

“But you don’t dislike him either.”

Varia now believed she understood Ferio well. If he didn’t say “I hate him,” that meant the person was more than decent.

A sigh escaped from behind her. Ferio leaned his chin on her head and muttered.

“Still, the way he chases after looks...”

“He’s got good taste. Like you and me.”

Varia replied.

“Leo’s already fourteen now.”

It was an age where love wasn’t strange anymore.

“She’s only fourteen.”

Ferio grumbled.

“She’s still a small, childish lump to me.”

“You did not just call your daughter a ‘lump.’”

Leo would have a fit if she heard that. Varia chuckled bitterly.

“Of course Leo is a precious daughter to me too.”

“I know that.”

“But if you keep treating her like a little kid, she might end up resenting you.”

“She’ll stay filial until she inherits the estate.”

Ferio sounded confident. Varia felt once again that those two were unmistakably father and daughter. They knew each other too well.

“...I know.”

Ferio added in a begrudging tone.

“He’s a good kid. Diligent too.”

After all, Ferio was practically Scandia’s godfather. He had known it for a long time. That’s why, during their stay in the capital, he had occasionally visited to see Scandia and Chrisetos.

Every time, the two boys had burst into tears at the sight of his terrifying face.

But Scandia, even with tears brimming in his eyes, had always greeted him—trembling, but firm.

It was the first time Ferio had ever felt “impressed.”

Truth be told, there were only a handful of men in the world that Ferio acknowledged. And even among that handful, Scandia ranked high.

Still, from a father’s perspective, even that wasn’t satisfactory.

“I was planning to give my approval when he turned fifty.”

“She’d be thirty by then!”

Varia looked shocked.

Ferio hastily corrected himself.

“I meant when Leo turns fifty.”

“Do you think we’ll still be alive by then?”

Varia asked in a rather serious voice, challenging her husband’s ridiculous stubbornness.

***

It had already been over four months since Scandia started staying at the estate.

“Young Lord!”

“Young Lord, did you sleep well?”

“Young Lord, what would you like for your meal...?”

Before long, the Voreoti servants had started referring to Scandia as “Young Lord.”

“That sounds nice.”

Leonia hummed, pleased.

“I’m a bit embarrassed.”

Scandia, holding her hand as they walked, gave an awkward smile. But he didn’t dislike the title—his reddened ears were proof enough.

“What’s there to be embarrassed about? It’s the proper title.”

Just as Leonia said, it was a natural change.

To begin with, Scandia was incredibly kind.

If he saw maids struggling to carry something heavy, he often lent a hand. After every meal, he never forgot to thank the chefs. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

And he was beautiful.

A kind, beautiful man.

Scandia’s presence was completely different from the strong and bold image typical of the Voreoti.

His misty silver hair and occasionally wistful gray eyes stirred hearts. And when he smiled gently, everyone melted on the spot.

Connie once said he had a face that made you want to take care of him.

“He has a similar aura to Madam.”

Leonia agreed.

When Ferio had brought Varia home, everyone had been moved by her gentle and sincere presence too.

“Instead of being embarrassed...”

Leonia looked up at Scandia and slightly puckered her lips. Scandia leaned in naturally and kissed her. As they parted, their eyes met and curved in matching smiles.

Thankfully, they were walking through the garden.

So Ferio hadn’t seen any of it.

“Thanks to the young lady...”

“My name.”

“...Thanks to Leo.”

Scandia corrected himself bashfully.

“I’ve been able to settle in comfortably.”

“What did I even do for you?”

“You always hold my hand like this.”

He lifted their joined hands.

They often held hands when together. And when emotions ran high, they’d draw even closer.

Several servants had even seen Leonia pin Scandia against a wall and whisper something to him.

The first maid who saw it said she thought Leonia was threatening him.

“His Grace and Her Grace also treat me well.”

“Hmm?”

Leonia stopped in her tracks.

“...My dad treats you well?”

Really?

She furrowed her brow, a puzzled frown forming.

“He does.”

Scandia answered confidently.

“I know Mom treats you well...”

Varia sincerely worried for Scandia, who was away from his family, and always checked in on him, offering things and asking if he needed anything.

Ferio, on the other hand, was still prickly toward Scandia. If he caught them holding hands like this, he’d do whatever he could to break it up.

“Recently, the Duke has even been sparring with me.”

“That’s not hard?”

“I think it means he acknowledges my skills—he always puts in his full strength.”

So it was bullying disguised as sparring.

Leonia’s head throbbed.