#22

“Ferio told me to come here.”

“So Dad already knew I’d show up, huh.”

Ferio had known from the start that Leonia wouldn’t follow his instruction to read it only after his death.

“That man knows everything about you.”

Varia smiled softly.

“He’s really annoying sometimes, right?”

Embarrassed, Leonia grumbled back with a touch of annoyance in her tone.

But Varia knew those words weren’t sincere. The round ears peeking through Leonia’s black hair were redder than the candlelight.

“That just means your dad has always been watching over you.”

Varia picked up the journal lying nearby. The gentle way she brushed her hand over the cover drew Leonia’s gaze without her realizing.

“Mom... did you read it too?”

Leonia asked.

“Your dad showed it to me first.”

Varia opened the journal. Unfortunately, she opened it to the very part that had made Leonia break down in tears just moments earlier.

“Oh come on, that’s so embarrassing...”

Leonia glanced around, her eyes still damp. The atmosphere felt unbearably sentimental. Her toes squirmed inside her thick slippers.

“There’s nothing embarrassing about it.”

Varia, eyes still on the journal, lifted the corners of her mouth into a soft smile. Watching her, Leonia suddenly thought she looked just like Ferio.

“Leo.”

Suddenly looking up, Varia asked.

“Do you know why I fell in love with Ferio?”

“His muscles?”

“...Huh?”

Varia blinked, caught completely off guard by the unexpected answer.

And yet, the funniest part was that one of the things that first drew her to Ferio was indeed his muscles. Honestly, they had helped quite a bit.

“Well... yeah, I suppose that was part of it.”

Varia admitted candidly.

“But it wasn’t the deciding factor.”

“What, really?”

Now it was Leonia’s turn to be surprised.

“Dad’s always bragging that it’s because of his looks and his body, though?”

“What on earth is he saying in front of a child...”

Varia turned red and /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ muttered that she’d have to scold him later.

“But Mom, you totally drooled over his muscles before you married him.”

“That was because they were proof of effort!”

“So, you did drool.”

“That’s not the point!”

Varia quickly reeled the conversation back in before it could veer off again.

“I fell in love with Ferio because of you, Leo.”

***

Varia had always longed for peace.

But peace, shouted alone, only made her look weak in the eyes of others. Even her family eventually dismissed her.

And that led to her death.

When Varia returned to the past, she resented her first life. She blamed everything—her betrayal and death—on her own weak-mindedness.

So she pretended to be strong. She acted in ways that ensured no one would ever look down on her again.

She worked desperately to seal every vulnerable crack in herself.

“...Honestly, I had no room to breathe.”

Varia gave a bitter smile at the memory.

“Sure, it was nice being able to focus on myself, but I often questioned whether I was on the right path.”

Leonia blinked slowly, her eyes wide.

‘Mom’s...’

Varia was speaking about the life she had lived after returning to the past.

They both knew each other’s secrets now, but neither had ever openly brought it up.

It was a silent agreement—not to touch a subject so sensitive for them both.

That’s why Leonia was so startled.

She couldn’t take her eyes off Varia, who in turn was looking into the trembling candlelight. Despite there being no breeze, the flame flickered now and then with the two of them shifting nearby.

“I asked myself—why did I come back? Am I really allowed to live like this? Will anything really change just because I try?”

Varia’s low murmur was calm, but the pain hidden beneath it was anything but peaceful.

“Sometimes the anxiety choked me.”

“I... I didn’t know that...”

“I didn’t either, not at the time.”

But there were people who made her realize it—and helped her heal.

Ferio and Leonia.

“You thought Voreoti was just scary and brutal, didn’t you?”

But the Voreoti family Varia came to know was nothing like what she’d heard or investigated.

Her green eyes glimmered in the candlelight, like someone who had found the most precious treasure in the world.

And truthfully, Varia was happy.

“They were the most wonderful family.”

On the outside, it looked like they were constantly trying to one-up each other, but Ferio and Leonia valued each other more than anyone else.

Ferio would always lower himself to speak eye-to-eye with the child, and even when he nagged her to the point her ears bled, it was always rooted in affection.

Leonia, too. She might grumble in words, but she truly respected Ferio. She was his strongest supporter and cheerleader.

“They were just... so warm.”

Of course, they were far from normal. A dad who competed with his daughter and a perverted daughter obsessed with muscles?

But the two of them together already made the perfect family. No one could come between them.

“...Were you jealous?”

Leonia asked timidly.

“I was.”

Varia admitted without hesitation.

“Did you ever feel sad?”

“I didn’t.”

She had long since let go of any hope for her own family.

“But before I realized it, I started to feel happy too.”

She didn’t have a father like Ferio or a sibling like Leonia.

And yet, Varia had become happy before she even had the chance to feel jealous.

“Because you were by my side, Leo.”

It was Leonia who brought her to the Voreoti estate. Who threw her off with ridiculous stories. Who, in the end, always made her smile.

It was all thanks to Leonia.

A mysterious presence that never existed in her previous life had brought her joy she never knew.

“T-That’s not a big deal or anything!”

Leonia shouted, flustered. Her face was so red it looked like it might explode.

“I’m just a normal pervert.”

“Normal, huh.”

Varia reached out and flicked Leonia’s red ear.

“Where else could you find a pervert this cute and lovable?”

“Huh? So you’re not denying the pervert part?”

Leonia froze.

“I mean... let’s be honest, I kind of am a pervert.”

And Varia liked her just the way she was—even if she was kind of a pervert. Leonia briefly wondered if that was something to be happy about.

But in the end... she figured, who cares?

“Ferio never once blamed you for any of it.”

“He just teases me openly.”

“It’s affectionate teasing.”

“Well... I guess...”

Leonia pouted slightly but nodded.

Ferio had accepted her exactly as she was. The only reason he loved her was because she was his daughter—and that was more than enough.

“That’s why I fell for him.”

Varia confessed, shyly.

“To think someone could offer such pure, unconditional love...”

How could she not fall in love?

It may have started as a simple fondness, but it transformed into love in no time.

“That’s why I was so happy when I read the journal.”

She was moved by Ferio’s unwavering nature, and she cried in sympathy with the sincerity of his struggles.

And now, she could see exactly who Leonia had taken after to grow into such a mature, kind girl.

“Leo, you really take after Ferio.”

“That’s a compliment, right?”

“There’s no greater compliment than that.”

Varia said with confidence.

“So... are you happy now?”

Leonia asked.

“If I weren’t happy, that would be the weird part.”

Falling in love with Ferio. Becoming Leonia’s mom. That’s when Varia finally became happy. And in doing so, she realized what she’d always truly wanted.

“I just wanted warmth.”

More than revenge against the family who killed her. More than thwarting the schemes of Olor and the imperial court. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Varia had always yearned for the kind of love she never received.

And the desperate wish she hadn’t even known she carried—Ferio and Leonia had answered it, overflowing with love. That love had even brought her to meet Belleani, their new family.

“......”

Leonia couldn’t say a word.

Throughout Varia’s story, her heart had been pounding so hard it felt like it might burst from her chest.

“Especially you, Leo...”

A gentle hand touched the hair near Leonia’s ear.

“You told me the words I most needed to hear.”

“W-What words?”

“That I didn’t do anything wrong.”

In the moments she doubted herself, thinking perhaps she had done something wrong in the past—Leonia had interrupted without hesitation.

‘Even if you went back in time, you couldn’t have done anything!’

‘You were struggling just to survive!’

‘It’s not like you had the strength to help anyone else—so why are you regretting not being able to?!’

Only then could Varia finally let go of all her regrets.

She had gained what she wanted most. Heard the comfort she most longed for.

“That’s why I’m happy.”

Leonia’s eyes burned hot again. Tears welled up, blurring her vision of Varia.

But it wasn’t just her.

“My god... is you.”

Varia brought Leonia’s hand to her forehead.

“...You finally said it.”

With that shy confession, a single tear rolled quietly from Varia’s eye.

“You were the one who brought me to Ferio. You let me become your mother. And that’s why I was able to be happy.”

“You... you would’ve had it all without me.”

Leonia objected.

“I saw it.”

She had read about Varia in the other world—how she didn’t crumble in despair, how she rejoiced over happiness she had seized on her own.

“But that life didn’t have you in it, Leo.”

Varia said with absolute certainty.

“You’re the final piece of my happiness.”

Even if that other life had been filled with joy, it couldn’t possibly match the happiness of this moment—of a life with Leonia in it.

“W-Why are you saying all this out of nowhere...”

Leonia whimpered.

“I did something bad just now...!”

She’d snuck in at night and read what she wasn’t supposed to, cried her eyes out, and got nothing but praise for it.

“You should be scolding me!”

Now she was sniffling, too.

“You have to scold me! Do I have to teach you how to scold me properly?!”

“What kind of kid gets mad because they’re not being scolded?”

“I’m right here!”

“Ahahaha!”

Varia finally burst out laughing, completely speechless.