#26

Belleani pressed her face against the freshly cleaned glass window, her lips pursed in a pitiful frown.

Her little feet tapped the floor restlessly.

“When is Big Sister coming?”

“She’ll be here soon, if you wait just a little longer.”

Varia gently pulled Belleani away from the window.

The traces of Belleani’s breath and fog from her nose and mouth were clearly imprinted on the glass.

Varia let out a small chuckle as she pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her daughter’s face.

Belleani found the touch bothersome and shook her head side to side.

“Big Sister, come quick!”

She flailed her arms in the air, whining loudly.

She had been waiting for her sister since morning.

She was dressed in clothes Leonia had sent her from the capital—popular among Academy girls—and had tied her hair with the white pom-pom gifted to her last winter.

“You’re so full of energy.”

Ferio had just come down the stairs and lifted Belleani up high.

“She’ll be here if you just wait a little longer.”

“Big Sisterrr!”

Belleani threw her upper body backward in frustration, but Ferio didn’t budge.

Instead, with practiced ease, he adjusted her in his arms. Belleani’s tantrums were nothing to him.

He’d already endured the most intense parenting imaginable.

“All this fuss... you’re just like your sister when she was little.”

Belleani, who had been huffing and puffing, paused.

“Big Sister? Like Lea?”

“Stubborn and never listening—exactly the same.”

“Hehehe...”

Belleani giggled brightly.

Even though it wasn’t a compliment, she smiled as if it were. Ferio, watching his youngest daughter beam, couldn’t help but smile too.

“What’s so great about Leo anyway...”

“Big Sister is cool!”

Belleani wiggled out of Ferio’s arms and scurried over to Varia’s side.

Varia tapped the bridge of Belleani’s nose with her finger, coaxing her to stay calm.

“More than Daddy?”

Ferio asked, hopeful.

“Uh-huh.”

Still fiddling with the lace on Varia’s skirt, Belleani answered without even glancing at him.

“...Pfft!”

Varia bit her lip to stifle a laugh. Ferio looked at his wife with eyes full of betrayal.

“Still, maybe your sister’s coolness comes from resembling your daddy?”

Varia subtly redirected the conversation to comfort her husband.

“No.”

The apple-shaped bun on Belleani’s head swayed coldly from side to side.

“Big Sister is cool! Big Sister is the best!”

“But your big sister takes after Daddy, you know?”

Belleani pressed her lips tightly together.

Her firmly closed, straight-line mouth made it clear that she did not agree.

Watching their youngest daughter intently, Varia reached out and poked Ferio’s arm with her finger.

“She’s ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) definitely your daughter.”

Varia offered that as consolation.

“She’s your daughter too.”

Ferio muttered bitterly.

“...!”

Just then—

“Mommy, Daddy!”

Belleani grabbed the hem of her parents’ clothes with both hands and tugged.

All eyes turned toward the front gate, which stood wide open.

A familiar black carriage was pulling into the estate.

“She’s here.”

“Mommy, Mommy!”

“Shall we go greet her?”

Before the words had even left her lips, Belleani toddled off at full speed.

Though the steps were a bit too high for a two-year-old, Belleani cleverly turned around and descended on all fours.

Her excited breaths came in short gasps.

The carriage stopped in front of the fountain at the center of the garden.

Her tiny fists were clenched tight with anticipation.

Moments later, a waiting servant opened the carriage door.

“Lea!”

Leonia, stepping down from the carriage, called Belleani’s name joyfully.

At the same time, Belleani’s chubby cheeks scrunched up under her eyes.

“Big Sister!”

And then—Belleani’s body flew up into the air.

“Oh my goodness!”

Leonia, who had rushed forward with arms outstretched, caught her little sister in a big hug.

“Who is this beautiful young lady, hmm?”

“Lea!”

“Our Lea has grown this much already? You’ve gotten so big, I almost didn’t recognize you!”

“Lea’s really big now!”

Belleani lifted her chin in pride, clearly asking for more praise.

“You cutie!”

Leonia planted kiss after kiss on Belleani’s soft cheeks.

No compliment could ever do justice to this precious bundle of joy.

As they entered the manor, Varia approached with arms wide open and embraced her daughter.

“Must’ve been a tiring trip. Are you alright?”

“Seeing your face, Mom, I’m already refreshed.”

“You always say such pretty things. Don’t try to flatter me.”

“No matter how prettily I speak, it could never compare to your beauty. You’ve gotten even prettier.”

The shameless eldest daughter kissed her mother’s cheek.

Varia’s cheeks flushed with warmth, and she couldn’t hold back a smile.

“Don’t flirt with your mother.”

Unable to watch any longer, Ferio rested his hand on Leonia’s head.

“Daddy!”

Leonia lowered Belleani to the ground and threw her arms around Ferio.

Ferio embraced her and patted her back.

“I’m home!”

“You did well.”

“It was such a tough journey!”

She stepped out of the hug and pointed at the baggage being carried in by the servants.

“These are all gifts I brought from the capital.”

“...Wasn’t all that my money?”

Ferio remarked dryly, watching the unending stream of parcels.

“Your money is my money, and my money is... well, still my money.”

Leonia replied breezily. She easily brushed off the muttering beside her calling her an unfilial daughter.

“Big Sister.”

Just then, Belleani tapped Leonia’s hand.

Leonia looked down with a gentle smile.

“What’s wrong, my Lea?”

“Where’s the pretty Mister?”

“Now that you mention it—why didn’t Scandia come with you?”

She had clearly written in her letter that she would return to the North with Scandia.

“Oh, that...”

Before Leonia could answer, Connie—who had just entered the manor—hurriedly cut in.

“Oh, that guy?”

But it was already too late.

Leonia smiled faintly.

“We broke up.”

Her eyes had gone cold and sharp—there was no smile in them.

***

“We didn’t exactly break up...”

While Leonia was in the room playing with Belleani—

Connie and Mia, who had accompanied her in the capital, were summoned to the study.

“Well, something happened right before we departed...”

“It’s hard to explain properly...”

They chose their words carefully as they recounted the incident.

The expressions on the parents' faces grew dark.

Ferio tapped the armrest of the sofa nervously with his finger.

Varia, seated beside him, quietly clenched her fist.

After a moment—

“So, to summarize...”

Varia ground her teeth.

It was simple.

“There was another woman?”

Scandia, who worked as a close aide to the Emperor, had taken long-term leave to travel North with Leonia for her school break.

Just like always, Leonia had gone to pick him up today.

But Scandia had been with another woman.

Not only had he been talking to her with evident affection while both wore the same Academy uniform—he had embraced her.

And his hand had even reached for the hem of the other woman’s skirt.

Leonia had seen it all.

“That bastard dared to cheat?”

Varia, who had once fondly called Scandia her son-in-law, now burned with fury.

The tenderness she once held for him evaporated completely.

All that remained was the violent urge to shove her fist in his mouth and break those perfectly aligned teeth.

“A little tomcat like him...!”

The once-famed tigress of the Treasury now revealed her claws with a terrifying glint.

“At long last, we finally agree on something.”

Ferio looked at his wife with affectionate admiration.

But beyond the joy of finally having a reason to eliminate the bastard hovering around his daughter—

'He cheated on Leo?'

Ferio still couldn’t believe it.

The black storm of obsession Scandia harbored for Leonia wasn’t something minor.

His parents had never forgotten one another, and Scandia had inherited their obsession down to the marrow. That he could change now seemed almost impossible.

And Ferio had a very rational reason for this suspicion.

'No one is better than Leo.'

Look at who she takes after.

So Ferio asked them to describe what the other woman looked like.

“She had brown hair and blue eyes.”

“Lean muscles, kind of toned...”

“Her face was narrow, but her lower body was well-developed.”

“Her trapezius muscles were pronounced.”

“In general, she was lean and muscular.”

Connie and Mia tried their best to describe the girl.

Ferio sat up straighter.

“...What on earth happened with you two?”

He stared. “Why are you describing her with muscle details?”

Connie and Mia didn’t understand what was wrong with that.

“I guess she was kind of attractive.”

Yet somehow, Varia understood it perfectly.

Though Ferio was frustrated, he figured at least they were communicating, so he let the maids go.

“Honey, what do we do now?”

Varia fumed. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

“Why are you so calm? That bastard cheated on our Leo.”

“Let’s take a breath first.”

Ferio stroked her back, trying to ease her breathing.

Varia glared at her overly composed husband but inhaled deeply.

“We’re going to kill him, right?”

“You mean the Marquis’s son?”

“Oh right, that’s Leo’s job. We just burn down the West.”

“Emotional damages—maybe the entire western grain region?”

In Varia’s mind, the banner of the Marquis of Hesperi was already torn and their estate engulfed in flames.

“But that girl.”

Ferio tilted his head.

“I think I know who she is.”

“What?”

Cough “You what?!”

“Wait, Varia—hold on, my collar—”

Ferio barely pried off Varia’s hands as she grabbed him by the collar.

'When did she get so fast?'

She had snatched him with such speed that even Ferio hadn’t seen it coming.

Suppressing his surprise, he finally opened his mouth.

“She might be the daughter of a maid.”

Tragically, Ferio also recognized the girl based on the muscle descriptions.

“When the Marquis of Hesperi was still the Empress, she had a maid who served her constantly... and I think that’s her daughter.”

“The Marquis and the maid were cousins.”

“Jesus—so it’s incest?!”

“Darling, that’s going too far.”

Ferio tried to calm her down, clearly flustered.

Only then did Varia realize how that sounded and coughed awkwardly.

'This is Leo’s influence...'

It hadn’t even been an hour since Leonia returned from the Academy, and Ferio already had a pounding headache.

What a chaotic daughter.

“But Rio, how do you know all this?”

Varia asked.

“Well, not exactly know...”

Ferio rested his head on the back of the sofa, draping an arm along the top.

“She once impersonated a princess in his place.”