Chapter 43
News from the main house was conveyed throughout the entire villa.
The announcement that the three-year apprenticeship period had officially ended. And that the people accompanying Renoa to the duchy would be selected.
That very day, the villa turned chaotic.
From apprentice knights to servants, everyone who was leaving packed their bags early.
They were the sort who, like Bern—who had bragged about receiving recommendation letters from another house—had felt the limits of the wall called Edelhaide and chosen a practical path.
Helena was among them.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m planning to go back to the main house for now. Sir Lance said he’d write me a recommendation letter, but I’m going to think about what to do slowly.”
“I wonder if I said something unnecessary….”
Helena shook her head with a wry smile.
“It’s okay. I know you said it for my sake, and this was a conclusion I reached after thinking about it enough, too. Like Leon said, I might even be able to get into a better place.”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to, Helena.”
“I’ll write once I arrive at the main house. Until then, you have to stay safe.”
“Mm-hm.”
They exchanged brief farewells with the remaining peers and left without lingering attachment for their respective destinations.
“Waaah, our Leon’s leaving…!”
I also said my farewells to the maid sisters.
Only the minimum number of people needed to manage the mansion remained, while the rest ended their contracts and went their separate ways.
Since this wasn’t a world with mobile phones, it probably wouldn’t be easy to meet again.
“You have to stay healthy, okay? Make sure you eat well.”
“Don’t worry.”
And just like that, everyone who was going to leave had left.
The mansion, already quiet because there were so few people, became even more deserted. It was quiet enough to make one feel a strange loneliness just by looking at it.
“What are you standing there blankly for? Come on, get on already.”
Renoa, who had already gotten into the carriage, was looking at him through the window.
That girl has lived here her whole life, and yet she doesn’t feel anything?
Even I, who stayed here for three years, feel all mixed up now that I’m finally leaving.
“I’m coming.”
I shook off my lingering attachment and mounted my horse.
“Move out.”
At Renoa’s command, the coachman cracked the whip, and the two-horse carriage began moving away from the mansion.
I absentmindedly took in the mansion one more time before turning my head away completely.
***
The procession heading to the duchy finally crossed Alderin’s border.
The dense forest parted, and a vast plain and a straight highway spread out before them.
The suffocating underground arena, the blood-soaked sand, and the mansion’s training grounds where he had been holed up for the past three years.
For Leon, who had only ever moved around controlled areas, the openness filling his vision felt quite unfamiliar.
The breeze blowing in felt especially refreshing.
‘Not bad.’
Leon took a deep breath and looked to the side.
Through the open window of the carriage running alongside them, Renoa was resting her chin in her hand and staring at the scenery.
Her gaze was directed toward the distant horizon beyond the plain.
“Have you ever been to the main house?”
“No. This is my first time.”
Renoa’s answer was flat.
Born a bastard, she had spent her whole life trapped in this borderland of Alderin as if abandoned there.
She had never even seen the face of her father, the duke, let alone set foot in the duchy.
If Florencia hadn’t come to visit from time to time, she might not even have known that she was an Edelhaide blood relative.
“Then why did they suddenly call for the young lady?”
“Who knows. Maybe they’re going to throw you a coming-of-age party.”
“You think so?”
“I was just kidding. As if they’d really do that.”
Though she hadn’t said it out loud, Renoa knew better than anyone that there was some ulterior motive.
That was why, even after coming out of the cage for the first time in her life, she couldn’t afford to linger in sentimentality.
Whatever it was, it definitely wouldn’t be pleasant for her personally. It would be no different from moving to another cage.
Even knowing that, there was nothing Renoa could do.
If they told her to die, she had to die; if they told her to leave, she had to leave; if they told her to become a slave, she had to become a slave.
That was her fate.
But still.
“…….”
Renoa took Leon’s profile into her eyes as he rode alongside her on horseback.
For Renoa, who had possessed nothing within the fate of being an illegitimate child of Edelhaide, he was the one and only possession she could truly call her own.
Slave Leon.
Three years ago, when she first picked him up from the arena, he had been a boy smaller than her.
Before long, Leon had grown so much that she now had to tilt her head back to look up at him.
No trace of his shabby past could still be found in his dignified bearing.
From here on, the standing and power Renoa would gain would be determined by what Leon accomplished.
That was why Renoa could feel relief in a corner of her heart.
‘Somehow, I feel like you’d do even better than what I’m hoping for.’
It was relief born from expectation.
The journey proceeded smoothly, without any mishaps.
It was a peaceful trip, almost boring, without even the usual mercenary bands or beast attacks.
And so, several days passed.
At last, the Edelhaide duchy revealed itself beyond the distant plains.
An overwhelming majesty befitting the reputation of the continent’s greatest family.
A massive wall stretching out as if to flaunt its arrogance filled the party’s view.
The guards stationed at the gate checked the crest engraved on the carriage and bowed as they wordlessly opened the way.
After crossing the bustling streets, they arrived at the grand mansion.
A huge mansion that couldn’t even be compared to the villa in Alderin, one that rivaled a palace, welcomed the party.
“Wow….”
Leon stared blankly at the majestic exterior for a moment, and when Renoa shot him a sharp look, he awkwardly pulled himself together.
From the moment they entered the duchy, it was no different from stepping onto a battlefield. Not the slightest weakness could be shown.
A white-haired old man approached from among the servants waiting at the main gate.
“You must have had a long journey, Miss Renoa.”
“Who is that?”
“I am Howard, the chief butler in charge of all the affairs of the Edelhaide main house. I have been eagerly awaiting your arrival, young lady.”
“You’ve been eagerly waiting for me to come, huh….”
Renoa swept her gaze over the grand mansion. Aside from the servants, no knights or other members of the family were in sight.
“For a welcome greeting, that’s rather modest.”
Howard did not change his expression even at Renoa’s sneer and got straight to the point.
“At present, all the principal members of the family are gathered in the audience chamber. We were told to escort you there as soon as you arrived. I will guide you.”
The group followed Howard through the corridor and arrived at a door.
An enormous arched double door.
There, Howard stopped and turned around. His indifferent gaze fell on Leon and the apprentice knights following behind Renoa.
“The escort ends here. Only the bloodline of Edelhaide and its vassals may enter the audience chamber. As apprentices who have not yet received formal knighthood from the family, you cannot enter.”
“But….”
Leon looked at Renoa with uneasy eyes. Renoa likewise looked at Leon for a moment.
“Wait here.”
“...Understood.”
Renoa stood alone before the door. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
She forced down her pounding heart.
“Miss Renoa, please enter.”
At the chief butler’s signal, the soldiers guarding the door swung the heavy doors open to both sides.
Renoa slowly stepped inside. Behind her, the thud of the door closing echoed throughout the audience chamber.
Keeping her head facing forward, Renoa let only her eyes roam over her surroundings.
The gazes of the vassals and legitimate children lined up on both sides were all fixed on her.
Contempt, curiosity, or outright hostility.
Receiving the gazes pouring in from all sides with her whole body, Renoa looked toward the highest point of the dais, the central throne.
Duchess Florencia looked down at Renoa with frost-cold eyes.
A familiar face she had already seen before, one that had despised her as if she were a bug.
But what seized Renoa’s gaze was not the duchess, but the man seated beside her.
‘That man….’
Renoa’s green eyes sank.
Her birth father, Duke Pascal Edelhaide, who had fathered her and left her neglected in the Alderin villa for her entire life.
The pinnacle of Edelhaide, the continent’s greatest magical house, and the one who held the title of archmage.
True to that status, the pressure he exuded was on a completely different level from everyone else’s.
Hair that shone like flawless gold.
Refined features that had turned even the traces of age into elegance.
He was an astonishingly handsome man, despite being middle-aged.
But what captured Renoa’s gaze within that dazzling appearance was none other than his eyes.
Green.
A dark, chilling green, eerily identical to Renoa’s own eyes.
Those eyes instantly proved that Renoa was his blood.
-clack, clack.
Amid the suffocating silence, Renoa walked steadily to the center of the audience chamber.
Dozens of pairs of eyes were all hell-bent on catching even the slightest mistake.
“Renoa Edelhaide. I have just arrived in the duchy. I pay my respects to the head of the family.”
Renoa gave a graceful yet restrained bow toward the dais.
But even after waiting, no answer came. Only heavy silence pressed down on the audience chamber.
With her head bowed, Renoa waited endlessly.
Was this some kind of trial?
It might have been an attempt to ignore her and make her into a laughingstock.
Even so, Renoa stubbornly kept her head bowed and waited.
Then Duke Pascal, who had been seated on the throne, slowly rose to his feet. He began descending from the dais.
And then the duke came to a stop right in front of Renoa. Just as she had forgotten even to breathe and was waiting silently.
“Our daughter, you’re finally here~!”
Pascal’s face broke into a bright smile like flowers in full bloom.
Spreading both arms wide, he began acting all fussy as if the oppressive pressure he had just been exuding were a lie.
“Do you know how long Dad’s been waiting? Goodness, you’ve become so beautiful I can barely recognize you!”
“……Huh?”
At a reaction she had never imagined, an utterly dazed sound burst from Renoa’s mouth.
When she unconsciously lifted her head to look at the duke, her face was full of blank confusion.
Renoa wasn’t the only one who was flustered.
The eyes of everyone lined up below the dais widened as if they might pop out.
Even the haughty Florencia failed to keep her expression in check and bit her lip hard.
“You look just like me! Goodness, could there be anyone more beautiful than you? Hahahahaha!”
Renoa’s first impression of the duke was that he was an utterly impossible eccentric.