Cyril's Homecoming

Ashendalte, Cyril's birthplace, is a city in the southwestern part of the Ridill Kingdom. Its specialty is textiles, and all the women in town are taught to weave from an early age.

In recent years, handwoven textiles have begun to decline with the advent of water-powered automatic looms, but Ashendo weave remains popular among the kingdom's nobility thanks to its intricate patterns and vivid colors.

Many parts of his hometown differed from the streets in his memories, but the clack-clack of looms sounding here and there remained the same, and it made him strangely nostalgic.

After getting off the shared carriage, Cyril walked through the familiar streets with a travel bag in hand.

When he was preparing to return home, Marquis Hiaone had told him he could use the marquisate's carriage, but Cyril had politely declined. A carriage that was obviously intended for noble use would stand out if it were parked near his family home.

His mother hated attracting that sort of attention. That was why Cyril wore plain traveling clothes instead of the fine garments provided by Marquis Hiaone's household.

With glossy platinum-blond hair, deep blue eyes, and striking features—an appearance that was unmistakably aristocratic—Cyril had always stood out among the children around him.

He still remembered that his mother had been much more concerned about it than Cyril himself.

His mother had always seen traces of his father in Cyril, and it frightened her. She feared that Cyril, too, would one day become a good-for-nothing like his father.

Cyril pulled his hat lower over his face and walked with his eyes lowered...