Chapter 80
<83화>
The nobles’ eyes grew wider and wider.
As if enjoying their reaction, my father’s nostrils flared with pride.
“…….”
Looking back and forth between the two sides, I glanced at Calyps with eyes blurred by embarrassment.
‘Father. Did you really want to brag that much? To think this unworthy daughter is your pride and joy…’
It was then.
‘…Whether you share my blood or not. No matter who your mother is or what the reason for your existence is, it doesn’t matter. You are my daughter.’
The words Calyps had said to me, which had hit me like a bolt from the blue, flashed through my mind.
Regardless of my origins, Dad was this happy that I was his daughter.
And yet, here I was…
‘I was just feeling embarrassed, thinking Dad was being a fool for his daughter….’
I closed my eyes as a sudden wave of guilt washed over me.
The more I felt his affection, the more awkward I became, not knowing what to do with myself. So I had reflexively pushed him away, but I shouldn’t have done that.
I should have accepted the love he expressed so purely and given it back to him in return.
This was no time for this.
Dad was so proud of me; I couldn't just stand here feeling embarrassed as his golden seed.
‘I will be. Father’s. Proud daughter.’
“…That’s right.”
As soon as I spoke, the gazes of the shocked nobles shifted toward me.
I snapped my eyes open.
“I—am Dad’s real daughter\!”
Then, with the side of my hand—small as a hamster’s—I flicked back the hair that had fallen forward and shouted.
“Duke Calyps’s eyes are red. My eyes, Lady Aisha’s eyes, are also red. I am the child of Calyps Crost who has returned after five years. I am Aisha Crost—\!”
Crost—
—ost—
My voice, raised as if making a proclamation, echoed through the air.
The nobles, startled by my roar that sounded like a lion cub from The Lion King, stood with their mouths agape.
“What are you doing? Applaud.”
Calyps commanded firmly.
Shaking their heads as if snapping out of a daze, they all began to clap at once.
Clap, clap, clap—
“M-My Lady\! I knew it from the moment I first saw you\! I thought there was something extraordinary about you…\!”
“The Duke is truly something as well. To think you recognized her even while under the influence of Black Magic… I suppose blood really will tell.”
“Yes, exactly. It was like a magical attraction\! The bond between the two of you is simply admirable.”
The nobles continued their excessive fuss for a while. After watching them with satisfaction, we began to walk again.
But the bragging time didn't end there.
“…Uh, D-Duke…”
“My daughter. Red eyes.”
The explanations grew simpler as we went along.
Nevertheless, the number of nobles peeking in to see the bizarre father-daughter duo grew, and the Royal Palace was filled with the sound of applause.
Calyps even went so far as to tuck his hands under my armpits and hoist me up above his head.
“As of this hour. Aisha is my biological daughter. Note the eye color.”
Dangle—
My legs dangled in the air along with my father’s declaration.
I felt like an apple being sold at a clearance sale, but…
‘Be proud, self.’
To live up to my father’s expectations, I widened my eyes and showed off my red irises to the people.
“W-What? Why is Duke Calyps holding the Lady up like that?”
“Well, apparently the Lady turned out to be his biological daughter.”
“What?\!”
“Look at the Lady’s red eyes. Actually, the Duke of Pose cast Black Magic on the Lady when she was an infant….”
Whispers here, whispers there.
At this rate, it seemed everyone in the Royal Palace would know I was Calyps’s biological daughter within the day.
It was a bit embarrassing, but I was my father’s proud golden seed.
‘I have to let even more people know, even faster.’
By now, ‘that person’ should be appearing.
Scan, scan.
I looked around, searching for my target.
Thanks to being perched on my father’s shoulders, I could see people quite far away.
And then…
‘There he is\!’
With determined, narrowed eyes, I tapped the crown of my father’s head.
“Father.”
“What.”
“There is a reporter over there.”
I knew there would be a newspaper reporter waiting for us to show ourselves.
Calyps flinched at my words, his face hardening as he commanded.
“Aisha.”
“Yes.”
“Open your eyes wide.”
“Yes\!”
Opening. Eyes. Wide\!
Obeying the order, I used my short fingers to pull my eyelids open.
And so, we approached the reporter aggressively.
*
A few days later.
“Did you see the newspaper?”
“Yes~ of course. I’m carrying it around with me just in case there’s someone who hasn’t seen it yet.”
The massive backyard led to the rear gate of the Royal Palace.
The dirt path, baked crisp by the sun, was crowded with nobles who usually only stepped on neat stone paths or soft meadows.
A gust of wind kicked up a gentle dust storm, but the dozens—perhaps hundreds—of nobles continued their heated conversations, oblivious to the discomfort.
“I can’t tell you how shocked I was. I saw the Lady in person. Even though only her eye color changed, she looks u-uncannily like Duke Calyps…”
“So the adopted daughter turned out to be his biological daughter?”
“Goodness. It’s like a novel.”
Under the not-so-subtle intimidation of the Calyps and Aisha duo, the news of Aisha’s red eyes had graced the front page of the newspapers.
However, there was a separate reason the nobles had gathered today—
“His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen Consort are entering\!”
At the attendant’s proclamation, the whispering crowd bowed their heads in one direction.
Arjen and Grace, receiving their greetings, stepped onto the platform. Soon, Arjen shouted in a booming voice.
“At this hour, Pose Cray is to be executed\!”
It was the execution of the Duke of Pose.
*
A short while before the appearance of the King and Queen Consort.
“Oh my, that’s the Lady of the Crost Duchy over there.”
“Her eyes really are red. They were originally such a perfect match for the Duke’s, but the Duke of Pose deliberately hid them, didn’t he?”
“And he used Black Magic, which is taboo throughout the kingdom. He deserves to be summarily executed like this.”
Today was the Duke of Pose’s execution.
The platform for the execution was prepared in the backyard of the Royal Palace, and the nobles waiting for it had gathered….
Sitting in the front row, a place reserved only for high-ranking nobles, my back felt hot as if it were on fire.
It was because all the people standing behind me were watching me.
“Ugh….”
“What is it.”
When I let out an involuntary groan, Calyps, who was sitting next to me, asked.
“…It’s nothing.”
Nothing. I just felt a bit complicated inside.
I had feared the Duke of Pose’s retaliation; I had feared the look Calyps would give me at the final moment; and I had feared that Calyps’s attitude toward me would change once the whole truth was revealed.
And yet. The person who had made me tremble in fear was mounting the execution block, and I was sitting in the very front row watching it happen.
People were cursing him, while they only felt pity for me.
It was only natural. I was a spy, yet not a spy, and all the wrongdoing had been committed by the Duke of Pose.
Though I felt dazed by a reality I had never once imagined, I hated the Duke of Pose for making me go through things I never should have had to endure.
To me, to Ariena, and to Calyps. He had committed sins that even death could not wash away.
But more than that.
“The Duke of Pose wasn't much after all.”
Recalling the figure I had been so terrified of that I’d hyperventilate just by seeing him—the person I had despaired over, thinking I would never escape him—now being pathetically held by knights.
I felt a sense of emptiness, wondering why I had been so helpless against him.
Furthermore, even with his end approaching, people were focusing only on me, not him.
On me, the real Lady.
Sniff.
As I fiddled with my nose out of awkwardness, Dad let out a chuckle and stroked my head.
“Of course. This wasn’t even a place you needed to come to in the first place.”
“Huh?”
“It’s fine even now, so go back home. I’ll take you there.”
“…Wha?”
My eyes went round at his rapid-fire words.