Chapter 70
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Sir Diego's tattoo, hidden beneath his uniform, was quite flamboyant when exposed to the sunlight. Diego's large build, combined with the tattoo, certainly created an intimidating atmosphere. If they had encountered each other on the street as strangers, one would have quietly turned and walked in the other direction.
In fact, not only Diego, but all of Cesare's knights had an aura that made them difficult to approach. Having lived their entire lives as soldiers, they were hard for ordinary people to handle.
Aileen, too, would have been very frightened if she hadn't been close to them since childhood. It was only because she knew their kindness that she wasn't afraid.
Aileen smiled, following Diego's lead. Diego then winked, closing one eye.
She chuckled softly at his playfulness. Diego wore a proud expression for a moment before belatedly returning to a solemn face. Cesare, who had been watching the two of them, chuckled and continued his conversation with Diego.
Aileen turned to look at her father, whom she had momentarily forgotten while laughing with Diego. His face was even gloomier than before. He was silently wiping away sweat with a handkerchief, so she cautiously spoke to him again.
"Are you working at the ranch?"
Unlike before when he would lash out in anger, her father remained silent. She pressed him again, his lips tightly shut.
"How did this happen...? Did someone introduce you to this job?"
As expected, there was no response. She should be worried about her father, but other thoughts inevitably came to mind first.
'Then the brick house is empty now?'
A house deteriorates quickly if no one takes care of it. More than anything, she was worried about the orange tree in the garden. It was precious, and Cesare had gifted it to her...
When she left the Imperial Palace and returned to the Grand Duke's Residence today, she would have to ask Sonio to find a caretaker to look after the brick house right away.
After worrying about the house, she belatedly thought of her father again. Since he wouldn't say anything no matter what she asked, Aileen offered a safe greeting.
"I'm glad you look healthy."
"...Hah."
Her father scoffed at Aileen's words. She couldn't understand why he was sneering. It was because her father's complexion really had improved.
Perhaps because he had stopped sleeping until sunset and drinking all night, his face, which had always been reddish, was now clear and had regained its color. The dark shadows under his eyes had also faded considerably, and his gaze was much sharper.
'It might be okay for him to keep working at the ranch.'
She secretly harbored a thought that would make her father jump up and down if he heard it. Just as Aileen was about to speak again, her father suddenly opened his mouth.
"Yes, you wouldn't know anything."
His gaze was not directed at Aileen. Her father stared at Cesare and muttered.
"It's always been like that. Keeping Aileen in a flower garden, making sure she doesn't know anything."
After staring intently at the man with jet-black hair even in the daylight, he slowly turned his gaze back to Aileen. Her father spoke with an expression and voice that suggested he truly couldn't understand.
"Your mother was the same, why are you so crazy about such a guy, no, such a person..."
He looked at Aileen as if she were the most unfortunate person in the world. Her father trailed off, clicked his tongue, and added an irrelevant remark.
"Rolling around on a ranch is better than dying."
Then he closed his mouth again. Aileen was about to tell her father not to go around selling the Grand Duchess's name, but she stopped herself. It seemed that no matter what she said now, he would only scoff as he had done before.
Aileen quietly looked down at her feet, and her father occasionally let out empty laughs. As the silence continued, Cesare and Diego's conversation was nearing its end.
Diego's eyes were slightly narrowed. It seemed they had been discussing something unpleasant. Diego suddenly ran a hand roughly through his hair and muttered something as if dissatisfied.
However, as soon as he sensed Aileen's gaze, he quickly hid his expression and smiled. Watching the smiling Diego, Aileen suddenly felt her father's words prick her heart like thorns.
"It's always been like that. Keeping Aileen in a flower garden, making sure she doesn't know anything."
Cesare, Diego, and the other knights and Sonio, all tended not to tell Aileen everything.
But there was a reason for their actions. Everything was for Aileen's sake.
Aileen looked down at the wedding ring on her finger. Her childhood dream had come true. It was also an object that reminded Aileen of a sense of incongruity every time she saw it.
Suddenly, Aileen had a thought. Cesare wanted her to know nothing, but at the same time...
It was as if he was waiting for the day she would know everything.
She noticed the flower petals scattered at her feet. Aileen gently nudged a petal that had fallen from the flower tree with her shoe.
It had always been like this. Whenever he had to spend some time alone in the Imperial Palace, he always brought Aileen to the garden. Thanks to that, Aileen enjoyed her time looking at the plants without even realizing she was waiting.
It wasn't that he had put Aileen in the garden from the beginning. He had acted that way since he learned that Aileen was particularly fond of plants. It was after he noticed that she was eager to see the Imperial Palace's garden.
Once Cesare learned something about Aileen, he never forgot it. He would even pick up on and take care of things that Aileen herself had forgotten. Whether Aileen wanted it or not.
She had become accustomed to Cesare's kindness since she was young. Now, she didn't even know what was strange anymore. She only recognized that this relationship might seem a little peculiar to others.
In fact, it was still like that now. She didn't fully understand every situation, but she accepted it, thinking that it would ultimately be for her sake.
Perhaps an ordinary person would have immediately become wary from the wedding ring, or from the moment they felt even a slight strangeness.
But Aileen couldn't doubt or be wary of Cesare. It was because she had grown up only learning how to trust him. Aileen, who had grown up within Cesare's fence, didn't know how to go outside.
While Aileen was lost in thought, Cesare and Diego's conversation ended. Aileen erased her complex thoughts as she sensed the two men approaching. Diego saluted Aileen smartly and said.
"I will escort the Baron and go in first, Madam."
"Sir Diego."
Aileen called out to him without realizing it. Diego waited for Aileen's words with a questioning look. But Aileen also didn't know what she wanted to say to Diego.
"...Be careful going in. Thank you for today."
So she just gave a safe greeting. Diego smiled as if it were anticlimactic, but he bowed to Aileen again and turned away. Her father also disappeared with Diego, wearing an expression as if he were being dragged to a slaughterhouse.
As the two were left alone, Aileen cautiously asked Cesare.
"Did you... send my father to the ranch?"
No matter how she thought about it, there was no way her father would go to the ranch on his own, so someone must have forcibly put him there. As far as Aileen knew, there was only one person who would do such a thing.
Cesare readily admitted to the crime in response to Aileen's question.
"Why, should I take him out?"
She should naturally ask him to release her father from the ranch, but the words didn't come easily.
Why would Cesare bother to pay attention to a humble Baron in such a remote corner? It was all because he was Aileen's biological father.
She could easily guess why he had pushed her father into the ranch. It was to prevent him from selling the Grand Duchess's name.
'Wouldn't it be okay for him to stay at the ranch for a while? He could also quit drinking...'
She couldn't bring herself to say the bad thought out loud, but Cesare defended Aileen's heart instead.
"The Baron seems to be suited to a pastoral life. The cows have also become friendly with the Baron."
He told her not to take away the cows' new friend, pretending to be very logical, but it was nonsense.
