Epilogue:
The Duchess’s Daughter Takes Over
“I HAD NO IDEA all that happened in Rimmel, Mother.”
I felt like my mother and I had been talking for a very long time. Even now, people speak of Grandpa Romello’s successful non-aggression treaty between the Dukes Grindel, Crowe, and Philling of Rimmel. They say it was one of his greatest accomplishments. I had no idea there was such a layered backstory behind it.
If just one thing hadn’t gone to plan, I might not have even been born—and I mean that seriously, not as a joke.
“Well, of course you didn’t. It was never made public, and it can never come to light, for that matter. It’s a story that will never be written down in history.” Mother had a faint smile on her face as she said that. I could tell she still had lingering regrets about the past which she could never undo. “Have I become a person strong enough to protect them? Whenever I felt like running away, or whenever times were tough, I would ask myself that. Sometimes I still do, and I probably always will. I want to be the kind of person they’re proud of. That’s the only way I can honor those who sacrificed their lives.”
That made sense to me. I had always looked at Mother and wondered how she could stay so calm, especially when I was young, and the name of House Armelia weighed so heavily on me.
But now, I realized that Mother always had a clear vision of what she wanted to do and who she wanted to be. That was why she never faltered.
“I feel like once again, I’ve learned just how important peace is,” I said. “I’ve vowed to protect the citizens of the duchy and help them live peaceful lives. I promise you that I’ll carry the battle on to the future and carry out their wishes.”
Mother seemed to know what I meant. She smiled at me through her tears.
I couldn’t easily say that I would shoulder the burden of all those sacrifices, all of those people’s hopes and dreams. I already had to bear the responsibility for the lives of my citizens, so I couldn’t shoulder that as well. But what I could do was keep my vow, which was exactly what those who had lost their lives had prayed for. We all wanted the same thing.
“Hey, Iris? There’s one thing I want to ask you.”
“What is it, Mother?”
“What’s your idea of peace?” she asked.
I paused for a moment, thinking, because it was very similar to the question, “What kind of ruler would you like to be?” And I thought of that question every day. I thought, and thought, and kept pondering it, even now.
“Well, this is very idealistic, but I want peace to be where everyone understands the value of their own lives…the value of living.”
“The value of living?”
“Yes. People can’t live without hopes. People can’t live without food. War takes both of those things away from people. So, my idea of peace is for people to want to live…to build a world that values life over anything else. More specifically, I want to further develop the duchy so that everyone has dreams and can make a good living for their children. That’s my idea of peace.”
“I see. He he he. So you’re not just thinking of peace in a militaristic sense, but even beyond that. You want to build and protect a peaceful world like that.”
“Yes. I’ve already failed at stopping a war once, so perhaps that’s why I want this so much.”
Mother smiled happily at me.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. “Pardon me, Lady Iris, but your husband has arrived.”
“Oh? Dean’s here?” I was genuinely surprised to hear the servant’s announcement because, after all, we were in the capital. Dean was my husband, but he was also the former (and presumed dead) Prince Alfred, so he generally never came here. It was partly because since both Dean and I were the ones to make decisions for the duchy, we wanted to avoid both of us being away at the same time.
However, the most important reason for it was so that no one would discover Dean’s true identity. He wore a disguise whenever he visited the capital, but there was always the possibility that someone could recognize him. Anytime he came here, was taking a risk.
Meanwhile, everyone in Armelia simply knew him as Dean, so he was free to do as he pleased there.
“Excuse me, Lady Merellis, Iris,” he said.
“Dean! You should’ve told me you were coming!”
“I had some business to take care of here, and Elpis wanted to come too.”
“Goodness… Shouldn’t you just be honest and say you missed Iris and wanted to see her?” Mother teased, making my cheeks flush.
“It seems I can’t fool you, Lady Merellis. It’s true, I’ve spent too long away from my beloved wife, and I couldn’t bear it another minute,” he admitted.
“Oh, Dean! Stop that!” My husband’s words were quite effective on me, and I had to look away.
“Well, Iris. I’m sure you two have a lot of catching up to do. I don’t want to intrude.”
“But, Mother…” I was the one who asked her to tell me stories, so I felt bad about her leaving.
“It’s all right. I told you everything you wanted to know,” she said with a satisfied smile.
“All right, then. Thank you for spending time with me, Mother.” She was trying to be considerate of me and I wanted to honor that, so Dean and I excused ourselves.
“What were you two talking about?” Dean asked in a casual tone. When we were in front of others, he would still talk to me formally from time to time, but mostly he was informal around me.
“Hm? She was telling me stories about when she was young.”
“Oh, really?” His eyes sparkled with curiosity. “Stories about the young Lady Merellis… That certainly sounds interesting. You know, I can research just about anyone, but I can’t find a thing about your mother’s past.”
“You looked into her past?”
“When I was battling my brother for power, I researched all the main noble families. But you know, I couldn’t find the first thing about when your mother was young. She rarely made appearances at social functions when she was a girl. I don’t think any stories about her existed until right before she entered the academy. I thought it was odd, and I really put a lot of effort into digging deep to find something, but there was just…nothing.”
“Interesting. Did you use the spy Tanya met before?” Tanya had told me there was a spy she made contact with named Milo, but we had never confirmed he worked for Dean. I asked also to test him a bit and see how he responded.
“Yes, but one of my other spies used to work at the Anderson manor. They wouldn’t tell me a thing either.” I was surprised that Dean just came out and admitted that, and the fact that the spy formerly worked for House Anderson. It certainly was a small world.
But what was most surprising to me was that at the time, Dean was the first prince of Tasmeria. This spy of his refused orders from royalty.
“That wasn’t good, was it?” I asked.
“Of course not, but…I had already found out everything I really needed to about the various families’ histories, and there was nothing particularly suspicious about it. I didn’t press him further.”
“Hm… What was this spy’s name?” I had a feeling it was either Alf or Enarene. Alf would be very elderly by now though, so I doubted it was him. That left Enarene. There would have been any number of people in House Anderson capable of being a spy though, since they were all trained in martial arts, so it was difficult to say.
“Please don’t ask me that. Even though I’ve left the royal family, I shouldn’t be leaking that information.”
“True.”
I didn’t want to make any trouble for Berne and Leticia.
“Still, I’m dying to know what she told you. Their devotion to Lady Merellis was so intense that they came all the way back to Armelia for the battle against Acacia.”
“I’m sure you have a good idea already.”
“I suppose I can imagine. But honestly, it’s hard to believe.” Dean held up his hands in surrender. “Please, my dear wife… Won’t you tell me?”
“He he. I can’t tell you right now,” I answered with a laugh.
“But you can tell me later?”
“Yes. It’s a long story, so once we’re back at home, we can settle in, and I’ll tell it to you.”
“Got it. I can’t wait,” he said.
We arrived at another parlor where our son Elpis was sitting on the sofa.
“Goodness, Elpis! You’ve gotten so big!” I ran over to him and gave him a big hug.
“Mother! I’m not a little boy anymore, you know!” He looked slightly embarrassed. I adored my children so much that I thought it was so cute even when he blushed.
“Ha ha ha. I’m your mother! You’ll always be my little boy!” I tousled his hair and scooted away from him slightly. The older Elpis got, the more he resembled Dean. Though, honestly, I hoped he wouldn’t look too much like him. But, after all, no one from Elpis’s generation knew what Prince Alfred had looked like, and if anyone ever did comment on it, we could just say he got his looks from his great-grandmother.
“Hm? Father and Brother are here!”
“Oh, are you done with training, Luce?”
“Yeah! I worked really hard today!”
There was a knock at the door, and Luce entered the room. Dean picked her up with a proud look on his face. “You’ve gotten bigger since I saw you last!”
“Ha ha ha!” Luce hugged Dean happily.
“That’s not fair, Dean. I wanted to hold Luce!”
“You had her all to yourself the whole time you were at the capital.”
“Oh… Fine! I’ll have Elpis all to myself then!” I hugged my son again. He seemed to have given up resisting because he let me.
“Father, will you spar with me soon? Lyle says you’re really strong!”
“I’m pretty rusty… You’ll honestly get more experience sparring with Lyle.”
“Really?!”
I smiled as I watched the two of them talk. Children really do grow up in the blink of an eye, so much so that you don’t even want to miss a moment of it. I wondered if I would be able to tell my children a story about Dean and I once they were older, like my mother had done for me. I was a little scared and a little excited for that moment to come as I imagined what it would be like.