After Iris left, Merellis was lost in her thoughts when suddenly a servant entered.
“Excuse me, Lady Merellis. General Gazell is here to see you.”
“Hi there, Merellis. It’s been a while!” A deep, jovial voice boomed throughout the room as Merellis’s father, Gazell, entered the room.
“Father! This place is just brimming with visitors today!”
“Hm? Oh, you mean Iris? Where is she, by the way?”
“Dean and Elpis came, so I’m sure they’re spending some family time together.”
“I see… It’s been so long since I’ve seen them.”
“He he. I don’t think they’re going home today, so there will be plenty of time for you to talk to them. If you have the time, that is.”
“I do! There aren’t many people who have as much time on their hands as I do.”
“When a military man has time on his hands, that means it’s a time of peace. That’s a good thing!”
“I agree.” Gazell plopped down in the seat in front of Merellis, where Iris had been sitting earlier.
“I told Iris everything. About my past.”
“Did you? Was she surprised?” For a moment, her father took his gaze off her. It seemed he was suppressing emotions rising within him, but she couldn’t read them on his face.
“She said she would carry on the fight. And that because she had vowed to protect the duchy, as long as she keeps that vow, that will carry on their wishes for the future.”
Gazell closed his eyes and quietly listened to his daughter speak.
“That’s what he wanted, right? When he said he would entrust it to me.”
“You only tell your final wishes to someone you know you can trust. I’m sure that’s what he meant,” Gazell said with a soft smile on his face.
“I hope so.”
“It is. Especially since Iris told you she’d carry on for you as well.”
“Indeed… I’m lucky to have such a wonderful daughter.”
A servant came in with some tea at the perfect moment. Gazell picked up his fresh cup and slowly sipped from it. “Speaking of the past… Did you tell her about Divan?”
“No. Unfortunately, Dean and Elpis came just before I could.”
“I see. I can’t wait to hear about Iris’s reaction when she hears about that one.”
“I’m sure she’ll be surprised that Divan was Nort’s son.”
Divan was a spy from Tweil who had manipulated Yuri. He was obsessed with destroying Houses Armelia and Anderson, so he used Yuri to try to accomplish his goals. And when she failed, he abandoned her.
“I was stunned when I met him on the battlefield.”
That had happened when Tweil broke the cease-fire and started marching troops toward Tasmeria. Gazell and Baron Messi worked with each other and Gazell led his troops through Messi’s domain to prepare for the attack…and coincidentally ran into Divan. Everyone thought he had run away, but the man had been lying low in Messi’s barony.
“Your instincts are uncanny, Father. You didn’t have any information on him beforehand, right? To run into him, just like that…all I can say is that I expected nothing less from you.”
“Complimenting me isn’t going to get you anywhere, missy.” Gazell laughed and then let out a sigh. “Still, his obsession was frightening. I suppose he was trying to avenge his father.”
“Yes. Nort had the misfortune of being used by Cordis, and I was the one who killed him.”
“You just put out the fire. The true villain was Cordis.”
“And you killed that villain. Perhaps that’s why,” Merellis said with a frown.
“It was probably because we succeeded in thwarting the plot after the battle. Everywhere we searched back then led us to a hole, even within the Tasmerian army. I have to take my hat off to Alf’s skill at rooting them all out,” Gazell reasoned.
“Yes, but the fact that he was able to build such a plot in another country showed just how capable he was. Perhaps this sounds strange, but it must have been frustrating for him.”
Gazell closed his eyes. He could still hear what Divan had said the moment before he had killed him. Divan had cursed at him.
“It’s not because Father failed! It’s all Duke Sligar’s fault for hatching this plot to begin with! I…I just wanted to prove it! That’s why I used Tweil from the very beginning! I wanted to bring victory to Rimmel! But you’re going to interfere again, Gazell?!”
“I know it was frustrating. Because if not for you, and Pax…and for my husband, I might have become consumed by my hatred and enveloped in its flames. I could have dragged innocent people into my quest for revenge, burning all who came into contact with me.”
“Isn’t that the difference between the two of you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Merellis, you had people around you who were concerned about you, including me. He didn’t. The only relationships he chose to have with others were with those he was using. No matter how great the flames of hatred inside of him grew, there was no one to extinguish them.”
Merellis smiled at her father’s words. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. I’m a very lucky person,” she murmured. She rose and walked over to the window, seeing a beautiful sunset stretched across the sky. “By the way, Father, aren’t you going back to the march soon?”
In truth, Merellis didn’t like the color red. It reminded her of being stained with crimson. That color had taken too many of her loved ones away. And it reminded her of all the lives she had taken.
But this was the path she had chosen, so she had no regrets.
Still…she would never come to like the color red.
“I’ll come with you. I want to visit Mother’s grave.”
The red sky reminded her of when she was young and played until she was too exhausted to play anymore. She would then look up at the sunset as she ran home to where her mother waited for her. It was a fond memory.
“Oh, is that right? Merelda will like that. Why don’t we invite Pax too, and we can all go there together?”
“That would be lovely.” Merellis looked back at her father and smiled. Inwardly, she thought she would never see the day when she would feel so at peace with the anniversary of her mother’s death looming before her. Especially not after she had forced herself to remember it all while telling Iris. “I’m a very lucky person,” she murmured.
“Hm? Did you say something?” Gazell asked.
“It’s nothing. I’m just looking forward to us being together as a family again.”
“Ah, I see.” Gazell smiled softly.
✦ ✦ ✦
Luce burst into Iris’s room. “Mother!”
“Shh!” Dean quieted Luce, and the little girl quickly covered her mouth.
She was even trying to hold her breath; it was an adorable sight.
Dean’s eyes softened as he gazed upon her. “You can breathe, darling. Come over here, quietly.”
Luce tiptoed over to him and spotted her mother Iris serenely lying there across Dean’s lap.
“She must be tired. We were reminiscing about the past and she fell asleep.”
“Mother…is tired?”
“Yes, even your mother gets tired. She works very hard as the governor of Armelia, just as hard as you train. Plus, she’s a perfectionist, so she works too hard at times. And then she gets tired like this.”
“Mother’s working hard too?”
“That’s right. Everyone works hard to make their wishes come true. Even if it doesn’t look like it. And that’s especially true for talented people.”
Just then, Elpis came in. “Mother, excuse m—” He immediately went quiet when he saw what was going on.
“It’s all right. She’s fast asleep. Just don’t speak too loudly.”
“Pardon me for interrupting. Luce, let’s go.”
“But…”
“Mother is tired. Let’s let her rest.”
“Okay, you’re right.” Luce obeyed her brother and left the room. “Even Mother gets tired… I didn’t realize that.”
“Of course you didn’t. Mother never shows it, except in front of Father.”
“But why?”
“Because she carries a very heavy responsibility. And because that’s how much she loves Father,” explained Elpis.
“I don’t get it.”
“It just means Mother loves Father a lot!”
“Well I get that! But what about us?” asked Luce.
“Of course Mother loves us too. She loves us so much that’s why she doesn’t show when she’s tired.”
“I…really don’t get it after all.”
“That’s okay. You’ll understand someday.”
“Will I?” Luce frowned.
“Yes, you will.” Elpis lightly patted her head.
Luce’s eyes softened with happiness. “Will I understand tomorrow?” she asked.
A hesitant smile formed on Elpis’s face. “Probably not. You’ll understand once you get to be Mother’s age though.”
“I won’t understand until that long?”
“That’s right. And until then, you have to work really hard.”
“You mean like at training?”
“Hmm… Yes, but also at the etiquette lessons Mother takes you to.”
“Ugh, I’m bad at those!”
“It’s okay. No one’s great at it at first. But it’ll become more fun as you practice, and you’ll get better at it.”
“Is that how it was for you, Brother?”
“Yes, of course. With lots of things too. I just made sure nobody noticed I wasn’t good at it.”
“Oh, so I’m not the only one!” Luce smiled. “I’ll do my best!”
“That’s the spirit. Let’s go back to our room.”
“Okay!” Luce took Elpis’s hand. He chuckled a little bit and then squeezed her hand in return as the servants looked warmly upon the children.