"I understand that children tend to grow up unpredictably—but even then, there has to be a limit, right?"
The words escaped Krista Hell's lips with a sigh, tinged in quiet disbelief.
She walked slowly, almost absently, down the narrow marble hallway of their small castle-like ho.
Her steps echoed softly against the finely polished floor, but her mind was far louder—buzzing with confusion, concern, and a growing pressure behind her temple that refused to subside.
An unrelenting headache pulsed behind her eyes.
It wasn't the kind born from fatigue or stress.
No—this one was a mother's headache.
The kind that ca from watching your child walk paths that made no sense no matter how much you thought you understood them.
Krista, the Countess of Hell County, a woman known for her composure and grace in noble society, found herself pacing in slow, unsettled circles—her thoughts looping with each step, as if sohow walking them out would bring clarity.
Her hand rose to her forehead.
Riley.
Her oldest. Her quiet one. Her… unpredictable son...
Of the two children she had raised, Riley had always been the more reserved.
The one who watched rather than spoke.
The one who thought before he acted—and when he did speak, his words were always deliberate, genuine, and strikingly honest.
He had never been a liar.
Not once.... she believed to be....
And that—perhaps more than anything—was what made watching him grow up so... confusing.
As a mother, Krista believed she had a certain instinctual understanding of her children.
Especially Riley.
He had always seed straightforward to her—loyal, level-headed, and decisively open.
Even when he made strange decisions, or acted out in odd, slightly worrying ways, she could trace the reason behind them with enough effort.
There had always been a sense of consistency in how he thought.
She could trust that consistency.
She had learned to trust it.
Even if he was occasionally too withdrawn.
Even if he had the oddest little quirks.
Even if, sotis, he looked at the world like he was trying to unravel sothing no one else could see.
He was still her son.
A simple, quiet boy with a strangely mature heart.
Or so she had thought.
But now…?
Now he was doing things she couldn't explain.
She rubbed her temples and stopped by the large window overlooking their front courtyard.
The winter sun cast long golden rays across the empty lawn, but its warmth did nothing to ease the chill in her thoughts.
"Since when did Riley beco so difficult to read…?"
A part of her tried to bla her son's behavior on her husband's side of the family.
Maybe it was the grandfather's blood?
Perhaps so deeply buried eccentricity had finally surfaced in Riley through his lineage?
But no—his father wasn't like that.
And even his grandfather, for all his quirks and dramatic flair, had been a devoted man.
Eccentric, sure.
Occasionally ridiculous.
But a cheater?
Not once.
Krista sighed again, placing a hand on her hip as she looked out toward the snowy backyard where Riley had received his 'light punishnt' not long ago.
"Cheating on your fiancée with a princess is already one thing. But adding a duke's daughter and a future archmage into the mix? My baby, what in the world have you done…"
Of course, she understood the explanation Riley had given her this morning.
Riley had his reasons.
And because of that, she had relented.
She had chosen to go easy on him, giving him only a small punishnt down the snow-covered slopes of their estate.
Still...
She couldn't bring herself to fully believe it.
Not her Riley.
Not the sweet boy who used to follow Liyana around like a lost puppy.
Not the boy who once cried for an entire day just because Liyana refused to talk to him after a small fight.
How could he be the kind of man who would entangle himself with so many won at once?
Yes, polygamy was legal in the Empire.
Not only that, it was considered a sign of status in so circles.
Being desired by multiple powerful won wasn't sothing to be ashad of—in fact, many nobles would have boasted about it.
But Krista was not like those nobles.
She had grown up believing in romance.
She had lived her life in the warm embrace of monogamous love.
Her marriage to Count Hell was sothing people whispered about—not with scorn, but with envy. A true love story among the nobility.
A marriage filled with laughter, passion, and quiet, enduring loyalty.
And so part of her—a large part—had always wanted her children to experience the sa kind of fairy tale.
That gentle, dream-like life where two people fell in love and never once had to look away.
But now…
Now her son had sohow managed to capture the hearts of not just one, but three of the Empire's most dazzling young won.
The princess, no less.
A duke's daughter.
And even a future archmage with terrifying prodigal status and potential influence in the whole continent.
Anyone in the Empire would practically beg to trade places with Riley.
And she knew—she knew—that Riley understood this, too.
That's why, in the quietest corners of her heart, she was grateful.
Grateful that when Riley and Liyana finally beca official—when they publicly acknowledged their love—it wasn't for politics.
It wasn't for status.
It was real.
It was love.
That love, that sweet and innocent affection between two children who grew up together in snow and sunlight, had been preserved.
And for all her motherly scolding, and all her noblewoman's worries—
That was what made her most proud of him.
Liyana and Riley had always loved each other—even if, truthfully, their relationship had started as a whim between two families.
A promise between parents.
A decision made long ago, when Riley and Liyana were still too young to understand the weight of the future being handed to them.
But that didn't make their love any less real.
Krista had seen it herself.
Firsthand.
In quiet monts and innocent glances.
The way Liyana would wait patiently at the gates just to walk with Riley from his lessons.
The way Riley would instinctively shield her from the cold wind, even without realizing it.
The soft smiles they exchanged without a single word spoken.
That was love.
Simple, youthful, and utterly sincere.
And yet…
Those mories clashed with the boy—no, the young man—who stood before her, looking her in the eye with a gaze so unshaken it made her chest tighten.
"I love all of them, Mom. Snow, Rose, Alice… and of course, Liyana. Equally. Fairly. In all honesty, I don't even know how to express my feelings for them properly yet. But what I do know is… I love them. All of them. And I'll do everything I can to give them the happiness they deserve."
"….."
"So even if you say I need to stop… for the sake of the family, the na, the future… I'm sorry, Mom. I won't let go of them."
"Riley— "
"Even if that ans you'll hate for it."
She couldn't say a word…
For a mont, the world stilled.
The winter wind outside the window, the gentle tick of the antique clock in the hallway… all of it faded.
Krista looked at him—not as the little boy who used to fall asleep in her arms, nor as the quiet, logical child who always read too much and spoke too little.
She saw a young man standing on the precipice of his future. And for the first ti, her son was defying her.
And that's what made her heart ache even more.
Because now she realized… Riley wasn't being reckless or selfish.
He wasn't chasing after a fantasy.
He knew what he was doing.
Which made it worse.
He understood the danger—the political minefield of courting other won while being tied to the Grand Duke's daughter, the complications of getting involved with the imperial princess, the consequences of splitting his heart in four directions.
He understood it all… and still chose this path.
And what troubled her most was the silent implication buried in his words.
'Liyana will understand….'
Of course she probably would.
Liyana had always been that kind of girl.
A sweet, composed, and unfathomably mature young woman—more so than even Krista's own daughter in so ways.
She was grace and patience wrapped into one, always placing others before herself, always smiling even when she was hurting.
Krista clenched her hands together, her heart sinking.
Was Riley taking that grace for granted?
Did he truly believe that loving Liyana ant she would simply accept sharing him with others?
And yet…
She couldn't deny his sincerity.
She couldn't deny the conviction in his voice.
And most of all, she couldn't deny the truth that he did love them—all of them.
Specially towards Liyana.
With that quiet, relentless warmth he had carried since childhood.
So as a mother, what was she supposed to do?
Was she supposed to scold him? Condemn him? Threaten him with disinheritance or reputation?
Or…
Was she ant to trust him?
To trust that the boy she raised into this thoughtful, stubborn, kind-hearted ss of a young man…
Would sohow find a way to make it all work?
In the end she only chose to punish him lightly…
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