「One year later.」
In the Forr Lady Baron’s bedroom, four years had carved even deeper marks into the woman, now past her sixtieth year. Her graying hair had grown sparse, and her wrinkled face carried a weariness that never left.
"Aurora, you are sixteen now." The Forr Lady Baron’s voice was hoarse and heavy.
"I don’t want to." Aurora stood before the window, her long golden hair shimring softly in the candlelight, but her tone was uncharacteristically firm.
The Forr Lady Baron slamd her hand on the tea table beside her, making the tea set CLATTER. "How long are you going to be so willful? Four years ago, that bastard disappeared on his way back to the Hans Viscount Domain, so he’s no longer a threat to us. Do you want our family’s future to et the sa fate—to be left without an heir?"
Aurora gazed out the window into the deep night, the moonlight casting a faint silver glow on her delicate profile. Her voice remained calm. "Mother, it’s still too early..."
"It’s not early..." The Forr Lady Baron sighed deeply, her anger suddenly dissipating, leaving only a profound weariness. "I’ve grown old..."
Aurora turned at the sound of her voice, and the sight of her mother’s aged face in the candlelight sent a pang through her heart.
Those deep wrinkles, the strands of graying hair, and those clouded eyes.
She opened her mouth, but found she couldn’t speak.
The Forr Lady Baron’s voice beca soft and fragile, a world away from the perpetually strong mother Aurora rembered. "Aurora, my daughter... The Duval Clan must continue. Your brother... he wouldn’t have wanted the clan’s line to end, either..."
Aurora looked into her mother’s expectant, fragile eyes and finally said softly, "Let think about it for a while longer."
"I hope, before I die..." The Forr Lady Baron’s voice was barely audible. "...that I can hold your child..."
Aurora was silent for a long ti, just quietly watching her mother’s aging face in the candlelight.
...
「Three months later.」
In the cetery on the outskirts of New Wood Town, a new grave had just been mounded.
Murphy bent down and gently placed a bouquet of Snowball Flowers before the grave, their white petals particularly striking against the gray, overcast sky.
Bart’s son knelt on the muddy ground, his calloused hands clasped to his chest, murmuring in a low voice, "May Oriane guide my father’s soul to rest... Thank you for the Lord Baron’s grace... May My Lord live in eternal health and peace..."
He repeated these prayers over and over, his voice trembling with grief.
On the ridges between the fields in the distance, a few farrs and townspeople watched from afar, discussing the Lord’s unusual actions in low voices.
In an era with such a rigid class structure, it was rare enough for a nobleman to personally attend a commoner’s funeral; to do so twice in a row was unheard of.
Aurora stood quietly by Murphy’s side, her plain long dress making her complexion seem slightly pale.
She remained silent throughout the entire affair, her breathing so quiet it was almost inaudible.
On the way back, Murphy noticed her unusually downcast expression and asked softly, "What’s wrong?"
Aurora forced a smile. "It’s nothing."
Murphy reached out and gently tugged the ends of the golden hair that fell over her shoulder, a gesture that had once always made her giggle.
But this ti, Aurora simply tilted her head away to avoid it.
"You’re so childish." There was a hint of weariness in her voice.
"You always laughed when I teased you like this as a child." Murphy retracted his hand, his gaze gentle.
"But I’m grown up now."
Aurora looked up. Just then, the clouds parted, and a beam of sunlight fell upon her increasingly refined features, turning her golden eyelashes translucent.
Only then did Murphy take a good look at the young woman before him.
Four years had stripped Aurora of her childishness. Her figure was slender and poised, and her features held the first hints of a young woman’s charm.
He rembered a morning three years ago when a panicked Aurora had woken up in his bedroom, crying that she was bleeding. In that mont, he knew the little girl who always insisted on sleeping in his bed was no more.
Even though Aurora’s tantrum was more intense than when they had made her sleep in her own bed at age ten—she had even gone on a hunger strike in protest—he had remained firm and ordered the Maids to move all of her belongings out of his room.
Ultimately, Aurora could not defy Murphy’s decision. Coupled with the Forr Lady Baron’s explicit support, the matter was finally settled.
"You really aren’t a child anymore," Murphy sighed softly.
"So, I’m getting married." Aurora’s voice was soft, yet exceptionally clear.
"Okay."
"Mother has grown old. I don’t know when she’ll go to the Celestial Kingdom, so I’m getting married."
"Okay."
"The domain cannot be without an heir. It has been Mother’s wish, and yours all along, not to let the succession fall into the hands of an outsider. So, I’m getting married."
"Okay."
Aurora suddenly stopped, her voice rising sharply. "Is ’Okay’ the only thing you know how to say?! Ever since I was a child, you’ve always asked about every decision I made. Why are you being so dismissive about this, of all things? Can’t you ask anything else? Ask what I think? Ask how I feel?"
Hearing her raised voice, the distant farrs and townspeople quickly lowered their heads, not daring to look over for fear of offending their Lord.
Murphy still looked at her calmly. "Okay."
That single word was the last straw. Tears instantly stread from Aurora’s eyes.
She sobbed, her heart breaking, her golden hair flying wildly in the wind. Then she spun around and ran toward the castle.
Murphy stood there in silence, watching her back grow smaller in the distance, but he never called out for her to stay.
...
Ti flowed by like a river, and in the blink of an eye, another year had passed.
Aurora beca increasingly busy with the affairs of the domain, and at the sa ti, began to seriously search for a marriage partner.
User Comments
0 comments from readers