Spring in My Grasp - Chapter 80

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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(80) I’ve Come Far Too Late

“Then what do you call abandoning the bloodline of Baron Valerion?”
She cried out.
“Even if we overlook the Countess Glister, is it proper to turn a blind eye to the flesh and blood of Baron Valerion?”
Gasps of shock rippled through the hall. Rowan’s expression remained impassive. As she watched in silence, the noblewoman seemed to feel the weight of her gaze and her shoulders trembled once more. From across the room, Marchioness Roxen shook her head with a disapproving click of her tongue. That noblewoman would never receive another invitation to the Roxen Marquis Residence.
“What are you suggesting?”
Rowan said.
“I care for my husband’s bloodline above all else.”
Leonius. There was no other bloodline of House Valerian.
“Exactly!”
“How dare you speak such nonsense when Leonius exists!”
Seizing the moment, Laila and Florence stepped forward. The moment Leonius’s name was spoken, the noblewomen fell silent. Leonius was the child the King himself had proclaimed as another future for this kingdom. The beloved of the Grand Cathedral since birth. The High Priest’s terrible favoritism toward Leonius was now known to all.
“Countess….”
Then came a small, trembling voice. It was Maribel. She walked slowly toward Rowan. Rowan regarded her with eyes devoid of emotion.
A child followed at Maribel’s side. Her face was pale, her eyes rimmed in red as though tears might spill at any moment. She resembled a lily drenched in water.
“Then….”
She opened her mouth again.
“What of this child?”
Though her words were soft, they carried clearly through the entire hall. Gasps echoed from every corner. This was no longer a party. The cheerful music had ceased long ago.
“Countess, I….”
Her voice wavered.
“I have not lied.”
Tears began to fall slowly down her face.
‘Good heavens.’
Rowan was astounded. It was simply absurd. Maribel’s tears were far too theatrical. Yet they were remarkably effective. Several nobles’ expressions were already wavering. The men sighed at the sight of a beautiful woman’s tears.
“When I came to you….”
Maribel continued.
“I desired nothing else….”
She spoke with her head bowed.
“Only that this child….”
Then she glanced toward Lionel.
“Might receive recognition from his father.”
The child’s face was revealed beneath the light. Silver hair. Eyes of violet-blue.
‘Sigh.’
Rowan clicked her tongue inwardly. Honestly, the resemblance was far too striking. Just as she was about to turn her gaze to Lionel with that thought——
“Stop spouting such nonsense!”
Just then, Laila suddenly stepped forward.
“Silver hair and violet eyes—does that make him the son of Baron Valerion?”
At her outcry, Maribel’s eyes wavered.
“I am not—”
“How shameless, a woman who sleeps with men carelessly when drunk, showing no embarrassment!”
What? My eyes widened in surprise. Startled, I turned to look at Laila.
‘Aren’t you a noblewoman?’
She was the wife of Baron Boden, no less. Yet the Laila before me now had eyes burning red as if facing a rival in love.
‘Ah, that’s right….’
In that moment, I understood.
‘Baron Boden….’
He seemed to have a woman.
“Well….”
Maribel stepped back in confusion. Another tear streamed down her face. But Laila’s blunt outcry was not without effect on the gathered crowd.
A woman who sleeps carelessly when drunk—was there any falsehood in those words? Though the child of Baron Valerion, a Holy Knight of noble blood, had already shown her face in High Society, the truth was that Maribel lacked the bearing of a true noblewoman.
Silence continued to flow. But the atmosphere was no longer in Maribel’s favor.
“Now that I look at him, he doesn’t resemble Leonius at all!”
Laila crossed her arms and cried out, looking at Lionel.
“Leonius truly takes after the great Holy Knight of the Kingdom, Baron Valerion!”
And she snorted dismissively.
“How could he resemble his father!”
Startled by Laila’s words, I looked down at Lionel once more. His face remained serene, as if the current situation barely registered. It was an expression unbecoming of a child. Silver hair and violet-blue eyes. Yet the longer I gazed, the more that resemblance seemed strangely off.
The hair color was certainly the same. Silver that scattered softly when caught by light. But Leonius’s hair—it seemed alive, drinking in the radiance. When the wind brushed it, the strands flowed gently, and when sunlight touched it, brightness seemed to reach into its very depths.
Lionel’s hair, by contrast, gleamed on the surface but appeared like a thin layer of color painted on. His eyes were the same. Violet-blue. Certainly the same hue. Yet Leonius’s eyes possessed a power that drew one inward the moment your gaze met his.
Though still a child’s eyes, the light within them burned with vivid clarity. But this child’s eyes remained fixed in place. Neither deepening nor wavering—a quiet, still surface. Beautiful, perhaps, yet strangely….
‘They don’t resemble each other….’
I thought. If there truly existed children who each resembled Alexis, shouldn’t they also resemble one another in some way? Yet something was subtly different. When I first saw Lionel, I too had thought him to resemble Alexis upon seeing his silver hair and violet-blue eyes. The colors were that striking.
But comparing him to my own child, Leonius, Lionel bore no resemblance to him whatsoever.
‘Could it be a difference in age?’
Confused, I quickly averted my gaze from Lionel.
“If he’s truly so remarkable, why didn’t you bring the child to this gathering?”
A noblewoman who sided with Maribel cried out.
“We’ve never once seen this child who supposedly takes after Baron Valerion so perfectly!”
At those words, I came to my senses and smiled with amusement.
“Of course.”
I said.
“My child is still too young.”
Then I deliberately swept my gaze over Maribel and Lionel.
“I thought this gathering was not an appropriate venue for his age.”
Of course, had I brought him here, it would have been my complete victory.
“Those who have children will understand.”
My words resonated deeply with the noblewomen.
“Children are beings to be protected, not objects to be displayed.”
At that, Maribel’s face hardened like stone. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe. In that instant, the mask she wore shattered. She glared at me with murderous intent.
My words were true. There was no one as young as Lionel at this gathering. Yet without Lionel, how could Maribel possibly attend such a party?
I could attend without Leonius, but Maribel could not. Even with Countess Glister as her escort, Lionel’s absence would render everything meaningless. Now a tempest raged in her chest. Of course, it was a gamble with her entire life at stake, but in this moment, it had become genuine.
‘Just wait.’
She clenched her teeth.
‘The place where you stand now.’
She thought, staring at me.
‘I will claim it soon.’
It was as she made this vow and bit her lip.
“Alexis Adrian Glister makes his entrance!”
The attendant’s cry pierced through the hall. In that instant, every eye widened. The air, stiff with tension, stopped entirely. Even I was startled.
‘The expedition is already over?’
Under normal circumstances, an emergency summons would have changed his schedule, making it impossible for him to come here. I stared at Alexis entering the hall with disbelieving eyes.
Light from the hall poured behind him. As the doors opened, the light from outside momentarily enveloped his silhouette like a shadow before slowly revealing him. His silver hair caught my eye first—a color that scattered softly like light diffusing through water, just like Leonius’s.
Eyes of an unfathomable blue-violet hue moved slowly. Several noblewomen’s breath faltered. Upon spotting me, Alexis approached without hesitation, his footsteps steady and deliberate. His refined bearing was utterly unadorned and remarkably sharp. Someone murmured.
“That’s…”
Once the wastrel of House Glister, but now a pillar of this kingdom and a hero—a Holy Knight who had succeeded in countless subjugations, saved the kingdom’s people, and earned the favor of both the King and the High Priest in equal measure. And he approached me. Then, without delay, he took my hand and pressed a kiss to its back.
“Rowan.”
Alexis spoke.
“I’m sorry for being so late.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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