The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 77

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 77

Since descendants continued until the Age of Ashes and Gid possessed the body of a descendant, there’s no way he wouldn’t have married.

Rita couldn’t contain her curiosity and flipped to Gid’s chapter to look for the Crown Princess’s name.

‘Stories about marriage or engagement… here it is.’

Crown Prince Gideon married Lavinia, the Noblewoman of Duirebourg, at age 23. The Crown Princess, Lavinia El Duirebourg Kairam, bore his son the following year.

Rita’s fingertip stopped as she followed the sentence.

‘Lavinia?’

The pink-haired girl who had helped her with shooting stance today flickered before her eyes.

That girl would become Gid’s wife? When Gid turns 23, roughly a year from now?

‘…Oh, well, when you think about it, Duirebourg would be a better choice than Raskail from the Crown Prince’s perspective. This way Duirebourg would have no reason to support Adicl… truly the optimal choice.’

Suddenly, she recalled the story that Lavinia, despite being the current Duke of Duirebourg’s only daughter, had not yet received the title of Young Duke.

‘Perhaps the Duke of Duirebourg originally planned to push Lavinia as Crown Princess. Maybe not designating her as heir was intentional…’

Lavinia was too naive to have received proper heir education. Since titles could be passed down by adopting collateral children, maybe they raised their only daughter indulgently from the start, planning to make her Crown Princess.

The Duke of Duirebourg’s lack of active support for Adicl might also be because he saw more potential in the Crown Prince than in his nephew, the Grand Duke…

Rita felt slightly chilled as the puzzle pieces fell into place. At the same time, she felt somewhat disappointed in Gid.

‘He said there was no predetermined lady, but that’s not true.’

Even if they weren’t actually engaged, hiding the fact that there was a historically predetermined wife.

‘Lavinia and Gid…’

She tried to picture the pink-haired noblewoman standing beside the black-haired Crown Prince in her mind. She could imagine the noblewoman looking up at the Crown Prince with sparkling eyes while he gently escorted her.

‘…They suit each other well enough. Lavinia seems like the type to charge straight ahead once she sets her mind on something, so she’d be devoted to Gid after marriage. Gid would skillfully cover for her willful parts.’

Her mood somehow sank, and she stopped imagining there. Rita closed her eyes tightly and opened them, thinking calmly.

‘I should stop acting so casually with Gid in various ways. We’re not just comrades anymore, and we’re not in an urgent battlefield either. Let me be a bit more polite and keep some distance.’

As she made this resolution, she felt a subtle resistance. Like a small thorn had formed inside her chest.

Rita dismissed it as slight disappointment toward a comrade she thought she shared everything with, or perhaps a sense of distance toward a friend who suddenly felt like the protagonist of a biography.

‘When a crisis that might turn the world to ashes is approaching, what does this matter.’

The approaching history and her comrades’ futures were far more important. She spent the entire night flipping through the history book and only fell asleep after sunrise.

* * *

Lillieta overslept the next day.

Since it was rare for her to oversleep, no one woke her up. Thanks to everyone actively considering her rest, Rita barely woke up past lunchtime.

‘I had so many unsettling dreams. It doesn’t feel like I slept at all.’

While eating the meal Hanna had brought to her bedroom—whether it was breakfast or lunch, she couldn’t tell—she heard an interesting story.

‘Leon saved Anne when she almost fell into the water during the Kraken attack…’

Hanna, who had been waiting on the yacht at the time, witnessed the scene and chattily whispered it to her during the meal.

“No, the Duke was about to board the yacht but suddenly ran off somewhere else, in all that chaos! I was surprised and looked that way, and Everett’s daughter was hanging from the railing.”

“While he was running over, she eventually fell, but the Duke jumped in after her without hesitation, swam while holding her, and came up to our yacht.”

“When I brought a blanket, the two of them were talking about something… Suddenly Everett shouted ‘Lies!’ at the Duke, then stood up abruptly saying ‘I’m sick of your lies now!'”

“But then that black circle, that mysterious power the Crown Prince used, extended over… Everett fell, and the Duke caught and held her… The two of them stayed close like that. Until that circle disappeared.”

It seemed some serious conversation had passed between the two.

Since she had already decided to discuss the family’s support for the Crown Prince with Leonhardt anyway, it would be good to subtly probe about the issue with Annemarie as well.

April 29th, late afternoon.

Richard was performing rehabilitation training that Rita had designed at the training ground, the Duke was handling business in his study, the Countess was in her private room, but Leonhardt was nowhere to be seen.

When she caught a butler and asked, he answered that he was in the Music Room.

‘Music Room?’

Rita thought it was rather unexpected as she walked over. The Leonhardt she knew was far from playing musical instruments.

Creme Dome had a perfect Music Room befitting a prestigious family’s townhouse with a long history, but the Raskail Family had rarely had anyone interested in music for generations.

The current generation of Raskails was the same, and the only person who even used the Music Room was the Countess.

From around when the antique Music Room door became visible at the end of the Corridor, slow and clumsy piano sounds could be heard. The notes continued haltingly, as if recalling memories.

Lillieta approached with a “no way” feeling and opened the door. The piano stopped with a thud, and Leonhardt, who had been sitting in front of the keys, looked back at the door with a surprised face.

“Rita?”

“Brother.”

As she entered the Music Room, he stood up and approached her.

“You must be tired, but you’re already up?”

“Already? It’s afternoon.”

“It’s only been two days since we returned home. You should rest more.”

“I’ve already rested plenty.”

Rita walked past him toward the elegant mahogany grand piano and asked.

“Were you interested in piano?”

“Not particularly.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“Well… I just suddenly had free time.”

Leonhardt smiled awkwardly and added thoughtfully.

“I tried to write a reply to the Crown Prince, but Father said he would write it and told me to rest. Then I tried to organize invitations or reply to other letters, but Mother had already done that. I had already processed all the reports from the territory… so I became idle.”

At those words, Rita suddenly realized something.

While the Countess was bedridden and the Duke stayed only at the townhouse away from the territory, the one who practically led the Raskail Family was Duke Leonhardt.

For about 10 years, from when he was 18, just graduated from the Academy, until now.

Though the Duke hadn’t completely let go of everything, being in the distant Capital meant most matters, big and small, were handled at Leonhardt’s level.

‘His shoulders must have been heavy.’

With his strong sense of responsibility and exemplary nature, he had worked tirelessly to support his precarious family and manage the enormous household.

Then Lillieta returned, the Countess recovered, the Duke actively returned to work, and even Richard quit drinking, making the weight on Leonhardt’s shoulders much lighter.

It was a good thing, but it would also be unfamiliar. To the point where he might not even know what to do with the sudden leisure.

‘He might feel confused or empty.’

Such a thought suddenly occurred to her.

‘…Did Father apologize to Brother?’

Had Brother ever told Father even once that things were difficult? There’s no way it wasn’t difficult.

Had the two of them ever had an open conversation about the past 10 years?

Leonhardt had pointed out to Lillieta that she should confide and complain about how difficult things had been for her, but perhaps that advice applied to himself as well.

He might need time to put down responsibility and look at himself. Though he probably wasn’t conscious of it himself.

The Duke also seemed not to have thought of it, considering him such a reliable eldest son who handled everything well and never caused worry.

‘The two of them might need an opportunity to talk seriously.’

While pondering this and sitting in front of the piano, Lillieta felt a strange sense of déjà vu and looked back at Leonhardt.

“Brother, what was that piece you were playing earlier?”

“It’s embarrassing to call that playing.”

“Anyway. I think I’ve heard it before.”

“You would have heard it. It’s ‘Rabbit Waltz.'”

Rita flinched. The moment she heard that title, the source of her déjà vu came to mind.

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