The Search for the Duchess’s Husband - Chapter 191

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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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In Search of the Duke’s Husband
Side Story 6

The child who was always so spirited lay limp upon the bed.
The Doctor who had examined Aisha von Edenberg Orpheus spoke with beads of cold sweat upon his brow.
“It is merely a cold, Your Majesty. I have administered fever-reducing medicine, and we must monitor her condition.”
A simple cold.
Yet Killian von Orpheus felt his heart plummet as though a death sentence had been pronounced.
Because Aisha’s pallid face overlapped with the memory of Arsen.
His brother, who had always lain in bed suffering, until he finally departed from his side.
A tremor.
In that instant, Killian’s body wavered.
Artia quickly grasped his arm.
He was a man who had never crumbled under any circumstance.
Not on the Battlefield, not amid the blood-soaked struggles for power—the Emperor had never faltered.
Yet now his fingertips trembled faintly.
Artia, understanding the reason, spoke with gentle reassurance.
“Children fall ill frequently. We already know this well.”
This was not the first time Aisha had been sick.
She had scraped her knees from falling, and once spent an entire night vomiting after eating something disagreeable.
These were the natural trials of childhood.
Yet Killian could never grow accustomed to it.
Even the slightest illness in the child suffocated him.
The fear that he might lose her.
That he would have to watch another precious soul slip from his embrace.
Each time, Killian was consumed by an unbearable dread.
The only reason he could endure was always Artia.
Artia slowly applied pressure to his trembling hand she held.
“Our daughter will overcome this too.”
Her voice brimmed with conviction.
Had it not been for that voice, Killian would have immediately drawn upon his power to heal Aisha.
As he had done for Arsen.
Then Aisha would open her eyes as though nothing had happened.
Knowing neither pain nor fever nor suffering.
But she could not grow healthy that way.
A parent’s role was not to give everything.
I was merely an observer.
Clinging to that truth Artia had repeated countless times, Killian von Orpheus barely held himself together.
That night.
Killian von Orpheus never left Aisha von Edenberg Orpheus’s side for a single moment.
“Dad….”
A small voice, delirious with fever, slipped out.
“Yes, I’m here, sweetheart.”
He continuously stroked her flushed, burning forehead, whispering silent prayers.
To a God I had never believed in my entire life.
And to my precious little Aisha.
Please, recover with strength.
The fever persisted for three full days.
During that time, Killian von Orpheus postponed all state affairs and meetings.
Even Artia’s insistence on separating public duty from private emotion held no sway this time.
And finally, Aisha von Edenberg Orpheus’s fever broke.
The first thing the child said, eyes sparkling with clarity, was.
“Food!”
Just that single word.
In that instant, Killian von Orpheus pulled Aisha von Edenberg Orpheus into his arms.
Well done.
I’m so proud of you.
You’ve endured so much.
Countless words rose to the tip of my tongue.
Yet strangely, none of them would come.
Only after a long while did a single voice finally emerge.
“Thank you.”
It was the only word a father could manage before his daughter, rendered infinitely vulnerable.

* * *

The afternoon sun streamed down warmly.
Artia sat leisurely on a mat spread across the middle of the Garden, sipping tea.
Within her gaze were the beings she loved most in this world.
“Papa! Papa!”
Aisha von Edenberg Orpheus toddled forward on short legs, her pace quickening with each step.
And before her, a black cat deftly evaded her grasp.
The black cat moved with practiced grace, narrowly avoiding the tips of Aisha’s fingers.
It was Aisha’s favorite game.
Tag with Papa Yaong.
“Got you!”
Her small hands grasped at empty air.
The black cat swished its tail and dodged away once more.
It could have escaped in a heartbeat if it truly wished to.
But Killian von Orpheus, as always, moved with exquisite precision.
Appearing caught, yet not quite caught.
He fled only enough to keep Aisha from surrendering, and waited only long enough to draw her laughter.
And finally.
The black cat deliberately slowed its pace.
“Got you!”
Aisha’s two small hands suddenly grasped the soft fur.
At the plush, warm sensation, Aisha broke into a radiant smile and said.
“Again! Again!”
This was already the third time.
Yet the black cat showed not a trace of annoyance, settling contentedly into her embrace and even purring with satisfaction.
Watching this scene, Artia finally burst into laughter.
‘The nobility would faint in shock if they saw this.’
That terrifying Emperor, playing and frolicking with a child in the form of a cat.
After running about for some time, Aisha’s energy finally depleted, and she flopped down onto the mat.
“Haa….”
The small child breathed heavily, her arms spread wide and her eyes closed.
And mere minutes later….
Zzz.
With her small mouth slightly agape, she drifted into sleep.
“She’s out cold.”
At Artia’s soft voice, the black cat—the primary culprit in lulling the child to sleep—returned to his true form.
Killian von Orpheus sat beside Artia and gazed intently at Aisha von Edenberg Orpheus.
Unusually pale skin.
Faint silver hair.
Plump cheeks tinged with peach.
After observing her for a long moment, Killian von Orpheus spoke in a low voice.
“I love that she takes after you.”
Artia adored her daughter, who was the spitting image of herself.
Yet the wish she’d harbored since pregnancy still lingered.
“I’d like to see a child who takes after His Majesty too.”
Black hair and golden eyes.
A tiny baby with a gaze that looked slightly fierce.
Surely such a child would be absolutely adorable.
At the thought, a smile bloomed unbidden on her lips.
In truth, before Aisha von Edenberg Orpheus was born, I had little intention of bearing another child.
Managing both the Duchy and Imperial Court duties while pregnant had proven far more taxing than anticipated. Though an heir would certainly be necessary for imperial stability, I had considered it a matter for the distant future.
But after Aisha’s birth, my thoughts transformed entirely.
Babies were far more precious than I had imagined. No matter how arduous the burden, I could endure it gladly.
Above all else.
My gaze always settled on the same sight.
Killian von Orpheus cradling Aisha.
A man who carefully patted her small back, gazed long at her sleeping face, and found himself possessed of the entire world’s happiness at a single laugh from his daughter.
‘I never imagined Killian could love a baby so much.’
I had certainly believed he would cherish her.
But I never expected him to adore her to such a degree, to wish to remain by her side all day, to find happiness in her every small gesture.
That sight was both unfamiliar and beautiful.
The strongest man in the world, rendered so vulnerable before the smallest of beings.
‘To become even happier while already happy.’
Artia leaned forward quietly and rested her head against Killian von Orpheus’s shoulder.
Warmth bloomed at the contact.
A wife and daughter.
Killian von Orpheus spoke softly, feeling the warmth of the two people he loved most in this world.
“Aisha will face much suffering as she grows.”
Even as an Imperial Princess with absolute power, she could never live without worry or burden.
Hardship would come for Aisha.
“She’ll be crushed beneath the weight of her responsibilities as a princess, wounded by people, and at times, she’ll even rage against her own weakness.”
His voice was calm, yet tinged with a distant melancholy.
Like someone recalling their own childhood.
Killian von Orpheus gazed down at the sleeping Aisha for a moment, then continued slowly.
“But until that time comes.”
Softly.
He brushed her cheek with the tip of a small finger.
“I want this child to know only how to be loved.”
The things I never had.
The warmth of an ordinary family.
Time to laugh without a single care in the world.
A life where one need not doubt another’s love.
All of it.
I wanted to leave nothing out for my daughter.
That was Father Killian’s wish.
“I want that too.”
Artia smiled softly and took his hand in hers.
Beneath the sunlight, the shadows of three people overlapped in a line.

Side Story 2: Father Killian
End
End

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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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