Chapter 1 - Part 1
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***
Lelia walked along an open space with Griffith.
The wind blew softly and fresh air permeated her nose. It was a pleasant wind.
Griffith walked in line with Lelia’s footsteps without saying a word, and the silence was not uncomfortable but rather comfortable.
Even when she was young, she recalled that she was always comfortable with Griffith.
Even though Griffith was not at all obedient.
Sacred power is usually said to be the power of light.
Perhaps because of that, Griffith seemed to relax the mind of the people around him.
Maybe that’s why her aunt and grandmother like Griffith.
Lelia, who was lost in thought, turned her head slightly toward Griffith.
Griffith, who was already staring at Lelia, smiled lightly as he made eye contact with her.
Lelia opened her mouth first.
“Thank you.”
“Can’t we just talk comfortably now?”
“… Not yet.”
Until the golden spell was completely removed and she was able to confess the truth, Lelia intended to maintain a firm line and tone.
Because she was afraid that she might make a mistake.
At Lelia’s words, Griffith nodded as if he didn’t care. Lelia opened her mouth carefully again.
“I heard you healed her knee. Thank you, really.”
“Don’t mention it.”
After a long, slow walk, the two decided to take a rest on a nearby bench.
Sitting on the bench, Lelia asked questions the whole time.
“But how did you get so close to grandmother so quickly? And to my aunt too.”
The Duchess was very wary of strangers. But when she was with Griffith, she looked very comfortable, even smiling brightly.
It was so interesting that Lelia was curious.
But Griffith’s answer was unexpected.
“They’re not the only ones I’m close to.”
“What?”
Lelia blinked because she didn’t know what he meant.
Griffith sat on the bench and tilted slightly toward Lelia.
At that time, a gentle wind blew softly.
“One moment.”
Griffith carefully reached out and put the hair that touched Lelia’s lips behind her ears.
It was a very friendly and slow touch.
Lelia also accepted the touch without any resistance or surprise.
Griffith said, trapping a leaf in his palm in the slow wind.
“There’s no secret. Just like how I treat you, I treat your family.”
“……”
Lelia looked at Griffith with a little surprise.
He was acting a little strange.
Something’s changed.
Griffith knows how to say these kind words?
As a child, Griffith was like a pungent champagne. It was never a docile personality.
He was quite insensitive and feisty.
He didn’t feel that way at all now. Maybe it’s because he’s become more sacred? He really exuded a saintly atmosphere.
[… But not long ago…]
Lelia remembered it clearly.
How Griffith beat the twin princes when they were reunited in Auraria.
There was nothing strange about how good he was at punching, not acting like a saint but like a gangster.
Why is the atmosphere so soft all of a sudden?
[There’s no way Griffith’s going to play tricks on me…]
She wondered how he could look completely different from then.
However, he did not necessarily point it out. Rather than a sharp Griffith, a gentle Griffith like this is easier to handle.
“Thank you for saying that.”
“……”
Griffith slowly looked at Lelia, who was enjoying the gentle breeze with a relaxed expression.
He was very persistent and patient, like a scholar who observed living things.
As he told Lelia earlier, he wasn’t just close to the Duchess or Attias.
In fact, it was the Duke of Superion who cared the most.
Not as sociable as Romeo, Griffith was able to feign a friendly appearance if needed.
Lelia’s family was well worth playing such a figure.
Getting closer to the Duke of Superion in a short period of time, he was able to hear stories about Lelia as a child.
Romeo, Kalix, and Oscar didn’t know those stories yet. There was a sense of pride in that fact.
However, the content was not very pleasant.
There was a story about why and how Lelia escaped from the castle as a child.
Listening to the rough story, Griffith immediately understood to some extent what had happened in Lelia’s past.
[You didn’t pretend to be dead, you had to deceive us.]
It would be a lie to say he didn’t feel betrayed when he realized that Lelia was Leo.
But now that didn’t mean anything.
“……”
Griffith slowly reached out.
Then he grabbed the back of Lelia’s hand, which was gently placed on her lap.
Lelia looked at him in surprise, but felt the warmth flowing into the back of her hand and laughed softly.
[I can’t believe Griffith is comforting me.]
Lelia did not shake off his touch, but closed her eyes and enjoyed the warm breeze. It had been a long time since she had this kind of peace.
“……”
Griffith, on the other hand, was looking at every detail on Lelia’s face as if they were being ripped open.
He felt sorry for Lelia, who had a misfortunate past that he did not know of.
He felt like he picked up a little puppy in the rain.
There was a sense of ownership that she was his and wanting to keep her safe.
‘Did you feel this way when you comforted me as a child?’
‘Did you feel that way about me?’
Swallowing the questions he wanted to impulsively ask, Griffith looked persistently at Lelia’s eyes, nose, lips, and neckline that came down.
To his displeasure, if Lelia had felt that way as a child, it would have been the same for the others.
Oscar and Romeo. He needed to at least do something when those two interrupters were gone.
It wasn’t that difficult.
When Lelia opened her eyes again, Griffith erased the calculating look.
Having made eye contact with friendly Griffith, Lelia just laughed, having no idea what was inside him.
[PR/N: Even with his calculations, that was a freaking sweet scene.]
***
Something surprising happened.
While walking with Griffith yesterday, Lelia brought up her grandmother’s cure.
“It’s been a few days since she took the medicine, and I don’t think it’s working at all.”
“A medication to cure a new life.”
“……”
Lelia carefully examined Griffith’s response.
He didn’t elaborate, but she was still worried that he might get a strange suspicion.
Alchemy would be tantamount to heresy for Griffith who has divine power. But Griffith didn’t show that at all. He didn’t make it obvious that there was no such medicine. It was just a look of wonder.
[Well, even though he has divine power, Griffith doesn’t believe in God…]
What an irony it was.
It was usually considered the deeper the faith, the stronger the sacred power.
Thus, the system of new officials is also assigned in order of divine power.
But it was Griffith who destroyed that common sense. His presence would be a nuisance to the temple.
In terms of divine power, they should bring him to the temple right away, but since he doesn’t believe in God, they were embarrassed and afraid of him being known.
While Lelia was lost in her thoughts, Griffith also opened his mouth after agonizing over it.
“I have an idea.”
“What?”
“If you inject divinity into her body, the energy inside her body will rotate warmly and work quickly.”
That evening, Griffith went straight back to the Duchess with Lelia.
Looking at Griffith, who was slowly infusing sacred power into her sleeping grandmother, Lelia felt grateful and sorry.
When she saw Griffith working hard in a cold sweat, she felt he was like a saint.
If Griffith, who looked like that, was a really devout believer, Lelia might have believed in God through this opportunity.
After a few days, the Duchess finally recognized Lelia. It had been a long time.
“Grandmother…”
“… Baby, you’re my granddaughter…”
The Duchess, who looked more comfortable, stared at Lelia with clear eyes unlike before.
Tears welled up on those wrinkled cheeks. Unable to make a sound, the Duchess held Lelia and sobbed for a long time.
Griffith was standing beside Lelia with a pitiful look on his face.
The Duke of Superion, Carius and Atias also wiped away tears and watched the reunion of the granddaughter and grandmother.
***
After that day, the way the people in the castle treated Griffith changed.
The servants were particularly polite to Griffith with a look of respect.
What changed more was the attitude of the family.
Grandmother and grandfather adored Griffith almost as if he was their grandchild.
The same was true of uncle Zenon and uncle Carius.
Uncle Carius suddenly ordered a servant to get healthy food. Then he served Griffith right next to him.
Even Aunt Atias called in a seamstress to make Griffith clothes, which was a little strange.
“It’s a formal white robe that you can wear at any wedding…”
Of course Lelia was also deeply grateful to Griffith.
She felt it when she was young, but out of the four friends, Griffith was also the most mature and reliable.
She was proud to have a friend like him.
[Now when Oscar and Romeo will come back… It’s almost like solving everything in the estate.]
But other than that, there was one headache for Lelia.
“Whoo…”
Lelia sighed as she took out a small bottle of medicine in her arms.
The problem was Kalix.
It’s been a long time since she had made Kalix’s cure. She hadn’t run into Kalix at all since that day.
[At first, I thought you had left the castle…]
But when she heard the servants, it wasn’t true.
Lelia is the only one in the castle who has not encountered Kalix for days.
Which meant that Kalix is deliberately avoiding her.
***
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