I quietly closed my mouth for fear I might disturb my father. Suddenly, Allendis came to my mind as I stayed put in the shade of the gray alley without sunlight. When I asked him how to avoid the shade, he answered that all I had to do was simply go into the shade.

The day I last saw him before the delegation departed for the Lua kingdom, he made a lot of requests to me as if he would never see me again. Somehow, I felt uneasy with an ominous foreboding, so I asked him repeatedly why he spoke like that and when he would come back, but he never replied. I just turned around with a bitter smile back then.

When I recalled his emerald eyes, who always looked at me warmly, I was suddenly choked with tears. I quickly blinked my eyes to clear my blurred vision.

‘Let me stop feeling depressed. Allendis will definitely come back. ‘

When I turned my head, pulling myself together, I saw my father still standing there.

“Daddy?”

I started to become more and more anxious as he didn’t move at all. I reached out and carefully pulled out his navy blue cuff, but he didn’t move.

This time, I pulled his sleeve a little more strongly once again. Only then did he look at me and called with a subdued voice, “…Tia. ”

“Dad.”

“I’m sorry. Are you surprised? ”

“No, Daddy. Anything wrong? Why did you all of a sudden… ”

“Well …”

Pretending not to have noticed he was in a difficult position, I looked up at him.

Normally, I would have given him a pass, thinking he was put on the spot, but I was curious because he acted differently this time.

“… We stayed too long here. Let’s go back. ”

‘Why is he trying to avoid answering me?’

As I looked at it with a puzzled expression, he turned his head to avoid my eyes and said, “How about eating out? It’s been a while.”

“… I want to, but um…”

“Then let’s go. I know a restaurant.”

Given that he repeatedly beat around the bush, it was clear that he didn’t want to tell me the reason. I wondered why, but I didn’t ask. I walked away with my father.

Shortly afterwards, we arrived at a luxurious restaurant for nobles. It was the first time I came to this kind of restaurant.

I headed to the quiet window side table, guided by the manager who bowed to my father. I knew some of the nobles who were chatting and eating with soft music playing, but I just passed by them because I wanted to spend time with my father today. They also bowed slightly, but didn’t come to see me.

“By the way, Daddy.”

“Why?”

After I hesitated while waiting for food, I opened my mouth. I felt I had to tell him what I had in mind.

“Well, I’m sorry to mention this suddenly, but are you willing to remarry?”

“…What the heck are you talking about? ”

“It’s been eight years since Mom died, but you can’t live alone forever.”

“I never thought of that. Why are you suddenly mentioning it? ”

“Well, I just thought I might have to bring it up one day.”

After hearing my answer, he put down the fork and the knife and said in a serious tone, “I haven’t told you about it because you were still young, but you know what the oath of our family is like.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Good. As you know, it is to devote your life to the imperial family to achieve one single wish. I hated it so much. Of course, our family earned the reputation as the best loyalist in the empire, but on the other hand, it also sounded unbelievable without our oath. I thought it was enough to show my loyalty to the royal family even if I didn’t swear. ”

I nodded. The day before my mother’s anniversary of death, as I hardly could sleep, I wandered around my house and accidentally overheard him saying that.

‘He expressed it as a curse, saying he would not like to have me do it.’

“I promised that I would never swear, but it was your mother who broke my decision. I vowed allegiance to the royal family upon my blood flowing in my body to have your mother. Do you know what this means? ”

“It means that you have devoted your whole life to have Mom. ”

“Yes, that’s right. Even if your mother passed away early, who could have taken her place? I’ve already bet everything on her.”

‘I see.’

Now I could understand why the emperor made passing remarks to me recently. I also understood why my father earned the nickname of ‘the romanticist of the century.’ Who could devote his whole life to a woman?

I felt complicated. Even though I devoted all my love to the crown prince, I was not rewarded. So, I can’t believe in love. Unlike me, my mother is loved by my father even after her death.

I was very envious and even jealous. What kind of person was she as she was loved so much by my father?

I suddenly became curious about my mother whose face I didn’t even remember. After hesitating for some time, I opened my mouth, “Daddy?”

“Um.”

“What was my mother like?”

“Your mother?” After thinking for a moment, he said, “Jeremiah was a strong woman. She usually didn’t speak much, but when she really needed it, she used to show a strong determination and an amazing wit. Yes, just like you. ”

“… Really?”

“Yes. One day, when I went to the Imperial Palace, there was a fire at the mansion. When I came back home in a hurry after hearing that, she was in charge, yelling and commanding people, although I thought she was defensive. When I saw you putting out the fire at Ver Palace, I thought you were exactly like your mother… I felt complicated.”

My father spoke as if he was reminiscing about her.

“In fact, that street where I stopped a while ago is the place where I first met your mother. ”

“Really? That street? ” I opened my eyes wide.

It was a secluded, dark alley with a wall stained with incomprehensible graffiti. As if nobody cleaned it properly, the street was littered with garbage here and there. It smelled really bad.

How did my father meet my mother first in a place that looked bleak, where nobody passed by? Why?

“It’s already been over twenty years. It was only a few years after the emperor was inaugurated. Factional fighting was much more fierce than now. Numerous people lost their lives when they were caught off guard. One day, the emperor asked me to go out on an unofficial inspection tour.”

“So?”

“I opposed it, saying it was dangerous, but he wouldn’t listen. So, Arkint and Ruth, namely Duke Lars, Duke Verita and I accompanied the emperor for the inspection. These days the commoners’ district is much better, but at the time it was so miserable that you couldn’t even see it. When we, including the emperor, were done inspecting the area, and turned with a heavy heart, we suddenly heard a woman screaming.”

‘If the emperor just took office, was it the time when the emperor was in decline?’

Nodding silently, I listened to him.

“Even before I stopped him, the emperor already walked to the place where the woman was screaming. It was the alley where we hurriedly chased after the emperor. Three unidentified strangers were threatening a woman’s life. The screams we heard were her desperate request for help to save her life. ”

“That woman was Mom, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. As it was a close call, I jumped right in to stop them and save her without asking her about the situation. If I had acted a little later, your mother would have lost her life. ”

‘I see. That’s how my father and mother met first.’

Ever since I had a little glimpse of my father’s desperate longing for my mother on her memorial day, I sometimes wondered how the two met and how they came to love each other. But I never thought they had met like that.

‘A silver-haired knight who saved her when her life was at stake. It’s a romantic story that can only appear in romance novels … ‘

Wait a minute. Something strange.

“By the way, Dad.”

“Why?”

Suddenly, I hesitated when I looked straight into his navy blue eyes, who was always looking at me tenderly. One question that suddenly came to my mind.

‘I wonder if I can ask this. I feel like I’m exposing a hidden truth.

But she was my mother, and I had the right to know the truth. So, I hesitated for a long time before opening my mouth carefully.