Rather Than The Son, I’ll Take The Father

Charlie pulled out a map and glanced at Monica.

Since leaving the capital, Monica had never been at ease.

Charlie must have reached the limit earlier, but it was strange for Charlie to endure without showing any signs of it.

“Monica.”

“Why?”

“What if Eve is happy in the North?”

Monica’s head snapped.

Sparks flew out of her eyes, as she glared at Charlie.

“Don’t say nonsense, will you?”

“Uh, there’s always an emergency.”

Monica, who was ahead, strode toward Charlie.

Then she shoved her face at Charlie and shouted.

“No! I know Maevia well. Charlie, much more than you!”

“Sure. Eve is much closer to Monica.”

Charlie didn’t want to be grabbed by the collar, so she quickly agreed.

Monica chewed out her voice.

“Maevia is someone who needs to be in the capital to shine. When she hears that Morgana’s mouth-drooling kid is pretending to be the successor, she will come to chastise them.”

In the present capital, the supporters of Marquis Morgana were pressing the head to establish a new heir.

But Charlie knew all too well that Maevia was content with her northern life.

Because when she and Monica visited the Marquis’ residence, the Marchioness told them.

But Monica seemed to have completely erased the memories of that day from her mind.

“I don’t know……”

Charlie smiled shyly, thinking that it would be a problem even if she found her way safely and met Maevia.

Monica looked at Charlie with emotional eyes, and as she thought she was wasting her time, she hurried again.

Did ten minutes pass by that?

“Kyaak!”

“Monica?!”

At the sudden scream, Charlie drew her sword.

However, in spite of the fact that she had set her sights on a threat, Monica frantically rummaged through her arms.

Soon Monica shouted with a pale white face.

“It’s gone!”

“What?”

“The present I was going to give to Maevia!”

“…..”

It wasn’t an attack. There wasn’t a single thing to be embarrassed about.

This was several times more serious than fighting the traffickers.

Monica couldn’t control her trembling body and she stumbled.

“Ah, what to do…… ”

Charlie retracted her sword and supported Monica.

It was Monica who had lost her gift, but Charlie felt her eyes disappear.

Now she really had to calm her down before getting grabbed by the neck by Monica.

“I think it fell into the riot. But, you don’t have to deliver the gift yourself, right? If you go back to the capital later and send a new gift……”

Monica cut off Charlie’s consolation like a sword.

“There’s no other gift! There’s no way I could have prepared something that exists twice in the world as a birthday present for Maevia!”

Tears welled in Monica’s eyes.

“No. It’s really nowhere…… huff……sniff!”

Seeing Monica start to cry like a child who had lost her mother regardless of the manner she valued so much, Charlie began to sweat.

She only felt that Maevia, who made Monica, who was reckless and ignorant to anyone, was amazing.

“It……It won’t be okay, but calm down.”

Charlie remembered the old Monica, who hated the very existence of Maevia. Monica Elaine knew nothing about Maevia from the beginning.

Rather, Monica shuddered when she saw Maevia for a while.

Morgana, Elaine, and Morgoz are the only three great families in the Ravenna Empire.

Naturally, the next successor had no choice but to attract public attention.

At the age of 14, Charlie was selected as the heir after a fierce battle with the Southern barbarians in the canyon.

Monica wore the crown of the successor, and bore the stigma of having her ailing older brother deliberately left to die because of her ambitions to become the next head.

On the other hand, Maevia was announced as the successor as soon as she was born.

It was because the Marquis Morgana couple had agreed to have only one child.

Monica must have found a thorn in her eyes every time she saw Maevia, as she became the heir just because she was the only child.

Morgana’s successor position had never been stained with blood, and in Monica’s eyes it would have been just white and transparent.

Monica used violent language whenever she saw Maevia. It was on a different level than when she bullied Charlie.

She didn’t even hide her inability to stand up to Maevia.

However, Maevia showed no signs of being hurt in the slightest.

It was proof that Monica was nothing to Maevia.

The day came when Monica had no choice but to admit it, and in the end, things happened.

Monica grabbed Maevia’s hair.

Just remembering it, Charlie was always chilled with fright.

Until then, Charlie had thought that Maevia was a noble young girl who was bold enough to ignore the abusive language pouring out in front of her, but ultimately valued nobility.

There were many people who despised Maevia, the most infamous beauty in the empire, if not Monica, but she was always consistent.

She was always bright and gentle, so she was nicknamed the Goddess of Spring.

But it was just that she was biding her time for the right moment to explode the accumulated anger.

Both Charlie and Monica realized that too late.

When Monica rushed in, Maevia didn’t stand still…… Even if she didn’t, she seemed to want to pay back tenfold.

The conclusions they reached after that were opposed to each other.

Charlie vowed not to lie to Maevia, and Monica followed Maevia back and forth even though she almost died.

Besides, Monica was very restrained, she didn’t even bother to quarrel with Maevia.

Charlie assumed that there must have been something else going on between the two of them during the brawl, where she had failed to stop Maevia and rushed to find Marchioness Morgana.

For a couple reasons, she didn’t bother to ask.

One was Monica’s lack of confidence to follow Maevia, and the other was that Maevia had already completely forgotten what happened that day.

Monica Elaine wasn’t too vicious, but seeing her hang her neck toward Maevia, who she thought was inferior to a stray dog, she wondered if karma would get back in this way.

“Fnoo!”

Not even in the mood to pull out her handkerchief, Monica blew her nose into the hem of her dress, and she shook off Charlie’s support.

“Monica? Where are you going?”

“I must, sniff, find it. If, I can’t, find it, I can’t meet Maevia…… ”

Monica turned back the way she had come with a bewildered look.

She had also thrown away her cherished dress bag.

“Monica! Let’s go together!”

Charlie grabbed the bag and chased after Monica.

She knew Monica wouldn’t give up.

Because she knew it was something that even the family couldn’t do.

***

Maybe this bleak atmosphere is good.

Regen also secretly ran away with the promise of dinner, so there was silence in the room.

Even as I told the story of my mother’s letter, Aedis was lost in his depths.

“Aedis, I’m staring at you right now.”

“…..”

“You know that your expression is not as good as mine, right?”

I wanted to straighten his hardened eyes.

Hey.

I sat Paimon on the sofa and jumped into Aedis’s lap.

Aedis reflexively held me so I wouldn’t fall, and then gave a dejected smile.

“The young lady who came here.”

“Monica?”

“She seems to like the wife quite a bit.”

I suddenly remembered Monica, who was delighted with the gift of my attachment doll.

“Yes, it seemed so. I don’t know why.”

“It’s not that I don’t know, it’s that I don’t really want to get involved, Eve.”

[“I don’t hate people who like Eve, but …… Do you want me to exclude that guy?]

“Ummm…… Well, she has been pretty docile, so I guess you don’t have to take her out.”

Although Monica didn’t have an affair with Gilbert as in the novel, it wasn’t that she changed either.

Is her range of thinking smaller than in the novel?

Her bad mouth is the same.

[“But who is that guy? What’s the relationship with you? Perhaps…… what was it? Oh, your friend Maevia?”]

I said with a smile to Paimon, who was rolling around on the sofa.

“It’s just someone I know.”

As he drew the line firmly, Aedis mumbled.

“Suddenly, I feel a little pitiful for that young lady.”

“We’re not friends, we’re not enemies either. Rather, should we go on a date? I’ll be busy preparing for the party for a while, so how about spending some time alone today?”

[Cough.]

Somewhere, thanks to a dragon-like spirit breathing its nose, I added bluntly.

“With, with Paimon too?”

“Why don’t you call Regen, too?”

“Then should I bring Shaula, who is about to die of boredom…… ”

“…… I don’t know how many more you will call, but I know it won’t be good at all.”

“I was starting to feel that way, too……”

Aedis snorted then suddenly embraced me with his arms that only supported me so I wouldn’t fall.

Already sitting on his lap, I was enveloped and completely buried.

“Hmm. Excuse me.”

[“I’m going because it’s really dirty, I’m dirty. Kyaak!」

Paimon flew away as if he had seen a couple of cockroaches getting together.

…… Is Aedis getting better at chasing out Paimon?

“All we have to do now is to spend time alone?”

“Unless the wife calls anyone.”

I smiled at Aedis’s words.

“Then you have to keep me from thinking of anyone.”

“I would like to, but……”

“Hmm?”

I felt a hand caressing my cheek with a hint of hesitation and lifted my head.

Because of the position, his face looked upside down.

“Sometimes I resent myself for being overly enthusiastic to do one more thing for my wife.”

“What, why?”

“It’s nothing. Just.”

Just?

“Your eyes are so good and your ears are too bright.”

“Wow, wouldn’t it be nice to brag like that to the weakest person that the Lord admitted?”

Suddenly Aedis turned his head.

When I asked him why he kept his distance, he smiled a lot.

I didn’t mean it to be funny, though.

I’m completely serious!