Chapter 74

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: A Flower in a Garden
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Diego's tattoos, hidden beneath his uniform, looked quite elaborate under the sunlight. Given Diego's large build, the tattoos certainly added to his formidable aura. Had I run into him on the street as a stranger, I would have quietly turned and walked the other way.

In fact, it wasn't just Diego; all of Cesare's knights had an intimidating presence. Having spent their entire lives as soldiers, they were difficult for ordinary people to handle.

Aileen, too, would have been terrified if she hadn't known them since childhood. It was only because she knew of their kindness that she wasn't afraid.

Aileen smiled back at Diego. He responded with a wink.

She let out a small laugh at his playful gesture. Diego looked immensely pleased with himself before belatedly schooling his features back into a stern expression. Cesare, who had been watching their little exchange, chuckled before resuming his conversation with Diego.

Aileen, who had momentarily forgotten her father while laughing with Diego, turned to look at him. His expression had grown even gloomier than before. He was silently wiping away sweat with a handkerchief, so she cautiously spoke to him again.

“Are you working at the ranch?”

Unlike before, when he had flown into a rage, her father said nothing. She pressed him again as he kept his lips tightly sealed.

“How did this happen…? Did someone find this job for you?”

As expected, there was no reply. Though she knew she should be worried about her father, another thought unavoidably came to mind first.

*Does that mean the brick house is empty now?*

A house falls into disrepair quickly if no one looks after it. More than anything, she was worried about the orange tree in the garden. It was a rare and precious tree, a gift from Cesare…

When she left the palace and returned to the grand ducal estate today, she would have to ask Sonio to find a caretaker for the brick house right away.

After worrying about the house, her thoughts belatedly returned to her father. Since he wouldn't answer any of her questions, Aileen offered a simple pleasantry.

“I'm glad you look healthy.”

“…Hah.”

Her father scoffed at her words. She couldn't understand why he was sneering. Because, truly, her father's complexion had become much healthier.

Perhaps because he had stopped sleeping until sunset and drinking all night, his perpetually flushed face had cleared up, and his color had returned. The dark shadows under his eyes had faded considerably, and his gaze was much clearer.

*It might be good for him to keep working at the ranch.*

She secretly entertained a thought that would make her father throw a fit if he heard it. Just as Aileen was about to speak again, her father suddenly blurted out.

“Yes, you wouldn't know a thing.”

His gaze was not on Aileen. Her father muttered as he stared at Cesare.

“It's always been like this. He sat you in a flower garden and made sure you knew nothing.”

He stared intently at the man with jet-black hair, even under the midday sun, before slowly turning his gaze back to Aileen. Her father spoke with a voice and expression of genuine disbelief.

“Your mother was the same... I don't understand why you're so crazy about that bastard—no, that man…”

He looked at Aileen as if she were the most unfortunate person in the world. Her father trailed off, clicked his tongue, and then added an abrupt remark.

“Toiling at a ranch is better than being dead, I suppose.”

And then he fell silent again. Aileen was about to tell her father to stop using the Grand Duchess's name, but she held her tongue. Anything she said now would likely be met with the same scoff as before.

Aileen quietly stared down at her feet, while her father let out an occasional dry laugh. As the silence stretched on, Cesare and Diego's conversation was drawing to a close.

Diego's eyes were slightly narrowed. It seemed they had been discussing something unpleasant. Diego suddenly ran a hand roughly through his hair and rattled off what sounded like a complaint.

But the moment he felt Aileen's gaze, the scowling man quickly smoothed his expression and smiled. Seeing Diego smile, Aileen suddenly felt her father's words prick her heart like a thorn.

“It's always been like this. He sat you in a flower garden and made sure you knew nothing.”

Cesare, Diego, the other knights, and Sonio. None of them ever told Aileen the whole story.

But there was a reason for their actions. Everything was for Aileen's sake.

Aileen looked down at the wedding ring on her finger. Her childhood dream had become a reality. It was also an object that reminded her of a sense of dissonance every time she saw it.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Aileen. Cesare wanted her to know nothing, but at the same time…

…it also seemed as if he was waiting for the day she would learn everything.

The flower petals scattered at her feet caught her eye. Aileen gently nudged a petal that had fallen from a flowering tree with the toe of her shoe.

It had always been this way. Whenever she had to spend time alone at the Imperial Palace, he would always leave her in the garden. Thanks to that, she would pass the time happily, admiring the plants to her heart's content, unaware she was even waiting.

He hadn't always left her in the garden from the start. He started doing so after he learned of her unusual fondness for plants. It was after he noticed how desperate she was to see the palace gardens.

Once Cesare learned something about Aileen, he never forgot. He would even remember and take care of things she herself had forgotten. Whether Aileen wanted it or not.

She had grown accustomed to Cesare's affection since she was a child. Now, she didn't even know what was strange about it anymore. She was only aware that their relationship might seem a bit peculiar to others.

In fact, it was still the same. She didn't fully understand every situation, but she accepted it, assuming it was ultimately for her benefit.

A normal person probably would have become wary at the first sign of strangeness—if not from the wedding ring, then from something else.

But Aileen couldn't bring herself to doubt or be wary of Cesare. She had grown up learning only how to trust him. Having grown up within Cesare's fences, Aileen didn't know how to get out.

While Aileen was lost in thought, Cesare and Diego finished their conversation. Sensing the two men approaching, Aileen cleared her complex thoughts. Diego snapped to attention and saluted Aileen.

“I will escort the Baron back inside now, my lady.”

“Sir Diego.”

Aileen called out to him without thinking. Diego waited for her to speak, his eyes asking what was the matter. But Aileen herself didn't know what she wanted to say to him.

“…Please be careful on your way back. Thank you for today.”

So she just ended up giving a simple farewell. Diego smiled as if her words were anticlimactic but bowed to her again before turning away. Her father, looking like he was being led to the slaughterhouse, disappeared with Diego.

Once they were alone, Aileen gently asked Cesare.

“Did you… send my father to the ranch?”

No matter how she thought about it, her father would never have gone to a ranch of his own volition; someone must have forced him. As far as Aileen knew, there was only one person who would do such a thing.

In response to Aileen's question, Cesare readily admitted his crime.

“Why? Should I let him out?”

She knew she should ask him to release her father from the ranch, but the words wouldn't come.

Why would Cesare bother with a lowly baron from some remote corner of the empire? It was all because he was Aileen's biological father.

The reason he had shoved her father into a ranch was also easy to guess. It was to prevent him from using the Grand Duchess's name.

*Maybe it's okay for him to stay at the ranch for a while? It might help him quit drinking…*

She couldn't bring herself to voice such a wicked thought, but Cesare provided an excuse on her behalf.

“The Baron seems suited to a pastoral life. The cows have even grown fond of him.”

He told her not to take away the cows' new friend, a completely nonsensical reason delivered as if it were perfectly logical.