Sylvia received a sudden call in the middle of the night.
The caller was none other than Roxanne.
Earlier in the afternoon, she had also sought her out, and Sylvia figured that there must have been something else she wanted to say, something she hadn’t been able to mention then. So, she made her way over.
Out in the garden, bathed in moonlight, Roxanne was waiting for her with a dignified appearance.
“I’m sorry for calling you at this late hour, Sylvia.”
“It’s fine, madam. But, may I ask what the matter is?”
“Shall we walk and talk?”
“Yes.”
Following Roxanne’s suggestion, Sylvia walked with her, strolling through the garden.
When walking alone with Kyle, the surrounding scenery always felt bright and vibrant, but with Roxanne, she couldn’t take in the surroundings, as her nervous heart was too focused on controlling her unease.
It wasn’t that Sylvia thought of Roxanne as an evil person.
Of course, considering the torment Kyle had received within the family, it was hard not to dislike her. However, that didn’t mean Sylvia viewed Roxanne through a lens of prejudice.
Whenever she was alone with her, her body would stiffen, because she was certain that Roxanne would one day become her mother-in-law.
“I’m sorry for not saying anything earlier when I called you this afternoon. I didn’t expect him to come along.”
“No, I’m the one who should apologize… I didn’t ask for permission before bringing Kyle with me.”
“There’s no need for you to apologize, Sylvia. It’s my fault for becoming estranged from my son.”
Roxanne said with a bitter smile, looking up at the sky with a distant expression.
Seeing this, Sylvia felt the sadness in her voice from earlier and cautiously spoke up.
“I take it you wish to improve your relationship with Kyle?”
“Did he tell you?”
“Yes, a little…”
“…I see, it’s embarrassing.”
As she said this, Roxanne lowered her head.
Sylvia felt that this gesture carried a lot of meaning.
“It’s been about five years? No, it’s probably been six. That’s when I started treating him badly.”
“Badly? How so…”
“I began to side with Hassel and distance myself from Kyle. It became worse after I found out that Kyle couldn’t even use magic.”
This matched the story Sylvia had heard.
It seemed that Roxanne had intentionally rejected Kyle.
“Was it just because of that reason?”
“Any reason would have led to the same result.”
“…….”
Her tone suggested there was more to it. Sylvia narrowed her eyes.
“If that’s the case, is it because Kyle has now become the right person to be the next head of the family that you want to improve your relationship with him?”
Though she expressed it more gently, it was essentially asking, “Now that it looks like Kyle will take over the family head position, are you trying to get on his good side?”
Roxanne didn’t show any sign of offense or frustration. Instead, she stared at Sylvia with a calm gaze and then spoke.
“It’s similar, but also different. The truth is, it’s because Kyle has become someone worthy of the Lyard family name. Now I feel I can finally reach out to him.”
“What’s the difference? Isn’t it ultimately the same?”
“Yes, where should I start…”
Roxanne trailed off, as though searching for the right words, then looked up at the moon. After a moment, she tilted her head slightly and asked a completely unexpected question.
“Have you ever met Hassel, Kyle’s older brother?”
“Yes…”
“How was he? Quite different from Kyle, isn’t he? In appearance, too.”
“I definitely didn’t feel they were brothers. Compared to the taciturn Kyle, Hassel seemed much more talkative, and his facial features were much more defined…”
Sylvia answered as she wondered why Roxanne was asking about this, but then her eyes suddenly widened.
Noticing this slight change, Roxanne immediately nodded.
“Yes, they are very different. It’s hard to believe they are brothers.”
“Madam, do you mean…?”
Sylvia looked at her in disbelief, and Roxanne gave a bitter smile, as if caught.
“Yes, actually, the two of them aren’t real siblings. Kyle is my son, but Hassel is the child of another woman.”
“Are you saying that Lord Dver…”
Since the Empire allowed polygamy, Sylvia was startled, wondering if Hassel might have been born out of wedlock.
Roxanne laughed dryly and shook her head, as if to say that couldn’t be the case.
“No, that’s not it. He wasn’t the type to take two women at once.”
“Then why…?”
“Hassel’s biological mother passed away right after giving birth, and at that time, I was his maid.”
“A maid…”
Though she wasn’t just any maid, but Lord Dver’s personal maid, this suggested she wasn’t from a very lowly family.
Of course, that didn’t mean their love would have been accepted by society.
As the pieces of the puzzle slowly fell into place in Sylvia’s mind, she nodded quietly.
“I had always liked him, so when he lost his wife, I stayed by his side and took care of him. Over time, I couldn’t just watch him fall apart.”
“You approached him first, then.”
“I suppose so. Looking back, it was quite a pathetic thing to do.”
Roxanne spoke with a bitter smile, but Sylvia didn’t think it was particularly petty.
At the very least, the fact that she loved him yet insisted on remaining a maid must have been because there was already a woman he truly loved by his side.
Just the fact that she endured that and was satisfied with simply staying by his side made Sylvia think that Roxanne was an admirable person.
“Anyway, at first, of course, I was drawn to the child I gave birth to. Until they were about six or seven years old, I didn’t intentionally treat the two sons differently. If I did end up showing favoritism without realizing it, I probably kept more distance from Hassel.”
That would be natural.
No matter how much Hassel was the child of the man she loved, he wasn’t her biological son. Naturally, her feelings wouldn’t be as deep for him.
That’s simply human nature.
“But that must not have sat well with his parents. One day, they told me, ‘If you were taken in as a servant, then serve as one until the end.’”
“They said that…?”
“They probably favored Hassel more because he was of pure noble blood. And the fact that he started to show his talents earlier, as well as being older, played a part.”
“That’s….”
Even so, Roxanne had given birth to Kyle and had officially become the lady of the Lyard family.
The fact that they would say such a thing to her face was hard for Sylvia to believe.
“On top of that, my husband was surprisingly stubborn. Whether it was his child or not, he favored those who fit the family’s standards. Naturally, his attention focused on Hassel, and before I knew it, I began to follow his lead. Strangely, because Kyle was my own child, I found it harder to reach out to him.”
Thinking “But this is just an excuse,” Roxanne smiled bitterly, showing no intention of justifying herself.
At least, that’s how Sylvia felt.
“Thinking back now, I was so foolish. If I don’t cherish the child I gave birth to, who else would?”
“…Do you regret it?”
“Do you think I have the right to regret it, Sylvia?”
Sylvia couldn’t bring herself to answer that question.
Who grants the right to regret, anyway?
It’s probably not even God.
Only those who were harmed by someone’s wrongdoing have the right to offer forgiveness.
And if anyone had the right to grant Roxanne that forgiveness, it would be Kyle.
“I don’t know. But at the very least, that’s not something you should be asking me. If the opportunity comes, wouldn’t it be right to seek Kyle’s forgiveness and permission?”
“…Yes, that would be right. That was a foolish question.”
At Sylvia’s flawless response, Roxanne nodded with a bitter expression, as if accepting the truth.
Watching her, Sylvia suddenly wondered something.
“By the way, Mother, why are you telling me all this?”
Of course, Kyle might have intentionally hidden it from her.
But from what she had seen, Kyle himself didn’t seem to know this truth.
And it was possible that even his brother Hassel didn’t know he was born from a different mother.
In other words, this was a secret serious enough to be kept even within the family.
So why reveal it to her now?
When Sylvia voiced her question, Roxanne’s answer followed.
“A few days ago, I saw you and Kyle alone together in the garden.”
“…”
“It was the first time I saw him make that expression. And it was the first time someone made him smile like that.”
As Kyle’s mother, Roxanne was well aware of how Kyle tried to act cold toward Sylvia.
But there’s a second face people can’t hide, no matter how hard they try.
The fleeting expression that unconsciously crosses one’s face.
And that day, what Roxanne saw was unmistakable—the face of a son, overwhelmed with love for the woman before him.
“That’s when I thought, ‘If it’s this girl, maybe she can give him the love that his foolish mother couldn’t.'”
In other words, she revealed this truth because she trusted Sylvia that much.
“…Yes, don’t worry, Mother. I’ll make sure of it.”
With those words, Sylvia clenched her fists as if she were a knight heading into battle, vowing victory.
Seeing that, a smile formed at the corner of Roxanne’s lips.
As their conversation came to an end, and since it was already late, they decided to continue the rest another time and began to walk away.
Swoosh!
“…!?”
“Mother!”
Suddenly, four figures emerged from the darkness without a sound, charging toward them.
Roxanne froze in place from the shock, but Sylvia instinctively stretched out her arms to shield her.
But at that moment, the enemy’s weapon was already at their throats, mere inches from cutting them down.
Srrrrrk!
At that moment, black and blue starlike light began to flow from beneath Sylvia’s feet.
“Hkk…!”
“S-save me…!”
“Don’t touch it! Fall back!”
Two of the black-clad figures, upon touching the dark light, disintegrated into dust without even managing to scream.
As a tense standoff seemed to settle in—
Whirl.
“Kyle…”
Sylvia, her mouth agape, muttered his name at the sight of the figure who had broken the silence.
There stood Kyle, radiating uncontrollable murderous intent, glaring at the enemies before him—just like Sylvia had seen before his regression.