A Visitor in the Middle of the Night (2)

Sylvia received a sudden summons in the middle of the night.

The caller was none other than Roxanne.

She had sought Sylvia out even during the day, and Sylvia figured there must be something else she hadn’t been able to say then, so she started walking.

Roxanne stood alone in the moonlit garden, waiting for her with a dignified air.

“I’m sorry to call you out at this late hour, Sylvia-yang.”

“It’s nothing, Mother. More importantly, what’s going on…?”

“Shall we talk while we walk?”

“Yes.”

At Roxanne’s words, Sylvia walked with her through the garden.

When she walked alone with Kyle, the surrounding scenery felt bright and cheerful, but with Roxanne, she had to suppress her nervous heart without even having time to look around.

It wasn’t exactly because she thought of Roxanne as a villain.

Of course, considering the oppression Kyle had received within the family, she couldn’t help but dislike her to some extent, but that didn’t mean Sylvia looked at Roxanne with unconditional prejudice.

The reason her body stiffened when she was alone with her was solely because she firmly believed that Roxanne would become her future mother-in-law.

“I’m sorry I called you during the day and couldn’t say anything. I never expected him to come with you.”

“No, I’m the one who should be sorry…. I apologize for dropping by with Kyle without asking for permission.”

“Sylvia-yang, you have nothing to apologize for. It’s my fault for being at odds with my son.”

Roxanne gave a bitter smile and looked up at the sky with a wistful gaze.

Sylvia, watching her profile, felt the sadness in her voice and cautiously spoke.

“You want to improve your relationship with Kyle, don’t you?”

“Did he tell you about it?”

“Yes, a little…”

“…I see, how embarrassing.”

Roxanne lowered her head as she said that.

Sylvia felt that the action seemed to contain a lot of meaning.

“It’s been about five years now? No, it must be about six years. That’s how long it’s been since I started doing terrible things to him.”

“When you say terrible things…”

“It’s about favoring Hasel and starting to distance myself from Kyle. To be exact, it got worse after I heard that Kyle, that child, couldn’t even manifest magic.”

It was consistent with the story Sylvia had heard.

Does that mean Roxanne was intentionally ostracizing Kyle?

“Was that the only reason?”

“Whatever reason I give, that’s how it will end up.”

A tone that suggested there was more to it. Sylvia’s eyes narrowed.

“Then, the reason you want to improve your relationship with Kyle now is simply because he has become a suitable person to be the next head of the family?”

Although she was expressing it in a slightly softened way, it was essentially the same as asking, ‘Now that it seems like the position of head of the family will be reversed, are you planning to cling to Kyle?’

Roxanne didn’t make an unpleasant expression, nor did she burst out saying, ‘What do you know?’, but stared at Sylvia with a nonchalant look before opening her mouth.

“It’s similar but different. To be exact, it’s because Kyle has become a person who suits the Lyaird family that I was able to reach out even now.”

“What’s different? Isn’t it all the same in the end?”

“Well, where should I start…”

Roxanne, as if searching for something to say, stared blankly at the moon before tilting her head slightly and asking a random question.

“Have you ever met Kyle’s older brother, Hasel?”

“Yes…”

“What do you think? He’s very different from Kyle in personality, isn’t he? And in appearance too.”

“I definitely didn’t think they were brothers. Compared to the taciturn Kyle, he seemed to talk a lot, and his facial features were very bold…!”

Sylvia, wondering why she was suddenly asking for these impressions, was puzzled, but as she continued to answer the question, her eyes suddenly flashed.

As if noticing the subtle change, Roxanne nodded immediately.

“Yes, very different. So much so that it’s hard to believe they’re brothers.”

“Mother, could it be…?”

Roxanne gave a bitter smile as if she had been caught, seeing Sylvia looking at her with disbelief.

“Yes, in fact, those two children are not biological brothers. To be exact, Kyle is the child I gave birth to, and Hasel is a child from another woman’s womb.”

“Are you saying that your husband, Lord Dvere…?

The Empire strictly prohibits polygamy, so Sylvia’s eyes widened, wondering if he had secretly had a child out of wedlock.

Roxanne shook her head with a scoff, as if that could never be.

“No, it’s not like that. In the first place, he’s not the type to embrace two women at once.”

“Then why…?”

“Because Hasel’s biological mother passed away as soon as she gave birth to him. And I was his maid at the time.”

“A maid…”

Still, the fact that she was Dvere’s exclusive maid, not just any ordinary maid, meant that she didn’t come from a very humble family.

Of course, that didn’t mean that their love would be welcomed.

Sylvia nodded slightly, feeling like the puzzle pieces were falling into place in her head.

“I had always had feelings for him, so I took care of him as he mourned the loss of his wife. As I did, I couldn’t just stand by and watch him fall apart.”

“You approached him first.”

“I guess so? Even now, I think it was a very petty act.”

Roxanne said that with a bitter smile, but Sylvia didn’t think it was petty.

At least, the fact that she tried to remain a maid while still loving him was because there was a woman he truly loved by his side.

Sylvia thought that she was a great person just for being able to endure and be satisfied with just being by his side even after seeing that.

“Anyway, at first, of course, I reached out to the child I gave birth to first. Until he was about six or seven years old, I didn’t try to discriminate between the two sons. Rather, if I unintentionally discriminated, I would have distanced myself from Hasel a little more.”

That would be natural.

No matter how much he was the child who inherited the seed of the person she loved, Hasel was not a child she had given birth to, so she couldn’t help but feel less attached to him.

That’s the natural order of humans.

“But that point must not have been very pleasing to his parents. They once told me, ‘If you were picked up as a servant, then act like a servant until the end.'”

“Are you saying…”

“They must have favored Hasel, who inherited the blood of a pureblood aristocrat, a little more. In fact, that child started to show his talent earlier, and he’s also older.”

“That’s…”

Even so, Roxanne was the mistress of the Lyaird family after giving birth to Kyle.

Sylvia couldn’t believe that they had said such a thing to her face.

“Besides, my husband was surprisingly stubborn, and he tended to favor people who were suitable for the family, whether they were children or anything else. As a result, he naturally only paid attention to Hasel, and I, too, was following my husband from some point on. Rather, because he was my own child, I couldn’t reach out to him even more.”

‘But this is also an excuse,’ Roxanne said with a self-deprecating smile, not seeming to want to sugarcoat herself.

At least, that’s how Sylvia felt.

“I was so stupid when I think about it now. If I, the one who gave birth to him, don’t love my child the most, who will care for him?”

“…Do you regret it?”

“Do you think I deserve to regret it, Sylvia-yang?”

Sylvia couldn’t bring herself to answer that question.

Who even allows the right to regret in the first place?

It’s probably not even God.

The only one who can grant the right to do something to someone who has committed a sin is the person who has been harmed by that sin.

And if there is such a person for Roxanne now, it would be Kyle.

“I don’t know. But at least, I don’t think that’s something you should ask me. If you have the chance in the future, wouldn’t it be right to ask Kyle himself for forgiveness and permission?”

“…Yes, that would be right. It was a foolish question.”

Roxanne nodded as if she understood, with a bitter expression on her face at the words that were exactly right.

Watching her, Sylvia suddenly had a question.

“But Mother, why are you telling me these facts?”

Of course, there was a possibility that Kyle had deliberately hidden it, but at least from her point of view, Kyle also seemed unaware of this inside story.

No, perhaps even his brother, Hasel, might not know that the mother who gave birth to him is a different person.

In other words, this story is so important that it’s being kept quiet within the family.

But why did she tell her at this point?

When she asked that question, Roxanne continued to answer.

“I saw you and Kyle alone in the garden a few days ago.”

Roxanne, as a mother, knew very well that Kyle was trying to act cold in front of Sylvia.

However, there is a second expression that people cannot hide no matter what they do.

The real face that flashes by in an instant without even realizing it.

And what Roxanne saw that day was definitely the face of her son, whom she had never seen before, loving the woman in front of him so much that he didn’t know what to do.

“So I suddenly had this thought. ‘Wouldn’t that child be able to fill the love that a bad mother couldn’t give?'”

In other words, it was a story she revealed because she trusted her that much.

“…Yes, don’t worry, Mother. I will definitely do that.”

Sylvia clenched her fist and took a stance as if a knight going to the battlefield was vowing victory, and a smile formed on Roxanne’s lips.

The story was roughly over, and it was getting late, so they decided to continue the rest of the story later, and the two were about to leave.

Shwiik-!

“……!?”

“Mother!”

Four figures suddenly emerged from the darkness without a sound and rushed towards the two of them in an instant.

Roxanne’s body stiffened at the sudden event, while Sylvia hurriedly stretched out her arms to protect her.

But at that moment, the enemy’s hidden weapon was already right in front of them, just before cutting off their slender necks.

Seureureuk─!

At that moment, something like black and blue stardust began to flow from Sylvia’s feet.

“Heoeoeoeok…!”

“Sa, save me…!”

“Don’t touch it! Everyone, get out of the way!”

Two of the black figures that touched it scattered into dust without even uttering a proper scream, and a tense standoff seemed to continue.

Hwirik.

“Kyle…”

Sylvia blankly opened her mouth at the new figure that appeared, breaking the silence, and spoke his name.

There stood Kyle, staring at the enemies in front of him, unable to control the overflowing murderous intent, just like she had seen before the regression.