Ch.1548 Years Old (1)

“Arthur, what are you doing here? Dad’s looking for you.”

“…Mind your own business. I’ll handle it myself.”

“Call me big sister. I was born 3 minutes earlier than you.”

Arthur’s eyes narrowed at Lobelia’s words. After fiddling with his training wooden sword, he eventually flipped his flowing silver hair back and turned his head.

What he saw was a girl slightly taller than himself. Why did she insist on being called big sister when they were twins?

As Arthur’s hand gripping the sword twitched, Lobelia awkwardly smiled and stepped back slightly.

Who did he inherit his personality from? His tendency to get irritated even when spoken to nicely was completely different from their mother.

He looked exactly like their mother, but why was his personality so different?

“Who do you take after anyway? I’m completely like Dad. See, even Grandpa Chris says I look like Dad whenever he sees me.”

“What does it matter? Then I must take after Mom. Even Grandfather said I look like Mom when she was young.”

“Mom has a good personality. She doesn’t get irritated and grumble about everything like you do. Besides, in the storybooks, Mom was just described as cold.”

Arthur had been wondering about that aspect too.

The mother he had seen since childhood had always been gentle, yet people said he took after her.

He had tried to behave more properly after hearing such comments, but Arthur knew very well that his natural disposition was far from being well-behaved.

He found holding a sword much more fun than reading books like his sister.

After all, wasn’t Dad a knight? Arthur’s dream was to slay a huge dragon like his father someday.

“You’re not thinking about that nonsense about slaying dragons again, are you?”

“N-no, I’m not.”

“You know Mom clutches her chest whenever dragons are mentioned, right? As your big sister, I have a duty to protect you. Besides, you can’t use a sword better than me.”

“Who says so! I’m better than you!”

Lobelia smiled confidently at Arthur’s outburst. Lobelia was a brilliant child.

Having been told she was mature since childhood, Lobelia was very aware of her innate talents.

If Arthur had inherited personality and passion from their parents, Lobelia had inherited their talent.

“Well, if you’re upset, have a match with me. With Kyle as the judge.”

“…No thanks, I don’t want to play with you.”

“Dad called for you, so let’s go quickly.”

Arthur, pulled along by Lobelia’s hand, pouted his lips.

He wanted to play outside a bit longer, but he couldn’t disobey his father.

He soon removed her hand from his sleeve and began walking forward with large strides.

Ha-!

The place where numerous knights were lined up was the training ground. A place to practice following instructions, refining formations, and advancing.

Arthur, who was very interested in knights, felt his heart race whenever he came here.

He wanted to become a knight, specifically a knight like his father-

Lobelia also knew well that Arthur was thinking this,

so she was seriously considering whether she should become a knight too, if only to protect Arthur.

But wasn’t swinging a sword not that fun?

Lobelia puffed her cheeks for a moment, then soon spotted someone in the distance and jumped up.

“Dad! Over here!”

Lobelia began waving her hand toward the person approaching after hearing her call.

A person with the same golden hair as herself, the one and only dad in this world.

Lobelia had particularly liked her father since childhood. Rather than her mother with her somewhat cold impression, she felt more comfortable with her father who had a gentle impression.

“Lobelia, where’s Arthur?”

“He’s behind me. Probably watching the knight uncles.”

“Arthur seems to like knights. Though it’s not such a good profession.”

As Evan smiled, Lobelia looked at his face and let out a small exclamation.

She had seen him since she was very young, but his face hadn’t changed at all.

Maybe the reason she wasn’t interested in other boys was… because of her dad?

Her rolling eyes eventually stopped with a thud on the hand placed on her head.

Evan smiled awkwardly at Lobelia’s blank stare.

Although he had been a father for 7 years now, how to treat his growing daughter was still a daily concern.

He sometimes worried about what would happen when she hit puberty.

While Lobelia followed him well now, he was always worried that their relationship might deteriorate later.

“I’m right here, what are you thinking about?”

“Hmm, the reason I asked to bring Arthur today? I have something to tell you too.”

“Hmmmm…!”

“Why are you making that sound? You sound like a little old lady.”

“So, do you dislike it?”

At those words, Evan burst into laughter. Both in appearance and behavior, Lobelia was the spitting image of Evan.

Whenever Lobelia made such a sly expression, Evan couldn’t shake the feeling that he was looking into a mirror.

Even though she was his daughter, wasn’t this too much resemblance?

Wondering what Aileen would say about this, Evan patted Lobelia’s head and then called Arthur over from the distance.

“Arthur, come here now.”

Unlike with others, Arthur tended to listen to Evan quite well. Perhaps it was natural since Evan was his idol and someone he respected.

Looking at Evan dressed in knight uniform unlike usual, Arthur gazed at him with a slightly excited expression.

‘Could it be that he wants to make me a knight apprentice?’

It was close to an absurd thought, and naturally, the reason Evan had called the two was completely opposite to that idea.

“The Crown Prince visited the Duke’s residence recently, and I heard something. Um, Arthur. Don’t you have anything to tell me?”

“…Kyle started it first.”

Goodness, Evan rubbed his face with both hands. When he first heard that Kaisel’s son had fought with Arthur, he didn’t think much of it.

Of course, Kaisel had laughed it off. Saying that children grow up fighting,

and since no one was seriously hurt, they should just let it go…

He said he got scolded by Scarlet after saying that. In fact, Evan somewhat agreed with Kaisel’s thinking.

But it couldn’t be ignored because he was the Crown Prince’s son. They saw each other often, and at the very least, there shouldn’t be any uncomfortable incidents between them.

When Evan asked, Arthur carefully looked at Lobelia.

‘Hey, you explain. I didn’t do anything wrong.’

‘Arthur, you hit him first, didn’t you?’

‘What, are you just going to watch me get scolded? I’ll call you big sister. For real.’

Would he really get scolded? While that question crossed her mind, Lobelia didn’t want to see Arthur get scolded.

He was still her brother, and if she as his big sister didn’t look after him, who would? After looking at Evan for a moment, Lobelia let out a deep sigh.

She really disliked acting cute, but promising herself she’d get payback later, Lobelia lightly clung to Evan’s arm.

“Dad, Arthur didn’t do anything wrong at all. I saw everything.”

“…R-really?”

Evan couldn’t hide his widening smile. Since Lobelia was more mature than others her age,

she rarely acted cute like this since childhood.

Evan’s body was pulled down toward the ground by Lobelia’s small arm.

As Lobelia rubbed her face against his cheek, Evan simply hugged her and smiled more happily than ever.

“Kyle the dog was just bothering me. Arthur did nothing wrong.”

“How did Kyle bother you?”

Should she tell this? Lobelia seriously considered while hanging onto Evan’s arm.

It was a statement with enough potential impact. Even though he was a year younger than them, he had quite a serious expression when he said those words to her.

While Lobelia was contemplating, Arthur looked at Evan and thoughtlessly opened his mouth.

“Kyle confessed to big sister. Said he liked her. I didn’t even hit him first. I just gave him a light knock on the head to tell him to stop joking around.”

Perhaps it could be dismissed as the immature confession of a mere 7-year-old.

But whose son was Kyle? The son of Kaisel, who once caused the Emperor headaches with rumors of sleeping with multiple women.

A confession, a confession? While Evan was still hugging Lobelia, his expression was gradually turning cold.

In the suddenly suffocating atmosphere, Lobelia exhaled with a “phew,” but Evan opened his mouth to Arthur with a very serious expression.

“…Did you win that fight, by any chance?”

“I’ve never lost in my life.”

“Except to big sister,” Arthur added timidly, but Evan smiled with satisfaction at his words.

The thought of his child losing a fight was truly unimaginable. Kaisel was his friend before being the Crown Prince.

They had known each other for over 10 years, actually getting along regardless of their social status.

Evan began to seriously consider what message to send to Kaisel.

No, before that, he started to worry about how to explain this to Aileen.

“…Of course Kyle is fine, but you, Lobelia, deserve to meet someone much better.”

“Oh, come on.”

“No, this is something your mother always talks about too. It’s not just the two of us who think that way, everyone else thinks so too. Isn’t that right?!”

“Yes- That’s right-!”

The knights gathered at the training ground startled at Evan’s expression and shouted in agreement.

Lobelia, who resembled him, was prettier, cuter, and more lovable than anyone else.

Evan thought, not just because he was her father, but sincerely, that there was no one as beautiful as Lobelia. And yet someone had confessed to his daughter.

“What is your mother doing now?”

“Hmm, probably with Rose. She should be feeding her baby food now.”

Evan took Lobelia and Arthur’s hands as he recalled Rose, the name of his second daughter.

Thinking that this matter would need to be seriously discussed between husband and wife, he slowly began walking toward the Duke’s residence.