episode_0024

A towering castle filled with a bloody, brutal history, belonging to the Bayolun family.

And within it, there lay an endlessly vast garden. The Bayolun family members were nobles in appearance, but fundamentally they were savages. They did not try to cultivate it. Nor did they show any interest.

Therefore, this garden was a place abandoned in a derogatory sense.

– Dada.

In such a place, a small girl began to run as if finally liberated. Her steps were full of cheerfulness.

“Oops!”

However, her enthusiasm was clearly excessive. Running headlong and unable to see ahead, the girl tripped over a sharp protruding rock.

With a thud, the girl, while being scraped by the rough earth, clutched something precious to her chest. Even in her frail arms, there was a desperate determination not to let this be marred, even at the cost of her life.

“K-Kael!”

As soon as she fell, she looked at the little one nestled in her arms. No, not a little one. It had barely been a year since it came into this world.

“Phew…”

Fortunately, the baby she desperately called out for was unharmed. With a bright smile, the child gently touched its mother’s cheek.

“Sorry, Mom is sorry…”

This desolate garden was the only place where the girl could relax. Today was also the only day of the week when she didn’t have to spend the night with her husband. So, it wasn’t unreasonable for the girl, who feared intimacy with her husband, to be so excited.

Regardless, it was not right to put the child in danger just because she felt excited. Realizing her mistake, the girl bowed her head and apologized to the child.

The baby might not understand, but it was clear that the girl’s heart towards her child was sincere. Perhaps Kael understood this too? Looking at the child responding to her mother’s apology with a gentle smile, it seemed so.

“Hehe, Kael…”

The love in the eyes of the gentle girl towards the child was abundant. Although Kael was barely one year old, he had features so pretty and handsome that anyone in Bayorenka would turn to look.

But it wasn’t for such trivial reasons that Darin loved Kael. It was because since becoming an orphan in this world, he had been the only person on her side.

“Wow, your hands are so small.”

Her slender hands carefully touched his even smaller ones as if marveling at them, like caressing a delicate flower stem.

“…You’re too cute.”

Despite seeing the child every day, Darin’s unrequited love for Kael only grew endlessly. Her love for Kael was so immense that even the way the tiny child stumbled against the wall seemed insanely adorable.

– Rustle, rustle.

Was she trying to do something dishonest, or was she trying to express her unspoken affection? The girl began to look around left and right.

“No one’s here?”

As soon as she realized this, the girl immediately…

– Peck, peck.

Began to shower kisses on the angelic cheeks. Was that all? She would nuzzle his face, inhaling his baby scent, or press her flat nose against his, playfully rubbing them together.

To a stranger’s eyes, it might seem like an older sister showering affection on her younger brother. Darin was just 16 years old. She looked even younger than that.

“Even if I grow up a bit later, I’ll only be a little taller than him, right? He’s so small and cute like this…”

The young mother raised the corners of her mouth with a frivolous thought. She couldn’t even dream of a future where she would be a head taller than her husband.

“…”

The child gazed absentmindedly at the woman who smiled brightly with her beautiful looks. Kael often faced his mother, who smiled like a fully bloomed flower since he was born.

No matter how close they were, no one could look at Darin indifferently. Known for being picky about women, Bayoren’s heir had been courting her for a whopping 7 years, and her beauty had earned her a reputation throughout the entire estate.

Alright, even before this girl became a flower bud, she was just seven years old.

“Our Kael is fortunate to be innocent unlike his father.”

Resentment towards her merciless husband and groundless relief.

“Will you grow up like this from now on?”

Darine hoped her child would become a gentleman unlike her husband. She gently caressed the child’s round lips. It felt like the miracle of life that could make a mother foolish.

“Baby, listen to what your mother has to say.”

Laughter blossomed on the crimson-haired girl’s lips. It contained not only joy but also the moment when she confided her dreams to her only confidant.

“Lately, I’ve been thinking. If I spend my time doing nothing, how will you think of me in the future?”

The daily life of the girl who became a young wife at such a tender age was endlessly monotonous. Six days a week were spent dating with her husband, culminating in intense sex, and the remaining day was spent in the star room with her child, having some free time.

“At first, I only looked down on my life, but I won’t do that anymore.”

Darine still couldn’t accept that she was a woman. In such a situation, how much suffering did she endure by trying to please a man she didn’t even like?

“You are a treasure that came into my life.”

However, as time passed, Darine came to think this way. If she continued to spend time with such a negative mindset, how would her son look at her when he grew up? He would love her, but surely pity her. An insecure commoner mother would undoubtedly be her child’s flaw.

That’s why Darine decided to become a true noblewoman for her child. That was the starting point of this desolate garden.

– Tap, tap.

After looking around several times, Darine, unable to find a suitable place to sit, hesitantly sat on the warm pile of earth.

The boy’s adventurous spirit flared up as his gaze suddenly dropped. When Kael began to squirm on the ground, Darin pulled the child into her arms to stop him.

“No, sweetheart, you should come to mommy’s arms!”

Sitting on the dirt floor was enough for a commoner like herself, with soil staining her noble dress.

Darin lifted her son onto her lap and gently stroked his back. It had not been long since she had fed him, so she did it to aid his digestion.

“I plan to grow tangerines here,” she said.

The child looked at the front filled with wilted flowers and overgrown weeds after hearing his mother’s words. He was too young to speak properly, so he didn’t fully understand, but he seemed to grasp that his mother intended to do something here.

“Others may ignore it, but your mother has lived as a child of the tangerine farm in this life and the past. So, she knows quite a bit more about it than others.”

Darin continued in a kind and calm voice, adding that even if others don’t believe it, she wanted him to believe in his mother’s past life.

“Haha, if you look closely, isn’t your father’s taste quite peculiar too? What’s so good about a woman who was a man in her past life…”

It meant nothing to an otherworldly being. It was an unbelievable matter. If she was a woman in this life, how could she be a man? Besides, she died shortly after eating a tangerine in middle school, so her life as a man was short. Moreover, Darin was more feminine and elegant than any other woman. She was close to being both strong and gentle by nature.

That’s why Bayoren lit up and courted her. If she had just been pretty, he would have made her a concubine and exploited her. He wouldn’t have seated her in the main room.

However, the gentle Kael simply blinked and listened to his mother’s words. Unlike his father, Darin smiled tenderly at her son, who looked at her with innocent eyes. Sneakily kissing his cheek was a bonus.

“Now, look at this. This is a tangerine seed, you know?”

Darine extended a single seed to her child. Although her speech seemed a bit rough, it seemed like she was trying to follow the speech of noblewomen now.

The child is growing up, and it’s wrong for an inexperienced mother to consider me a man. Parents shouldn’t confuse their children as they grow up properly.

– Squeeze, squeeze.

Without even knowing what this was, Kael looked at his mother while pressing the seed firmly. It’s natural that a child who is only one year old doesn’t understand what he’s saying.

There will be quite a lot to teach the child as he grows up. Rather than worrying about parenting, Darine hugged the baby with the expectation that the child would grow up healthy.

“Starting with this small seed, your mother will make a tangerine orchard here. I want to make Bayorenka a prosperous land and pass on fertile land to you.”

It was a bold ambition that didn’t match her petite stature. And it was a mindset for her child, not herself. Whether this farming endeavor succeeded or not, Kael was truly a blessed child.

Her mother was someone who genuinely loved her child.

“Will you support Mom? I’ll do my best so that you can live without envy. Yes, with the hands of this mother, not your father.”

Did Kael want to fulfill her mother’s earnest wish? With her small hand, she gently touched her parents’ cheeks. It was quite sincere.

“…Kael.”

It must have been a meaningless act. She probably just wanted to touch her mother because she liked her and her skin felt smooth.

But for the girl standing on the edge of a cliff, it was an invaluable comfort. Darine, whose eyes were moistened by trivial things, also comforted the child and continued her confession.

– I will live looking only at you.

– And I will always be on your side.

– So, won’t you continue to love me in the future?

With intensified emotions, the mother carefully embraced the angel she had given birth to and expressed her final affection.

“Thank you, Kael.”

She sincerely thanked her for being the glimmer of hope in her helpless life.