Winter Bud - Chapter 99

“Just rest. I’ll go.”

“Madam, by yourself?”

“Why? You don’t trust me? Until you came, I did the shopping too.”

Nanna said to the girl, who was much younger than her and was looking at her with a face that said she couldn’t trust her. Milla stared at her for a moment, then nodded.

Nanna took the shopping basket Milla held out and headed to the grocery store located in the nearby square. Milla said she was going to make a stew with pumpkin, turnips, and lamb. Since the lamb was something Mr. Jarvis, who ran the butcher shop, would deliver in the afternoon, Nanna only needed to buy the pumpkin and other food.

She would cook to match the ingredients Nanna bought. Anyway, she wasn’t even that old, but she was an impressive kid.

Nanna stepped into the grocery store in a bright mood, as bright as the clear weather. As Milla said, she bought turnips and pumpkin, and she also bought dried apricots and cherries. She came out of the grocery store and was about to buy fish when she suddenly turned her head at the gaze that was blatantly fixed on her.

Sure enough, a man and a woman sitting on a bench near the fountain were staring at her. Both of them were wearing cloaks, so the features of their small faces weren’t clearly visible, but it was certain they weren’t from around here. Nanna looked at them quietly. The strangers who met her gaze quickly turned away as if they’d been burned, but Nanna was unconsciously walking toward them.

“…You must’ve come from far away.”

“Oh….”

“Your clothes are all wet.”

“Th-that’s what happened.”

The girl who’d been sitting on the bench hurriedly stood up and answered. From the moment Nanna approached, she clearly looked like she wanted to leave. It was strange how she fumbled, shaking off her cloak, trying to get farther away from Nanna.

Nanna stared at them, who looked odd, then took out a handful of cherries from the shopping basket.

“Do you want to eat these?”

She asked with a faint smile. In her white, small hand, the ripe red cherries gleamed.

***

Stella’s heart pounded. No matter how she tried to calm down, her pulse wouldn’t settle. With an anxious face, she kept glancing at her brother. But he too was staring blankly at his mother, as if his soul had left him.

Even without asking, she felt like she could tell the reason. So Mother is…. the same. She was as beautiful as they remembered. She wasn’t much different from the portrait of her holding her first child with a young face. Her abundant silver hair still rippled, and those sky-blue eyes, beautiful like jewels, were the same.

Slan was a little out of it because of that. He thought she would’ve changed. Because time passed. She’d aged, and since she lived outside the palace, everything would have changed. But….

“So you traveled all through dawn?”

“Yes. That’s….”

“If you’re not careful, you’ll catch a cold.”

Their mother, wearing a bonnet, turned to Stella and smiled faintly. Stella felt like her heart dropped to the floor with a thud. Unable to do anything about her rapidly pounding pulse, she lowered her head and mumbled, and as their mother walked slowly, she turned back to them and said, “It’s here.”

“My house.”

“Ah.”

“Don’t worry. My husband stepped out for a bit.”

Nanna smiled brightly. Stella blinked and looked at the beautiful wooden house. It really was a pretty house that looked like it would come out of a fairy tale. Pastoral and charming…. A wonderful home that was simple but never crude.

Stella tried to shake her head and say it was fine. So she tried to work her head somehow and say that her maternal family’s home was not far away, but maybe because she was too frozen stiff, the tip of her tongue wouldn’t move. Meanwhile, their mother took the lead first.

Stella looked back at her brother with a face that begged him to do something, but Slan, for some reason, stepped into the house after her. She felt like she was going to die.

“You’re living in a very splendid house.”

“Right? I’ve lived here since I was newlywed, and the more time passes, the more I like it.”

Their mother smiled brightly. A maid, realizing guests had come, asked, “How do you know them?” Their mother said she happened to meet them in the square and told her to bring some tea. The maid stared at them blankly, then hurried into the kitchen.

Slan, feeling his heart sink quietly, looked over the inside of the house. It was a modest one, hard to compare not only to the imperial palace but even to the mansions where nobles of lower rank stayed, but it was a warm home that felt familiar.

In the Imperial Palace, they called this place the Emperor’s private residence. Or rather, they shortened it to simply “private residence.” But even so, not a single vassal or attendant had ever visited it. From the look of it, even the one maid seemed like someone hired from among the locals who didn’t know anything….

So what they said, that most of the servants were the imperial guards, was true. Slan glanced at his younger sister, who kept her head down to avoid showing her flushed face, then lifted his head.

They arrived in Andella after moving without resting for days. He didn’t expect to run into her as soon as they entered the square…. Was it because it was such a small town?

Or was this too the will of the gods? He looked at their mother with a gloomy gaze.

She, who had forgotten her memories, had a very bright face. A well-off lady with no worries or concerns. While he thought it was fortunate, one corner of his chest felt bitter. While they were spending a painful time unable to forget their mother, she was spending a comfortable time in their father’s arms, not knowing what he had done to her.

‘It’s a fortunate thing.’

Slan forced his lips into a smile. To their mother, life was a wound. They too were nothing more than deep, raw wounds. What she called love was all of those things. Love toward her children, even that affectionate motherly love, was a means of bondage that tightened around her neck. So how fortunate it was that she forgot it all. Even if this happiness was false, what did it matter?

“But where did you two come from?”

“Beldevra, a city bordering the capital.”

“I see. There must have been something urgent. Since you traveled even at dawn….”

“My sister is getting married soon.”

“Oh my?”

At Slan’s answer, Nanna, who had been smiling, opened her eyes wide and looked at Stella sitting beside Slan. The girl’s face, after taking off her cloak, was literally that of a “girl.” Abundant black hair and amber eyes, very beautiful…. A girl with beauty so precise and delicate it looked painted with a brush was a remarkable beauty that would draw attention anywhere.

But no matter how beautiful she was, she was still only a “pretty girl” and didn’t look like a fully grown maiden. Nanna looked at her with a surprised face, then soon smiled.

“Congratulations.”

“…Thank you.”

At Nanna’s congratulations, Stella lowered her head and answered. She should respond with a smile, but for no reason, it felt like tears were going to come. It wasn’t a big deal. It was nothing more than a formal congratulations. And yet the tip of her nose stung. Stella quietly clutched her wildly pounding chest and cleared her throat. Their mother asked if the groom was a good person.

Stella swallowed back tears and nodded. Richard was a good person. Not because he was her fiancé, but because he really was a good man. He was considerate and kind. How great a happiness it was to meet a man like that and build a blessed family. Stella knew that. So now, maybe she could break free from her mother.

Because her mother was happy like this too. Because her mother was living well like this too.

When she heard that her father took her mother’s memories, Stella couldn’t forgive him. Because he made her forget even her older brother and herself. She thought she would never forgive him. But as time passed, she came to understand him.

To their mother, who had never once lived the life she wanted, even her children were that kind of existence. Because they were children she didn’t want. One by one, everything that filled her life by an inch, by an inch, was all painful and agonizing things. So now Stella had to let her go.

No. Now, she felt like she could let her go.

“Madam. The master has returned.”

All of a sudden, the maid announced the master’s arrival in a clear voice. Stella turned to Slan, her face turning blue. Unlike his terrified sister, he had a relaxed face. He lowered his gaze for a moment, and to his sister who whispered, ‘What do we do?’ he answered, ‘It’s okay.’

Stella trembled and looked at their father coming through the front door. She couldn’t tell how long it had been. When was the last time she saw him…?

She was about to open her lips to apologize to her father, but Slan grabbed her arm. Only then did Stella come to her senses. Her mother was naturally pulled into the man’s arms and received a kiss. Stella blinked quickly with a flustered face, then turned her gaze away.

“You ran into them by chance in the square?”

“Yes.”

“Looks like they came from the capital.”

“That’s what they say. They said their maternal family’s home is here.”

Nanna smiled while held in his arms. Not knowing how to open her lips and fumbling, Stella watched as Slan stepped forward.

“We were invited by the madam, and we’ve been rude like this.”

“It’s hardly rude.”

Orestes looked over the children in their haggard state one by one and let out a snort of laughter. At that chilly smile, the daughter trembled finely, but he deliberately didn’t give her his gaze. Then Nanna suddenly suggested they eat lunch together. She said it had been a long time since guests came to the house like this.

Orestes looked over the siblings, then slowly nodded.