'It doesn't matter anyway.'
After all, Aria, no matter what others say, was a person who could be happy if only Lloyd was happy.
It didn't matter whether Gabriel looked at herself like the saint or not. She had no regrets or disappointments. It was enough if he remembered the distant Aria and help her once in a while.
[I don't know what's wrong with that.]
"Yes?"
He must have thought she would be offended.
Gabriel looked puzzled.
[It hasn't been a while since we met. Things like that happen, too. People are originally like that.]
"People are like that?"
[Yes. Recalling the people around you and what you've been through while accepting new things.]
"Is that so?"
Yes. Aria nodded her head.
That's not the case in all situations, but it happens quite often.
When they encounter something similar to their environment that made up their surroundings, they are relieved and accept it with ease. And when they encounter the complete opposite, at first they feel repulsed.
Of course, after that they get used to it, reject it, or change direction.
'That's why I started praying.'
She doesn't know if he knows. Although it wasn't Aria's intention for him to recall the saint in her figure, she thought it was good.
She will be accepted easily.
[Yes at first, you just have to find out later that we are a different person.]
"Is that so?"
Yes. Aria nodded her head again.
'You have no friends.'
She swallowed what she wanted to say. Because to say that, that means he didn't have any friends…
'Anyway.'
She wondered what the hell Garcia was teaching kids. Making them feel guilty with just a natural human instinct. It seems like a seriously wrong way of teaching.
[Isn't that so?]
"I'm sorry. I've never been close to anyone other than the saint…"
It seemed so.
Aria said it was fine, tapped him on the shoulder a couple of times and then she held out a new card.
[If you look closely, you'll see how I'm different from her.]
At those words, Gabriel's water-blue eyes shimmering in gold widened.
And slowly nodded his head.
***
"Oh, you were here."
The next day, Tristan came to visit Aria.
At his own will, he slowly leaned back on a chair and sent the servant and the guards out of the room.
"Are you okay now?"
"Thanks to you."
He was back to the way he was before he suffered from insomnia. Of course, in a situation where he is passing on his power to his successor in real time, he cannot be completely healthy.
'At least he looks fine on the surface.'
Aria was relieved.
In fact, before that, she was so worried that he might have to be locked up in a detached palace right away.
"Here you go."
At that time, a golden sparkle flew in.
Aria suddenly grabbed it with both her hands as if catching an insect.
'This….'
Key?
"Wedding present."
Well, that shouldn't be too bad.
Since she had received so many things from Tristan, Aria showed a shaky reaction.
"What key?"
"Your room."
Aria's eyes widened as if she had never thought of it. It wasn't an attic, not a prison or a cage for the Sirens.
'Am I going to have my own space?'
In the meantime, she was using the guest room of the detached palace, so Aria's heart started pounding.
With excitement, her cheeks blushed and she looked at the Grand Duke.
"Thank you so much."
"How come you are more happy than when I made your playroom for you?"
Well, she suddenly had a playroom like an amusement park, but Aria had no idea how to play.
She just shivered. But having her own room was one of Aria's wishes.
"I hand-picked the furniture and ornaments brought in."
Hand-picked?
She suddenly started to get anxious.
"If you like it that much, would you go take a look now?"
The Grand Duke asked with a satisfied smile. It seemed like an impulsive proposal.
She nodded her head as she was hoping for some sort of answer.
'Because I'm curious about my room too."
He said it was hand-picked.
Aria was very suspicious of the Grand Duke's aesthetics, so she decided to prepare ahead of time.
"Good."
Tristan said so and suddenly lifted Aria up. Like holding a newborn baby.
'You look happy.'
Aria staggered far away from the guest room, where she was staying, with the Grand Duke's long legs. Aria grabbed the Grand Duke's hem because of the sudden heightened gaze and speed.
Suddenly they arrived in front of a door.
The Grand Duke gently lowered her down.
Aria grabbed the key and wiggled her fingers as she looked up at him.
"What are you doing without opening it?"
Well, she got nervous.
'Preparing not to be shocked if some extraordinary room pops out…..'
Aria swallowed her saliva for a moment and shoved the key into the keyhole.
The door opened with a light click.
"Wow….."
A new look of admiration escaped her lips. However, the sight beyond the door was more fantastic than she had imagined.
'I feel like I'm in the forest.'
The vivid green walls and wooden moldings looked like a forest full of cypresses.
The chandelier hanging from the ceiling was meticulously crafted with crystals in the shape of a butterfly.
The paintings on the wall were all forests, cute wild animals, and flowers.
The smell of fresh grass, flowers, and trees came from the flowerpots placed here and there.
'It's full of things I like.'
He remembered.
She took a step forward unknowingly and was startled.
'Fuzzy.'
Green rugs were spread all over the room. At first glance, it looks like grass, but every time she walks, the floor is soft.
"Did Father really decorate this room?"
Aria openly asked if this was really his sense.
"Sabina did gave me an opinion."
The Grand Duke then made it clear that he had received the help of his wife.
'Sabina… '
Aria walked around the room, carefully touching every object.
There were also many cute and strange animal ornaments. Each one was encrusted with jewels.
'Oh, it's a rabbit.'
Aria found a white rabbit doll lying on the bed and approached it. It was so soft and fluffy that her fingers could fit in it when pressed.
"Oh, that's not the one I picked."
Aria looked down at the rabbit doll curiously at the Grand Duke's words.
'A gift from Sabina? Oh wait...'
Rabbit. She could immediately know whose gift it was.
'…weren't you in a bad relationship with your father?'
Aria lifted her bowed head and stared alternately at the Grand Duke and the rabbit doll.
Lloyd's gift being here made no sense if the room was decorated with the Grand Duke's initiative.
Are they not even getting along?
'Before they didn't even get along, he casually declared his corruption."
Then Tristan explained in one word.
"He suddenly appeared and he said he picked it up on the way and threw it."
"….."
Well.
Aria looked down at the rabbit doll with a subtle expression, and then she smiled and hugged it tightly. The doll had a peculiar smell to it.
It didn't look like there was any hope at all between the two father-and-son.
***
'Soft and fluffy.'
Aria hugged the rabbit doll.
She hugged it very 'tightly'.
"….."
She dared to hold the rabbit doll Lloyd had given her in front of Lloyd.
"Do you have anything to say?"
He asked impatiently.
But she didn't answer. Aria smiled as she buried her face in the rabbit doll.
"You're hugging everything…"
Lloyd blushed slightly and glanced at the rabbit doll.
'The reaction is cute.'
Will he be that cute even after he grows up? She couldn't believe that such a cute boy grew up to be such an adult.
'Of course, it's not that I hate adult Lloyd.'
For sure, he wasn't cute. She wanted to enjoy this look for a long time.
Aria stroked Lloyd's head.
"….."
Lloyd stopped what he was doing and stared at Aria silently.
But was he used to it now? Unknowingly he followed her hand and he tilted his head naturally. He half closed his eyes and drooped the long, densely packed black eyelashes.
"Oh, crazy…"
Although he suddenly hardened his expression and took her hand away with a curse.
Aria looked up at the boy, widening her eyes.
"Why are you cursing me?"
In the moonlight, a pale blush appeared on the pale white skin. Lloyd rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand for a moment, then said with a straight face.
"Read the letter."
Did it come for her?
Aria was perplexed when she saw Lloyd's package of letters.
Each of the dozens of letters had a family seal stamped on it.
'This….'
It was an invitation.
'Well, it's time to get anxious about it slowly.'
Lloyd's incident must have spread rumors in social circles. The Grand Prince fell in love with a Lady and challenged the Emperor's authority. Giving out his everything.
'Rumors of that kind must have spread."
They're going crazy wondering who the hell she is from.
"But why did Lloyd give me this?"
He wouldn't have told her to debut in society.
Aria looked up at him.
"I've picked out the best families out of all the letters. Choose one of the family to put your name on."
Put her name on? It was difficult to understand immediately what it meant.
"Choose your paternal family."