Chapter: 325
An awkward silence lingered in the air. I found myself at a loss facing my mother’s acquaintance, while the acquaintance was caught off guard by misidentifying me. My mouth froze, and so did my body, as if the cotton candy I was holding was growing bigger by the second, yet no one dared to mention such a trivial matter.
“…My mother’s name was Ariadne.”
I was the first to break the silence. It felt strange to speak politely to someone who wasn’t from the royal family or a duke, but seeing how comfortably she used my mother’s name, it was clear she was well-acquainted with her. I couldn’t dare to speak informally to someone like that.
Upon hearing my response, my mother’s acquaintance—the blonde elf, brightened up.
“So you’re the daughter of Ariadne?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Oh my! No wonder you look just like Ariadne!”
With that, she came closer, taking my face in her hands and inspecting it. Instinctively, I almost stepped back, but knowing she was trying to find traces of my mother’s face in mine, I stood still.
That face, now just a memory to me—if she could see it in mine, there would be nothing more joyful.
“It really is you! You look just like you did as a child!”
Her words brought an indescribable sense of relief. Yes, after all, my mother’s blood runs in my veins—
“Thank goodness you don’t have her personality! You’re still young but so composed!”
Wait…?
“…What?”
I reflexively questioned her strange remark. Young? Composed?
“Ariadne left home about 150 years ago, so she must be just a bit over a hundred now, right?”
To my reaction, the acquaintance blinked in confusion, as if wondering if she might have miscalculated.
I was puzzled because I knew I was right. It must have been over a hundred, but to call it young?
“I’m freshly turned one hundred and one this year…”
“Oh, dear!”
Before I could finish, the acquaintance began enthusiastically squeezing my face again.
Her gaze looked very similar to how the kids looked at the Young Lord.
*
Starting with Rutis’s candy, then moving on to Lather’s ice cream, Tannian’s chocolate, and Ainter’s chocolate cookies—every snack imaginable was offered to the Young Lord.
With every offering, the Young Lord beamed brighter. His innocent smile softened the expressions of everyone around him. Please, please grow up just like this. If you go dark during your teenage years, it will plunge not only the Salón family but the entire Empire into despair…
‘What’s going on?’
Only then did I notice the unusual scene. Dozens of elves had gathered in one spot. Even the elves we had passed in the store were heading over to join this elf congregation.
What’s really going on? Is there a fight? No, it doesn’t feel ominous enough for a brawl…
‘Why does this always happen when I’m not around?’
An unusual situation was brewing with all these elves gathering. The young Duke, who had secretly hoped to meet his kin, would have been thrilled, but he was absent at that moment.
While the interest of the group had shifted to the Young Lord, the Young Duke was off doing his own thing, claiming he wanted to check out the magical materials only sold in the species protection zone. It seemed he was too filled with anticipation to meet his kin under this guise, but if I had known this elf gathering would happen while he was gone, I would have kept him here.
What could we do? Even if I felt regret, there was no use in wishing for someone missing to return; someone else had to check it out.
“Louise. I’ll just take a quick look.”
I said to Louise, pointing towards the dense cluster of elves.
“Ah, okay. Be careful.”
Taken aback at my sudden independence, Louise quickly understood when she saw the elves huddled together. That sight was undeniably captivating.
It seemed Louise was also interested in the MAX level spectacle, but ultimately I set off alone. If it was a negative gathering, it would be awkward for everyone to check it out as a group. It was better to investigate alone until I understood the situation better.
And I genuinely felt relieved to be on my own.
“Oh my, is that really his daughter? This isn’t some magical trick, is it? How does she look so much alike?”
“Just look at her hair. Ariadne looked ridiculous when running around like that, but seeing a child do it is adorable.”
“Everyone stop touching her! What if she gets scared?!”
Elves crowded around one elf, creating quite the commotion. I almost laughed, seeing how similar it was to the way the club members surrounded the Young Lord, but the elf in question looked very familiar.
‘What the…’
It was the Young Duke! Though his ears were pressed against the floor and his eyes darted around in a stiff manner, that was unmistakably him.
“Oh, dear!”
He seemed to recognize me through the countless touches of the elves.
“Hey!”
He glanced at me desperately. With his plea, all the elves surrounding him turned their gazes my way.
“Wait, is that boy your son?!”
“Oh my goodness! Did that boy just turn a little over a hundred and now has a son!?”
“Ariadne… already a grandmother? While I’m waiting for her to become one, what has happened to me…?”
A trivial—no, rather catastrophic misunderstanding was unfolding because of their titles.
“Little boy! Come over here!”
Then, shortly after, countless hands reached out toward me.
What on earth is going on?
Dozens of questions bombarded me, but I had to stand alone and answer all of them in despair. I had never experienced anything like this before. I might not have been through an actual hearing, but it felt like it was somewhere along those lines. Thankfully, I wasn’t being haunted by recollections of the distant past.
“Oh, are you his lover?”
“By calling him little dear, you raised misunderstandings!”
Fortunately, the misunderstandings were cleared up just as quickly, lightening the atmosphere.
“A little boy and an even smaller one dating…”
“How adorable…”
But being treated like a child is even worse than a hearing, right? I’m used to being dismissed because of my age, but this is a first for such treatment.
This is driving me insane. A hundred-plus-year-old Young Duke and me hanging on the edge of marrying age are being treated like children together. The mental shock is too much. Young Lord, was this how you felt? I promise I won’t treat you like a child again. I’m sorry.
“But where is Ariadne? Even if they’re all composed, what are we doing letting just children run around?”
In the midst of it all, a blonde elf crossed her arms and voiced her concern, which made the Young Duke flinch.
“My mother has passed away.”
“Hmm? Left you all behind? How rude of her, at least show her face if she made it this far.”
The disappointment in the elf’s tone sent a chill down my spine. It didn’t mean she went back home, did it?
“She returned to Enen’s side.”
The Young Duke’s hesitant response shrouded the area in an eerie silence.
“Uh, um…”
Thankfully, the Talullas have powers that transcend species. I feared that the long-lived beings had a different mindset from humans when it came to death, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“Ariadne has… left?”
But for that blonde elf, the Young Duke’s mother was a friend. Hearing that a friend, with no news over the years, had suddenly passed away would shock anyone.
The same shock registered on the faces of the other elves as well, their expressions betraying utter confusion. It was akin to hearing that a high school classmate had died suddenly in their thirties or forties without any prior word. It was incomprehensible.
“U-um. When exactly…?”
An elf with raven hair cautiously spoke up. Asking the little Young Duke, who was almost a child, “When did your mother die?” wouldn’t be easy, but they needed to know when their departed friend left. It was necessary to honor a friend who had gone without their knowledge.
“In the summer of 1277—”
The Young Duke’s words were abruptly interrupted. The raven-haired elf threw herself at him in a tight embrace.
Tears streamed down her face as she embraced the Young Duke, patting his back—it was as if she were comforting a crying child. Ironically, it was the elf who was crying.
“One hundred one years ago? Did that kid say he just turned one hundred and one?”
“He would’ve been in his prime for love at that age, how awful…”
“What about Ariadne? What do you think she felt leaving such a little one behind?”
Those conversations were filled with pure sadness and sorrow, yet listening to them sent my brain spinning into a daze.
I had imagined a significant difference in lifespan between humans and elves would create a stark divergence in perception, but to this extent? Treating a twenty-year-old like a little kid?
‘This is insane.’
I was bewildered. Elves may not grow slowly compared to humans, but even pureblood elves reach physical maturity at twenty. Yet, they still regard them as children?
Of course, I’ve never lived in elven society, so I’m not in a position to comment.
“How much suffering has he endured? Losing your mother at the age when you should be the most loved, and living alone for a hundred years…”
In any case, the tearful comfort left the Young Duke appearing just as bewildered. Well, when would he ever get such consolation? The Young Duke’s father must have passed before his mother, who followed soon after due to illness.
A friend? A friend can’t play the role of an adult. A retainer? Unless they shared an incredibly close bond, one wouldn’t dare sympathize and console a duke. Even if they could, that friend and retainer probably died before the Young Duke.
Ultimately, for the first time, the Young Duke experienced this adult consolation as he quietly hugged the elf.
*
In a commercial area bustling with tourists, it was enough of a spectacle that dozens of elves had gathered, yet their sorrowful faces and tears were impossible to overlook.
“S-Sensei…?”
On top of that, Louise already knew that I had ventured into the midst of the elves. How shocked must she have been seeing the elves starting to sob?
Soon, Louise brought the group over and witnessed the Young Duke being patted and comforted by dozens of elves.
“Ah, Louise.”
The Young Duke greeted Louise with an embarrassed expression. The air of a teacher’s dignity was about to be broken, but thankfully, the Young Duke’s dignity was still lofty, allowing him to hold on.
“Oh my. Are these all friends of my little one?”
Wait, what? Is she really holding?
“It must have been tough adapting to the human world, but look, you’ve made friends,” she said with a smile.
“Really? I think he’s growing up too quickly, and that makes me sad.”
With the chain of elves constantly inflicting additional damage, I quietly closed my eyes.
In a world where a being revered as the oldest and pinnacle of magic in human society was treated as a poor little kid—it was a strange sight indeed.
‘…Thank goodness this is a protected area.’
If the elves were scattered throughout the continent instead of in a protected zone, I shivered at the thought of what might have happened.
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