Chapter 38 - A Promise

Fortunately, things did not escalate to the point of calling the police.

Given Kenneth's profession, calling them would hardly do any good. More importantly, he had regained consciousness quickly.

Not that he looked particularly well afterward. His face was unmistakably pale.

"..."

"..."

A peculiar standoff continued for a while, with Noel stealing anxious glances at Kenneth and Siscella as they trembled, the blood drained from their faces.

A personal visit from the Empire's strongest knight would be enough to give anyone a heart attack. But in this household, both father and son worked in less-than-respectable professions.

Kenneth and Siscella had every reason to be on the verge of losing their minds...

"This is Sharelpin's Tears. The signature wine of a winery that regularly supplies the imperial palace."

"..."

"... I heard you enjoyed a drink, so I brought some. Is it not to your liking?"

Whether he liked it was beside the point.

'... Couldn't you buy a house in the capital's busiest district with just this bottle?'

That was Kenneth's thought as he accepted it with trembling hands.

The mere fact that she had brought something like this as a visiting gift was enough to make reality feel distant. Even more bewildering, though, was her manner as she handed it over.

'Why is she the one looking so flustered...?'

Watching Noel, he could hardly think otherwise. She was anxiously gauging his reactions as though she were the one in the weaker position.

"I'm always imposing on Aiden, so please accept it without feeling any obligation—"

"W-well, um, with all due reverence, may I ask what connection the Lionhearted has with my boy...?"

He had probably managed to force the question out only because her behavior clearly seemed to have something to do with his son.

"Yes. Aiden and I are involved in a number of ways."

"Then, might I ask exactly what sort of relationship—"

"We're getting married."

"Daaaad!!"

"..."

It took Kenneth longer to recover from his second fainting spell than his first.

He was even paler now, and spoke as though he could barely breathe. Even Noel began to fidget anxiously...

"Forgive my presumption, but was that perhaps some manner of joke on the Lionhearted's part—"

"Please, Father. Just Noel is fine."

"..."

Out of consideration for Kenneth, who was clearly exercising superhuman willpower not to faint a third time, Noel hurried to explain how she had kidnapped Aiden, and to what end.

It seemed to help. After hearing her explanation, Kenneth drew several deep breaths and barely managed a reply.

"... Was there anything exceptional enough about him to warrant giving him that role?"

"..."

"Surely you had plenty of other options...?"

"..."

Even allowing for their being family, this degree of objectivity went beyond coolheaded and straight into frozen solid.

Still, she could give him a definite answer.

"No."

"..."

"If anything, Aiden is always helping me. Enough that I would like to keep him by my side."

"..."

Who on earth was this woman talking about?

Kenneth's expression made it clear that was what he was thinking.

To sum things up...

"... So, Dame Noel, the prince is seeking your hand in marriage."

"Yes."

"And you chose my boy as your partner in a sham marriage to give you grounds to refuse him."

"Yes."

"And my boy is successfully defending that position against His Highness...?"

"Precisely."

"..."

Irreverent though it was, this was Kenneth's first thought after hearing the full story.

'That boy should have been looking for a rich family to marry into instead of becoming a con man...!'

There was no telling how far he could have gone...!

"E-excuse me..."

Siscella, however, clearly had something else on her mind entirely.

"M-may I ask just one question?"

Having sensed just how important the person before her was, she stumbled over her words. Anyone would act that way before someone with the power to decide whether they lived or died with a single word.

"Yes. Anything you like."

"Then when is my brother coming home?"

"..."

Noel looked Siscella over.

Her whole body was shaking like a tiny, trembling hamster.

And yet...

"... I'm afraid I can't promise he will be back soon. I'm sorry."

"N-nothing bad is going to happen to him, is it?"

This little girl was mustering every last scrap of courage to speak to someone who held her life in her hands.

"H-he isn't being taken away because he did something wrong, is he?"

Because she was worried about her family.

"... Siscella."

"I know Dad and my brother do bad things."

Her eyes brimming with tears, Siscella barely managed to continue.

"B-but they do it all because of me. Neither of them has a choice..."

"..."

"If th-that's what's causing trouble, you can punish me too... J-just please, don't—"

"Siscella."

Cutting her off, Noel leaned toward her. When the girl flinched back, she carefully extended a hand.

Energy began to pulse at her fingertips.

"I promise you, on all my honor."

The energy she traced out took shape, forming an object in the air.

"Aiden will return to you. I will see to it."

A pinwheel.

Crafted from finely concentrated pure-white energy, it rested on Noel's hand, scattering radiant colors in every direction.

It spun slowly, shedding particles of light—a sight captivating enough all on its own.

"Will you accept this as a token of that promise?"

Still tearful, Siscella sniffled and accepted it. Her eyes shone with wonder at something she had never seen before.

She might say things far beyond her years, but a child was still a child.

Aiden's advice—that she would like anything children normally liked—seemed to have paid off.

"Can you trust me, Siscella?"

Still sniffling, Siscella nodded quietly at Noel's question.

"... Then, since you've promised, could you put it in a contract?"

"..."

"I-I read in a book that it has to be in writing to be legally binding—"

... Still, there was no question that she was precocious for her age.

▣

In any case, with the tension dispelled, the conversation proceeded far more calmly than before.

Sending Siscella out for a little while had probably helped, too, allowing them to discuss something much more... serious.

"She adores her brother. It's impressive that you managed to calm her down so quickly."

"... Someone who was like an older sister to me used to do that for me."

Noel answered Kenneth with a bitter smile.

It was a trick the Lord Protector had often shown her long ago. Something she would give Noel to lift her spirits when she was young, inexperienced, and constantly discouraged by her training.

["Let's keep working hard. I won't give up on you, either. Not until the very end."]

["All right?"]

A pinwheel made with supernatural power. Whenever something happened, she would give Noel one as a token of a promise.

Now that Teresa was dead, not a single one remained.

But the memory of her giving them was etched deep in Noel's heart.

"... She sounds like she was a good person."

"..."

Rather than answer Kenneth's hesitant remark, Noel lowered her head slightly and took a sip of her drink.

Then she quietly changed the subject.

"The reason I originally came here was to ask you something."

"Yes?"

It was a simple question.

Where had Aiden Kellermain come from? What had happened in those fifteen years of his life that were absent from every record?

"I don't know."

Kenneth's answer was equally simple.

"Both he and Siscella... Well, I took them in off the streets. I've never pried into their pasts. I suspect that's why we get along so well."

"..."

... So even coming here would not get her answers about that.

As Noel frowned at the thought, Kenneth calmly continued.

"Still, I can make a guess."

"... Pardon?"

"He cares fiercely about his family, doesn't he? More precisely, he tries to look after everyone he's let into his 'circle.'"

"..."

That was an apt description.

It went without saying for Kenneth and Siscella, whom he called his family. But Noel was now getting used to seeing him roll up his sleeves and jump in whenever something happened to her or Katya, despite being far less close to them.

As though it were something he absolutely had to do.

"When you think about it, there's something odd about that."

Noel narrowed her eyes.

"May I ask what you mean by that?"

She was beginning to feel offended, wondering whether he meant it negatively, when Kenneth waved his hands and continued.

"Please don't misunderstand me, Dame Noel. I love my son, and I'm certain he loves his family. It's just... once he loses his head, nothing else registers, does it?"

"..."

"You could almost call it an instinctive urge. As though he feels it's his duty to do those things."

She could hardly argue with that.

As Noel nodded and stroked her chin, Kenneth sighed and continued.

"There was a nasty fellow who used to bully Siscella. Tall and strong, too. Strong enough to handle a weakling like Aiden with one hand."

"..."

A weakling?

Him?

'... I suppose he could have been, back then.'

She kept that thought to herself, and Kenneth calmly went on.

"Even with that much of a difference between them... the moment the fellow said something nasty to Siscella, Aiden rushed out and charged straight into him. The idiot."

"..."

"Naturally, one punch broke his jaw. The hospital said he had to keep still for at least a month. Absolutely no strenuous activity. They said he could die if something went wrong. Do you know what he did?"

"What did he do?"

"The very next day, he put on his jaw brace and went to headbutt the fellow who'd broken his jaw. Told him to stop bullying Siscella."

"..."

"That's the sort of boy he is. Clearly not normal, is he?"

"... No, I suppose not."

When Noel reluctantly agreed, Kenneth continued with a bitter smile.

"That alone gives me some idea of his past."

"... Meaning?"

"He must have lost someone before."

And in a terrible way, without a doubt.

Enough to make his need to protect the people around him seem almost compulsive.

Instinct was a kind of desire, desire came from a lack, and the greatest lack came from loss.

"That would explain why he goes so far."

"..."

Noel lowered her eyes, lost in thought, and Kenneth spoke again.

"He's a quiet boy by nature. Unless something happens, he won't even try to stand out... But please, I'd like you to keep him from getting caught up in anything like that."

His voice grew heavy with the earnest plea.

"Because there's no telling what he'll do then."

▣

... And somewhere else, at that very moment, Aiden Kellermain was clearly proving that assessment correct.

"What did you just say?"

Laila Bellode Craven, princess of the Holy Kingdom and sixth in line to the throne, spoke in utter disbelief.

Even sixth in line, royalty was still of paramount importance to the nation and could expect to be treated as an honored guest wherever they went.

In short...

"You heard me perfectly well, Your Highness. Don't pretend you didn't."

Especially while dispatched to another country as part of a diplomatic delegation, she was not someone who would ordinarily hear words like these.

"Apologize, unless you want me to beat the shit out of you."

"..."

"I'll give you five seconds."

... Had Noel witnessed it herself, the scene would have given her cause to reflect on the rule that no one knows a person better than their family.