Ch. 26

But Nial was different. Nial Royce was a man with a gentle and honest nature, so he must have thought that it was against the ethics to not inform the biological father of his daughter's passing. 

Theobold learned the truth about his daughter's passing and granddaughter thanks to Nial. 

But that was all to it.

He couldn't go to her daughter's funeral or see his granddaughter. Because he vowed to never see them again when they left him....

He realized how stupid that vow was.

If possible, Theobold wanted to turn back time to that day. He had lived with that thought for eight years already.

And he finally met his granddaughter after eight years. 

'Nial is right.'

So when he received a letter from Nial that he would be visiting the capital, he searched for Nial, tailed him, and waited in the alley for a while.

All of this so he could coincidentally run into his granddaughter. 

He hoped to run into her and to see her face at least once....

And he finally met his granddaughter after so much anticipation.

But what did he do to his beloved granddaughter? 

He couldn't get rid of the image of Eve storming out of the dining room with a wounded expression. 

Nial broke the silence with a bit of hesitation. 

"I'll try to persuade her....but I'm not sure I can...as you can see, she resembles Astrid a lot..."

Nial was right. Eve was like a carbon copy of Astrid. It was even at the point when he began to question if Astrid was coming back to life when she saw Eve wearing her dress. 

"The most important person to me is not myself, not my grandfather for sure, but my dad. And I don't want to stay in a place where there are a lot of people who look down on my dad."

Her candid way of speaking was exactly like Astrid's.

And if she also took after Astrid's stubbornness, then Eve would never be able to change her mind. 

His mind was racing with thoughts. Theobold swept his face before looking at Nial.

"Nial."

"Yes....Father-in-law."

"...I made a mistake. I apologize to you, too. So please help me to calm her down. Try to persuade her."

"I'll try my best...but I wonder if it's possible..."

"Please persuade her to stay here, at least for tonight. I will send a letter to the palace."

Theobold added in a dejected voice. 

"Help me create an opportunity so I can make up for my mistakes. Please do me a favor..."

"Here,  Miss."

Charlotte said as she handed me my one-piece dress in a gentle manner.

The dress was folded neatly, and it seemed like the maid had ironed it so well that I didn't see any wrinkles on it. 

I accepted the neatly folded dress and bowed politely. 

"Thank you, Mrs. Charlotte. You've been a great help to me today!"

"Hoho, don't mention it. It is already my job to serve Miss Eve. By the way, did anything unpleasant happen to you today?"

"...W-What?"

"If nothing happens, please forget what I said. But I have a niece who is about the same age as Miss Eve, so I can tell how you're feeling by looking at your expression."

Charlotte took a small, nicely wrapped candy out of her pocket with a gentle smile.

"You left your seat first during the meal. Did something bad happen?"

But I hesitated to answer yes or no to her question. My heart was too broken to lie, but I was too afraid to tell the truth. 

"Hehe..."

So I ended up choosing to just laugh awkwardly. Charlotte laughed along as if she understood me, so she handed me the candy and said. 

"I don't know what happened, but I always hope that Miss Eve will only experience pleasant things."

I accepted the piece of candy from Charlotte while holding my dress tighter. 

"Thank you...."

"It's a secret....but this candy will make you feel much better after you eat it. You will forget everything that makes you upset."

"Really?"

"Of course, Charlotte never lies."

"Hooo..."

There must be a lot of interesting candies in the capital.  Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NʘvᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

'You're telling me a candy that makes you forget everything that makes you upset actually exists?'

It wasn't that surprising, considering that dragons and magic exist. I shouldn't be surprised about a candy that could make me forget everything that makes me upset. 

So I smiled at her as I pushed my candy into my pocket.

"Thank you, Mrs. Charlotte. I will not forget your kindness. If we meet again-"

I will give you something delicious in return!

But I couldn't finish my words because of a familiar voice that I heard from afar. 

"Eve! Evee! Eveeee!"

"Dad?"

That silly voice definitely belongs to my dad! There was only one person in this empire with that voice. 

I stopped talking to Charlotte and turned my head around. 

At the end of the hallway where the dining hall was located, I could see my dad running toward me.

"Eve! Hosh, hosh, w-wait!"

"Dad, don't tell me you're already tired after running that short distance?"

"Hosh, hosh, no, I'm not tired...I'm not tired..."

"No, you look very tired. Mrs. Charlotte, he looks very tired, isn't he?"

"He looks a bit exhausted indeed. Hoho."

"Look, she said you look tired."

My dad couldn't even refute what I said because he was too busy catching his breath. I squatted down and waited for my dad to catch his breath. 

"Are you done catching your breath?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah..."

"Then let's go to the palace now. His Highness will be worried. It's not polite to return late."

"Speaking of that, Eve!"

My dad suddenly picked me up and held me in his arms.

Huh?

Why is he like that?

I looked at my dad with a dazed expression. 

"What's wrong? Don't tell me you're going to ask me to stay the night here, or are you going to tell me that you have notified His Highness that we're not going to return today...?"

"That's it! That's exactly what I'm going to say! Whoaaa, my daughter! You are a genius!"

My dad held me tight to prevent me from running away. It seemed like he knew that I would run away immediately.

Gasp-!

I flung my arms and legs around while my dad was holding me, but he held me so tight without any sign of loosening. 

....Is this how you are going to act??  You're going to regret it for sure!

As I couldn't get out of my dad's arms, I took a deep breath and shouted loudly.

"NOO! I DON'T WANT TO!!!!"

"I promise that we won't ever step foot into this mansion again. I won't even turn my head in the direction of Ferdinand's residence."

"...."

"I'm serious, Eve."

"...."

"Just for one night! Let's sleep here just for one night, okay? Hmm? Let's sleep here with Dad. We're only going to sleep for one night, have breakfast and leave. After that, I won't ask you to come here again."

My dad said as he laid himself down on a soft and thick bedding. 

"When will we ever get to sleep on this soft blanket again? Don't you agree, Eve? Dad really wants to sleep on this soft bed right now...there's nothing more I wish for other than sleeping in this soft bed."

I looked at my dad, who was rolling around the bed. He certainly looked like someone who wanted to sleep here so badly. 

"You promise me, right?"

I stared at him with my arms crossed.

Puyu: Okay, Eve's encounter with the Duke wasn't a coincidence, but the Duke needs family therapy. (￣▽￣)ノ I recommend Mrs. Charlotte as the therapist.