秘密入口

However, Cecilia refused this suggestion.

"Our Rovenne family is a local of the Dragoon territory first before anything else. It would be a travesty to join another noble\'s banquet before even greeting Her Excellency. There\'s an order to everything."

Hearing Cecilia speaking so resolutely, Meria\'s expression, which was twisted in bitterness, promptly glowed up.

"Now this is why I prefer you, Cecilia! Of course, as someone I have recognized, you know how to progress with the situation."

She said as she sent a sharp glare in Randy\'s direction. Randy shrugged his shoulders.

"Haa. My sole reason for rushing here was to confirm Cecilia\'s wellbeing. It was impossible for me to sit still after what we had been through, so rest assured that my actions weren\'t meant to antagonize you, Lady Meria. 

A couple more days’ delay is hardly a problem. In fact, it\'ll be much better for us since I’ll have enough time to prepare a grand banquet—”

Before Randy could finish, Cecilia shook her head once more.

"My time for extravagant banquets has long passed. The kids are the new stars of this generation. The future of our Rovenne family will be in their capable hands. This is the policy Bell has decided for our Rovenne family."

She gently placed her hands on the shoulders of Allen and Rose.

\'Of course, that shifty dad of mine would throw this sort of rubbish to us,\' was Allen\'s thought, unsurprisingly. Meanwhile, Randy was at loss for words at the unapproachable attitude of Cecilia as he glanced at her face which still had that adorable smile she used to show him.

"......I did guess that there must be some kind of special circumstance when you didn\'t even send word of your survival. No matter, as I had Allen tell you, I won\'t ask you to assume your duties as one of the Dosperior. I\'m just— your brother is beyond happy to see you alive. 

So... at the very least, would you not tell me everything? Why was there no word from you all these years? What was the reason?”

Now that Cecilia’s survival had been confirmed, Randy, as the head of the Dosperior family, needed to accurately grasp the facts and prepare an explanation that could be used both internally and externally.

Cecilia briefly lowered her gaze with a hint of sadness, then turned to Meria.

"...As long as you\'re following the formalities, there\'s no need to stand on ceremony for every single thing."

Meria declared, not yet fully informed about the situation.

“I understand. However, this isn’t something that can be discussed here. Tomorrow, I will visit Her Excellency with Bell to officially offer our greetings. If you could come to our house the day after tomorrow, I’ll explain everything then. I would appreciate it if you could make the visit unofficial so that it doesn’t become too much of a formal matter.” 

Cecilia said.

...Randy\'s initial plan was to invite them to the Dosperior Estate, but Cecilia\'s words made him doubt, and he ultimately swallowed his complaint when he saw her resolute gaze. 

It seemed that there was some kind of reason behind all this.

“I understand. I’ll contact you again about the details and the timing.”

With the situation between the nobles temporarily settled, the crowd of onlookers, which had been growing noisy and excited, was dismissed as well for the time being.

◆◆◆

On the night of the 3rd day since the arrival of the Rovenne couple in the Royal Capital, Randy made an informal visit to their residence in secrecy.

He was accompanied by Eddie as usual.

Bellwood, the head of the household, and Cecilia came out to greet them.

On a side note, Allen had intended to skip the conversation here, guessing that the meeting would only be another pit of troubles. However, when asked by Cecilia, \'Will you be here for the talk, Allen? Personally, I would also like you to hear the details as well,\' he could only reply with \'I will\'. And so he came home from the Academy after his classes. 

“Please excuse the humble nature of our home. Please make yourself comfortable.” 

Bellwood was being formal tonight, perhaps because he was seeing his brother-in-law who dotted so much on his wife for the first time.

“There’s no need to be so formal between family members. 

Ah, by the way, I’ve heard that my dear sister’s husband enjoys bread, so I brought some as a gift. Lately, soft ‘corner bread’ has become popular in the Royal Capital, but I must admit, I’m not too fond of it. The souvenir bread I bought is made with wheat grown from our region, baked using traditional methods. I hope it suits your taste…”

Receiving the hint from Randy, Eddie pushed forward a basket of bread. A sweet smell wafted in the air, making Bellwood\'s eyes gleam immediately.

"Goodness! Truly befitting of the Dosperior region, the breadbasket of the Yuglia Kingdom. The smell alone is divine. I do enjoy trendy foods, but I’m also quite fond of traditional bread.”

He immediately tore the bread in half, and pressed his nose against the cut surface.

“Mmm, the fragrance of this freshly baked bread is so... irresistible! And given the depth and complexity of its aroma... the flour used must have at least three… no, four types of wheat. How is my guess?"

Randy and the others were dumbfounded.

"...You\'re not setting a good example, Bell. Also, why would you assume that the head of the Dosperior family would know something like wheat composition."

A reprimand from Cecilia, however, had Bellwood awkwardly scratching his head, making the others chuckle.

"Hahaha! No, it\'s fine, Cecilia. It just shows that our gift was on point if anything, which is all that matters. These bread were baked by our head chef with all his devotion just for this occasion. I’m sure he would be beyond pleased to hear your words."

Cecilia showed an astonished expression as Randy said this while quietly glancing at her.

"...Mesai is still baking bread to this day?"

Randy shook his hand with a wry smile.

“No, no, of course not. He\'s just as prone to the passage of time as the rest of us, so he had to pass his position on to his disciple. That said, he came to the Royal Capital just for today. He was quite persistent in taking over the duty of preparing the dishes for the banquet meant to announce your survival after I had a talk with him. Well, the banquet didn\'t push through, so he baked these bread instead."

As Randy talked, his expression grew somber.

"......Don’t you think it\'s time, Cecilia? What... actually happened back then?"

Cecilia gave a nod, and with a determined expression, she spun her words.

◆◆◆

After leaving Rabeldin behind me that day, I aimed for the Dragoon territory in the south.

With winter approaching, I felt that traveling north would be too taxing on my body, and I was more curious about the life of the people outside the Dosperior territory than that of the Royal Capital in the west. 

However, being unaccustomed to travel as I was, my disease worsened at a far quicker rate than I had presumed. 

It was when I was aimless traveling to the south while following the highway that I realized I would no longer be a person by the time spring arrived. 

I made a stop at a certain, inconspicuous countryside governed by Viscount Moonlit, when a rumor reached my ear. Apparently there was a vast, virgin forest — the Claubia mountain forest range — beyond the mountain adjacent to the inn town. 

I had no particular reason why it caught my interest. Perhaps I felt the tug of destiny when I heard that the forest had been there since ancient times, still held a nearly untouched habitat, and was home to many extraordinary lifeforms.

…I believed that the forest was a suitable place for my deathbed. 

But—

In that beautiful forest, I met Bell.

I’ll leave the details for later, but Bell served me a medicinal soup made from various ingredients found in the Claubia forest, which was said to have nourishing properties.

Thanks to that, I managed to survive the winter and made it through to summer. Then one day, Bell and I discovered something—well, stumbled on to it would be a better description.

We learned that was a certain vegetable that rarely grew in the summer which was... effective against the Mana Collapse disease.

Bell went through all the past records of the Rovenne house and gathered all the ingredients for me. He then processed them into various forms, such as salted and powdered, so that I could take them regularly.

Following the sudden discovery along with Bell\'s care, my illness was almost completely healed by the next summer.

…I immediately thought of writing a letter to you. I wanted to inform you of the miracle that happened to me, and dispel the gloom of the Dosperior house. 

But, we encountered a problem the next summer. The ingredient meant to cure me was extremely hard to find. It wouldn\'t be an exaggeration to say that it was an endangered species.

It was clear that the overharvesting done to save my life had caused this.

After that, Bell imposed strict limits on the collection of this particular ingredient.

The effort had indeed helped salvage the situation, and now their number had reached the previous distribution range. 

In the end, I decided to keep the matter a secret.

In my case, I was fortunate enough that the ingredient didn’t become extinct, but there was no telling what would happen the second time around.

Even if it was just within the Kingdom, hundreds of children die every year from this disease. If we include the other nations, the number of victims would undoubtedly be even higher.

If the existence of a cure became widely known, it would undoubtedly be traded at an astronomical price. And once that happened, there was no way to stop the overharvesting of this ingredient. 

You couldn\'t bring something back once it was lost. This was why I kept my survival a secret. 

At the time when my disease was said to be incurable, my survival would be noted as something more than just a miracle. It would be followed by an extensive investigation for sure. After all, this was a disease for which there was no known cure. 

◆◆◆

"At present, Bell is doing all that he can to grow the ingredient artificially."

With these words, Cecilia concluded her story.

E/N - Interesting. So that\'s why they\'re so obsessed with that mountain range. What do you guys think about Cecilia\'s story? Personally, the fact that she didn\'t even secretly inform her family of her survival showed just how little she trusted them.

T/N - Well, the intricate circumstances. Next chapter will solve it why she didn\'t tell them. Though, I guess yeah. Treatment seems a bit cold.