BSGE 77

“A birthday gift for the young lady?”

The subordinates’ expressions turned puzzled. After glancing at each other in confusion, one of the aides cautiously spoke up.

“Wasn’t this year’s birthday gift already decided to be the Yetu territory?”

That had been the young lady’s predetermined birthday gift every year.

In addition to the seasonal dresses and jewels crafted annually, since the young lady’s birth, the Duke had made it a special tradition to conquer a piece of Altoran land on each of her birthdays and transfer it to her name.

‘I’m certain that this year too, he had already prepared a region famous for its high-sugar fruits, hadn’t he?’

As they tilted their heads in bewilderment, the Duke’s brow furrowed deeply, recalling a recent conversation.

“The child asked me if birthday gifts were really a thing.”

“What?”

“During the past five years I was away.”

The Duke’s golden eyes flashed with anger as he contemplated this unacceptable fact.

“My child says she never received any birthday gifts.”

Even during the war, he had made sure to send her belongings regularly, ensuring she was provided for more abundantly to compensate for his absence.

Yet, the child herself was unaware of the existence of these gifts.

Without a doubt, it was that rat-like former Viscount Siurus who had intercepted them.

“The gifts for a young lady who’s not even ten years old?!”

“To lay hands on an 8-year-old niece’s birthday presents… Good heavens, what scum!”

The Duke’s subordinates exclaimed in outrage, each voicing their disgust.

In truth, the gifts sent from the Duke’s household to Beatty were valuable enough to shake the foundations of an average noble house in the capital. It might have been too tempting to simply label Firina as covetous of a child’s birthday gift.

Of course, no matter how tempting the gold might have been, swallowing up a young niece’s gift and pretending ignorance was undeniably a despicable act.

“My daughter, an Aslan, has been deprived of her rightful due.”

Bang!

The Duke slammed his fist on the desk, growling.

“Is this acceptable?”

“Absolutely not, Your Grace!”

“How dare they touch the Guardian of the North! This is inconceivable!”

True to their deep reverence for House Aslan, the rulers of the North, the subordinates burned with righteous fury.

“I want to give my child not only what she missed out on.”

The Duke had no intention of stopping at merely returning what Beatty had been deprived of.

“I want to create joyful moments that will overshadow her memories from the capital.”

Yes. He wanted to cover all the unpleasant memories with new ones.

The Duke was prepared to mobilize all of House Aslan’s resources to create new memories that would conceal Beatty’s unhappy childhood.

“Your Grace…!”

Seeing the Duke’s firm resolve, his subordinates vied to take the lead.

They were all experts who had honed their information-gathering skills while fighting enemies on the frontline borders.

“I’ll be the first to discover what gift would make the young lady happiest by investigating the latest capital trends!”

“Hah! I’ll infiltrate the Roge Principality, famous for its toy artisans, and bring back the ultimate toy that any child would desire!”

Each wanted to be faster, different from the others.

‘I’ll be the one to bring the young lady the finest gift!’

Watching his enthusiastic subordinates, the Duke nodded.

“Spare no expense.”

“!”

“No matter the cost or what is demanded, secure and bring back gifts that my child will love.”

And so the kingdom’s finest intelligence gatherers dispersed across the lands, armed with unlimited operational funds.

*

At Count Zealot’s mansion.

The butler moved silently, careful not to disturb his sensitive master’s mood.

Crash!

As he approached the office door with his master’s errand, he flinched at the loud noise from within.

Cautiously opening the door, he witnessed a scene of chaos—various furnishings were thrown at the office.

“Damn it all! This one, that one!”

Ignoring the butler who silently set down the drink tray and began cleaning up the glass shards on the floor, Count Zealot continued spewing profanities.

“When the Duke was away, it was all ‘My Lord this, My Lord that,’ they only cared about my opinion. Now they dare to be so impudent!”

Bang! Bang, bang!

After violently pounding on the desk repeatedly, the Count, still unsatisfied, heaved and trembled with pent-up frustration.

“A confinement order! What nonsense is this!”

Immediately following Firina’s arrest, Count Zealot had been issued a confinement order.

The reason: allowing a criminal who attempted to assassinate House Aslan’s precious young lady into the duke’s territory.

“Damn it! Because that woman failed, I’m in this mess! That useless former viscount, no, she’s not even noble anymore. That worthless woman ruined everything!”

Former Viscount Siurus had already been marked as incompetent for failing to prevent the young lady’s escape.

However, as Count Zealot was the one who had allowed her into the ducal residence to hear her side of the story, he couldn’t escape responsibility.

Not considering his own fault in the slightest, the Count, consumed only by thoughts of revenge against those who had attacked him.

The Count gnashed his teeth.

“How dare they… forbid one with Aslan blood from entering the Aslan main castle?”

His eyes bloodshot, he bit his lip hard.

The count, who had been hanging his head and breathing heavily, caught his reflection in a broken mirror shard on the floor.

Eyes that weren’t golden.

Brown hair that couldn’t even be passed off as faded gold.

Count Zealot jerked his head away upon confirming once again his appearance that bore none of the Aslan traits.

“This humiliation, I will never forget.”

Erasing his lack of qualifications with anger, Count Zealot’s eyes flashed dangerously.

The butler, glancing at his master who was burning with determination for revenge, judged that he had calmed down enough to deliver his message.

“Master.”

“What is it?”

“A guest has arrived from the capital.”

“What?”

Count Zealot’s eyes narrowed sharply.

“Damn it all! I’m in this state because of that last ‘guest’ from the capital!”

CRASH!

His anger reignited at the mere thought, Count Zealot hurled whatever was in reach at the butler.

The wine in the glass shattered, splattering red liquid and glass shards across the butler’s clothes.

“Huff, huff.”

After breathing heavily for a while, Count Zealot finally calmed his rough breathing enough to speak again.

“This ‘guest’ they’ve sent better be actually helpful.”

It sounded like he was either reassuring himself or speaking for someone who wasn’t present.

“If not…”

His eyes glinted with malicious schemes as he muttered darkly under his breath

“This ‘guest’ they’ve sent better be of real help.”

It sounded as if he was reassuring himself, or perhaps addressing someone who wasn’t present.

***

These days, Beatty felt as if she were floating on air.

“Ahhh.”

After a long stretch, Beatty happily broke the seal on today’s letter placed on her desk, feet swinging cheerfully.

“Hehe.”

Seeing her father’s now-familiar handwriting, Beatty’s lips curled into an uncontrollable smile.

Nuzzle.

Lying face-down on the desk, Beatty closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against the letter made of premium paper.

‘So soft and fluffy.’

It felt as if she were still wrapped in her blanket, even though she had left her bed.

Blink, blink.

As she opened her eyes, the sunlight filtering through her eyelashes seemed extraordinarily brilliant.

‘…The scenery looks different.’

Surely the sunlight streaming down from that sky hadn’t changed, and yet.

For some reason, it appeared different to Beatty’s eyes.

‘It seems more vivid…’

The world had felt much heavier in hue before.

Had her eyesight changed? Even without glasses, everything looked so much brighter and more vivid.

The world she had thought was composed only of shades of gray was actually brimming with color.

Like someone seeing color for the first time, every moment lately had been a series of wonder and delightful surprise for Beatty.

“Young lady, are you reading the Duke’s letter again?”

Beatty’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the question. She gave an endearing smile to her maid.

Others might not realize, but her inner self was actually that of a nearly grown woman who had almost reached her coming-of-age ceremony.

‘I should act more mature.’

Consciously straightening her back, she tried to smooth out her expression, pressing her cheeks to hide her excitement.

But contrary to Beatty’s desire not to appear too clingy to her father.

‘How can she be so adorable? I wish I could swap her with my son.’

‘Ugh, if only I had such a cute daughter…’

‘The Duke is so blessed to have the young lady as his daughter.’

Among the duke’s household staff who had witnessed the young lady clutching her father’s letters first thing in the morning multiple times, it was already common knowledge that she was completely daddy’s girl.

‘Indeed. If I had such a daughter, I’d probably want to do this much for her too.’

Thinking this to herself, the attendant who had brought the Duke’s message spoke up.

“Young lady. His Grace the Duke has called for you.”

“Oh? Father?”

Beatty tilted her head curiously and followed the attendant out.

*

“…!”

Following the messenger’s guidance, Beatty spotted a large silhouette shimmering behind the frosted glass walls of an indoor garden.

‘It’s Father!’

The child’s cheeks flushed vividly upon recognizing the familiar back.

Pat pat pat-

Her steps quickening involuntarily, Beatty reached for the door handle before the attendant could open it for her.

Click.

“I heard you called -“

Beatty’s eyes widened as she entered the garden with an excited voice.